But really, so did the Red Sox.

CUMULATIVE BOX, RED SOX VS. ORIOLES – JUNE 13-16
Jacoby Ellsbury: 3-for-17, RBI, 0 BB, 2 SB, CS, .176/.176/.176
David Ortiz: 2-for-16, 3B, HR, RBI, 1 BB, .125/.176/.438
Shane Victorino: 3-for-13, BB, SB, .231/.286/.231
Dustin Pedroia: 2-for-13, RBI, SB, .154/.154/.154
Jarrod Saltalamacchia: 2-for-12, BB, .167/.231/.167
Will Middlebrooks: 3-for-12, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, .250/.250/.583
Mike Carp: 3-for-11, 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 3 BB, .273/.429/.909
Daniel Nava: 1-for-11, BB, HBP, .091/.231/.091
Stephen Drew: 1-for-11, 2B, 2 RBI, .091/.083/.182
Jose Iglesias: 4-for-11, 2B, BB, CS, .364/.417/.455
Jonny Gomes: 2-for-9, HR, RBI, .222/.222/.556
David Ross: 0-for-3
Mike Napoli: 1-for-1, 2B

Your best hitter in the series, Carp, had to leave Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury. Your Opening Day starter, Jon Lester, fanned eight on Sunday, had an effective changeup again, filled up the strike zone and missed a ton of bats … but allowed five runs and didn’t throw a pitch in the sixth. (It was a better Lester than we’ve seen of late, though, which wasn’t lost on him.) The lone win in the series came via Dustin Pedroia convincing an ump he fouled off a ball he didn’t, then Andrew Bailey getting help on a boneheaded baserunning display.

In 2009, the Red Sox rather famously won 16 of 18 games against the Orioles. (And in one of the two losses, they blew a 10-1 seventh-inning lead.) It was dominance to the point on embarrassment.

Well, in their last 30 meetings, Baltimore has won 22. Just two of their eight wins have been more than two runs. How quickly times can change.

Thursday – 5-4 O’s in 13: Box Score / Condensed Game / RedSox.com

Friday – 2-0 O’s: Box Score / Condensed Game / RedSox.com

Saturday – 5-4 Sox: Box Score / Condensed Game / RedSox.com

Sunday – 6-3 O’s: Box Score / Condensed Game / RedSox.com

A SELECTION OF LINKS

For starters, read this. A beautifully written story by Tim Britton about Drew Sutton‘s first Father’s Day. No one quote out of it could do it justice, I’d say.

WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford: ”As we sit here with 44 days to go before the aforementioned deadline, finding the kind of pitcher who might be able to pitch in a playoff game with confidence could very well be atop the Red Sox’ wish list. Late-inning reliever? Perhaps. Middle-of-the-order bat? Could help. But in a group of far-from-perfect postseason candidates, it might very well be the team with the most reliable 1-2 punch atop its rotation that separates itself. … The Red Sox have to figure out what they have atop that pitching rotation, because right now the uncertainty will certainly lead to increased discussion regarding the (Matt) Garzas and (Cliff) Lees of the world. They could potentially have enough, as Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester suggested with their performances earlier in the season. But do you want to take the chance that the pair continues to occupy its current position come late September?”

Carp, who has accumulated 20 extra-base hits in just 116 plate appearances; among those with at least 20, Bryce Harper is the next lowest with 178: “Last year was such a bummer of a year. I was injury plagued and didn’t feel like myself. I never had that experience before. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to play at the end of the year to find myself, so it was a long layoff back before I was playing. I had to get my timing back, and the confidence that I was healthy and ready to go. … This is where I want to be. My ultimate goal is to be in the big leagues and have success there. I proved myself in 2011, but now to have the chance to bounce back means the world. My confidence is sky high and let’s keep it going from there.” (ESPN Boston)

Farrell: “I know that guys feel like they’re involved, they’re part of it. When you talk about Jonny Gomes and you talk about Mike Carp and David Ross, they’re a big part of the heartbeat of this team, which is pretty unique. The role that they play is much more than what goes on between the lines. Any player feels much more comfortable to speak when he’s able to contribute to the outcome of the game.” (ProJo)

Of note, Lyle Overbay — one of the players let go to keep Carp on the roster — has 23 extra-base hits with the Yankees, including matching Carp’s eight home runs. However, he’s batting just .240 with a .282 on-base, well behind Carp’s .324 and .379 in 100 fewer plate appearances.

Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo on Jose Iglesias: “Everybody gets wrapped up in him hitting .600 or whatever, but what should be noted is that he is doing everything else. He’s buying into the whole deal — baserunning, defensive strategy and everything else we’re asking of him. The hitting will come and go, but that’s the kind of stuff that will never go away.” (WEEI.com)

Will Middlebrooks, on finding his form of a year ago after his three-run homer in Sunday’s loss: “They didn’t have to bring me back (from the minors). I’m here. They know the player I am, I am know the player I am. I know it’s easier said than done — I’m 100 percent confident that I will (return to that).” (MassLive.com)

Middlebrooks continues to sound like he’s trying to convince himself of this stuff every time he speaks. That may just be how his quotes play, but there’s nothing about what he’s doing offensively that makes me think he’s close to turning the corner. He’s 4-for-22 since being recalled, chasing about a third of the pitches he sees outside the strike zone. (Still.)

Sox farm director Ben Crockett on Xander Bogaerts, whom the Sox promoted to Triple-A on Thursday, making the 20-year-old the youngest position player in franchise history: “It’s always going to be harder (at a higher level). You’re going to be attacked a different way, see different stuff as you’re pushed up the ladder. Thus far, he’s responded without question or concern. … Doing it at a younger age against competition that has a lot more experience, a lot more repetitions, just shows the advancement of the player. When the player is playing against players that are not his peers and still having success, it bodes well for continued success against guys with more experience, guys with more game reps in the big leagues. It bodes well for the mental side and again the physical skill set.” (WEEI.com)

John Farrell, reflecting on the Royals selecting his son Luke — a New Bedford Bay Sox pitcher for two summers who’s had two benign tumors removed from his neck — in the sixth round; all three of Farrell’s sons have been drafted: ”As his season unfolded, it was looking more and more like he was going to get selected. Who that was, you never know. But in that moment of him being selected, there was probably a flash of the last four years of what has transpired with him. And all that came to a head just as you look back — my wife [Sue] and I just being able to look back at the challenges that he’s met, and it was a really cool thing to see it finally come together for him. And lo and behold, he’s drafted the highest of the three of them.” (RedSox.com)

Joel Hanrahan, looking back on his aborted 2013 season with a year’s worth of rehab ahead after Tommy John and UCL surgeries: “When I got to spring training I felt great. I was throwing the ball hard. I wasn’t having the best results but I felt my arm was fine, my velocity was good. I think the thing it kind of affected me the most was my breaking ball because you can rear back and pitch through anything throwing fastballs. But I think that had something to do with my command being off, and something was going on that I didn’t feel it. Guys play every day when they’re banged up. After that first day of spring training you never really feel 100 percent anyway. I just thought it was normal baseball stuff and nothing that gave me serious pain and couldn’t pitch. But I was probably doing more damage to myself than I knew. But as a competitor that’s part of the process of the game. I felt I could pitch no matter what.” (WEEI.com)

Pitcher A: 3-1, 25.1 IP, 4.97 ERA, .307/.403/.545 averages against

Pitcher B: 0-3, 30 IP, 6.90 ERA, .314/.411/.537 averages against

Context clues should make it easier to tell you who these pitchers are, but play along for a moment.

Looking at what hitters are doing against them, their numbers are nearly identical.Each has allowed six home runs — four solo shots against Pitcher A, three against Pitcher B. Pitcher A has two quality starts among the five, versus Pitcher B’s one. Pitcher A’s gotten 19 runs of support from his offense, Pitcher B 21. The major difference between them, outside of Pitcher B facing tougher competition?

WITH TWO OUT, LAST FIVE STARTS
Pitcher A: 9-for-32 (.281), 4 BB
Pitcher B: 20-for-46 (.435), 5 BB

WITH RUNNERS IN SCORING POSITION, LAST FIVE
Pitcher A: 4-for-24 (.167), 6 BB
Pitcher B: 15-for-38 (.395), 4 BB

I think that’s enough mystery. Pitcher A is Alfredo Aceves, the spot starter plenty of people — myself included, to some small extent — would have rathered the Sox simply jettisoned months ago. Pitcher B is Jon Lester, Boston’s Opening Day starter and a man who one-hit the Blue Jays not even five weeks ago.

Throughout last season, the knock against Lester was he couldn’t make the critical pitch. In the big spot, he’d get mashed. Nine starts into his season, that was a distant memory. He allowed three runs or fewer in eight of the nine, finished six innings in seven of the nine, and was holding hitters to a .204/.264/.312 line. (Four homers allowed, including six games without any.)

