By Gabe Souza Editorial. Photos by AP News/Gabe Souza----
GAME SUMMARY, Rays 8, Red Sox 6 -- 4:49 p.m.
This one certainly wasn’t the Sox’ finest. In their second game vs. Tampa Bay this spring, uncharacteristic defensive and pitching woes plagued Boston as their Grapefruit League record dropped to 5-3.
While wins and losses aren’t everything when it comes to Spring Training, the sloppy play from the Sox should be enough to cause a little extra heartburn for Sox manager Terry Francona.
After looking hot in Monday’s win vs. St. Louis with some slick fielding and two base hits, newly acquired shortstop Marco Scutaro went 0-2 at the dish and bobbled a couple balls in the field.
Also not so hot was Victor Martinez. The catcher/designated hitter played most of the game stepping into the batters’ box four times but producing zero hits.
On the pitching front, Lester probably would’ve escaped unscathed were it not for Youkilis’ error resulting in his one unearned run. The lefty showed promise after a shaky first start last week. Papelbon, Okajima and Bard – three guys who are sure to be staples in the Sox pen this season – all looked strong, a good sign for Francona. Most of the damage came from Adam Mills’ six earned run outing, which notched him the loss.
One bright spot for the Sox is that new third baseman Adrian Beltre went 1-2 at the plate and looked comfortable at the hot corner and in the dugout with his new teammates.
The Sox travel to Port St. Lucie tomorrow to take on the New York Mets.
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FINAL: Rays 8, Red Sox 6 -- 4:28 p.m.
Dale Thayer closed out the game for the Rays, inducing three groundouts from Angel Sanchez, Jose Iglesias and Che-Hsuan Lin.
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Top 9th, Rays 8, Red Sox 6 -- 4:23 p.m.
Bard effortlessly retired the Rays. The young fireballer looked good, hitting over 100 m.p.h. on the radar gun, striking out the first two Tampa batters and inducing a harmless fly ball to right for the last out.
This is important for the Sox to see, as with some question as to how much longer Papelbon will be donning the red and white, Bard may be carrying the torch from the closer's role quicker than expected.
And regardless of what Papelbon does with his future, specifically in Boston, Bard will look to become a staple in the back of that Sox bullpen for years to come.
Very encouraging stuff from the young righty.
As for the bats, Angel Sanchez leads things off for the Sox as they are down to their last three outs to claw back from a two-run deficit.
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Bottom 8th, Rays 8, Red Sox 6 -- 4:17 p.m.
The Sox' side was retired in order in the bottom of the inning. We move to the last inning and the Sox have brought on Daniel Bard.
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Top 8th, Rays 8, Red Sox 6 -- 4:10 p.m.
Red Sox right-hander Fernando Cabrera breezed through the Rays' 1-2-3 in the top of the inning with ease.
We're getting down to the Single-A ballplayers now as the late afternoon shadows creep into the infield. No more Youk, no more Jacoby - no, the only familiar thing about the boys in Red right now is Sweet Carolina and a little Mr. Diambond.
That's right, the Fenway tradition of Sweet Caroline has made its way 1,800 miles down South as Neil Diamond's hit is carried throughout the ballpark. Except here in Florida, there's not nearly as much enthusiasm behind this waning crowd's voice as there is with the Fenway faithful.
Of the over 6,000 in attendance at the start, a few hundred are making their way for the gates.
Bottom 7th, Rays 8, Red Sox 6 -- 4:00 p.m.
With all the subs in, the game is moving quickly now as the sun is peaking through the clouds at City of Palms. Hideki Okajima looked good in the top half of the inning, throwing mostly fastballs and changeups, using them to get three groundouts.
A single from Che-Hsuan Lin and a walk to Ryan Kalish didn't amount to any runs for the Sox as the score still sits at 8-6 Rays as we head into the top of the 8th.
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End 6th, Rays 8, Red Sox 6 -- 3:50 p.m.
Papelbon looked like his old self in the top of the sixth, notching three groundouts with what looked like some effective splitters.
In the bottom of the inning, the Sox' minor league players weren't able to generate any runs despite a lined shot off the base of the left field wall from Tug Hulett.
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Bottom 5th, Rays 8, Red Sox 6 -- 3:30 p.m.
Unfortunately, The Sox weren't able to manage anything in the bottom of the inning offensively.
But right now, The Dropkick Murphys are blaring over the PA system as close Jonathan Papelbon has entered the game. Highly touted shortstop prospect Jose Iglesias has also entered the game.
Earlier, Sox reliever Brian Shouse surrendered one run in the top of the inning on a single by shortstop Justin Ruggiano who drove in Rays’ first baseman Ryan Shealey to make it 8-6 Tampa.
Most of the subs are now in for both teams as the game moves into its later stages in what has been a pretty sloppy game from both sides so far.
