David Ortiz hit a home run on Tuesday. Yawn.

The idea that Ortiz might go deep is hardly an unexpected event. He has 1,809 hits in a career that has seen him spend parts of 16 seasons in the majors. Of those, 386 have been homers.

But on Tuesday, in a 5-0 victory over the Mariners, Ortiz did something with little precedent in his career. For just the sixth time in his career and the first time since 2010, he dropped a perfect bunt single down the third base line.

The decision to do so came in the bottom of the fifth inning, after the Mariners replaced starter Blake Beavan with left-hander Charlie Furbush. Furbush works from an angle that gives left-handers little sense of comfort; last year, Ortiz was 1-for-5 with two strikeouts and two groundballs against him.

And so, Ortiz decided to take advantage of the fact that the Mariners infield was employing a shift against him, with the third baseman swung around to occupy what was roughly the shortstop position in deference to the fact that three infielders were crowded on the right side of the diamond.

“You’ve got to play the game the way it’s supposed to be. I never see the ball coming out of that guy anyway,” said Ortiz. “I’ve got to make chicken soup out of chicken you-know-what.”

The decision was made unilaterally.

“It’s me hitting,” said Ortiz. “Nobody else. I do whatever I want to do.”

In this case, he also executed precisely what he wanted to do. He dropped a textbook bunt down the third base line. With no Mariners infielder within a zip code of the ball, Ortiz easily legged out the infield hit.

It was the first time that Ortiz had bunted for a single since Oct. 3, 2010, when he did so against the Yankees on the final day of the season. Prior to that, he had four career bunt hits, all of which came in 2005 and 2006, when teams were just beginning to employ the shift against him (much to the designated hitter’s displeasure).

The strategy thrilled Ortiz’s teammates, who were elated at the sight of the man with one of the most ferocious swings in big league history executing a form of small ball so well. They were further enthused when Ortiz hustled safely into second on a fielder’s choice when the throw pulled the shortstop wide of the bag, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Will Middlebrooks single.

Again, the sight of Ortiz trotting around the bases has become commonplace in the slugger’s decade in Boston. The image of him flying around the bases and manufacturing runs is somewhat novel, a reflection of the fact that he used the offseason to slim down and reshape himself.

“You know he lost all that weight and he’s got some speed now, so he’s feeling good right now,” said catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. “That’s how we like it.”

The approach could reap ancillary benefits if Ortiz continues to employ it successfully. If he continues to use the bunt as a countermeasure against the shift, then teams will have to start respecting his ability to bunt for a single. In that scenario, the DH could force teams to realign, thus opening up the field for when he swings away.

“He said, ‘That’s why we practice it in spring training, right?’ It is,” said manager Bobby Valentine. “I hope he gets 10 of those this year. It spreads out the defense, then he’ll get another 10 hits through the right side of the infield.”

Of course, Ortiz has required little help in getting his hits this year. After going 2-for-3 with a homer (yawn) and a walk on Tuesday, he’s now hitting .353 with a .417 OBP, .633 slugging percentage and 1.050 OPS, all marks that rank among the top three in the American League.

With that sort of performance, there will be no rush to achieve a seventh career bunt single.

No Red Sox player has been subject to more scrutiny than Josh Beckett. Whether because of the glare or in spite of it, the right-hander delivered his most dominating start of the year and arguably the most overpowering of any Sox pitcher this year.

Beckett tossed seven shutout innings in which he allowed just four hits (all singles), walked two and struck out nine, overmatching the Mariners in a 5-0 Red Sox victory that concluded a two-game series sweep at Fenway. The strikeout total was the highest by a Sox starter this year. That total reflected an impressive arsenal of swing-and-miss offerings — a 91-94 mph fastball, a terrific changeup to keep the left-handed-heavy Mariners lineup honest, a curveball and a cutter.

While Beckett’s 4.97 ERA suggests struggles this year, the reality is that he has five quality starts and two complete clunkers. But for the most part, he’s given the Sox the type of performances that they need in order to contend, with no effort more emphatic than Tuesday’s.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE RED SOX

– Beckett continued a dominant turn of the rotation by Red Sox starters. Over the team’s five-game winning streak, the starters went 5-0 with a 1.57 ERA. Each went at least six innings, with Beckett going seven frames and Jon Lester turning in a complete game.

– David Ortiz found both conventional and unconventional ways to beat the shift. The designated hitter demolished a 93 mph fastball from Blake Beaven, sending it into the Red Sox bullpen in the bottom of the third inning for his eighth homer, giving the Sox a 1-0 lead. Then, leading off the bottom of the fifth, Ortiz dropped a textbook bunt down the third base line for a single.

The two-hit day was Ortiz’s first in eight games. In the previous seven contests, he was 4-for-28 with two walks. After going 2-for-3 with a homer and a walk, Ortiz is hitting .353 with a 1.050 OPS this season.

