…the bottom of the fourth in today’s batting practice 16-6 game against the Cincinnati Reds was EPIC. Some tidbits about the half-inning when the Sox were up at bat:
1. There were 10 separate plate appearances. Other than the three players who made the three outs, all other batters (that is, all seven others) scored.
2. There were exactly three strikes thrown. Of course, there would have been more pitches counted as strikes, but those would have been scored as either foul balls or hits (or outs by other means, such as a grounder). Also, none of the three were to the same batter.
3. Of the five hits in the inning, one was a line drive to right, three were line drives to left, and one was a home run to left.
4. There was a period over the course of five batters where not a single strike was thrown. As before, there would have been some scored as strikes because of hits and foul balls, but over the course of the plate appearances of David Ortiz, Joe Thurston, Mike Lowell, JD Drew, and Jason Varitek, not one pitch was an actual swing-and-miss or called strike.
5. Dustin Pedroia made two of the three outs in the inning. The other was David Ortiz’s.
Here are some more, um, interesting facts about the game:
1. Reid Engel, drafted out of high school in 2005, had an RBI triple in the sixth and an RBI double in the eighth. He faced three pitches in the entire game; the other was a ball.
2. There were only five Ks by Reds pitchers. They were to David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Julio Lugo, George Kottaras, and Jed Lowrie.
3. Of the 24 outs made by Sox batters, other than the five Ks, 6 were to the outfield and 13 were to the infield.
4. The only inning in which Sox batters had more runs than hits was the fourth.
5. Red Sox batters drew only two walks (as well as one HBP) in the entire game.
6. Let’s just say the Reds pitching is practically nonexistent.
7. Every single spot in the batting order got exactly 5 plate appearances.
8. Joe Castiglione used “Google” as a verb at one point. I’m not sure when it was, but it caught me off-guard.
9. One thing that didn’t catch me off-guard was how abysmal the Reds’ pitching was. No offense, Cincinnati. I still like you better than the Indians. (Meaning that if I was to see a game in Ohio, I’d go to the Reds. Well, I’d probably do that anyway, considering we’d be more likely to win.)
10. I should keep actual box scores more often. (This is much easier to read than my half-crazed scribblings.)
