It was a good day all around for the Boston Red Sox yesterday. They beat the Reds, found out Dustin Pedroia will be back tomorrow and Tim Wakefield and George Kottaras found bliss during a minor league game.
Jon Lester got the start for the Red Sox last night against the Reds and had a really good outing. He overcame his early struggles in the first and was pretty much dominant after that. Jed Lowrie had another good day at the plate going 3-for-4 with a single, double and a home run with 3 RBIs to help the Red Sox to a 9-1 win over former Red Sox player Bronson Arroyo and the Cincinnati Reds.
Lester went 4 1/3 innings, allowing 1 run on 3 hits and a walk to go along with 6 strikeouts. Manny Delcarmen went 1 2/3 innings allowing a hit and had a strikeout. Ramon Ramirez followed him with an inning of work giving up a hit and had a strikeout. Daniel Bard’s impressive spring continued as he gave up 2 hits but used his overpowering fastball to work himself out of the self-created jam. He added a strikeout while Billy Traber worked the 9th allowing a hit and had a strikeout as well.
Chris Carter had a good night at the plate with a 2 hits which included a 2-run homer. Nick Green added a RBI double and Ryan Kalish chipped in with a 3-run triple.
Probably the best news of the day came when it was announced that Pedroia would be in the lineup today against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“I came in yesterday and I did tee and flips,” Pedroia said. “So we’ll see today. Maybe get a couple at bats tomorrow. Hopefully that’s the plan. But I haven’t felt anything. I feel fine.”
“I haven’t felt it one time since I got back,” he said. “I think the two days that I had off, actually three days that I had off, kind of calmed everything down. Everything’s been fine.”
“I think once the Red Sox found out, the first thing is they kind of panicked, shut it down, made sure I’m all right for the season, which is a smart thing to do,” he said. “I’m just happy that it’s nothing, nothing that will bother me for the rest of the year. I’ll get in there tomorrow, try to get my timing back and get ready for the season.”
You know the Red Sox will be monitoring every half inning to make sure he’s feeling okay. This is good news though as there is still 2 ½ weeks until the season starts up which hopefully is enough time for him to get his timing back and be ready to help lead the Red Sox to their 3rd World Series title in the past 5 years.
News on Wakefield and Kottaras as well as the links after the jump.
One day after being handed the keys to the backup catcher’s job, Kottaras worked with Wakefield in a minor league game. Wake allowed 1 hit on 48 pitches. The best part though is he was comfortable with Kottaras behind the plate.
“I have the utmost confidence in him, that he’ll be able to last all season long with me. I like throwing to him as well as I liked throwing to Josh. I look forward to working with him going forward from this point,” said Wakefield. “He’s got really good hands. Very good hands. So did (Bard). Gary Tuck has done a really good job with those guys, catching knuckleballs off the machine, getting really used to softening your hands and waiting till it gets to them.”
As I stated above, the Red Sox will be taking on the Pirates today at 1:05 PM at City of Palms Park. Clay Buchholz will start for the Sox and Jonathan Papelbon, Takashi Saito and Hideki Okajima are all expected to work in the game as well. There is no television or radio coverage of the game.
Pedroia takes BP [Extra Bases]
Kottaras hopes to stick as backup catcher [Full Count]
Arroyo Shipping Up To … Cincinnati [Full Count]
Youkilis: Sore ankle ‘has nothing to do with WBC’ [Projo Sox Blog]
WEEI ‘toadies,’ minor league baseball and Boston journalism: An interview with Red Sox blogger Chad Finn [Red Sox Monster]
Pedroia back in action tomorrow [Clubhouse Insider]
Blame Jeter, Not the WBC for Youkilis Injury [Full Count]
Francona to miss Friday game for son’s Marine graduation [Projo Sox Blog]
Youkilis shut down until Saturday [Projo Sox Blog]
Bowden is still trying to find his comfort zone [Providence Journal]
Claim: Kevin Youkilis is Probably the Ugliest Athlete [The Big Lead]
Red Sox Still Looking For A Catcher [MLB Trade Rumors]
Lugo’s surgery a routine procedure [redsox.com]
