Boston Sports Fans Turn Their Lonely Eyes to Red Sox & Betts Delivers His 1st Career Walk-Off Hit

The Celtics are done for the season after getting swept by the Cavaliers yesterday and the Bruins have been long gone for weeks so now, locally all we have left until August (when Patriots training camp and preseason begins) is the Red Sox. That is unless you count the Revolution (MLS), Cannons (MLL) and/or Breakers (women's professional soccer) which I'm pretty sure that you do not.

Boston (11-9 overall, 5-3 home) took advantage of this added attention with a thrilling 6-5 win at Fenway Park on Monday night vs. Toronto (9-11 overall, 4-6 away) to open a nine-game homestand vs. AL East foes (Blue Jays, Yankees, Rays). Mookie Betts (3 for 4 with 2 runs, 2B & BB) came through with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth that scored Xander Bogaerts. It was particularly memorable for the rookie since it was his first walk-off hit in MLB.

It was a weird game from the start, as it was supposed to start at 6:10 p.m. (a nice new feature on weekdays in chilly April) but was delayed 33 minutes by rain. Then Toronto scored three runs in the first off Joe Kelly (6 innings, 5 earned runs, 5 hits, career-high 10 strikeouts, 3 walks) on an RBI single by Devon Travis (2 runs) and two-run double by Russell Martin.

Boston chipped away at the lead (and Aaron Sanchez) beginning with a two-run single by Pablo Sandoval in the bottom of the first. The Blue Jays built their lead back up to three with Travis' solo homer in the third and an RBI single by Kevin Pillar in the fourth. Sandoval hadn't hit a home run in a Red Sox uniform before yesterday's blowout loss in Baltimore but he made it two in two games with a line drive that got over the fence in right in the fourth, cutting it to 5-3.

Betts scored in the fifth after Sanchez made a throwing error, something which has been happening non-stop to the benefit of Boston so far this season. Other than everyone overrating the Blue Jays seemingly for the past decade, another staple of playing MLB's lone Canadian club is that their bullpen is always a complete joke. The Red Sox tied it in the eighth on Hanley Ramirez's sacrifice fly that scored Betts.

So far, Boston's pitching rotation has been even worse than we could have imagined. They are going nowhere with this sorry group of starters but on the other hand, their lineup is lethal and should keep them in most games. Oh and the bullpen is a mess too although Alexi Ogando pitched two scoreless innings of relief and Koji Uehara (2-1) had a 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts (two nights after looking like toast when he gave up a walk-off homer to the Orioles).

The best thing you can say about this flawed squad is that they are certainly interesting so much like a car crash, we probably won't be able to turn away from these crazy games. Haha when you can't pitch and give up runs like a beer league softball team, who doesn't want to tune in to that? Maybe spring will appear as well, haha who knows? Tomorrow night (6:10, NESN) Clay Buchholz (1-2) faces Drew Hutchison (2-0). That has 10-8 written all over it, bring your glove if you are going to the game, you might catch a home run.

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Red Sox Beat Orioles 3-2 on Walk-off Bloop Hit by Xander Bogaerts

Built like a Beer League softball team with a powerful lineup and nothing close to a No. 1 or No. 2 starting pitcher, Boston's flaws are painfully obvious but few would complain about the results from the first 10 games of the 2015 season.

The Red Sox (7-3 overall, 3-1 home) beat the Orioles (5-5 overall, 2-2 away) 3-2 tonight at Fenway Park in the 1st of 19 meetings this season. Xander Bogaerts' bloop single scored Mike Napoli for the walk-off win. The hit itself was nothing to write home about but Napoli's baserunning was impressive as he broke for the plate from second right away.

It was a strange game since Ubaldo Jimenez (3.2 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 2 strikeouts, 3 walks) was ejected in the fourth inning after he drilled Pablo Sandoval in the back with a fastball. This was retaliation for Sandoval's hard slide on Baltimore second baseman Jonathan Schoop earlier in the contest. Since Sandoval was in the baseline, I didn't see the problem with it. Jimenez's mistake was hitting him so high (near his head), if it had been on his side or ample backside, nobody would have cared. Oh baseball.

Joe Kelly had a decent start for the Red Sox (5.2 innings, 2 earned runs, 4 hits, 3 strikeouts, 2 walks) but he was done too early with a crazy pitch count (118) that was shades of Dice-K in his painfully mediocre prime. The teams combined for eight pitchers (four apiece) which was nearly as many hits as they produced (9), that's why the game took so long (3:13) without much action.

