A lonestar in california

There’s really not much to say about Friday nights game against the Red Sox in Fenway park. All you really need to do is take a look at the scoreboard, and you’ll get the drift: Red Sox 11, Rangers 3. Ouch.

The Rangers came into Fenway on a two game winning streak, having swept the two-game matinee in Toronto for a mini-sweep of sorts. That all came to a screeching halt today, as all it took was one swing by David Ortiz to get the Red Sox offense kick-started in the bottom of the third.

Luis Mendoza, pitching against his former organization, actually got off to a great start to the game retiring the first 8 Red Sox in order on 33 pitches. He was even staked to a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, when Ian Kinsler doubled, stole third base, and was plated on a sac fly by Josh Hamilton (whose 16 RBI so far tie him for third most in the AL). But the wheels would come off for Mendoza with 2 out in the 3rd.

Mendoza started the inning by getting Jason Varitek to foul out, and Sean Casey to line out to short. But then rookie shortstop Jed Lowrie, making just his second start of the season for the Red Sox, doubled into the LF corner, and that sparked the rally. With a runner in scoring position, Mendoza all of a sudden started trying to be too fine, and would up walking Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedrioa, which brought up David Ortiz. Big Papi promplty hammered Mendoza’s first pitch, a fastball that was left out over the plate, over the green monster for an opposite field grand slam.

The Sox didn’t let up, as Mendoza got into more trouble in the 4th. He walked JD Drew to start the frame, and then gave up an RBI double to Jason Varitek. Sean Casey followed with a single to put runners on first and third, which finally chased Mendoza. Josh Rupe came jogging out of the bullpen, but he didn’t help matters much. After a sac fly by Jed Lowrie, Rupe gave up an RBI triple to Jacoby Ellsbury, and a 2 run homer to Dustin Pedrioa before getting out of the inning.

Rupe did settle down to toss three more innings of scoreless ball, but the nails where in the coffin, despite the brief excitement of Hank Blalock (who returned to the lineup a little earlier than expected yesterday) hammering a 2-run homer off Dice-K Matsuzaka in the 6th. The Red Sox tacked on two more runs, one earned, one unearned, against Dustin Nippert in the 8th, to make it 11-3, and the rest is history.

There wasn’t too much distraction to be found in Friday’s Ranger notes, as the only real notables where the fact that Eddie Guaradado is scheduled to come off the DL Sunday, and the leading candidate to be sent to AAA is of course Josh Rupe, the only pitcher in the Texas bullpen with a minor league option (besides closer CJ Wilson, that is), and that the Rangers are also still trying to figure out what’s wrong with Marlon Byrd’s sore knee. He is now scheduled to undergo an MRI Monday, as Byrd was quoted as saying “It’s just not getting any better. We want to know what this is and get treatment for it. I want to be back in 15 days.” It seems that Byrd may actually have a serious problem here - although his condition is apparently a fairly recent development, perhaps it provides some explanation for his lousy play of late. You can’t use it to explain away his cold bat, which goes all the way back to spring training, but it might provide a palpable excuse for his recent morbid defense and baserunning gaffes.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia watch: Salty was 0-4 with an RBI and a strikeout Friday, as Oklahoma beat Round Rock, 6-4. Eric Hurley turned in his first solid start of the season, and picked up the win, while Kaz Fukumori pitched 2.1 perfect innings of relief, striking out 2, and Frank Francisco picked up his 4th save, striking out both batters he faced.

Tomorrow, Jason Jennings takes on BoSox left-hander Jon Lester at Fenway. Jennings, of course, is 0-3 with a 8.79 ERA in his first three starts, and allowed a home run in all three, although Lester has had struggles of his own recently, allowing 8 runs in 9 2/3 innings in his last two starts, and has walked a total of 15 in 4 starts this season. Hopefully, Jennings will stop throwing belt-high 84 mph frisbees, keep the ball down, and prove me wrong, but I’m bracing for a wild one tonight.