Then came the above, capped with Tuesday’s seven-walk disaster in which the Rays scored all seven of their runs against him with two out. Having used the entire bullpen on Monday night, Lester failed to finish the fifth for the first time since last July.

Lester: ”I feel great. I honestly do. I know pitch count’s been a thing this year, but tonight I felt great. Probably the best I’ve felt all season. It just comes down to commanding the baseball, whether you have nagging stuff, minor stuff, whatever it is — commanding the baseball is simple, and I didn’t do that. … Really, the first inning kind of sums up the whole night. I was just not able to repeat whatever pitch it may be — fastball, curveball, changeup, cutter. I just was not able to repeat, whether it be a location or just the pitch in itself. Just not good.”

More Lester, after watching video of recent outings: ”I saw a lot of balls that flattened out in the zone. Balls that weren’t in the zone. I never gave my changeup a chance to play in the zone. Same thing with my curve. It would either pop out or I’d spike it and cut it off. It’s mechanical.” (Globe)

The Herald’s Michael Silverman: ”Lester, pitching coach Juan Nieves and Farrell pow-wowed at Tropicana Field (on Wednesday), trying ‘to get back to some basics and re-establish what his strengths are,’ said Farrell. The solution seems to lie in Lester regaining the ability to repeat his delivery, maximize his strength and build to create a downhill plane and explosiveness to his pitches, especially his fastball. If that sounds pretty basic, it is, but Lester is not the master of the basics anymore.”

Continued stiffness in Clay Buchholz‘s neck makes it increasingly likely Lester will take Buchholz’s spot and pitch Sunday in Baltimore. It’d be on normal rest for him at least, with Buchholz theoretically then being available for Tuesday’s doubleheader against Tampa at Fenway. Theoretically. 

There’s certainly a multitude of reasons for Lester to go as far south as he has, but he’s gone from allowing a .126 batting average with two strikes in his first nine starts to a .313 in his last five. Chase percentage is the same. Ground-ball rate is about the same. He’s actually getting more swings and misses on average in this stretch.

But if we’re trying to find a culprit pitch, his changeup numbers have taken a nosedive. All percentages from Inside Edge:

CHANGEUP RATES
First 9 Starts: .097 avg. allowed, in zone 44 pct., chased 44 pct., missed 37 pct.
Last 5 Starts: .278 avg. allowed, in zone 31 pct., chased 35 pct., missed 18 pct.

I’d advise to not make too much of that … by Inside Edge’s data, Lester’s only throwing about a dozen changeups per start, almost all of them to right-handers. Still, losing that secondary pitch lets hitters see more, and forces more fastballs.

And just like in 2012, that critical pitch has been a doozy of late.

Tuesday’s 8-3 Loss: Box Score / Condensed Game / RedSox.com

Wednesday’s 2-1 Victory: Box Score / Condensed Game

Gamers: Globe / Herald / ProJo / RedSox.com

Opposition Coverage: Tampa Bay Times

Also: WEEI.com’s Closing Time / ESPN Boston’s Rapid Reaction

Notebooks: Globe / Herald / ProJo

QUOTES OF THE NIGHT

That's not something you see every day. And I'm not talking about Daniel Nava hitting a big home run.

John Farrell on Daniel Nava, whose two-run homer in the third capped a 10-pitch at-bat and was all the offense Boston would muster in the win: “He keeps coming up in a lot of conversation on things — are we surprised about it? Did we ever envision the contribution? We just want to let him continue to do his thing. … One thing that’s remained constant through all of it is his approach at the plate and how productive he’s been. He’s having an excellent year.”

Nava, on slugging out a full-count slider after having fouled off five straight pitches: ”I couldn’t key on anything. I was just looking middle and trying to stay up the middle and then just it’s just reaction.”

Archer showed him though, kissing his bicep and staring Nava down after fanning him with the bases loaded in the fourth. It was the last batter he faced.

Archer, on his histrionics: “I just did what was natural. I was pretty amped, and I let it show. They may have taken it the wrong way, but in no way was it directed toward anybody on the other team.”

Jarrod Saltalamacchia on Alfredo Aceves, who got the benefit of an Evan Longoria double play in the third and Yunel Escobar running into an out in the fourth, but still went six innings allowing just four hits and one run — a Longoria solo shot: “His stuff has been the same. It’s sharp. Maybe the mental approach of just coming in and letting his stuff play (is the difference). I think that has been the biggest thing.”

If you didn’t watch the video, credit to Stephen Drew on starting that aforementioned double play. Probably could have caught that liner to shortstop, but let it land and got the 6-4-3 started from his knees. Run saving by definition.

Aceves — who’s stopped shaking off his catcher, much to the delight of the Sox — was activated before the game in the roster spot of Jose De La Torre, who threw 3 1/3 innings in relief of Lester on Tuesday night. Aceves was told after the game he’d similarly be headed back to Triple-A Pawtucket, but will be back on Tuesday to start one-half of the Rays doubleheader at Fenway.

Aceves, on the demotion: “That’s the way we live. You play one day, and the next day you play in another place.” (ESPN Boston)

Andrew Bailey, who bounced back from Monday’s blown save and a leadoff wall ball by James Loney to fan the final two batters, converting his seventh save: ”I knew he hit it pretty good, but I actually didn’t think it would hit the wall. Shane [Victorino], he’s Spiderman out there, so I thought maybe he’d make another great play. … When your team’s scoring a lot of runs, it’s a good thing. That’s what we’ve been doing. It’s nice to be able to win those close ones, too.”

Gifted just a one-run lead after the sixth, Junichi Tazawa fanned two in a perfect seventh, Craig Breslow fanned two before allowing a wall-ball double, a mess Koji Uehara cleaned up by striking out Longoria on three pitches. (After which he almost fell on his face jumping the foul line.)

Combined with Bailey, Sox relievers fanned seven of the 11 men they faced. There’s that relief corps I remember from the start of the season!

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

WEEI.com’s Alex Speier, from his daily minor-league roundup: ”On Wednesday, Xander Bogaerts drove in the only two Portland runs of the double header while collecting two of Portland’s eight total hits. Bogaerts went 2-for-6 with a walk. The remarkable 20-year-old now is hitting .311 (10th in the Eastern League) with a .407 OBP (6th) and .502 slugging mark (10th) … despite his status as the youngest position player in the league. With Jose Iglesias remaining on the big league roster, there’s a vacancy at shortstop in Pawtucket, and so the Sox — after having front-office deliberations this week about whether or not to promote the top prospect in their system — will indeed unveil him in Triple-A tonight (weather permitting), according to multiple Red Sox sources.”

Will Middlebrooks, on continuing the fight to turn his season around; he went 1-for-10 in the Tampa series, his average dropping to .196: ”I lost that little spark, that fire, coming in and being pissed for no other reason than they’re trying to beat me today. I’m getting that back. I went 1-for-7 (on Monday), and I felt [expletive] good because I left the game knowing I was competing. I had that little fire back in me and it’s starting to get going again. Does that mean I’m going to go on a streak of hitting .500 the next two weeks? Probably not, because that’s hard to do. But those competitive juices are back flowing. I cleared my head, and I’m getting healthy again.” (WEEI.com)

David Ross, on the growing trend of beards in the Red Sox clubhouse: ”I was trimming mine for a while and they made me stop. Now it’s all bushy. The umpires are always asking me about it. But I like it, outside of the gray hair that’s in there. … It really is a fun group of guys. It’s been that way since spring training. You feel good about coming to the park every day and we’ve played well as a group.” (Globe Notebook)

Attaboy, Pedey. (AP)

Box Score / Condensed Game

Gamers: Globe / Herald / ProJo / RedSox.com

Opposition Coverage: Tampa Bay Times

Also: WEEI.com’s Closing Time / ESPN Boston’s Rapid Reaction

Notebooks: Globe / Herald / ProJo

QUOTES OF THE NIGHT

John Lackey on Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who caught all 14 innings on Monday and had his third career four-hit game; he put the Sox up two in the 10th, then put an insurance run in the 14th: ”Really, both teams showed a lot of guts. That’s not an easy thing to do, to play 14 innings. A guy like Salty caught 14 innings and got however many hits … that shows a lot of what’s inside of him.”

It’s no secret I’m not a big fan of Saltalamacchia as a catcher. But there’s no denying he’s having a pretty good season. As noted by WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford, “he should be back in the All-Star conversation, carrying the second-best OPS of any catcher in the major leagues. It’s a run that has only picked up steam, hitting .378 with a 1.102 OPS in his last 10 starts.”

Daniel Nava, on his game-winning bloop single in the 14th: “I was just praying it had enough to get over [the second baseman's] head. … I was just looking for something in the middle of the plate, which is the most cliché saying ever, but I guess there’s a reason why. That’s what I was trying to do, hit something back up the middle. It kind of went up the middle, right? It farted up the middle.”