Baltimore took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when a run scored despite the fact that Chris Davis grounded into a double play. The Orioles made it 2-0 the following inning when catcher Caleb Joseph homered to right (barely out of the reach of Shane Victorino). His first homer of the season was trumped by Ryan Hanigan's two-run blast over the Monster in the home half of the frame. It was the Andover, MA native's first bomb as a Red Sox which had to be a special feeling.

Edward Mujica was first out of Boston's bullpen and he got four outs. Junichi Tazawa pitched a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts and Koji Uehara (1-0) was credited with the win after striking out two batters of his own in a 1-2-3 ninth (10 pitches!).

Literally anything could happen tomorrow afternoon (4:05, NESN) as Clay Buchholz (1-1) faces Chris Tillman (1-1) in a battle of "aces" who are nothing of the sort.

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Sorry St. Louis, Joe Kelly Is Here To Haunt Your Dreams Forever

I have to admit that Joe Kelly's Red Sox debut intrigued me enough to tune in, not that there were many other viewing options besides the MLS All-Star Game vs. Bayern Munich. I'm glad I did too as Boston (50-63 overall, 23-32 away) picked up a 2-1 win over St. Louis (60-52 overall, 32-25 home) in a 2004/2013 World Series rematch at Busch Stadium.

After a lengthy rain delay (over an hour) before it started and facing his former team, Kelly was nails (7 innings, 1 earned run, 3 hits, 2 strikeouts, 4 walks) which really showed me something. Let's just hope this isn't the highpoint of his time with the Red Sox.

Matt Adams (2 for 4) gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead in the first inning with an RBI single. Kelly's buddy Shelby Miller (7 innings, 1 earned run, 4 hits, 4 strikeouts, 1 walk) basically matched him pitch for pitch. Another good sign in this poop sandwich of a season is that Xander Bogaerts provided both runs for Boston. His RBI double in the fourth tied it at one then he knocked in the winning run with a sacrifice fly off closer Trevor Rosenthal (1-6) in the ninth.

The Red Sox had eight hits as a team (three more than the Cardinals) but only Mike Napoli notched two (both doubles). Junichi Tazawa (2-3) pitched a 1-2-3 eighth with one strikeout to earn the win. Koji Uehara worked around two singles in the ninth for his 23rd save of the season.

St. Louis won 3-2 on Monday so they'll both shoot for the series victory tomorrow night (7:15, NESN) as Brandon Workman (1-4) faces Adam Wainwright (13-6) in what is about as lopsided a matchup on paper that you could possibly find these days in MLB. Haha good luck Brandon or maybe I should say overmatched Red Sox hitters. For what it's worth (nothing), David Ortiz should be ready since he only pinch hit tonight and that was a four-pitch intentional walk.

UPDATE 8/7: Newly acquired Kelly Johnson was activated from the DL and Mookie Betts was sent back to Pawtucket (who are actually in a playoff race).

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Our Regional Nightmare is Over: Lackey Headed to St. Louis, Craig & Kelly Coming to Boston

He bounced back in a big way last season and helped the Red Sox win a World Series title but even then, it was always difficult to pretend to cheer for that jerk John Lackey. The good news for Boston fans is that now that awkward situation is behind us since he was traded to St. Louis (56-50) along with minor league pitcher Corey Littrell and cash considerations for outfielder Allen Craig and right-handed starter Joe Kelly.

Lackey is 11-7 with 3.60 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 116 strikeouts in 21 starts this season. At age 35 (36 in October) and coming off a major elbow injury, it's a miracle that he has returned to this level. His team option for next year is only $500,000 which shows how little faith the Red Sox had that he could ever be himself again.

Like Yoenis Cespedes, acquired earlier today from Oakland, Craig was an All-Star last season. The difference is that this year, he's gone off a cliff coming back from a foot injury (remember that from the World Series?). This season he's hitting .237/.291/.346 with seven homers, 44 RBIs, 17 doubles and 34 runs in 97 games. Last season, he hit .315/.373/.457 with 13 homers, 97 RBIs, 29 doubles and 71 runs in 134 games. Granted it was a smaller sample size but last season's breakout wasn't that crazy since he was good in 2011 and 2012. At age 30, he's a good guy to take a chance on.

