Empyreal Environs

Enjoy these precious hours of calm before Daniel Bard’s first major league start. A decent showing by a starter, a scoreless bridge between the starter and the ninth by the set-up guy, and a perfect inning by the closer does not erase all the doubts about Red Sox pitching.

Indeed, the Boston baseball club notched its first win because they were up against Sergio Santos, a closer who had blown a save in his previous outing against Cleveland. Santos allowed Dustin Pedroia to lead off the ninth with a double to the left-center gap, a hit that was remarkable because of how high Pedroia swung to get wood on the ball. Of Santos’s 33 pitches only 18 were strikes.

Santos’s wildness made Alfredo Aceves look like Mariano Rivera. Pedroia advanced to third on what the official scorer charitably adjudged to be a passed ball and Adrian Gonzalez tied the game 2-2 with a sacrifice fly to left. David Ortiz and Cody Ross worked walks off Santos.

Bobby Valentine pinch ran Darnell McDonald for Ortiz, a move I thought Valentine would regret if his team didn’t get the lead. Ryan Sweeney knocked a single to Jose Bautista and the pinch runner turned out to be the right move because Bautista’s throw was accurate enough to cut down McDonald at home.

J.P. Arencibia couldn’t hold onto the ball and Boston plated the go-ahead run. Ross later scored when Santos uncorked a wild pitch. To make the moment more amusing I imagined Arencibia recapping his team’s gaffes in Tim Kurkjian’s voice.

But not as entertaining as Don Orsillo’s home run call for Pedroia. ¡La luna!

Game 4: April 9, 2012
Boston Red Sox 1-3	4	W: Scott Atchison (1-0) S: Alfredo Aceves (1)
		2B: Ryan Sweeney (1), Dustin Pedroia (2) HR: Pedroia (1)
Toronto Blue Jays 2-2	2	H: Darren Oliver (1) H: Francisco Cordero (1) BS, L: Sergio Santos (2, 0-1)
		3B: Colby Rasmus (1)