With Jacoby Ellsbury's Fast Bat and Speed, Boston Makes Quick Work of Baltimore

 

Boston Red Sox center-fielder and leadoff hitter Jacoby Ellsbury opened the series finale against the Baltimore Orioles by patiently working a six-pitch walk. Immediately, an offense that has been scorching hot this month was in business, determined to continue their domination over the Orioles by finishing off a sweep of their divisional foe.

Ellsbury has anchored their lineup all season long and has been extraordinarily consistent. He hit .287 during the season’s first month, .308 in May, .313 in June, an even .300 in July, .295 in August, and, entering Sunday’s play, .306 in the all-important month of September. In four of the first five months, he accumulated more stolen bases than strikeouts–47 to 40–and though his on-base percentage wasn’t necessarily up to par, when he reached base, good things happened for Boston.

He stole his 63rd base during Victor Martinez’s at-bat, increasing his major-league leading total and putting him four ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays’ Carl Crawford. Crawford has had a longer and more successful career than Ellsbury, but his statistics this year are not just comparable, but second-rate to Ellsbury’s. The statistic that really stands out is the strikeout differential between the two players. Ellsbury, including his first-inning stolen base, has only two more strikeouts than steals, while Crawford has 36 more. For a further comparison, Houston Astros’ speedster Michael Bourn, National League’s leader in stolen bases with 58, has whiffed 126 times.

Martinez walked, Kevin Youkilis singled Ellsbury to third, then Jason Bay drove him home for Boston’s first run; it was Ellsbury’s 83rd run scored, six less than Crawford and seven less than Bourn. As Ellsbury sported a prolonged smile in the Red Sox upbeat dugout, Lowell plated Martinez and Youkilis with a single of his own.

Daisuke Mastuzaka, making his second start since returning from a three month absence, worked around a two-out single by Baltimore’s immensely talented rookie catcher Matt Wieters to strike out the side.

Then Boston’s offense went back to work. Alex Gonzalez, the only batter not to hit in the three-run first inning, singled to begin the second. Ellsbury followed with his 175th hit– to put him two behind Crawford and thirteen ahead of Bourn–a single to move Gonzalez up a base. After Dustin Pedroia went down quietly for the second straight inning. Martinez extended his hit streak to 19 games by singling in Gonzalez. Ellsbury took second on the play, but stayed there as Youkilis and Bay were retired to end the threat.

In the third inning, he was in the middle of the action again. The Red Sox offense running on such a high that, with two out, Jason Varitek managed to extend the frame with a single, one of his few hits on the season. Gonzalez continued his successful second stint in Boston by doubling the captain and catcher over to third. Ellsbury, down to his last strike, followed with a ringing double into the left-center field gap that scored both Varitek and Gonzalez for his 53rd and 54th rbi’s; nineteen more than Bourn and eleven less than Crawford.

Matsuzaka allowed a single for the third straight inning, but managed to faced the minimum in the frame, as Brian Roberts, who is having an extraordinary season, grounded into a double-play, then Felix Pie struck out.

The Red Sox offense then scored for the fourth straight inning. Bay, like many in the Red Sox lineup, has put together a torrid month. He began the day with a .320 batting average in 50 at-bats, slugging four homers and driving in nine. Now, after a solo home-run in the fourth, his 35th of the season, he’s hitting .333 with five blasts and 12 rbi’s.

He drove in his thirteenth run of the month in the sixth inning, but not the way he expected to. Orioles reliever Brandon Bass plunked him with a first-pitch fastball right in the ribs. The bases were loaded at the time of his beaning–Pedroia and Martinez singled, and then Youkilis walked–so Bay painfully tallied his 110th rbi of the season.

Ramon Ramirez replaced Matsuzaka in the fifth inning, and entered an unenviable bases-loaded, one-out situation. The Orioles allowed Bay to drive in a run without a hit, or making contact for that matter, so the Red Sox returned the favor, as Ramirez walked first baseman Michael Aubrey to hand the home team their third run.

Ellsbury, already with a single and a double to his credit, got the run that Ramirez’s lack of control allowed back in the seventh. With his jersey blanketed in dirt from his steal, he stepped into the batters box against Bass with two out in the inning, looked out to the mound, thought first pitch fastball, then saw what he envisioned. Bass grooved a 91 mile-per-hour fastball into the heart of the strikezone and Ellsbury made him pay, demolishing the offering past the fans in right-field and onto the walkway beyond.

With that thundering shot, his splendid day at the plate came to an end. By reaching base four times, he increased his once underwhelming on-base percentage to .356, which is only slightly lower than Bourn’s .362 and Crawford’s .364.

Both Bourn and Crawford are Ellsbury’s superior in multiple categories, but Ellsbury is leading a contending team into the playoffs, something neither Bourn or Crawford can attest to.