Joe Maddon on Lackey, who hit Matt Joyce after the latter homered off him and later ‘admired’ a second potential homer that went foul; the dugouts and bullpens emptied: “He intentionally hit him when he did, there’s no question in my mind that he did. And the sad part is that I’ve always considered Lackey a good teammate, but right there he can get one of his own players hurt. I really did sense among the group of Red Sox that they were totally not into that (brawl) because they knew it was inappropriate to hit Matt on purpose, and furthermore because one of them can get hurt. So that’s being a bad teammate as far as I’m concerned. In the past, he was always a good teammate. That was really a bad moment for him tonight.” (Globe, Herald)

Lackey, who got a six-run lead before throwing a pitch, but gave up 10 hits and couldn’t finish the sixth: “I was trying to come in there and get him off the plate a little bit. They were swinging quite a bit, at pretty much everything I threw up there, so I was trying to maybe get a little bit of plate for me.”

That was also the case in Lackey’s last start against the Rangers, in which they racked up the foul balls. Lackey threw almost 60 percent of his pitches in the strike zone, and again nearly reached 70 percent strikes. Tampa missed just five times on 41 swings, but he paid for it much more this time around.

Tampa starter Alex Cobb, who allowed eight straight Sox to reach leading off the game and gave up six runs in the first; from the second to the eighth, Boston had just two hits: “I think I was letting the game speed up too much. There were a couple ground balls that got through, got me in a little bit of a jam, and instead of settling down and executing pitches I let the game speed up and was not really focused on what I was doing. I made the adjustment way too late and by before I knew it there were six runs on the board.”

As outlined by MassLive’s Evan Drellich, Tampa’s broadcasters claimed the Sox were stealing signs on Cobb in the first. Saltalamacchia, for his part, ends with a pretty boffo quote refuting the assertion.

Maddon on his team’s comeback, which included two runs in the first, then single ones in the third, fourth, seventh and eighth; Tampa ended up stranding 13 runners, including five at third base, and went just 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position: ”If we play with that kind of effort on a nightly basis, we’re going to win our 90-plus games again this year.”

The Rays hit four homers in the loss.

Bailey, who squandered a two-run lead in the 10th without recording an out, on Dustin Pedroia’s play on a Sam Fuld bunt that allowed the Sox to keep the game tied: “I’ve got to hold it down in that situation. We’re short down in the ‘pen. I can’t walk three guys. … That was an unbelievable play. In spring training we worked hard on that play; that was one that our coaching staff really hammered on us, and Pedey’s the best second baseman in the league. The way he goes after the game is remarkable and there’s only one of him. Obviously that’s a huge play by him and a game-saver.” (Herald)

Pedroia: ”He’s a great bunter. I scooted in a little bit so I could get a good jump.”

Bailey actually escaped a bases-loaded, none-out jam after walking in the tying run, Evan Longoria hitting into a double play before Pedroia’s play on Fuld.

Pedroia had already kept the game tied in the eighth, making a sliding catch behind the pitcher’s mound to end that inning. “[Junichi Tazawa's] part of the defense, too. He kept pointing at it. I was like, ‘Please catch it.’ That was about it. I’m glad I caught it. It was luck.”

He is just a joy. (Which ESPN Boston attempts to quantify with numbers.)

THE PITCHING MESS

Farrell on his bullpen; along with using eight pitchers on Monday, Clay Buchholz appears unlikely to make his scheduled start on Friday due to the neck stiffness that ended his victory on Saturday: ”We’ve got to get some arms in here. … We’ve got some decisions to make in here tonight.”

Buchholz: ”I feel better right now than I did before my last start, like as far as the soreness. I think that’s a big step in the right direction for me. I’d rather take care of this now. If that’s pushing a start and mixing and matching a little bit, then we’ll go with it that way. … Me going out there at 80 percent is not going to help anybody because there’s always going to be that apprehension of me throwing a pitch and thinking about something else.”

In the Globe, Nick Cafardo stresses that “Buchholz is probably the most important of the 25 players on the Red Sox right now. … it’s a neck or AC joint that gets stiff, then finding the root of why it’s happening right now is more important than him making his next start.” Hard to argue that, frustrating as it is. Theoretically, it’ll pay dividends down the road when the big games start pouring in.

The Sox announced before the game that Franklin Morales would start for them Wednesday … then needed Morales to throw 35 pitches in the final two innings. (He earned the victory.) Alfredo Aceves appears the answer for that conundrum.

The Globe, however, nicely sorts through the issues of how to get those arms to St. Pete: ”Clayton Mortensen has not had a particularly good season (5.34 ERA, 1.58 WHIP), but the Sox value his versatility. He does not have any minor league options left. The only relievers who do are (Andrew) Bailey, Junichi Tazawa and (Koji) Uehara. But when a player is optioned, he has to stay in the minor leagues for 10 days unless he is called up to replace somebody on the disabled list. … Jose Iglesias has options. The Sox could drop him down and add a bullpen arm for a few days.”

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

Missed while I spent much of the past week flitting around the Northeast was a two-part series the ProJo did on advance scouting. Third-base coach Brian Butterfield gets a good amount of praise, given how much time he puts into video for defensive planning purposes. Plus, it shows the evolution of just what’s available to review versus what was less than 20 years ago.

“The job, Cherington said, is going from ‘telephone books’ of information down to the single sheet of paper placed on a player’s chair before the game. … ‘We don’t want to weigh the players down with more information than necessary. That was easy 30 years ago, because there just wasn’t much information,’ Cherington said. ‘Now you can provide breakdowns of everything imaginable, and it wouldn’t all be helpful to playing a game.’”

Interesting reads.

Will Middlebrooks, who was activated from the disabled list and went 1-for-7 (RBI single in the first) playing third base: ”This is the best I’ve felt all year. … That’s really the main thing: having good focus and being consistent with that throughout a game and not just for a couple of at-bats. Just trying to stay focused. I think I did that. I felt really good about it.”

Pedro Ciriaco was designated for assignment to make room. Certainly wouldn’t be shocking if no team claimed him off waivers, allowing him to get to Triple-A. The ProJo notes “the decision to DFA Ciriaco carries some risk, as it lessens Boston’s infield depth if Ciriaco is claimed. The recent emergence of Brock Holt at Pawtucket, however, helps mitigate that concern.”

Farrell, on the plan to keep Jose Iglesias in the lineup about three times a week, spelling Middlebrooks, shortstop Stephen Drew or Dustin Pedroia: ”I think players just tell you what they’re ready for and how productive they can be and to what level they can contribute. In this case, we don’t see Jose as strictly a utility guy. He’s got a bright future ahead of him, but with the situation we’re in right now, he’s going to find himself at third or find himself at short or possibly at second on a given day. To have that type of performance and that type of confidence more than anything available to us, it makes us better.” (Herald)

The fact that Drew continues to play pretty good defense, and is streaky as all get out at the plate, further complicates this.

L.A. popped that balloon when they swept the Sox in ’09, and the odds of a return meeting this fall don’t appear likely. In the Angels’ pantheon of problems, though, the little things are well represented.

Look just at Sunday.

– Alberto Callaspo pulls Mark Trumbo off first on a routine ground ball, hit by the hardly blistering Mike Carp.

– Howie Kendrick flat misses a Stephen Drew grounder to second.

– J.B. Shuck implodes a rally that could have made things interesting in the eighth, straying too far off second base when there was a runner in front of him.

And for that matter, throw in the weird “ball falls between three guys” on Saturday night, Jose Iglesias getting from first to third on a bad pickoff attempt and a passed ball, Josh Hamiltonsliding headfirst into first base when its long been proven to be faster to run through the bag, just generally sloppy outfield defense …

Meanwhile, these are the Red Sox:

They just keep making it work.

Heck, the win on Saturday afternoon was by four runs, and the Red Sox forced in three via walks and stranded 14 guys on the basepaths. They were that close to a sweep.

A 20-8 start, a 2-9 slump, and a 17-8 resurgence. (Or however you want to parse the math.) The first was the best start in the American League. The current burst is second only to Oakland, 2.5 games better than Tampa, 4.5 better than the other three teams in the East. Just playing .500 baseball in the season’s remaining 98 games would get the Red Sox to 88 victories — pretty much the target point for the second Wild Card spot.

The next 10, against both Baltimore and Tampa, could certainly change the narrative rather quickly. However, short of Jon Lester rediscovering the dominant stuff of the early season, it’s hard to imagine the Red Sox could find themselves in a better position heading into significant June games.

