Over the winter, the Boston Red Sox had the chance to pick up former Dodgers All-Star catcher Russell Martin.
Coming off injury-plagued seasons, he could have been had for cheap money but the New York Yankees snatched him up and gave him the starting job as Jorge Posada was shifted to DH.
The Red Sox chose to go with Jarrod Saltalamacchia (don't ask me why) and Jason Varitek as the backup.
Only eight games into the 2011 season and that seemingly minor decision has already completely blown up in Boston's face.
Martin had two home runs yesterday and four RBIs as New York (5-3) beat Boston (1-7) 9-4 yesterday afternoon at Fenway Park.
Saltalamacchia doesn't call a good game as far as I can tell and he can't hit a lick. So yeah, don't ask me what Theo Epstein and Co. were thinking there.
Clay Buchholz (0-2) faced Ivan Nova and surprisingly, Buchholz was worse. He only went 3.2 innings, giving up eight hits, five runs (four earned), three walks and two strikeouts.
Nova wasn't much better: 4.1 innings, seven hits, four earned runs, three walks, three strikeouts.
The Yankees jumped ahead 2-0 in the second inning on a groundout by Nick Swisher and an RBI double by Eric Chavez (3 hits).
Kevin Youkilis' groundout cut it to 2-1 in the third but Martin's three-run homer made it 5-1 in the fourth.
Boston had one last comeback attempt with three runs in the fourth. Jacoby Ellsbury had an RBI groundout and Dustin Pedroia (3 hits, 2 RBIs) added a two-run double. Once again, Pedroia is the only Red Sox hitter that was able to come through with a big hit in a big spot. Hopefully his clutchness becomes contagious soon.
Three more homers from the Yankees ended it. Curtis Granderson had a two-run bomb in the fifth while Robinson Cano (3 hits, 2 runs) and Martin had solo shots in the sixth and seventh respectively.
Josh Beckett takes on CC Sabathia tonight in a Sunday night game that is basically must-win for the Red Sox. That's not good news either since the pitching matchup is really shaky for Boston.
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