Results tagged “Dustin Pedroia”

The Boston Red Sox have scored one run in 18 innings against an Angels pitching staff that has been too hard for them to handle. The 2-0 deficit the Sox are in is even harder to deal with. We'll find out Sunday. We do know that the Red Sox have overcome a 2-0 deficit twice in a five-game series, most recently in 2003 against Oakland. Friday's 4-1 loss featured great pitching from the Angels and some textbook small-ball examples like stolen bases and hitting and running that produced runs.

We're officially done agonizing over Monday's collapse and Tuesday's shutdown. The Sox handled the Royals exactly the way a playoff-bound squad should handle a team of no-hopers, riding the cold-weakened arm of Clay Buchholz and the efficient offense to a 10-3 series finale in K.C.

It's been a tough few weeks (months) for the Red Sox. That's always a good time to see the Baltimore Orioles appear on the schedule.

Is Jon Lester personally responsible for more wins this season than any other Red Sox? If Sarah Green, of the baseball blog UmpBump, is to be believed, yes, he is. She has compiled a pie chart showing the Wins Above Replacement, or WAR, of every Red Sox player with a positive rating. WAR is a new-fangled statistic that takes into account batting, baserunning, tendency to hit into double plays, and various aspects of defense to determine how many runs, and, consequently, wins, each player can take credit for. (It's briefly described here.)

So much for 8-0. So much for John Smoltz going to the mound with any shred of confidence. So much for sweeping their way back into first place. This morning, frankly, the Red Sox are lucky to be alive.

In 1991, Phillies outfielder Lenny Dykstra was told that his team had just traded Von Hayes to the Angels. "Great trade," said Dykstra. "Who did we get?" Well, the answer to the 2009 Red Sox version of that is Chris Duncan, the former Cardinals outfielder who now will be thought of, whatever happens, as the Lowe/Varitek to Julio Lugo's Heathcliff Slocumb. Lugo is going to St. Louis, which we like to think of as payback for the Cardinals' foisting Edgar Renteria on us (via free agency, admittedly) and starting the downward spiral of Fenway shortstopdom.

"Oh, he was good," said Terry Francona about his starting pitcher yesterday. What else can you say? Josh Beckett threw a complete-game, 94-pitch, 3-hit shutout of the woefully overmatched Royals for his 100th career win. Maybe we were a little overeager last week when we declared this the summer of Wakefield. Maybe we should just shut up and appreciate the fact that we have two All-Star pitchers who are pitching as well as anyone can pitch.

A.L. MVP Dustin Pedroia withdrew from the All-Star Game on Sunday, citing family health concerns. His wife Kelli is seven months pregnant and has been hospitalized since Sunday. Bostonist will miss Pedroia's irrepressible presence at the game but his decision is the correct one. Certainly, all Sox fans wish the Pedroia family well at this time.

Pitchers' Duel: A dramatic event with little scoring and no margin for error. Jon Lester and Brian Bannister demonstrated what the term meant last night as each man carried a shutout into the eighth inning in a 1-0 Red Sox win over Kansas City.

Pitchers' Duel: A dramatic event with little scoring and no margin for error. Jon Lester and Brian Bannister demonstrated what the term meant last night as each man carried a shutout into the eighth inning in a 1-0 Red Sox win over Kansas City.

Jason Bay. Dustin Pedroia. Jonathan Papelbon. Kevin Youkilis. Josh Beckett. All have been to All-Star Games before. All are young, and will probably go again. So congratulations to them, but we know and they know that they aren't the headline on this All-Star Selection story.

Dustin Pedroia and Jason Bay were the top vote-getters at their positions and will start for the American League in the MLB All-Star Game on July 14 in St. Louis. Tim Wakefield (10-3) was also named to the squad, becoming the second oldest All-Star ever according to TBS. Josh Beckett, Kevin Youkilis and Jonathan Paplebon were also picked by Tampa Bay's Joe Maddon, A.L. Manager. The complete All-Star rosters are now available at MLB.com.

