Boston-Texas: Could Have Used LaRoche's Bat

This morning, the July 22, 2008, Vicente Padilla came down with a case of the sniffles.

As the morning went on, the runny nose became a full-fledged cold. Stuffy, congested, and presumably bed-ridden, the Texas Rangers pitcher informed the team mid-afternoon that he could not possibly start.

This forced the Rangers to scramble for a pitcher that, they hoped, could put together a somewhat decent outing on short notice.

With the way the Boston Red Sox have been playing, they could look to anyone and be able to baffle them.

Even Nolan Ryan, the Rangers president and one of the greatest pitchers of all time, at age 62, bald and overweight, could probably mow the Red Sox down. They chose Dustin Nippert instead, a 28-year old who entered the game having made 13 career starts. On cue, he delivered a gem.

I expected nothing less.

He only had about three hours to prepare for his third start of the season. But that was enough.

At 7:09 PM Texas time, he stepped to the mound, looked at his catcher, Taylor Teagarden, then at his first hitter, Jacoby Ellsbury, and dealt.

He retired Ellsbury, catching him looking at three straight strikes for his first of five strikeouts.

Dustin Pedroia went down quietly, grounding out on the third pitch he saw, then Kevin Youkilis, who has gained the reputation as a patient hitter with a good eye that rarely strikes out, whiffed miserably at two fastballs too tempting and too high, striking out to end the frame.

 

This has been a reoccurring sight. Dustin Pedroia (left) and Jason Varitek (right) prepare to leave after another road loss, the Boston Red Sox fifth in a row. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

 

Entering this start, Nippert had been lit up by Boston’s bats over his short career, posting a 11.57 ERA. In three relief appearances he has allowed 10 runs on 14 hits in 7 innings.

But that Red Sox team was entirely different to the one he faced on this night. This team was a joke, in a dreadful slump that compares to the Mets lose again to Nats, drop to six under .500">New York Mets woes of late. They’ve been so bad that—if the likes of Pedroia and Youkilis, the only players that still know how to hit, don’t produce—the team struggles to amount a single run.

They received that run, their lone of the game, from the unlikeliest of players. Nick Green, who hadn’t played in Boston’s previous two losses to Texas, crushed a inside fastball from Nippert, his lone mistake, deep to center-field.

The ball kept carrying, and carrying, and carrying, until center-fielder Josh Hamilton ran out of room and watched if fall into the grass beyond the wall, where kids battled for the souvenir.

Could the fifth home run of the season by the 30-year old shortstop—who prior to that mighty swing was 6 for his last 40 at the plate—lift the Red Sox to their first win in five games?

In the end, no.

Nippert looked on from the dugout as Clay Buchholz, his 24-year old counterpart who arrived by plane late the night before from Triple-A Pawtucket, struggled.

Buchholz entered the major leagues in 2007, and, in his third career start, tossed a no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles.

It was incredible, but it turned out to be the worst thing for him. He was overwhelmed by the expectations that ensued, and has since struggled with his control, bouncing back and forth from the minors and majors.

In 2008, he lost nine games and carried an abysmal 6.75 ERA, earning a demotion near the end of August to work on his mechanics, a break from the major leagues that lasted until July 17 of this year.

He won that start against the Toronto Blue Jays, the last win for the Red Sox. He proved he was ready once again for the major leagues, and had high hopes heading into his return home.

The native of Nederland, Texas could not improve upon his success.

He relinquished the Red Sox slim lead quickly, a home run to Ian Kinsler on one of many high fastballs he threw in the bottom of the third inning.

The Rangers tacked on two more in the fourth: An RBI-groundout by Teagarden and a suicide squeeze 20-year old shortstop Elvis Andrus that plated former Red Sox prospect David Murphy from third base. The squeeze, a bunt deadened in front of the plate, one of the toughest plays to pull off, surprised Boston.

Andrus’ RBI-bunt single, though done to perfection, epitomized the Red Sox woes.

Buchholz slipped in his attempt to get the speedy Andrus out at first, but it was a good thing, considering Pedroia failed to cover the base. Boston, a once fundamentally sound team, couldn’t even do the fundamentals.

They were hopeless.

Rangers manager Ron Washington hoped for between four and five innings from Nippert, but the 6'8" right-hander gave him more, leaving to a standing ovation after tossing 5 2/3 remarkable innings.

27-year old Doug Mathis replaced Nippert and, not surprisingly, sent down the Red Sox with ease. Mathis finished the game out, needing just 44 pitches in throwing 3 1/3 shutout innings to save Nippert’s second win of the season.

Boston managed only six hits and two walks. They scored only one run, increasing their total during their five-game losing streak to nine.

They were swept by a better team, and dominated by a last-minute replacement and Mathis, a 26-year old with only 18 previous major league appearances under his belt.

Where do the Red Sox go from here?

Well, they welcome in Adam LaRoche, whom they traded for earlier today, and hope he can wake up an offense currently in a coma. What if he’s just more of the same, though?

Well, then they had better get used to more abysmal performances like this.