Jacoby Ellsbury goes 2-for-4 on bobblehead night

In the nine years Pawtucket has held a Bobblehead Doll Night promotion, never before had a former PawSox who’s been with Boston played in a rehab game the night his Bobblehead was being given to fans who entered McCoy Stadium.

Jacoby Ellsbury put his name in Pawtucket’s “record book” last night when he played six innings in the first of two games against the Durham Bulls and went 2-for-4 with a run scored.

Ellsbury, who batted leadoff and played center field, lined an off-field single to left -- on a 3-2 count in the first inning -- off right-hander Virgil Vasquez, who pitched last season for the Pirates.

The DL All-Stars

Kevin Youkilis left last night's game in the 4th inning with an ankle injury. At the moment, it appears he'll be fine -- the word out of Fenway is that he'll be in the lineup tonight. Still, the sight of Youk leaving the game yesterday must have caused remotes across New England to be flung in exasperated disgust as the injury bug appeared to claim another key player on this 2010 Red Sox team. In recounting the injuries that have plagued the club this year, it occurs to me that we could field a fairly talented club solely from our DL. In order to find out exactly how good, I decided to draw up a lineup (nine offensive positions, two starters, a setup man, and a closer) and see how well it would stack up given their projected 2010 WAR (I'm using CHONE projections for batters because they're the easiest to find, but the estimates shouldn't be too far afield; for pitchers it's a bit tricky, but I'll resort to using fangraphs.com's fan projections -- imperfect, but close enough). This is obviously a thought experiment more than anything else, but it's interesting to see exactly how much talent the Sox have lost so far this season.

Injuries Mounting, Boof Bonser to the Rotation? Nava Who?

Who is Daniel Nava? The Sox have quite the interesting player on their hands. With injuries to outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury, Jeremy Hermida, and Mike Cameron forcing the BoSox to dig deep into the minors once again, the Sox may have caught lightning in a bottle for the second time this season. Darnell McDonald admirably filling in for Hermida and Cameron, the Sox promoted Daniel Nava to the bigs on Saturday to take over Josh Reddick's fourth outfielder spot. Like McDonald, Nava wasted no time endearing himself to fans -- connecting for a grand slam on the first pitch of his MLB career Saturday, leading the Sox to a 10-2 win over Philadelphia. Nava, 27, has had quite the journey to the Majors. Making his professional debut for the Chico Outlaws of the Golden Baseball League in 2007, Nava impressed the scouts with a bit of speed (18 SBs in 20 attempts), pop (12 home runs in 314 plate appearances), and plate discipline (48 BB : 42 Ks) while with Chico. Signed by the Sox in 2008 at the age of 25, Nava kept rolling with hi-A Lancaster. Slugging 10 homers in 379 plate appearances to go along with a very impressive .341/.424/.523 line, the outfielder’s plate discipline (43 BB : 70 K) carried over to affliated ball as well.

Cautious Optimism But Lacking Something

The Red Sox offense is in good shape. The local nine is second in runs scored and OPS. The lineup has been legit even with Jeremy Hermida (649 OPS) and Darnell McDonald (746 OPS) getting 246 of the 1920 Red Sox at-bats or 12.8%. The other seven regulars are collectively performing as expected. When Mike Cameron and Jacoby Ellsbury take plate appearances from Hermida and McDonald, the Olde Towne Team should put up more crooked numbers.

On the pitching front, walks have been the issue. The health and return to form from Josh Beckett will reduce the number of free passes. If he replaces Tim Wakefield, the club will benefit even more since his style dictates not giving into hitters.

Epstein’s Draft Hits… and Misses

With the 2010 Amateur Draft just around the corner (Monday June 7 through Wednesday, June 9), I wanted to spend this week's column looking back at the previous best and worst picks of the Theo Epstein era, an era in which the strength of the minor league system has been both a top priority for the team and an area of almost unparalleled success.

With seven drafts under their belts, this front office has taken the team from a roster of two homegrown regulars (Nomar Garciaparra and Trot Nixon) in 2003 to eight in 2010. Among them are a perennial Cy Young contender, a powerhouse corner infielder, a league champion base stealer, an elite closer, a man with a 100 mile an hour fastball, and an MVP. In addition, there is a new crop of talent maturing in the minors, with some players nearing the point where they will make a Major League contribution. So, not bad for a few years. After the jump, we'll take a look at the best and worst draft picks of the past seven years.

Daisuke Rolling, Ellsbury Back, Colorado Catchers

Daisuke Rolling With all the issues the Red Sox rotation has faced this season, there is nothing better than to see Daisuke Matsuzaka stepping up into at the right time. Throwing a one-hitter in Philadelphia on Saturday, there has been some speculation that Daisuke may be taking that long-awaited leap to respectability. However, other than two stellar starts sandwiching his New York meltdown, there has been a little to be excited about this year. Daisuke just hasn't changed at all from years past to indicate that any sustainable change is in the works. His zone percentage at a career low (46.4 percent), his first-strike percentage largely unchanged (56.6 percent in 2010 v 59.5 percent, career), and his zone contact percentage in line with his career line (84.9 percent, 2010 v 84.2 percent, career), it seems we are dealing with the Daisuke of old again this season.

Jacoby Ellsbury goes 1-3 with a walk in first rehab stint

Before Jacoby Ellsbury stepped on McCoy Stadium’s turf yesterday for his first rehab game, Pawtucket Red Sox manager Torey Lovullo posed a question.

“I asked him ‘What are your thoughts on playing the game wide-open?,” Lovullo said after a game against Syracuse. “He said ‘I don’t know any other way."

The Case For Optimism

Monday night, we got a glimpse of what this team could look like with things going right. Clay Buchholz put together another solid outing, further cementing himself as this season’s most reliable starter, and the offense put on a show — especially during a long 6th inning that saw seven Sox runners cross the plate. The question is this: was what we saw last night something we can expect to see again, or was it simply a reminder of how frustrating this season has become?

I was a huge fan of this particular iteration of the club going into 2010 — probably the most excited I’ve been about a Sox team since 2007. Unsurprisingly, the abysmal start has dampened my optimism pretty significantly, but it hasn’t yet killed it. I still think that by the end of the season we’ll see a team that more closely resembles the one that decimated the Angels than the one that lay down in front of the Orioles. Here’s why.

Poll: Early Season Stories.

As the season settles in, which Red Sox story has your eye?

Scutaro impressing with contact

I wanted to avoid writing about the pitching staff today, but the lack of strikeouts by our team is starting to get concerning. It's not just a few pitchers, it is all of them. Anyway one thing I found today that I thought shouldn't go unnoticed was Marco Scutaro's start and excellent approach at the plate. Before his at bat in the top of the eighth yesterday he had gone 24 at bats with a strike out. That is very good start although 7 games is nothing when you learn that the record is 84 posted by Ted Williams in 1949. Last year Scutaro had two streaks longer as well. He had one streak of eight games and another of nine.