Saturday’s Game 1: Box Score / Condensed Game / RedSox.com

Saturday’s Game 2: Box Score / Condensed Game / RedSox.com

Sunday: Box Score / Condensed Game

Gamers: Globe / Herald / ProJo / RedSox.com

Also: WEEI.com’s Closing Time / ESPN Boston’s Rapid Reaction

Notebooks: Globe / Herald / ProJo

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

Before we begin, kudos to the Globe’s Amalie Benjamin for a very well done story on the increasing length of games. Great reporting in there, plus I can hear Vin Scully telling me about Velcro … any time you put Vin Scully’s voice in my head, you’ve done a good thing.

Clay Buchholz, who won on Saturday night to go to 9-0, but came out of the game with neck stiffness that may be connected to the shoulder irritation that cost him a start: “I think it’s more a day-by-day thing right now. We’ll see how I feel the next couple of days in Tampa and then go from there. It’s going to be completely better whenever I come back. That’s my sole purpose right now, to come back without this happening again. … It might be (the trapezius) was getting weak because I was compensating for (the AC joint). It was precautionary. As the game went on, it wasn’t getting any better any quicker than it usually did. That’s why I came out when I did. There’s no need to risk anything.” (Herald)

Buchholz said the tumbling play above isn’t when he hurt itself, it was when Howie Kendrick ripped a liner back through the box and Buchholz tried to quickly turn to make a throw to first. Goodness. It’s like he’s made of cotton candy.

John Farrell on Ryan Dempster, who got 10 runs of support on Sunday after getting 17 in his prior start against the Rangers: “Any time a starter gets a cushion to go out and pitch with, they don’t feel like every pitch is make or break. Their back isn’t against the wall so it gives them a little more breathing room. Not that they would coast or take anything for granted, but you’re able to go out and pitch with a little more relaxation and typically that’s when a pitcher’s best stuff is going to come out.”

Farrell on Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s new focus toward hitting the ball to the middle of the field: he hit two homers on Sunday, and is in an 11-for-30 streak: “It’s enabled him to keep the bat in the zone longer and he’s got better plate coverage. More consistent plate coverage. … There’s going to be some swing-and-miss in there sometimes, but with the approach [Saltalamacchia's] locked in with right now, you look at a guy in the six-, seven-hole with that kind of power, I think it speaks to what our lineup has and the ability to put up runs quickly.” (Globe)

Ben Jedlovec, one of the defensive analysts at Baseball Info Solutions, on the battle between Stephen Drew and Jose Iglesias at short: ”Drew vs. Iglesias is a tough one, considering Drew’s recent injury history and Iglesias’s relative inexperience at the big-league level. … Drew is having a good run in the field, perhaps in part thanks to improved positioning. … At the very least, I’d consider a groundball/flyball platoon where Iglesias plays short when the Red Sox have a groundball pitcher on the mound.” (Herald Notebook)

The stats quoted in that piece were from the same people who created the stats I quoted in my piece on the Middlebrooks/Drew/Iglesias mix. I stand by what I said there — Drew’s been better defensively this season than you probably think, and there’s really no good answer to how to blend the three. If Middlebrooks shows better work at the plate, he’ll at least solidify a spot at third, though with some significant defensive cost.

Farrell, after the fifth game of Will Middlebrooks’ rehab at Triple-A Pawtucket; the third baseman went 1-for-5, and is 5-for-17 with two homers, four walks and six RBI, but remains out of the majors: ”Will’s our third baseman. We’ve said that. But yet at the same time, Jose is doing an excellent job. Once Will’s returned and the roster decision is made, if the scenario is that Jose is our utility guy, we’ve got to be sure that we rotate him through there to keep him in the mix.”

Jonny Gomes, praising Boston’s depth: “Everywhere I’ve been, every place I’ve won, there’s always those guys that come up and shine. Situations like that, you’ve really got to tip your hat to the (front) office and the people above, them knowing that a championship-caliber team isn’t 25 players. There are always some guys that weren’t on the (Opening Day) roster but helped them out.” (Herald)

Though he was on the Opening Day roster, Mike Carp leaps to mind. He only played two games this weekend, but was 4-for-8 with two homers. (Daniel Nava went 4-for-8 in the doubleheader alone, then tacked on an RBI single on Sunday.)

Nava: “I don’t look at numbers. I don’t care about numbers. I sincerely mean this: I really don’t think about that. With the lineup we have, it’s a number of guys contributing. I’m glad to be a part of it. It goes without saying that you can’t drive anyone in if there’s no one on base, unless you hit a home run every time, which is not happening. Obviously I’m glad I’m contributing, but I think we’ve talked enough to know that’s not what I’m about.” (Herald)

The Sox hit six homers in the three games, including four in the win on Sunday. Walpole’s Joe Procaccini caught two of them from his spot in the center-field bleachers, and he sounds like a hell of a guy. A guy who apparently gave both balls away. A better man than me.

Gomes on Dustin Pedroia: ”He doesn’t strike out. [He] swings at good pitches. I mean, he makes it look easy, but inside here we know it’s tough. … When he’s down 0-2, it’s never over with him. … I mean that guy seems to get through in any situation.” (Globe)

David Ross, on whether he felt C.J. Wilson was taking liberties when he threw a pitch near Mike Napoli’s head on Saturday: “It’s inside stuff. In the back of my mind, (Wilson) let two go. He threw one at Stephen (Drew)’s head and he threw one at Nap’s head. In the back of my mind I was thinking, if we get a chance, we may buzz somebody’s tower. But sometimes you’ve got to let sleeping dogs lie, in my opinion, too. That’s a fine line. … Oh-two, it’s definitely a purpose pitch. Maybe he was trying to go up and in. I don’t necessarily disagree with throwing a ball up and inside. It can sometimes send a message and he did, and Nap let him know it wasn’t all right.” (Herald)

Napoli and Wilson, you may recall, have a bit of a history. Napoli, meanwhile, had himself a bit of a weekend: 2-for-14 with eight strikeouts, including five in his last six plate appearances. With 268 plate appearances this year, Napoli’s fanned 89 times. For comparison purposes:

Mark Reynolds, 2009 (finished with 223 Ks): 91 through 268 PAs
Adam Dunn, 2012 (finished with 222 Ks): 98 through 268 PAs

Mark Bellhorn, 2004 (Sox record 177 Ks): 67 through 268 PAs

Napoli might break Bellhorn’s record before September. Though if he can also match the 20 doubles he’s hit to this point, it’d be a bit easier to deal with.

Still, one run in six innings from your starter wins an awful lot of baseball games. (This year to date, just about two of every three.) Lackey, when questioned after the game, wanted to stress that point. A sampling of his comments, which I stress were delivered with a sort of bewildered amusement the words might not fully convey:

“I’m happy where I am, but I’ve been successful in this league for a long time.”

On whether his outing was spoiled by Adrian Beltre’s home run: “I wouldn’t say it was spoiled. Only gave up one run.”

“I think I’ll take giving up one run the rest of the way.”

“I’m competing at a pretty high level right now.”

This was the first Lackey presser I’ve been able to sit in on this season, so perhaps I’m just late noticing this. But along with his results — which include a 2.79 ERA, a .227 batting average against and proper moves in walks (down) and strikeouts (up) — the Lackey swagger is back in full effect.

Twenty-four hours later, David Ortiz reprised the role.

In a Wall Street Journal story earlier in the week, Ortiz talked about the wrist injury that nearly ended his career a few years ago. It’s similar to the one that Mark Teixeira just got back on the field after, and Ortiz stressed just how much it — and the accompanying lack of power — ate at him.

“I was thinking even about quitting. Dude, I hadn’t hit a homer for two months. … I was so angry. I didn’t know what to do. I was seeing the ball good, but I didn’t know how to get to it. It was like two months. And then people were saying that I was finished. I knew something was wrong, but I knew I could figure it out. But I’ll tell you what, I was at the edge. I hit bottom deeper than what anybody realized. It was bad, man. And all because of that wrist. One thing. One thing.”

That kind of night for the Rangers. (AP)

To summarize:

– Season high in runs with 17.

– Season high with hits with 19.

– Most extra-base hits in a game (13) since 1990, and most in a game at Fenway since 1950.

– The only Sox starter without a hit, Mike Napoli, was intentionally walked with the score 9-0.

– Nelson Cruz slugged the fifth-longest home run of the year at Fenway. After he fell into the Red Sox bullpen trying to catch Mike Carp‘s home run, but before he committed a three-base error trying to catch a basic fly ball.

– Carp had three hits, three runs, three RBI … and got ejected when an outfielder struck him out with a knuckleball in the eighth inning. When the score was 17-5.

– The outfielder, former Sox David Murphy, was the only Texas pitcher to keep Boston off the scoreboard for an inning. (He’d been highlighted earlier in the day by the Globe, the first pick of Theo Epstein’s first draft 10 years ago.)

– In the top half of said inning, Clayton Mortensen entered with a 14-run lead, struck out the first two batters, then let five straight guys reach and got yanked.

