Ellsbury, Bay torch Nats, lengthen Red Sox AL East lead

In the leadoff spot, where he spent a majority of the season’s first two months, Boston Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury batted .299 with 63 hits, 28 runs scored, 10 doubles and had more stolen bases, 21, than strikeouts, 19.

Despite his tremendous success at the head of the lineup, Boston made a lineup change: Dustin Pedroia took his place in the leadoff spot, while the former Oregon State Beaver was moved down to eighth in the order.

Manning that position, which he does when Boston plays it’s fellow American League teams, he has seven hits in 14 at-bats with two RBI. As he showed in the Red Sox first game of their series against the Washington Nationals, he can also produce in the seventh hole.

Jason Bay, after starting pitcher Brad Penny allowed a first-inning run to the Nationals, tied the score with his 19th homer of the season to leadoff the second inning. Two outs later, Ellsbury lined a singled off the glove of shortstop Cristian Guzman to start his day at the plate.

Nothing came of this hit, so he made his next plate appearance meaningful. First, Bay led off the fourth inning with another hit against Nationals starting pitcher John Lannan—who beat the New York Yankees in his previous outing—this time it was a single lined to left.

Ellsbury came to bat again with two outs. This year, Ellsbury has hit righthanded pitchers much better than lefthanders, toating a batting average of .328 against righties compared to a paltry .243 batting average against lefties. So, statistically, he should have had a tough time against the lefthanded Lannan. He did not, however.

Lannan has been a very effective pitcher for Washington, but though he has a good repertoire, his weakness is his lack of velocity. Many pitchers, in years past, have had plenty of success barely hitting 90 miles-per-hour on a fastball, but in this day and age, throwing at this velocity can mean trouble. Ellsbury, who craves such a pitch, tomahawked Lannan’s 88 miles-per-hour fastball to deep center-field. The ball was stung so crisply that it nearly cleared the fence, as it managed to ricochet off the top of the wall.

The ball bounced past center-fielder Willie Harris. Bay scurried around third base to score. Once he touched the plate, Ellsbury, with blazing speed, was almost at third base. He sped in standing up.

This is incredible considering the ball was hit hard, so it quickly reached the wall, and that Harris, though he misplayed the liner, recovered immediately. So, by my count, from when the ball was hit to when Harris threw it into the infield, Ellsbury had six seconds to reached third base. He could have done so in five, but his sprint turned to a light jog halfway to third base.

Not surprisingly, once the ball hopped away from Guzman, he broke towards home, only to put on the breaks three steps down the line as third baseman Ruan Zimmerman backed up the play.

Ellsbury led off the sixth inning with a rocket that ate up Zimmerman. The ball was laced so hard that it ran up Zimmerman and past him. Ellsbury, realizing this, thought reaching second base was a distinct possibility. He took a wide turn, then once the ball was collected, ran back to first base.

Still, the havoc he’s able to cause on the basepaths was evident. He has so much confidence in his ability that if the ball trickled further away from Zimmerman and Guzman there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that second base would be his. Nonetheless, he had to settle for a single.

Yet, that wasn’t good enough. He was off to second once the first pitch to Nick Green was thrown. He swiped the bag, his 30th on the season, easily. Nothing came of his efforts, however, but he would get another chance to further annoy the Nationals.

With two out in the eighth inning, after Bay and Jason Varitek combined to plate three runs earlier in the frame, he tagged a 95-miles-per-hour heater from Jesus Colome into the right-field gap. Varitek, who had reached just prior via an RBI-single, had no choice but to score. The slow-footer catcher ran as fast as he could around the bases, knowing Ellsbury was on his tail. He crossed the plate just as Ellsbury slid into third base.

Ellsbury scored moments later on Green’s single. His performance was complete. All in all, he reached base five times: two ripped singles, two triples and a walk. He scored once and drove in three rbi’s.

With his outing, along with Bay, who had four hits as well, scored three times, and plated three runs, Boston not only lengthened their American League East lead to five games over the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays, but showed how dangerous their lineup is. If Ellsbury keeps spraying hits everywhere from the bottom of the order, and Bay continues to supply the power from the middle, the Red Sox can prolong their hot streak, stretch their division lead even further, and continue to torment the Nationals, a team that has already seen too much of this duo.