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Post Game Show: Red Sox 8, Rangers 1

Posted on June 6th, 2009 9:23pm by Evan Grant
Filed under Baseball, Post-Game Wrap up, Texas Rangers

Three Up & Three Down from Fenway Park where the Red Sox beat the Rangers 8-1 tonight

Three Up
• 3B Michael Young had no problems with Jon Lester, rapping out a pair of hits to raise his batting average to .335
• RHP Doug Mathis made a sharp 2009 debut, even if it was in a blowout, by retiring the side in order on nine pitches.
• Look, even if he wasn’t pitching for the Rangers, LHP Jon Lester was brilliant, making it a riveting game to watch.

Three Down
• RHP Kris Benson has a 7.94 ERA as a reliever and is allowing opponents a .347 batting average. Time to give up on the experiment?
• C Jarrod Saltalamacchia extended his strikeout streak to 15 games. He is hitting .217 over the last month with 36 strikeouts in 83 at-bats.
• RHP Frank Francisco was not available for the second straight game. When does the shoulder soreneness become a bigger concern.

14 Comments to “Post Game Show: Red Sox 8, Rangers 1”

jje @ June 6th, 2009 at 9:28 pm

.347?

That’s a first ballot ticket to the HOF if you’re a hitter.
scooper @ June 6th, 2009 at 9:48 pm

Lester did pitch a brilliant game and I think that obscures the fact that Derek Holland did an excellent job thru 4 innings. He admits to losing his composure somewhat when the balk was called, then it got away from him. Still, I think everyone is being pretty hard on him. He’s a young kid, he’s going to make mistakes, but he is learning. Just a thought: let Teagarden catch him for a start or two. One of the things that he needs to do is mix in more of his secondary pitches. Maybe Teagarden could help with that. If you saw the Lester interview (and I think MY pointed it out, too), he credited Varitek with calling a great game. Not that Teagarden is Varitek, but a change might help.
I say Benson goes when Harrison comes back (just my opinion).
Personally, I think Salty could use a couple of days off (like they did for Davis).
I’m worried about Frank right now. This could be something like C.J. went through last year – a young guy needing to understand the difference between soreness/pain/injury. I’m really hoping that this isn’t an injury.
scooper @ June 6th, 2009 at 9:51 pm

Also keep in mind, what we saw in Lester tonight is what we may very well see in Holland in the future. Lester is 25 and has pitched in the majors for a couple of years. Holland is 22 and he’s had what, 3 starts? Give the kid a chance.
JustSaying @ June 6th, 2009 at 10:15 pm

to see a cancer survivor do what lester did tonite has to be a heart warming event for many who have had to deal with it……
@scooper the kid will be fine”IF” he is allowed time to grow into his eventual role……the stats show that the front office is pushing him early……just don’t burn him up……
JustSaying @ June 6th, 2009 at 10:17 pm

@evan bad luck to have little kids dressed as angels on a ranger web site…….
Bob Bland @ June 6th, 2009 at 10:27 pm

This makes three straight bad outings for Holland. He very well may have a bright future, but his present looks pretty bleak.
walrus @ June 6th, 2009 at 10:27 pm

As hard up as teams are for starters, if we let Benson go someone will probably claim him. He did a little better as a starter in ST, so let him go, he gets picked up and we can begin to seriously look for someone within the system to take his place. Everybody wins.
scooper @ June 6th, 2009 at 10:33 pm

@bob: if he doesn’t go through his “bleak” present, he may never get to his bright future.
Tsing Sao @ June 6th, 2009 at 10:40 pm

Time to give up the experiment. At this point I’ll rather experiment with Eric Gagne who’s pitching independent league baseball (point made).

Why not letting Mathis and Harrison stay on the roster? Harrison starts, Mathis does relief work. And no, Im not sending Derek to AAA, Zack Greinke suffered ‘growing pains’ for good 2 – 3 years before becoming that nasty pitcjing machine he is now.
JustSaying @ June 6th, 2009 at 10:45 pm

DH has a lot he can offer the bullpen “right now” if he’s not asked to be the mule…….he just hasn’t had success in the spot starter experiment…….and more importantly he is losing games that maybe we win if we had the right combination out there……
scooper @ June 6th, 2009 at 10:54 pm

@justsaying: we don’t win that game tonight (or against the Yankees), no matter who is pitching for us. Look at who he’s pitched against!
JB @ June 6th, 2009 at 11:15 pm

i agree. dh back to the bullpen… for now.
JustSaying @ June 6th, 2009 at 11:21 pm

think about what you thought about rangers rotation at beginning of year…..
millwood great work ethic and little run support 5-4 about what you expected
padilla 3-3 who shows up is always an adventure so just what we expected
harrison 4-4 when he is on he is the beast so better than expected
mcCarthy 5-2 with one complete game ye ha he’s healthy and he wins ball games….definitely more than expected
feldman 5-0 he is so boring he goes 6 innings with 2 or 3 runs and always has the team in the game……much better than expected

If you look at expectations and results I’d say we should be chuckling right now……

So who is a disappointment? Benson? Please…CJ? cardiac kid is better than bad most of the time…..no meets expectations for $1.6 mil……..

Maddox has to feel really good about himself right now…………
Ryin A @ June 7th, 2009 at 1:13 am

If the situation with F2 is more serious than what is being led on…..we’re screwed.

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