– Jackie Bradley Jr. hit his first major-league home run, on which he scored Jose Iglesias, who’d gotten on base with a double he could not have hit any harder. (And who in the aforementioned eighth, with the team angling to make him the utility infielder, played second base for the first time since he left Cuba.)

– Daniel Nava had three runs scored before Texas recorded the second out of the third inning.

– David Ortiz tripled, then scored on a sacrifice fly to left field on the very next pitch.

– Jarrod Saltalamacchia had three hits, including one of three Sox solo shots to lead off innings.

– Stephen Drew had his second four-hit game in a month, between the two of which he hit .203.

That about puts a bow on it. Though I should add, on a personal note, the last five years of Rangers games at Fenway Park have included Texas scoring 17 and losing, scoring 18 and winning, and Tuesday. Despite my rather infrequent attendance the last few years, I have witnessed all of these games. I don’t know what to make of this, other than I should really renegotiate and try to get paid by the run.

Box Score / Condensed Game

Gamers: Globe / Herald / ProJo / RedSox.com

Opposition Coverage: Rangers.com

Also: WEEI.com’s Closing Time / ESPN Boston’s Rapid Reaction

Notebooks: Globe / Herald / ProJo

QUOTES OF THE NIGHT

John Farrell, whose team has the most wins in the American League with 36, though remains percentage points behind Texas for the best record in the league: “This is a group that not only wants to compete but they like to compete internally and I think we’re getting quite a bit of that right now.”

Ryan Dempster, who went seven innings for a second straight start and won for the first time in his last six; he allowed two homers, but limited the Rangers to five hits and three runs: ”I like my chances when I get 17 runs. … I had a good fastball and good command. The two pitches I got hurt on were both hanging sliders. Other than that I felt like I was able to command it for the most part and get out of there with a win.”

A weird night for him. Allows two guys on in the first, falling behind all four of the hitters who didn’t put the first pitch in play, escapes, then gets an avalanche of runs. Still ends up throwing first-pitch strikes to just 11-of-28, gets no swings and misses with his slider, but beats up the Rangers with a fastball and sneaks off with a quality start.

I suppose, not to be unexpected for a guy who’s been league average for going on 16 seasons.

Texas starter Justin Grimm; the AL Rookie of the Month in April allowed eight earned runs in lasting just 1 2/3 innings, credited with just 29 strikes in 60 pitches: ”It was tough. Things just seemed to steamroll. … I didn’t feel in control at all. My fastball command wasn’t there, some other things weren’t there. It was just a lack of command and the Red Sox are really good hitters from top to bottom, whether you make good pitches or not.”

Farrell on Drew, who raised his average 19 points on Tuesday to .232, still down from his season high of .245: “The biggest thing is when he’s gotten into some predictable counts — and I know tonight was an 0-2 breaking ball he hit out of the ballpark — but in some predictable counts, he puts his ‘A’ swing on it. He was able to do that a couple of times tonight. More than anything, the way it’s gone for him the last 10-12 days, it’s good to see him break out with four hits tonight. Hopefully it gives him a little boost.” (Herald)

Ortiz on his triple; last season was the first year he’d not had at least one since 1999: ”My legs have been feeling good, and whenever I can take my chance, I take my chance.”

Bradley, on what he’s been doing differently in his second MLB stint; he has three extra-base hits in his last three games, while he had three hits total in his 12-game stint in April: “Just being aggressive. I’m swinging at more strikes that are in the (strike) zone and not just taking the strikes looking for a particular pitch or location.” (Herald)

Farrell, on an excellent night for the team’s younger players: “The real encouraging thing is what Iglesias and Jackie Bradley do. Anytime that we can add those young players to fill in for guys that have been injured, they give us some life, they give us a feeling of not only depth but encouragement when you look at young, talented players who are stepping in and doing a good job.” (WEEI.com)

Carp, on his first career ejection: ”Anytime it’s a position player pitching, it makes for an interesting atmosphere. And getting tossed on top of that makes it that much more unbelievable. I literally just shook my head and walked away.”

INJURY UPDATES

Will Middlebrooks, who was 1-for-2 in a five-inning stint to begin his rehab assignment at Triple-A: “I felt great. I really expected to come here and feel some tightness when I got done. I don’t feel any, so that’s a good sign. I’m ready to go again tomorrow, seven innings tomorrow, push it a little bit further, then nine the next day. So I’ll start ramping it up. I felt good at BP today. I felt good timing-wise in the box. … My last 10 games I was really trying to stick with my approach. I was starting to hit the ball hard and was hitting the ball right at people. I was sticking with my plan at the plate and having good at-bats. Unfortunately, I got hurt then because I was really starting to turn things around. I want to continue to do that down here and show them I’m ready to play.” (ProJo)

Farrell on Jacoby Ellsbury: “He did some running (today), some more functional activity. We’re hopeful that this takes a complete turn over the next couple of days, and that’s not ruling out his being in the lineup tomorrow. We had to get him through some functional testing today then see how he responds to that and how he feels tomorrow. So tomorrow is still a possibility for him to be back in center field.”

Farrell also said Shane Victorino ran at about 80 percent intensity, and that the hope is he can be on a rehab assignment by the end of the week.

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

The Globe’s pre-draft coverage includes a feature on Manny Ramirez Jr., starts with the high schooler recounting Dad signing a woman’s breast in 2004, and ends with him relaying a conversation that Manny will hang it up at the end of his Korean league season in September. The Sox, per an unnamed executive quoted, are “unlikely to draft” Junior.

On ESPN Boston, Sox Prospects has a draft preview that’s certainly recommended reading.

David Ortiz, on the night’s big MLB news — that suspensions are likely coming for the players involved with PEDs via Miami’s Biogenesis clinic: “Whatever happens, happens. MLB does their investigation and it is what it is. We’ll see, we’ll see how it goes. It is what it is. You don’t want to see anybody getting suspended. But we got the rules and we’ve got to follow them.” (Herald, ProJo)

The Red Sox, all the reports make clear, haven’t been informed any of their players are involved in the scandal. (Though that could change.)

I certainly understand why Ortiz would say that … there’s some good friends of his involved among the potential suspendees, be it Alex Rodriguez or Nelson Cruz or anyone else. But I don’t know. I would think clean players would definitely want to see the cheats suspended, and that that would supersede any friendship.

Not trying to stir anything up. Just a quote that hit my ear strangely, even knowing where it’s coming from.

Junichi Tazawa on his countryman Yu Darvish; the two are both 26, but took very different paths to the major leagues: ”Put it this way. The guys who played in the same generation as him, they call it the Darvish Generation. I think that says it all. … I can’t say I’m in a position to evaluate him. He’s got a lot more wins than I do. He’s such a good pitcher. I’m just in awe of what he’s done so far.” (Herald Notebook)

(AP Photos)

On the off day, I found myself thinking about Jose Iglesias. (Infer from that what you will.) And despite everything about what he’s doing offensively defying what we know hitters must do to succeed, I’d keep playing him anyway.

At least if you still think he’s a part of your future.

The personnel moves the Red Sox have made this season, by and large, have followed a logical progression. During spring training, it became clear there was a place in the everyday lineup for Jackie Bradley Jr. Thus, the Red Sox gave it to him, understanding that the concerns about costing themselves a year of team control down the road would probably work themselves out. They did.

When Stephen Drew came back from his spring concussion, it made sense to give him an opportunity to play despite the strong start Iglesias had. After all, they’d signed Drew in the offseason for a reason, and he’d never been given an opportunity to show what he could do.

Well, 150 at-bats into his regular season, Drew’s hitting .213/.316/.373. He does have 13 extra-base hits among his 32 total hits, but he’s in skids of 2-for-21 (both hits coming in Saturday’s win against the Yankees) and 7-for-45. Since May 6, when he had four hits against the Twins, he’s batting .203. He’s had about three good weeks in the end of April and beginning of May, and at least the struggles before that could be pinned to not having a spring training.

About the nicest thing you can say about Drew’s numbers is they’re better than those of Will Middlebrooks. Eligible to come off the disabled list this weekend, the third baseman penciled into Boston’s future quickly last season is batting .201/.234/.408. Drew’s drawn 23 walks this season, swinging at just 39.5 percent of the pitches he’s seen, lowest among Sox regulars. Middlebrooks has drawn just seven, swinging at 48.2 percent, highest among Sox regulars.

Sure, there’s been more power — eight homers and 20 extra-base hits for Middlebrooks, versus four and 13 for Drew. But among the 100 pitches that Inside Edge calculates Middlebrooks has chased, he’s 2-for-44. Ten came on first pitches, more than anyone on the team outside Mike Napoli‘s 14.

Iglesias, meanwhile, is hitting .434/.456/.585, capped by lacing a first-pitch fastball for his first home run of the year on Sunday night. When the Sox demoted him after seven games, he had an OPS of 1.026. In the 10 games he’s been back, he has an OPS of 1.051. Four extra-base hits, versus two the first time around. He’ll actually take a seven-game hitting streak into Tuesday’s game against the Rangers.

