David Murphy and Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s back-to-back homers put away the Boston Red Sox and John Smoltz in the sixth inning.
Smoltz dropped to 1-3 on the season giving up nine hits, six runs, no walks and five strikeouts. Smoltz gave up three homers total including a solo shot to Michael Young in the sixth.
David Ortiz had an RBI double and Kevin Youkilis plated a runner on a single in the ninth.
Goat of the Game – Smoltz
Three homers in the sixth inning doesn’t help a baseball team win games.
Next Game – 7/21 vs. Texas Rangers – Josh Beckett/Tommy Hunter
The Red Sox lost, well, we all know what that means with Beckett on the mound.
Loading ...
Hm, it sucks that Smoltz still can’t go a full 6 innings yet, but at least he was good through 5. Hopefully after a few more start he can build the stamina to go 6.
What sucks even more is that several important members of the team are going through a big slump right now, Lowell can’t really run, and we still don’t have a great lead-off hitter yet. That said, I feel bad for those people who expect us to trade for A-Gon by the end of the week.
He looked pretty darn good through 5, good enough that I’m comfortable with him hereon out.
I wonder if this showing, however, was enough for Theo to decide to table any possible Penny trade.
I’m one of those who wants to trade for A-Gon (or V-Mart) by the end of the week.
But I don’t think it’s gonna happen. Reading the comments of Theo, it looks like the FO is gonna play cheap yet again. Sadly, you cannot expect to have elite hitters if you don’t want to pay the price. We have huge resources in prospects and money, but we don’t want to invest even for a certified superstar like Adrian Gonzalez.
I think we would all love to have a guy like A-Gon on the team, but a) he’s not on the market from everything we’ve heard and b) no one will take on Lowell right now, which means you’re either replacing a versatile guy like Kotsay (who can’t really hit, but plays several positions well enough) with someone who can really only play one or two positions (I’m using A-Gon as an example here, 1B and DH), or you’re going to have to put Lowell somewhere for the rest of his contract, whether it’s a longterm DL or DFA him. Neither of those things seem to really be all that feasible right now, although Lowell really is a DH at this point, and can’t play everyday.
Shell of the Former John Smoltz Fails
http://buchholzstolemylaptop.blogspot.com/
Umm, that guy above (Tony Gicas) is an @ssh*le.
The name of the very first post on his originally-named blog is “John Lester Faked Cancer”.
I recommend not going there, as he is simply trying to drive traffic. But I already let his employer, The Clifton Journal, know he is pushing garbage under their name.
I realize moving Lowell is just a pipe dream. But, the thing is, I don’t think Lowell is gonna raise his value in the future. Maybe this is gonna sound harsh, but I think we are seeing the peak value of Lowell. With his age and his health problems, I doubt he is gonna play any better in the future. In fact, we can only expect to further decline in offense and defense. So, trading him now (for anything, just to get rid of his contract), and making room for a guy like V-Mart or A-Gon, is the best possible escenario for me.
But even if we cannot trade him, we still should look for a big bat. Because if Lowell becomes a part-time player, then acquiring a guy like V-Mart has even more sense. And V- Mart can also give us an upgrade in the catching position. In him, we can got an elite hitter who can give us a lot of flexibility.
I don’t disagree with you about upgrading a corner infield position, especially since Lowell can’t really seem to run or field all that well.
I guess I’m just a realist, and it doesn’t really bother me as much as others. We still have a year and a half with Lowell, and I’m thinking Theo is very reluctant to just dump him somewhere, especially since he really doesn’t have any trade value until he can prove he can actually field his position and isn’t just a DH waiting to happen. We’d probably have to eat most if not all of his contract. I just can’t see any easy way to get rid of him.
I think at this point we’ll just trade for a guy like Teahen, hope Lowell improves, aim for a playoff spot, and anything after that is gravy. Save our chips for the offseason when the Padres might actually put A-Gon on the market. Of course, anything can happen, so I’m willing to be wrong.