Kelly is 26 and this is only his third full season in MLB. He's also been banged up, dealing with a hamstring injury hence why he's only made seven starts in 2014. He's 2-2 with 4.37 ERA and 1.46 WHIP. He was solid last season, 10-5 in 37 games (15 starts) with 2.69 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and 79 strikeouts/44 walks in 124 innings. Since the Red Sox' pitching rotation is now wide open, Clay Buchholz is the only holdover from Opening Day, Kelly should have a great chance to earn a spot for at least the next few years.

UPDATE 7/31: Looks like the Red Sox are done for the day after they shipped Andrew Miller (3-5, 2.34 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 69 strikeouts/13 walks in 50 appearances) to Baltimore for Double-A pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez (their No. 3 prospect). Miller is having a career year but he'll never be better than this; get ready to see him facing David Ortiz a million times a season.

Showing that they have a good sense of humor, the Red Sox traded one bucket of crap-Stephen Drew-to the Yankees at the last minute before the deadline for a bucket of shit-second baseman Kelly Johnson. That means that Xander Bogaerts will get to move back to shortstop (where he should have been all season) and Will Middlebrooks will return from purgatory aka Pawtucket. The ironic part is that New York comes to Fenway for a three-game series starting tomorrow night. At least there is a reason to watch the rest of the season with all these new guys on the Red Sox.

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Another Head-Scratching Brutal Loss By a Boston Sports Team, This Time in the World Series!

When the Patriots lost last Sunday on a call that had never been made before in NFL history, we shrugged our shoulders (after throwing things at the TV) and said, oh well "it's only October." It was a much different story tonight as the Red Sox lost 5-4 to the Cardinals in Game 3 of the 2013 World Series at Busch Stadium. St. Louis takes a 2-1 lead in the series with Game 4 tomorrow night (8:15, Fox).

The winning run came home on an obstruction call against Will Middlebrooks vs. Allen Craig that negated what would have been one of the most famous double plays (Pedroia to Salty to Middlebrooks and back to Salty). It's impossible to make a full-proof case either way on that plus Salty was dumb to throw it to third to begin with; what I'm more interested in is the fact that it apparently had only decided a game once before in MLB history (a 2004 regular season game: Tampa Bay vs. Seattle) so it will keep us up at night wondering why this had to happen?

Of course, this ignores the fact that Boston was lucky to be hanging around in many ways. They are struggling to hit again like in the ALCS (aside from Game 1's blowout). The Red Sox only had six hits tonight while the Cardinals had 12. Likewise, St. Louis left 12 men on base and Boston only left six. In the biggest start of his career, Jake Peavy could only give his team four lousy innings. You get the point.

St. Louis wasted no time grabbing a pair of runs in the first on RBI singles by Matt Holliday (double, run) and Yadier Molina (3 hits, walk). Joe Kelly (5.1 innings, 2 earned runs, 2 hits, 6 strikeouts, 3 walks), another child that throws nearly 100 MPH for St. Louis kept Boston scoreless through the first four innings before Xander Bogaerts tripled to lead off the inning and pinch-hitter Mike Carp drove him in with a fielder's choice.

Starting in place of Jonny Gomes, Daniel Nava proved his worth with an RBI single in the sixth that tied it at two. Holliday hit a clutch two-run double in the seventh to put the Cardinals back on top at 4-2. The Red Sox refused to die as they scored twice against Carlos Martinez on Nava's fielder's choice and Bogaerts' chopper up the middle.

Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal blew the save but picked up the cheap win. The good news for the Red Sox is that both Martinez and him threw 20 pitches apiece in high leverage situations; that should tax them if they're used in Game 4. Keep in mind Craig Breslow, Junichi Tazawa and Koji Uehara all worked as well but Breslow (5) and Uehara (3) were kept to a minimum amount of pitches.

Both leadoff hitters had two hits as Jacoby Ellsbury was 2 for 5 with a run (they've gotta find a way to get him running) while Matt Carpenter was 2 for 5 with two runs. Fat lard Matt Adams was 2 for 5 with a double for St. Louis.

I'm confident in terming tomorrow night's game a must-win for the Red Sox; they won't win three in a row (facing elimination) against the Cardinals, they're too good and I doubt that their pitching would crack like that. If you're positive, Boston's most talented pitcher Clay Buchholz takes the ball and they've been so resilient all season. However, he's been shaky in this postseason plus all these rumors swirl about his bizarre health status. Another kernel of positivity: St. Louis starter Lance Lynn stinks so maybe Boston's bats from Game 1 will reappear. All I do know is that it should be another hell of a game, let's just hope this time it doesn't end on some cheesy call (either way) that makes us want robot umpires.

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