Put another way, if Iglesias failed to reach base in his next 54 plate appearances, he’d have the same on-base percentage as Middlebrooks.

Whenever Middlebrooks is ready, the Red Sox are going to have four bodies to play two spots on the left side of the infield: Middlebrooks, Drew, Iglesias and Pedro Ciriaco, who I include only because he remains on the roster. With seven errors in 121 innings split between third and short, that does not figure to be the case for long.

The real question here remains the same one we’ve grappled with since before the season: Can Iglesias hit consistently at the MLB level? For as much discussion as there’s been about his production this year, it’s the sum total of 57 plate appearances and 16 starts. Not even three weeks as a major-league regular.

So let’s parse it a little further. Everyone who tries to get into Iglesias’ numbers beyond what they are on the page notes there’s been a lot of bloops and bleeders. But how many?

Well, I went back and watched all 23 of them. (The things I do to keep from going outside.) I’ve included links where available should you want to see for yourself, but there’s not a lot … sadly, you’re going to just have to rely on my descriptions or dig into MLB.TV yourself.

APRIL 1 AT NEW YORK
No. 1: Chops first-pitch fastball to deep short, runner beats out throw on potential FC.
No. 2: Second-pitch bunt single.
No. 3: 2-2 fastball low hit on three hops toward third, no throw.

APRIL 3 AT NEW YORK
No. 4: 1-2 breaking ball lined down 3B line for double.
No. 5: First-pitch breaking ball softly lined down 3B line for single.

APRIL 4 AT NEW YORK
No. 6: First-pitch bunt single.
No. 7: Softly lines 0-1 fastball past shortstop into left for single.

APRIL 7 AT TORONTO
No. 8: Beats out two-strike grounder to short.
No. 9: Grounds 3-1 knuckler down third-base line for a double.

MAY 24 VS. CLEVELAND
No. 10: Two-strike curveball lofted to edge of infield dirt, into left for single.

MAY 25 VS. CLEVELAND
No. 11: High two-strike fastball topped halfway up third-base line, no throw.
No. 12: Rips two-strike fastball past first for double.
No. 13: Letter-high 2-1 slider lined into short right, pops out of RF’s glove.

MAY 27 VS. PHILADELPHIA
No. 14: Slow full-count grounder gets past shortstop for single.

MAY 28 VS. PHILADELPHIA
No. 15: Beats out two-strike, five-hopper to shortstop.

MAY 29 AT PHILADELPHIA
No. 16: First-pitch fastball lined into left, rolls to wall for double.

MAY 30 AT PHILADELPHIA
No. 17: Shoulder-high 0-2 fastball popped to right, falls between three fielders.
No. 18: Full-count, letter-high fastball crushed off LF wall for double.

MAY 31 AT NEW YORK
No. 19: First-pitch fastball lined back through box for single.
No. 20: 1-2 breaking ball grounded past short for single.

JUNE 1 AT NEW YORK
No. 21: 2-2 fastball on hands lofted over short for single.
No. 22: Full-count breaking ball, off end of bat, falls in short left.

JUNE 2 AT NEW YORK
No. 23: First-pitch middle-in fastball for HR.

Conservative count, 10 of Iglesias’ 23 hits could be categorized as “cheapies,” including the two bunts. (Which were admittedly by design and nice recognition on his part.) There’s another four I lumped in as maybes, so it wouldn’t be unfair to say half his offense has been on the fluky side.

Hey, sometimes you dig in the data and find the conventional wisdom is wrong. Sometimes you don’t.

Iglesias, without question, has been better this season. John Farrell is right when he notes less of a tendency to chase the breaking ball, and there’s been solid contact in with all the bloops. But there are some more definitive metrics we can look at regarding Iglesias, and none of them are terribly good.

– Seven of the 23 hits came on pitches outside the zone, the proverbial stuff every arm in the league would want hitters swinging at. Remember that 2-for-44 stat regarding Middlebrooks outside the zone? Yeah, Iglesias is 7-for-16.

– He’s 13-for-34 with two strikes, a .382 batting average and .871 OPS that are easily the best on the team. (Dustin Pedroia, historically one of the league’s best two-strike hitters, is second at .333 and .861, respectively. League-wide, hitters are at .180 and .521.)

– The league batting average on balls in play, which means exactly what is says, is .295 through Sunday’s play. Jose Iglesias has a BABIP of .512.

– His line-drive percentage, as calculated by Fangraphs, is 14.3 percent. The best in the category a year ago were at more than 25 percent for the season. No one who accumulated enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title had a percentage below 14.9, and Drew Stubbs used that to hit .213/.277/.333.

You get the point. There is nothing about what Jose Iglesias is doing offensively that is sustainable. And defensively, the difference between Drew and Iglesias is probably less than you think. Drew, quite simply, has been a good defensive shortstop this season.

As for Middlebrooks …

DEFENSIVE RUNS SAVED, 2013
Stephen Drew at SS: Plus-8 in 385.2 inn.
Jose Iglesias at 3B: Plus-1 in 74 inn.
Jose Iglesias at SS: Plus-1 in 57 inn.
Will Middlebrooks at 3B: Minus-6 in 392.2 inn.

That’s a cumulative stat, mind you. Iglesias’ total plus-2 in 131 innings equates to a plus-6 in roughly the same playing time as the other two.

The thing I keep coming back to is that earlier talk of logic in Boston’s moves. Iglesias as the utility guy at miminum? Outside of concern about sitting on the bench doing little to help his offensive development, that’s a no brainer. Ciriaco’s done nothing to earn a spot in the lineup this year, period.

But the other two really haven’t done much to earn spots as regulars, either. Middlebrooks has been bad on both sides of the ball — he’s had a pretty tough go with any ball not hit in his direction or that he can charge. Drew’s been solid on defense, but his advantage is supposed to be offensive. (This would be more of an issue if shortstop was still an offensive position, but it’s not. His .689 OPS is only middle of the road among regulars around just the AL, and the league as a whole.)

Logically? To me, you put Iglesias at third, Drew at short and pin Middlebrooks to the bench. He’s not hitting. His approach is awful, typified by easily the worst player quote I’ve read all season. The radio guys have their points they beat into the ground. This is mine.

“I’m not there to walk. I’m not there to take pitches. If it’s close, I’m going to try to hit into the lights. That’s my job. I’ve never been a guy to walk. I’ve always been a guy with strikeouts, and that comes along with hitting for power I think. It’s not for everyone, of course, but for the most part, guys who hit for power, they’re not trying to poke the ball through a hole. Obviously, certain situations will dictate when I should do that, but for the most part, I’m trying to hit doubles and homers. I’m not going to sugarcoat that for you.”
– April 23, Boston Herald 

Benching Middlebrooks because he’s not hitting for a player who is should be similarly unsweetened.

Well, except he’re under Red Sox control for the next six seasons. Iglesias is too. It’s Drew who’s here on the one-year deal, with no strings attached after 2013. There’s also a logic strain that says it’s a lot more important the Sox get Middlebrooks right than it is they let Drew be better defensively at short than WMB is at third. Not only does Middlebrooks have a higher ceiling, his future benefits you a ton more.

So you sit Drew, put Iglesias at short and Middlebrooks back at third. Honestly, this is probably where we’re headed, at least in the short term.

But the big question remains about Iglesias. The acquisition of Drew this winter made it pretty clear that the Sox didn’t see him as the answer to their long-standing shortstop dance. They know better than anyone that the success he’s having isn’t going to last. They’re also well aware of the pouting Iglesias did at Pawtucket, landing himself three days on the bench, and of the lurking Xander Bogaerts. (He’s hitting .302/.393/.490 at Double-A Portland, albeit with nine errors in just 40 games at shortstop.)

The more Iglesias plays, the more likely it is the law of averages catches up with him. The more likely whatever trade value he’s been able to amass in the early going, whatever it may be, disappears. Maybe you put Middlebrooks and Drew out there and let Iglesias spell them as he can. Maybe he shows the strong defense we’ve come to know, while continuing to defy the odds and show other teams what he can do.

That’s logical too. And that’s what makes this whole impending situation so intriguing to me. You can never infer anything from one roster action, especially since what a team needs to do between the lines and what it needs to do in the baseball ops department can be two different things. But whichever choice the Sox make has pretty clear benefits and pretty clear losses. It’ll show a lot about what they value.

Even if it only shows it truly a couple years down the road, when we have a much clearer picture at the professional player that Jose Iglesias turned out to be.

Napoli’d already made the Blue Jays pay for doing it on May 1, slamming a three-run homer in a game that was already a rout. On Saturday night, he essentially put a game away.

