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Post by Kimmi on Apr 30, 2021 16:47:11 GMT -5
Let's do this team.
Make me happy.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 30, 2021 16:49:03 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 9m Whitlock said he met Steven Wright prior to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft. Wright rehabbed at the same facility.
'He always said it's an amazing organization.' #RedSox
Whitlock credits Birmingham physician Kevin Wilk with helping him through his rehab from Tommy John.
'It was probably five, six hours a day for five days a week each.'
Garrett Whitlock -- 'I just try to be a good rookie.'
'I told Will (Venable) when I showed up, 'Shoot, I'll be the janitor on this team if it means I get to be in the big leagues.'' #RedSox
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Post by scrappyunderdog on Apr 30, 2021 20:37:55 GMT -5
Mask wearing is going to happen for a while yet and I am cool with it I'm cool with it too. I'm used to it.
I've ditched it in the finance office. It's a small group of us and we are all vaccinated. I still wear it in the main building, but mostly for show. I just ditched it running outside. I use to carry it with me and put it on every time I passed someone (technically, every time someone passed me). It feels a lot better to not bother with it.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 1, 2021 3:37:30 GMT -5
Day off? No thanks. J.D. mashes 2 homers 2:35 AM ADT Ian Browne
Ian Browne @ianmbrowne
The migraine-like symptoms that prevented J.D. Martinez from taking his final at-bat Thursday were expected to keep him out of the lineup Friday.
But the star DH talked his way into the starting nine and let his bat do the rest of the talking while leading the Red Sox to a 6-1 victory over the Rangers at Globe Life Field.
If Martinez was still feeling ill, it didn’t show.
He took the first pitch that he saw in his first at-bat and belted it over the wall for a three-run homer. In the top of the third, he mauled one over the wall in center field for a solo shot.
“He stopped by the office last night after he got treatment and I told him, ‘You're not playing tomorrow.’ He's like, ‘No, I should be OK.’ This morning he texted me right away, he let me know,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “You've got to trust your players. He's not going to lie to us. If he's feeling dizzy or has a migraine, he's not going to try to compete that way. That was an easy one.”
The migraines first started bothering Martinez in the wee hours of Thursday morning, after the Red Sox arrived in Texas following their victory at Citi Field against the Mets.
“I mean, I had a really, really bad migraine,” Martinez said. “We got in, didn’t go to bed until about 4 a.m. and then woke up at 8 a.m. with a crazy migraine and I couldn't fall back asleep. And then I got to the park, trainers did some stuff on my neck and it just released and it felt so much better.
“And then, after my third at-bat -- like right before my third at-bat -- I was in the cage swinging and getting loose and it just hit me and I was feeling terrible, like, everything was so bright. I mean, I'm sure you guys have had migraines. I got to the point where I felt a little dizzy.”
Again, the training staff helped Martinez get past the issue. That’s when he told Cora that he should be good to go.
Did the migraine come back at all Friday?
“Yeah, I woke up with it; and then came in, did some more treatment and then it went away and started up a little bit, but it's all some muscle or something that just tightens up,” said Martinez. “I don't know why it happens, but it just tightens up and then I get this crazy migraine.”
Martinez is pleased that Cora took him up on his offer to play. So are the Red Sox.
“Alex always has a good feel with all that stuff, so he knows I want to be in there every day as much as I can,” Martinez said.
Perhaps Martinez should keep coming off the sick bed. Martinez missed the game on April 10 in Baltimore due to allergies that gave him a severe head cold. The next day, he blasted three homers.
Martinez continues to be one of the best early-season stories in baseball. After hitting .213 with seven homers in 54 games last season, the right-handed hitting masher already has nine homers in his first 25 games of ‘21.
“It’s been a great start. I’ve been doing well. I’ve been hitting, been producing and we’ve been winning,” said Martinez. “Our team is in first place. It’s been a great month. Just got to keep this going. It’s been one month; there’s still five more to go.”
Yes, the Red Sox, who really weren’t picked by any prognosticators to do well this season, finished April with a 17-10 mark, good for a 3-1/2 game lead in the American League East. Entering May 1, they boast both the most wins in the Majors and the highest winning percentage (.630).
“You do that consistently over the course of a season -- you win 17 games a month -- you put yourself in the conversation,” said Cora. “It was a great month. A month that we struggled in a few things, we played well for a good period of time, but knowing this is just a start and we still have to keep working and getting better.”
As for Martinez, the Red Sox just need him to stay right where he is.
