Tuesday Links

Can’t wait for a full season for this guy. Photo by Kelly O’Connor, www.sittingstill.smugmug.com

Red Sox games during the 2014 season follow one of two paths; either the pitching is great and the offense can’t hit, or the pitching is trash and the offense is scoring. Boston chose the ladder of the two during the series opener against the Seattle Mariners on Monday night. After scoring a run in the first inning on a David Ortiz RBI single, the usually reliable John Lackey served up a game tying home run an inning later. Boston, however, quickly regained the lead after Mike Napoli drilled his 9th home run of the season. But with a 2-1 advantage in the 4th inning, all hell broke lose for Lackey and the Red Sox, as the Mariners scored 6 times and knocked the Red Sox starter out of the game. With Lackey gone, Chris Capuano couldn’t stop the Mariners offensive attack, and allowed 5 more runs over 2.1 innings. When all was said and done, what looked to be a promising start against Felix Hernandez turned into a 12-3 Red Sox loss.

• Turns out that David Ortiz was right –to some extent– to complain about not getting credit for a hit during his 7th inning at-bat last Wednesday. The play that featured a deflection off of Joe Mauer’s glove was originally ruled an error, but was switched to a base hit upon further review. (Scorer grants David Ortiz single)

• While the duo of Stephen Drew and Xander Bogaerts have been stellar on the left side of the infield, the same can’t be said of the pair at the plate. Drew, of course, got a late start to the season after resigning with Boston in May, while Bogaerts has endured the natural progression of a rookie season. (Welcome to the uncomfortable reality of Stephen Drew, Xander Bogaerts)

• Given the way that the Red Sox have played this season, it’s obvious that the team’s roster isn’t flush with All-star candidates. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some deserving players to send to Minnesota in mid-July. Koji Uehara and Jon Lester headline the top Red Sox candidates to represent Boston during the All-Star festivities next month. (Koji and who else: Analyzing Boston’s All-star possibilities)

• While Felix Doubront and Clay Buchholz were on the disabled list, Brandon Workman and Rubby De La Rosa relished their time in Boston’s rotation. But now that both Doubront and Buchholz have rejoined the team, the Red Sox brass will need to clear two spots in order to accommodate their young, reliable arms. (Red Sox hace a quandary with their pitching staff)

• It’s important to remember that during trade season, the amount of rumors that swirl around greatly outweighs the realistic deals being discussed. For the Red Sox, their reported interest in L.A. Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp gained some traction over the weekend, but has since been shot down. (Red Sox not in on Matt Kemp)

• Tweet of the day: Further evidence that NL rules are awful.