It’s somewhat incredible to consider how it looked like the Red Sox offense was going to be the issue this season. (And that Will Middlebrooks looked like he was going to be critical to its success.) And here they are, again, scoring the third-most runs per game of any team in the majors. The days of the Ramirez-Ortiz power plant in the middle are gone, but having to pick through Pedroia (.333 with a .416 on-base, though less power), Ortiz (.996 OPS and nine homers) and Napoli (30 extra-base hits in 57 games) has been quite the conundrum.

Napoli appears to be the choice most other teams are making. His 44 RBI, and to an extent Boston’s record atop the AL East, offer a hint to how well that’s going.

One other note that caught my eye from Saturday night? The game was just New York’s second sellout of the season. Admittedly, we’re talking about a park with a capacity of more than 50,000, but the attendance struggles really are a league-wide issue. Maury Brown’s talked a lot about this at The Biz of Baseball … here’s his latest.

Box Score / Condensed Game / Highlights

Gamers: Globe / Herald / ProJo / RedSox.com

Opposition Coverage: N.Y. Times / Daily News / Post

Also: WEEI.com’s Closing Time / ESPN Boston’s Rapid Reaction

Notebooks: Globe / Herald / ProJo

QUOTES OF THE NIGHT

New York’s Phil Hughes, on the 2-2 fastball away he threw to Mike Napoli in the third inning; Napoli slammed it into the right-field seats, the biggest of Boston’s 18 hits: “I wanted it more down and away and it caught too much of the plate. … In a spot to Napoli where I really needed to make a good pitch, I wasn’t able to do it. If I can find a way to get Napoli out, it’s a real momentum-shifter. … Not being able to make a good pitch in a tight spot can be all the difference in the world.”

Joe Girardi: ”When you get ahead 0-and-2, you want to try to put them away right away. You don’t want it to be four or five or six more pitches. Then they see everything. Those are the ones he struggled with.”

This is where we mention Napoli’s 4.52 pitches seen per plate appearance, tops in the majors among qualifiers and a number he’s raised each of the prior three years. (He saw 4.09 in 2010, 4.37 in 2011 and 4.41 in 2012.)

Girardi, on the one-out decision to intentionally walk David Ortiz before Napoli’s at-bat: “I don’t necessarily want to do it either. I don’t want to start putting people on base, but you are trying to shut down an inning. I’m going to do what I think is the best thing to do. I thought the best thing was to get Napoli. It didn’t work.”

Napoli: ”It’s my job to be (Ortiz’s) protection, and when something like that happens, it feels good to come through. … I went in there and just tried to execute. Had a runner on third with less than two outs and tried to hit a fly ball.”

On WEEI.com, Napoli again talks about how much better his offense has been not having to physically worry about catching. The grind of that position is just immense on a day-to-day basis.

John Farrell on Daniel Nava; batting leadoff, Nava went 4-for-6, including a three-run homer in the eighth: ”Almost like a different player (than I saw three years ago). More than anything, over time, he’s probably gained some confidence that he belongs here and is a very good major league hitter. … It seems like with every day his value and his importance continues to grow. He’s playing with a lot of confidence. He’s been a consistent performer for us. Whether it’s right field, left field, different spots in the order, he’s gained and owned an awful lot of trust by the staff.”

Nava has eight home runs and a .398 on-base percentage. It’s come despite an increase in the percentage of pitches he’s swinging at outside the strike zone … he offers at almost a quarter. He’s got nine hits and 33 outs made — including 15 of his 37 strikeouts — on stuff outside the zone, but he’s still seeing better than four pitches per PA.

Nava, on the team’s offense coming from all over the lineup; Jackie Bradley Jr., Stephen Drew, Jose Iglesias and Mike Carp all had multiple hits in the win, with Bradley slugging two doubles and the rest all knocking in runs: “Especially for a guy like Jackie, who made the team and didn’t get out of the gate the way he wanted to, to come back and have the night like he did tonight is something we all like to see. Depth-wise I think it’s really good for us, so when (Shane Victorino) comes back or stuff like that, we got our feet wet a little bit so we can come off the bench and be ready to go.” (Herald)

Speaking of Victorino, he’s slated to start a rehab assignment with Pawtucket on Monday.

Bradley, who made his second start in center with Jacoby Ellsbury’s groin still bothering him, on coming back strong in the minors from shoulder tendonitis: ”Ironically, after two weeks of being hurt, I just came back in a groove, so to speak. I started feeling good a few days before I went on the (disabled list). Those two weeks, I was pretty much itching to get back on the field. After that, things started clicking.”

Farrell on Felix Doubront, who weathered two tough innings to start the night — not allowing a run — and ended up finishing six, allowing just one: “We’ve seen a number of times before that it takes him those first couple innings to find his way, settle in, find a rhythm. And as the night went on, his tempo and pace picked up. He’s making steady progress each time he walks to the mound, and tonight was another step. … Tonight was a four-pitch mix for him, but still, it’s attacking and getting ahead with his fastball. That sets the tone for the at-bat.” (Herald)

Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia on Doubront: ”His curveball was real, real good tonight. He had good depth on it. He had to get enough off it. It’s tough to sit back on. He showed some pitches they’d never seen with the cutter on both sides. They might have been expecting more changeups because that’s usually what we go with. But all his other stuff was working so well we were able to keep executing those.”

Since Doubront’s 105-pitch relief outing against the Twins, who shelled him for 11 hits on May 8, he’s held hitters to a .226/.327/.381 line and has a 2.74 ERA in four starts. The Sox are 7-2 in his nine starts.

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

The Herald has a piece on Thursday’s MLB Draft, in which the Sox pick No. 7. Nick Cafardo’s Globe column offers a salute to Girardi and Farrell for their work this season.

Most interesting to me, though, is the ProJo’s piece on the 10-year anniversary of the Byung-Hyun Kim trade. Why’s that notable? Because to get him, the Sox sent out Shea Hillenbrand, which cleared playing time for both Bill Mueller and one David Ortiz, who’d been nosing around for his release due to a lack of playing time.

Very cool story.

Farrell, on the Sox potentially keeping Iglesias in the majors when Will Middlebrooks is healthy again: ”We haven’t ruled out that he would remain here in a utility role. … He’s a very good middle infielder, as we know. He just hasn’t had the repetition on the pivot from the second base side. That doesn’t mean that we would say that we’ve got to send him back (to Triple A) to do that, to keep him there.”

Iglesias, on the extent of his play at second base; he’s not played there in a game since he departed Cuba in 2008: ”I’ve taken some grounders there this year. I can handle it. It just takes a little work.”

Pedro Ciriaco, it’s been a blast.

Two more hits for him on Saturday night, though I feel like I don’t even need to mention they were both bloopers that fell in the outfield. Here it is June and the guy’s still hitting .431 … it’s really starting to border on inexplicable a bit. He’s certainly a better hitter than he’s been in previous years, especially when it comes to laying off breaking balls away, but the numbers just don’t match what the eyes see.

Jon Lester, on the effect having John Farrell back has had on him, and the pitching staff as a whole: ”The biggest thing in baseball is comfort. When guys are comfortable, that’s when you succeed, that’s when you play well. You get that confidence going, you stop worrying about stupid things: ‘Am I getting my leg up at the right time? Am I getting my hands separated at the right time?’ No. You’re worried about what you’re supposed to do: throw a fastball down and away — boom. … Early on, he did a good job with (pitching coach) Juan (Nieves) of sitting him down and saying, ‘These are his cues, these are what his strengths are, this is what he tries to do.’ So Juan, the first day you meet him, already knows. You don’t have to sit down and explain everything to him. That learning curve is already sped up. Instead of six weeks of spring training learning what we do, he’s ready to go on Day 1.” (N.Y. Times)

Gamers: Globe / Herald / ProJo / RedSox.com

Opposition Coverage: Times / Daily News / Post

Also: WEEI.com’s Closing Time / ESPN Boston’s Rapid Reaction

Notebooks: Globe / Herald / ProJo

QUOTES OF THE NIGHT

Yankees manager Joe Girardi on CC Sabathia, who fanned 10 Sox without a walk in going 7 1/3 innings; it was the lefty’s first win this month, having allowed a .302 opponents batting average in his previous five games: ”I haven’t seen any 94s until tonight, and there were a lot of 92s and 94s whereas we’ve seen a lot of 89s to 91s. … It’s kind of what we’re used to seeing from CC, and he gave it to us. I understand why people have some cause for concern, but he’s a guy that, a lot of times when it warms up, he gets on a roll. Today was really the first hot night that he’s pitched in, and it was the best stuff that we’ve seen from him.”

Sabathia, who allowed seven runs against Tampa in his last start to start the five-game losing streak New York took into Friday’s game: ”I didn’t feel that much different from Tampa but I was aggressive in the strike zone and I attacked. I don’t think I was throwing the fastball in the zone and tonight I was.”