“We have a lot of guys swinging the bat really well, but J.D., to watch him do it and get back to what he does best [has been great],” said winning pitcher Nathan Eovaldi. “Last year, obviously, was a fluke for him. And to be able to see him overcome that and go out there, he’s one of the best hitters out there in the league, so it’s good to have him on our team and our side, hitting the way he is now. It’s awesome to see and I think everybody kind of feeds off that.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 1, 2021 3:49:10 GMT -5
Jon Couture @joncouture · 8h Excedrin and breaking balls floating in the middle of the zone are approved migraine medications, it would seem. #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 1, 2021 3:53:55 GMT -5
Red Sox have a blast at Rangers’ expense, slam four homers in road rout By Julian McWilliams Globe Staff,Updated April 30, 2021, 10:53 p.m.
The Red Sox pride themselves in stringing together runs in multiple ways. It could be by the homer, the single through the right side, or the double in the gap. Or, perhaps, a good at-bat that works a pitch count up.
This year, they have honed in on hitting with men in scoring position, sometimes surrendering their own numbers at the expense of scoring a run. It’s how, in part, they’ve put together this productive start to the season. They have proven themselves to be complete hitters, accruing their runs in multiple ways.
Nevertheless, manager Alex Cora and hitting coach Tim Hyers don’t want their players to lose an aggressive approach. When the homer is there, take it.
In the 6-1 win over the Rangers on Friday, they flexed their homer muscles, with all six runs coming on the long ball.
“We can do that, too,” Cora said.
J.D. Martinez had four RBIs and two of Boston’s four home runs, and after scoring just a run in each of their last two games, the Red Sox established early offense.
The Red Sox jumped on Rangers starter Kohei Arihara in the top of the first, leadoff walks to Christian Arroyo and Alex Verdugo followed by Martinez’s first home run and a Xander Bogaerts solo shot. Martinez, taken out of Thursday’s contest with migraine symptoms, belted an Arihara offering to dead center for a solo homer in the third, registering his MLB-leading ninth of the season.
Martinez, who finished 3 for 4, became the fourth Red Sox to hit as many as nine homers before May, tying Manny Ramirez (2001) and falling one shy of the 10 from David Ortiz (2006, his franchise record 54-homer season) and Hanley Ramirez (2015).
“I’ve been doing well. Been hitting, been producing, and we’ve been winning. It’s been a great month,” Martinez said.
Two batters later, Rafael Devers hit a line drive, opposite field shot to left, the game’s scoring done in its first hour.
“That was impressive,” Cora said of Devers. “His batting practice [Thursday], it was phenomenal. We were talking about it today. He’s been able to stay back and drive the ball to left.”
Nate Eovaldi was fresh off his first underwhelming start of the season, when the righthander allowed five earned runs in five innings against the Mariners. Eovaldi is best when his fastball lives at the top of the zone, and he made that his point of attack Friday, striking out five in six innings with two walks.
“I had a good feel for my curveball today,” Eovaldi said. “And the splitter. Well, um, with those two pitches going down in the zone, it just kind of complements the fastball up, so I was able to get a couple strikeouts that way and a couple quick outs later in the game.”
The lone Texas run came in the second, on a Brock Holt single dumped into shallow right field. Holt’s hit scored Adolis García from second and helped lead to a 28-pitch inning, Eovaldi’s only rocky frame.
“I kind of let the second inning get to me a little bit,” Eovaldi said. “I felt like I was getting squeezed a little and I got to do a better job of letting those things go. I wasn’t attacking the zone.”
Josh Taylor allowed a lone single in relief of Eovaldi in the seventh. Darwinzon Hernandez continued his recent success by striking out three around an infield single in the eighth, and Austin Brice walked two before finishing it in the ninth.
The Red Sox finished April at 17-10, still sitting in first in the American League East.
“It was a great month,” Cora said. “A month that we struggled in a few things. We played well for a good period of time. But, knowing that this is just a start, we still have to keep working.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 1, 2021 3:56:12 GMT -5
J.D. Martinez’s planned day off turns into another stellar night at the plate for the Sox By Peter Abraham Globe Staff,Updated May 1, 2021, 12:12 a.m.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Red Sox manager Alex Cora fully embraces the idea of giving even his best players regular days off. He feels some extra rest in April, May, and June makes for better production in September and beyond.
Most managers believe that to be true. Players are valuable to their teams and wearing them down is bad for business. It’s better to be cautious.
Kansas City second baseman Whit Merrifield has the longest active streak of consecutive games with 332. Cal Ripken Jr. isn’t losing any sleep over that.
So when J.D. Martinez came out of Thursday night’s game against the Texas Rangers with a migraine headache that sent pain down to his neck, Cora was quick to say he’d be out of the lineup on Friday.
It was just the excuse the manager needed to get his designated hitter off his feet with two more games remaining on the road trip.
But when the Sox posted their lineup on Friday afternoon, there was Martinez, hitting third as usual. Then he went 3 for 4 with two home runs and four RBIs in a 6-1 victory.
Martinez stopped by Cora’s office on Thursday well after the game and said his symptoms had passed and he didn’t need time off.