Milestone Reached: Red Sox manager Terry Francona, who got his 500th Sox victory with last night's 5-1 in Detroit. Tito joins Joe Cronin and Pinky Higgins in the exclusive club of Sox managers who haven't been prematurely (or correctly) run out of town. "That means I've been really lucky with an organization with a lot of players that have been very good," said the skipper.

Terry Francona tinkered with the lineup. Jon Lester trusted once again in his pitch mix. And the results were more than satisfactory, as the Red Sox avoided a sweep with a 8-2 win in Toronto.

Everybody's still alive. But for very different reasons. Bostonist covered the Celtics and the Bruins live, and they won. Now let's try to figure out why.

• Dusty's bringing us a boost... at Dunkin. [Herald]
• Bristol County woes continue as sheriff says he's unable to provide health care to his prisoners. [WCVB]
• Could it get into the 80s this weekend? God, we hope so. [WBZ]

1-0. Put your panic buttons away, at least for today; the Red Sox played to their strengths, and finally got Opening Day finished with a 5-3 win over the Rays.

It's never a good idea when a hockey team turns introspective and scared. But that's what happed to the Bruins last night, as they lost a 2-goal lead, a game (in OT, and we'll take every point we can at this point) and almost any shred of confidence they have left after their nightmarish last few weeks.

They're telling us not to. But we can't help it. We hear the words "reigning MVP Dustin Pedroia" and "lower abdominal strain", we head for the bunkers. It's our nature. But whatever is keeping Dustin out for a couple of games, the Sox insist it's nothing to be alarmed about. And they warn us not to blame it Dustin going all-out for the World Baseball Classic. That's what they're saying, anyway. You have our blessing to get exactly as freaked out as you feel is necessary. And with Julio Lugo under the knife, the Globe has learned that Jed Lowrie is more than ready to keep the infield afloat.

He even hit Gary Tanguay in the face with a bat. Well, just a picture of him.

Yesterday, we griped that there was nothing really new to report. Today, we have something to report, but we don't like it. The Celtics lost to Utah, 90-85, which was bad enough, but it got worse when Doc benched Kevin Garnett for the second half after KG strained his knee late in the first. He warmed up for the second half, but Doc decided not to risk it, and instead have the real docs look at him today. "Obviously, I would much rather be playing instead of giving this statement," said Garnett in a postgame statement.

-- Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia's older brother was arrested last week in Woodland, California on charges of oral copulation and lewd acts with a child under 14. Brett Pedroia, 29, turned himself in to police. No further details have emerged about the case, and Dustin Pedroia has made no comment. [WCVB]

OK. It's oooookaaaaay. So maybe we thought that Doc Rivers' "stay the course" message meant something a little different. We all took it as sticking with a formula that has found success during much of this Celtics season-in-progress.

. So we made a handy list of what $8 billion can get you in 2008 in Boston and beyond:

"It's like there were three Rondos out there," marveled Kevin Garnett. "He was everywhere tonight." The ever-improving Rajon Rondo had his best game ever last night, notching his first-ever triple-double as the Celts avenged their first loss of the season with a 114-96 thumping of the Pacers.

Bostonist has eyes and ears everywhere. When we heard that Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia was taking a trip north to savor his brand new MVP status, we decided to track the fellow and see if we could get any glimpse of his reaction.

Let's take one more minute to salute Dustin Pedroia, since it's really the last order of business for the 2008 Red Sox. He's come a long way in two short years, judging by what Dan Shaughnessy said then and what he says now. He's impressed everyone he's played with and against - well, everyone except Dallas writer Evan Grant, who didn't even put him in the top ten. And he's given inspiration to scrappy little guys everywhere out there (though he's not the shortest MVP ever, to answer a question we were posed yesterday - that honor goes to Phil Rizzuto and Bobby Shantz).

Congratulations, Dustin Pedroia, last year's Rookie of the Year, World Series winner, Gold Glover and now the reigning American League MVP. The Little Second Baseman Who Could put up a .326/17/83 season, played great in the field, and helped carry the team through the darkest days of the Mannygate Summer. He's the first Red Sox MVP winner since Mo Vaughn in 1995, and got 16 out of the 28 votes for first place. Next stop: making room for that next ring.