Jon Lester, who allowed four runs in 6 1/3 innings, walking four — the most in his last seven starts:“For whatever reason, maybe trying to be too fine with a cutter in or trying to hit the black on the outside corner or trying to throw too good of a curveball, you have those nights where you’re just not, for whatever reason, clicking right at the end. I felt great getting to landing, but for whatever reason, the release wasn’t good on anything. … I feel at times I’ve thrown the ball really well then at times the ball elevates on me a little bit for whatever reason. Maybe trying too hard or trying to make a perfect pitch.” (Herald)

John Farrell: “I’ll be honest with you, I thought it was a very uneven strike zone tonight. So I could understand if there was some frustration [from Lester], but I don’t think it caused him to be affected in successive pitches.” (WEEI.com)

Jacoby Ellsbury, who was a late scratch from Friday’s game after feeling himself injure his groin on his fifth steal in Thursday’s victory: ”It’s day to day, see how it is tomorrow. I want to do the right thing so it doesn’t get worse. I always want to be in there, especially a game like this. It’s always fun to play (in New York). But I’ll take care of it, and it shouldn’t be a problem.”

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

Farrell on Saturday’s starter Felix Doubront, who will oppose Phil Hughes: ”He feels more confident about himself, just in the way he speaks when you have conversations with him. The responses are probably a window into the inside of how he feels internally about himself. … I think it’s been very clear that the action to his secondary stuff, the finish to his curveball has been better. Over the last three starts, that’s been much improved.”

Jose Iglesias, who went 2-for-3 on Friday with a double, on what his future might hold with Will Middlebrooks in line to come off the disabled list next weekend: “I just see the ball, hit it and play the game. It’s just the game of baseball. Sometimes you get results, sometimes you don’t. … (The future)’s Ben’s decision. My decision is playing the game hard every single day and doing my best every time I’m up there for the team.” (Herald)

I will admit … Middlebrooks’ continued struggles have me not opposed to him cooling his heels for as long as he wants while Iglesias inexplicably continues to hit.

Red Sox Game Notes - Aug. 9, 2010. Jacoby Ellsbury would tie Remy's record -- noted at the bottom -- that night in New York.

It’s funny what things we remember.

Before every Red Sox game, the team’s PR staff puts out a substantial package of notes and information. It’s an impressive, massive undertaking that’s provided an unfathomable amount of the information you’ve read about the Red Sox over the years. Stats, historical nuggets, matchups, on and on and on. (You may know this. If you don’t, you can view the nightly notes on RedSox.com.)

Among the things that get stuffed in the back is what you see at right. For years, the last item in the hitting section was Jerry Remy‘s single-game stolen-base record. It was there as long as I could remember … probably to 2005, anyway. For reasons I don’t entirely understand, this fascinated me.

Perhaps because it was so much older than all the other listed records.

Perhaps because Remy’s playing career has been so muted by Remy’s “Being Jerry Remy” career.

Perhaps because I’ve made a living around being fascinated by stupid, obscure facts.

This is obviously coming up because Jacoby Ellsbury finished off the RemDawg’s record on Thursday night. His game was the 135th four-steal game since Remy did it 33 years ago, and the 17th five-steal game. (Carl Crawford had the last one in 2009; I bet you remember whom it came against.)

Watching the highlights, you really do get the sense he could have broken this mark years ago if he was so inclined. He stole 11 bases in a 20-game stretch in April, then only made seven attempts in the 30 games before last night. And there was nothing about the Philly battery on Thursday that appeared to make things overly simple. Catcher Erik Kratz had thrown out 4-of-19 potential basestealers in 2013 — below league average, but not hugely so. Ellsbury’s swipes against relievers Jeremy Horst and Michael Stutes were the first they’d allowed this season.

But, in short, they pissed him off.

Ellsbury, on getting hit by Horst in the sixth inning just after Jonny Gomes perhaps posed a bit too much on his pinch-hit home run; three pitches later, Ellsbury was on third base: “It definitely lit my fire a little bit. I knew I was going to try to get to third in the least amount of pitches possible.”

I can’t help but feel like I don’t enjoy Ellsbury’s game as much as I should. In those early days of his career, when he was scoring from second on a wild pitch, flying around the outfield, a constant threat to do pretty much anything, it was edge-of-your-seat stuff. But that was before the injuries. The long layoffs that followed said injuries. The looming acrimony of his — not unlike Jonathan Papelbon — inevitable foray into free agency. And, it’s certainly fair to say, the underwhelming performance since 2011.

Farrell on Ellsbury: “Tonight, just single-handedly he changed the game himself, with not only getting on base but the five stolen bases. A dynamic leadoff hitter. I know there was a lot of talk on getting him out of the leadoff spot, but we felt like we started to see some signs of it coming. Stayed with him, and he’s doing what he’s very capable of.”

Let’s not miss that despite the five steals, Ellsbury scored just one run on Thursday, and it was in an inning where he didn’t swipe a bag. The stolen bases, to me, are not the point specifically. The point is they speak to confidence. A confident Ellsbury is an infinitely more valuable Ellsbury, and perhaps hints we’re getting closer to seeing more of the guy who was the best leadoff hitter in baseball — as well as the best hitter in the American League — just two years ago.

But also? I pour one out this morning to Remy’s record, and type with a twinge of sadness. Three decades untouched is well worthy of such a salute.

Box Score / Condensed Game

Gamers: Globe / Herald / ProJo / RedSox.com

Opposition Coverage: Phila. Inquirer

Also: WEEI.com’s Closing Time / ESPN Boston’s Rapid Reaction

Notebooks: Globe / Herald / ProJo

QUOTES OF THE NIGHT

John Farrell on Franklin Morales, who went five innings and 79 pitches in his 2013 debut, allowing four hits and two earned runs: ”He kept the game under control. Obviously, the ground-ball double play to end the fourth inning was the key to his outing.”

Lot of contact against Morales, not a lot of swings and misses — four on 29 swings. Just nine first-pitch strikes from 20 batters. Though he did pitch strong when he got to two strikes and his secondary stuff was sharp against righties … I’ll give him that. Otherwise, a pretty pedestrian outing.

Dustin Pedroia, on said double play; up two with the bases loaded, he and Stephen Drew turned two on Kratz: ”That was a big spot. It wasn’t hit well, so Stephen made a really good play to get me the ball so I could get rid of it.”

Drew was similarly complimentary of Pedroia’s turn: ”He’s so quick. That kind of changed the game at the time.”

The ProJo’s Brian MacPherson: ”Maybe we’re all overlooking just how good a season Jarrod Saltalamacchia is having. Saltalamacchia doubled twice and drove in three runs for the Red Sox against Philadelphia on Thursday night. … There are only five catchers (min. 150 plate appearances) who went into Thursday with a better OPS than the .790 Saltalamacchia took on the bus with him out of Citizens Bank Park. … In other words, if the Red Sox want to upgrade on Saltalamacchia on the offensive side, pickings are slim.”

As someone who’s never been a big fan of Saltalamacchia as a catcher, this certainly offers some pause.

Clay Buchholz, after throwing for a second straight day; he’s been penciled in to start Sunday against the Yankees, six days after he was initially scratched with a minor shoulder issue: “It’s pretty much gone. Now it just feels muscular and in the bullpen threw pretty much max effort. The ball came out of my hand a lot better today.”

That would make your weekend matchups Jon Lester vs. CC Sabathia, Felix Doubront vs. Phil Hughes, and Buchholz vs. Hiroki Kuroda. All three papers have stories marveling at the Yankees’ start, which is fun given the Mets just swept them.

Lester, on watching Sabathia as a guide: “I like to watch CC, because he picks apart guys. He throws a fastball up and in, changeup down and away, flips that backdoor slider in. He can go to different quadrants and do different things. … You pitch against these (AL East) teams five, maybe six times a year. You’ve got to learn some stuff from other guys, as well. Pick apart them and see what they did against them, especially guys you have trouble with. How does this guy get him out? Maybe I’m missing something.” (ProJo)

Also, Lester could have been a pro soccer player. As an eighth grader.

From the bottom of the Globe notes: ”The Sox will return to their usual blue caps (on) Friday. They wore their two-tone batting practice caps the last four games at the behest of Major League Baseball and its marketing arm.”

That explains it. Goodness, those things are uninspiring. I was always a red top, blue brim guy myself, which you’d know if you got a copy of the 1998 Agawam High School yearbook. (It was a much better picture than the one taken with my golf clubs and a straw Greg Norman hat. Oh, senior pictures.)

The Globe also has its weekly minor-league roundup, this one focusing on Rubby de la Rosa.

“From the dugout, Pawtucket manager Gary DiSarcina could see it coming. Rubby De La Rosa would unleash a 95 mile-per-hour heater and watch it get laced for a line drive. ‘His next pitch,’ DiSarcina said, ‘he would try to throw it 98.’”

Man, the Sox have never anyone like that before …