Cora still wanted to be cautious.
“No, no, no, I’ll be fine,” Martinez said. “I’m in, I’ll be fine.”
Martinez followed that up with a text message early Friday morning and Cora agreed to cancel the day off.
“You’ve got to trust your players, right?” Cora said. “He’s not going to lie to us. If he’s feeling dizzy or has a migraine he’s not going to try to compete that way. That was an easy one, 100 percent.”
The barrage started in the first inning after Texas starter Kohei Arihara, a rookie from Japan, walked Christian Arroyo and Alex Verdugo on 12 pitches.
The righthander seemed determined to get ahead of Martinez and threw a first-pitch slider over the plate. Martinez sent it over the fence in left field.
“I’m just ready to hit,” he said. “When you have guys on base, especially early in the game, you’ve got to be up there ready to hit. Just up there trusting my eyes.”
Xander Bogaerts followed with a home run and it was 4-0.
Martinez came up again in the third inning and drilled a splitter that stayed up 440 feet to center field for his major league-leading ninth home run.
Martinez, who also leads the majors with 25 RBIs, settled for a single in the fifth inning.
Martinez is the fourth Red Sox player with nine home runs before May 1. Manny Ramirez (nine in 2001), David Ortiz (10 in 2006), and Hanley Ramirez (10 in 2015) are the others.
Martinez hit .213 with seven homers in 54 games last season. Pandemic baseball and protocols didn’t allow for his usual routine of getting to the ballpark early in the day to prepare for games.
It was more than not being able to watch video of prior at-bats during games. Martinez just never got comfortable and with the team collapsing around him, it was a lost cause.
“It’s an all-day process for his swing,” Cora said. “He feels better physically and he’s in a better place with his mechanics.”
A .351 batting average offers proof of that. Martinez is back to being a power hitter who also hits for average, a linchpin in the lineup.
“He is that good,” Cora said. “He’s on a mission.”
In only 375 games with the Sox, Martinez already has 95 home runs. That’s 33rd in Red Sox history. Outside of last season, he’s been everything the Sox hoped for when they signed him.
Nate Eovaldi, who took the mound with a 4-0 lead, benefited from Martinez’s big night.
“To watch him get back to what he does best, last year obviously was a fluke for him,” Eovaldi said. “To be able to see him overcome that and go out there — he’s one of the best hitters out there in the league.
“To have him on our team, on our side, hitting the way he is now, it’s awesome to see. I think everybody feeds off that.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 1, 2021 3:58:03 GMT -5
RED SOX NOTEBOOK Red Sox not among first swath of teams to reach 85 percent vaccinated By Julian McWilliams Globe Staff,Updated April 30, 2021, 8:58 p.m.
Major League Baseball and the players association announced four teams have reached the threshold of 85 percent of their Tier 1 individuals — players, coaches, and support staff — being fully vaccinated. Those four, which includes the Yankees and Tigers, are able to relax certain health and safety protocols, with five other teams set to join them within two weeks.
Alex Cora said his Red Sox team isn’t there just yet.
“There were four more guys that got the shot [after the last homestand],” the manager said before his team’s 6-1 win over the Rangers on Friday. “It’s trending up. As you know because of where we play, our process started a little bit later than other places. So we just have to be patient.”
It wasn’t until April 19 that everyone in Massachusetts, age 16 and up, could receive the vaccination. That was a lot slower than other states.
Cora, who received his second dose a little more than a week ago, noted that the majority of his coaching staff has received the vaccine.
The team has had medical experts available to the team to talk about the importance of receiving the vaccine. Cora has intimated that to his players as well, including some of the realities that stand in the team’s way if they don’t reach 85 percent vaccination.
“It’s not the [85 percent] mark, it’s for me, for the people close to us,” Cora said. “I know how it works, that they’re going to get more freedom to do stuff. I would love to have my family on the road, right. And if we don’t get to 85 percent, we’re not going to be able to do that regardless if my family is vaccinated or I’m vaccinated.
“I would love everybody here to do it for the right reason. It is to protect each other.”
As of Friday, according to MLB and the MLBPA, more than 81 percent of all Tier 1 individuals are considered partially or fully vaccinated. Garrett Whitlock’s up for whatever
Garrett Whitlock is just happy to be a big leaguer. He doesn’t care about becoming a starter. Despite the Rule 5 draft pick — who was plucked from the Yankees system last offseason — putting up stellar numbers, he knows how it feels to be injured or on the backburner.
“Like I told bench [coach Will Venable], I said, ‘I’ll be the janitor up here,’ ” Whitlock said.
In his first 13⅓ MLB innings, his first year back since undergoing Tommy John surgery, Whitlock has 18 strikeouts and is yet to allow a run. Even though it seems inevitable he’ll earn a rotation spot at some point beyond this season, the Red Sox have brought Whitlock along slowly. The club has pitched him in spurts, often going days between outings in an effort to stretch him out.
