Masterson's Replacement: Nick Green the Pitcher Brilliant Against White Sox

At the July 31 trade deadline, the Boston Red Sox traded 24-year-old Justin Masterson to the Cleveland Indians. He was a valuable asset for Boston with his ability to pitch in long relief as well as make spot-starts.

It was tough to see him go, considering his youth and upside. But, with him now a member of the Indians starting rotation, the Red Sox have lacked someone with his versatility. That is, until now.

Their bullpen wasn’t necessarily taxed entering this series finale against the Chicago White Sox. So, when Junichi Tazawa’s start was over after four rough innings in which he allowed nine runs on ten hits, surely Boston’s regular relief core could patch together the final five, right?

Evidently, wrong. It appeared it would be a fair assessment, as Manny Delcarmen and Ramon Ramirez combined to pitch three scoreless innings, but manager Terry Francona had an odd trick up his sleeve.

He didn’t send out Daniel Bard in the eighth, nor Hideki Okajima, Jonathan Papelbon, Takashi Saito, or the newly acquired Billy Wagner. As a matter of fact, the player who took the mound to begin the eighth hadn’t pitched in his professional career.

That player was Nick Green, Boston’s backup shortstop. He must have pitched in high school, because he hadn’t done so in his minor league career that spanned the better part of nine seasons, nor in his major league career, which has spanned parts of four.

So, if I am correct, he hasn’t pitched in more than 10 years. Yet, clearly he has some background, or Francona wouldn’t have put him in such a nerve-racking position.

To my bewilderment, Green wasn’t horrible. He wasn’t even bad. His first acquaintance was Gordon Beckham. Right-handed, Green toted a high leg-kick, and managed to hit 90 miles-per-hour on the radar gun.

His first three pitches to Beckham were fastballs, and all balls, then the fourth nicked the strikezone. The Fenway crowd was quiet for a majority of the evening, as their team had been shellacked, but got a kick out of Green, cheering him on in the blowout.

It was comedic, and the 37,000 strong clearly found it humorous. So, when Green’s fifth pitch to Beckham was popped up and caught by his colleague, shortstop Alex Gonzalez, the reception was unbelievable.

In an inevitable loss, no one cared about the outcome anymore. It was all about Green. Everyone in the stands congratulated him on a first in his career. Naturally, they were shocked by his ability.

I bet he was too. Especially when the outs kept coming. Throwing nothing but fastballs, Green retired A.J. Pierzynski on a fly-out to center-field. The cheers grew louder. Then, understandably, he began missing the strikezone with regularity, throwing four straight balls to Paul Konerko after a first pitch strike to issue his first walk.

He worked around it, though, as all good pitchers are able to do, getting Jim Thome to ground out. He walked off the mound to a standing ovation.

After the game, Green revealed his response to Francona once he was informed midway through the game that he was going to pitch the eighth. He had one question: “Who’s going to pitch the ninth?” You are, of course.

So, the Fenway crowd rose again as Green exited the dugout and trotted back to the mound to begin the ninth inning. Carlos Quentin tapped the third pitch he saw back to the mound. Green scooped it up and wasted no time turning into his usual self.

He didn’t even give first baseman Casey Kotchman time to move over and cover the bag before firing a bullet in the vicinity with his shortstop’s sidearm delivery. Kotchman, still feet away from actually reaching the base, snagged the fastball, then tip-toed over to retire Quentin.

Green proceeded to walk former teammate Mark Kotsay, who had to be laughing inside underneath his serious and focused exterior. I am sure every White Sox felt this way. After every pitch, they looked out at the mound and saw the scrawny 6-footer who, well, looked nothing like a pitcher and everything like a shortstop.

To make Green’s situation even funnier and that much more remarkable, Chicago couldn’t buy a hit off him. He was throwing nothing but fastballs, and not particularly fast ones by major league standards. Maybe the White Sox pitied him. Maybe they were just unmotivated with a win well in hand.

Or maybe, which I believe to be the case, Green was just flat out good. He had movement, and though he possessed little control, he got the job done.

Alexei Ramirez flied out to left-field, getting under a high fastball for the second out of the ninth. Green walked the next hitter, the final of his three walks, then came the crowning touch to his unexpectedly successful outing. He missed with ball-one against Scott Podsednik, then got ahead of the speedster on a called strike and a foul ball.

Everyone was on their feet in the stands, and everyone in the Red Sox dugout were near or hanging over the railing. Could Green collect his first strikeout? Unfortunately, no, but he received the next best thing.

Podsednik connected sharply with the sixth pitch, and it appeared, for a split second, that Green would allow his first hit.

But Green, who was replaced by Gonzalez as the starting shortstop weeks ago more because of his inconsistent defense than his anemic hitting, snared the grounder as a Gold Glove pitcher would, and immediately fired to first, again before Kotchman was ready. He jogged off the mound to an even louder ovation than before.

He sported a huge grin walking towards the dugout, and shared a big laugh with his teammates once he walked down the steps. As he took congratulatory slaps on the back and high-fives, he relived his outing as, presumably, his ‘mates spouted joke after joke about his memorable performance.

Green threw 35 pitches. Only 12 were for strikes. Yet, he not only tossed two scoreless innings, but two hitless innings. He, who had the longest outing by a position player since Eddie Lake threw 2 1/3 innings of two-run ball in 1944, admitted afterward that he didn’t want to pitch when Francona proposed the idea. I am sure he’s happy he did now.

I’m guessing he doesn’t want to get used to it, but since he’s been supplanted at his regular position, it might not be a bad idea for Francona to proposition him again. Boston, I think you may have found a suitable replacement for Masterson.