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Bottom 5th, Rays 8, Red Sox 6 -- 3:27 p.m.
What we’ve seen from the Sox’ starters so far in this game is the exact opposite of what management has been touting - rather than stellar defense and pitching, we’re seeing some major pop in the lineup, especially from Ellsbury, but we’re also seeing letdowns on the defensive end.
So far the Sox have racked up two errors, costing them a couple of runs. In the top of the first, Youkilis bobbled a low throw from Adrian Beltre, allowing the Rays runner to advance to second and later score.
In the top of the fourth, new shortstop Marco Scutaro moved toward the third base side to field a ball, but lost its grip, allowing a run to score and the runner to reach base.
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Bottom 4th, Rays 7, Red Sox 6 -- 3:06 p.m.
Where is the power coming from?
Ellsbury just went deep for the second time today in the same spot on the same type of a pitch.
The left-fielder turned on a low and in fastball and popped it way over the right field wall for a two-run jack to bring the score within a run.
Unfortunately for the Sox, they couldn't get it all back at once though, as Kevin Youkilis leaves pinch-runner Tug Hulett stranded at second to end the inning.
We now move to the top of the fifth with the Sox down by one.
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Top 4th, Rays 7, Red Sox 4 -- 2:51 p.m.
The vaunted pitching and defense isn't exactly shining through for the Sox. Adam Mills collapsed in the top of the inning, allowing six runs including a 2-run single by Reid Brignac, a 2-run triple by shortstop Jason Bartlett and a 2-run double from BJ Upton.
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End 3rd, Red Sox 4, Rays 1 -- 2:25 p.m.
Joe Maddon has called a timeout to try and calm down his young pitcher Joe Bateman who has worked himself into a 2-out bases loaded jam by giving up a single to Youkilis and walking both Marco Scutaro and Mike Cameron.
Adrian Beltre just harmlessly popped out to the catcher to end the inning. We got into the fourth, Sox 4, Rays 1 in a very cloudy day at the ballpark.
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Bottom 3rd, Red Sox 4, Rays 1 -- 2:21 p.m.
Who said we don't have any offense anymore?.
The "Youk" chants are raining down here at City of Palms, as Kevin Youkilis got a hold of a fastball and drove it to the deepest part of the park for a 1-out double, driving in Dustin Pedroia from second. 4-1 Sox.
The double, following Ellsbury's home run, has shown some major production from the top of Boston's order, something the Red Sox will need to see a lot of in 2010, with the change from offensive to defensive ball-club well underway.
Look for those Youk chants to continue all season long as he becomes a major cog in this Boston lineup.
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Bottom 3rd, Red Sox 3, Rays 1 -- 2:15 p.m.
On a 2-1 count, leadoff batter Jacoby Ellsbury drove the ball way over the right field fence for his first home run of the spring, giving the Sox a 3-1 lead.
Lester’s final line: Two and two-thirds innings, 57 pitches, one unearned run, two hits, one walk and four strikeouts.
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Top 3rd, Red Sox 2, Rays 1 -- 2:13 p.m.
In his second start of the spring, John Lester slowly battled his way through the Rays lineup.
Early trouble included a walk to lead-off hitter Jason Bartlett – who later scored after advancing on fielders choices. As a result, Lester is throwing a good amount of pitches as we settle into the third inning. But this could be partly because minor league catcher Dusty Brown is calling the shots behind the plate.
After striking out Ben Zobrist in the top of the third for his fourth punchout of the day, Francona removed Lester in favor of reliever Adam Mills. Mills finished things off for Lester, stranding Rays at second and third base.
On the other side of the diamond, Rays’ starter David Price was taken out of the game after facing only two batters in the first inning with an abrasion on his right palm. A Mike Cameron shattered bat came back and appeared to strike Price in the hand.
Offensively, the Sox showed their only signs of life in the bottom of the second inning. After Kevin Youkilis and Mike Cameron singles, Adrian Beltre drove in Youkilis with his shattered-bat single. Cameron scored on a groundout by utility infielder Bill Hall.
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Pregame, Red Sox vs. Rays -- 1:30 p.m.
I'm down here at Fort Myers to live-blog today's Boston Red Sox vs Tampa Bay Rays Spring Training game, which gets under way in a few minutes.
Today's matchup has the Jon Lester of the Sox going head-to-head with Tampa Bay's young fire-baller David Price. Should be a great one in store between these two AL-East rivals.
Also, big news on the day is that ex-Red Sox great Nomar Garciaparra has officially retired from baseball. I caught up with him during his press conference, and will have plenty on that later.
As far as the game goes, I'll check in every so often and keep you guys updated. Enjoy!
Note: Ian Tasso, Last Call staff, contributed to this report.
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