Whitlock’s gone at least two innings in all but one of his six outings.
“The veterans and my teammates deserve all the credit,” Whitlock said. “They’ve given me confidence that like, ‘Hey, we know you’re a Rule 5 guy, but you got this stuff, go do it.’ And so I can’t thank them enough for that.” Needed day off
Kiké Hérnandez was out of the lineup Friday after going 4-for-24 in his last six games. Perhaps a breather could do him well. For the season, Hérnandez has been a weak spot in the leadoff spot, hitting .230 and not getting on base (.271) in 107 plate appearances. Despite his early season woes, Cora isn’t thinking about dropping Hérnandez in the lineup, saying he’s been controlling the strike zone better the last few days despite not getting the results. “Just keep pushing,” Cora said. “I think we saw it in spring training, he was able to hit line drives and control the strike zone. And right now he’s been on and off, but we feel comfortable with [him]” . . . Rich Gedman, a Worcester native, will open the inaugural Worcester Red Sox season next week as its hitting coach, and couldn’t be happier to be back in his hometown. “I left home at 17 years old,” Gedman said. “So I’ve been away longer than I’ve been here, but I’ve never been too far away. I walked the streets. I certainly walk the streets around the ballpark. It’s nice to be back here. And so proud to say that I’m from here. And I never thought in our lifetime that we’d ever see this.” The WooSox open Tuesday, May 4, on the road; their Polar Park opener is scheduled for May 11 against the Syracuse Mets . . . Former Red Sox Brock Holt and his wife, Lakyn, have brought their philanthropy back to their home state of Texas. Holt, now with the Rangers, announced the #HoltOffCancer initiative to help raise awareness and fight against childhood cancer in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Holt will be working closely with the pediatric oncology unit at Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth. Holt was an active member in the Red Sox community and, more specifically, the Jimmy Fund throughout his tenure with the club.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 1, 2021 4:02:35 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 8h As Hunter Renfroe strikes out to end the 1st, I'm reminded of this tweet.
Chaim Bloom was also at Polar Park this afternoon. #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 1, 2021 4:03:17 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 6h Franchy Cordero -- 0-for-17, 1-for-29.
Only one strikeout tonight. But man, he continues to scuffle. #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 1, 2021 4:04:42 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 5h Cora, somewhat facetiously, on 17 wins in April -- 'I know social media is going nuts.'
'It was a great month.'
'I'm just proud of them. The work they put in spring training, it's paying off.' #RedSox
Alex Cora said J.D. Martinez received treatment for his migraines last night. He texted Cora this morning asking to play.
'You've got to trust your players.' #RedSox
Cora -- 'There was some progress with Franchy. Bobby as just a tick off. I do believe we're getting there.'
'The walks were huge.' #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 1, 2021 4:06:07 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 6h Cora on Martinez -- 'It's an all-day process with his swing. He feels better physically. He's in a good place with his mechanics.' #RedSox
Cora -- 'He's not going to lie to me.'
'He came into the office and told me last night, 'I should be okay.''
'He was good to go.' #RedSox
Cora on Devers -- 'That was impressive.'
'His batting practice yesterday was phenomenal. It was unreal.'
'He's in a great place right now. He's slowing down the game. I do believe he's about to go on one of those runs.' #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 1, 2021 4:07:04 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 5h Eovaldi on reaching 1,000 career innings -- 'I'm definitely grateful to be able to achieve that goal.'
'It means a lot to me for sure.' #RedSox
Nathan Eovaldi on his approach from the 2nd inning on -- 'I wasn't attacking the zone. After that it was just, 'Hey, you know what? Just go after these guys.' #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 1, 2021 4:08:46 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 5h Martinez on his first homer -- 'I'm just ready to hit.'
'Just up there and trusting my eyes.' #RedSox
Martinez -- 'I try to get caught up in the process. You know how I think. I try to take every day.' #RedSox
J.D. Martinez said he woke up early Thursday with a migraine. Trainers worked on him at the ballpark and it 'released and felt so much better.' Then later in the game he felt a recurrence and received more treatment. #RedSox
Martinez -- 'Alex has a good feel for all that stuff. He knows I want to be in there as much as I can.' #RedSox
Martinez -- 'It's been a great start. I've been doing well. I've been hitting. I've been producing. And we've been winning. Our team is in first place.' #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 1, 2021 4:11:01 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 8h HRs by a Red Sox shortstop:
1. Rico Petrocelli 210 2. Nomar Garciaparra 178 3. Xander Bogaerts and Vern Stephens 122.
JD Martinez already has 95 HRs as a Red Sox (in 375 games).
Passed Ellis Burksand Butch Hobson for 33rd in team history tonight
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