– Rich Hill delivered a 1-2-3 eighth inning, retiring all three left-handed hitters he faced. On the year, lefties are now 1-for-14 (.071) against him.

– Mike Aviles had a pair of doubles, going 2-for-4 while driving in two runs. Moreover, he continued to play spectacular defense.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE RED SOX

– Daniel Nava verged on mortal, going “just” 1-for-3 while striking out. He reached base twice, as he was also hit by a pitch. In the process, Nava saw his OBP fall from .750 to .708.

– Adrian Gonzalez went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.

Mike Aviles has been one of the best defensive shortstops in the majors this year. (AP)

All spring, the clamor for Jose Iglesias was driven by a chief force, namely, the idea that his spectacular defense would outweigh any offensive deficiencies he might have. That assessment was a direct reflection upon the sense that Mike Aviles was not an adequate defender at the position. He was expected to be a downgrade from Marco Scutaro, let alone a Gold Glove-caliber defender in Iglesias.

With 35 games now in the books, something unexpected has happened. Foremost, Aviles has been among the best defensive shortstops in the majors.

The small sample disclaimer is necessary. Typically, defense is best evaluated — at least from a statistical standpoint — over multiple seasons. A couple of months thus can be deceiving. Nonetheless, the initial returns on what Aviles has done at the position are eye-opening.

The John Dewan Plus/Minus evaluation system (which examines every ball hit into a player’s defensive zone and compares the number of plays made by a single player to the average number of plays made on such balls) suggests that Aviles has made 13 more plays than the average shortstop on the balls hit in his direction this season. He’s made five more plays than the average shortstop on balls hit to his right, three more than average to his left (where his positioning, range and strong arm has allowed him to make a number of plays behind the second base bag) and four more than average on pop-ups. In Dewan’s system, that defensive wizardry has translated to 10 runs saved, the second highest total among all big league shortstops. Fangraphs.com’s UZR statistic pegs Aviles as the fourth best shortstop in the majors, 2.5 runs better than the average shortstop.

With Aviles performing as an above-average defender on the left side and reigning Gold Glovers Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez on the right side, infield defense has been a strength of the Red Sox in the early going.

“I think we’re playing pretty good defense, especially on the infield,” said manager Bobby Valentine. “[Aviles has been] huge. I don’t want to jinx him, but he’s made all the progressions. He’s learning to move with hitters and position himself properly. He always knows the speed of the runner. He’s been huge. The stability of him has been huge for our defense.”

That said, while the infield defense has been solid, the Sox’ defensive efficiency rating (meaning the number of balls in play turned into outs) is 23rd in the majors. That, however, reflects primarily on a makeshift outfield that is without Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford.

OTHER NOTES Read the rest of this entry »

Daniel Nava is back in the majors after a roller coaster 2011 (WEEI.com/John Vu)

Daniel Nava‘s arrival in the big leagues was one of a great and improbable player development story, a player who was undersized throughout high school and had all but given up on playing baseball at the college level — let alone professionally — before a late growth spurt led him to a batting title in the West Coast Conference, an independent league tenure and, eventually entry into the Red Sox system. At 27, he hit a grand slam on the first pitch he saw in the majors on June 12, 2010, and while he endured ups and downs that year, he played in 60 games and hit .242 with a .351 OBP and .711 OPS as a rookie.

But just as quickly as he rose from obscurity, he returned to it in 2011. On May 20, he was hitting .189 with a .574 OPS in 36 games, and the Sox designated the switch-hitter for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Drew Sutton. Any team in baseball could have had him, but instead, Nava sailed through outright waivers and remained with the Sox in Triple-A.

He could have lamented his fate, dwelled on the reality that his trip to the majors in 2010 might be his only shot. Instead, he used that moment as an opportunity to reset and renew his career.

“I struggled a lot for a while last year. It allowed me to find myself again as a hitter,” said Nava. “I wasn’t myself. I was trying to do a lot of things that put me in a state where I was pressing. … Unfortunately, that’s what happened, but fortunately, I learned from it. Basically, I felt like when I was hitting .199, you can’t do too much worse. I had nothing to lose. I just went back to me. And I’m glad I have another shot.

“I had nothing else to lose at that point,” Nava said. “I was designated, taken off the 40-man, all that stuff. Who’s going to pick up someone who couldn’t hit water if he fell out a boat, so to speak? It allowed freedom. Let’s just go back to me, not worry about anything and let that take over.”

The challenge he faced, in many respects, was more psychological than physical. Read the rest of this entry »

Daniel Nava was all smiles after his second career homer, and first in nearly two years. (AP)

Back in 2010, when Daniel Nava was a rookie, he stepped to the plate against the Tampa Bay Rays. He was greeted by catcher Kelly Shoppach.

“I stepped in the box and he said, ‘Hey you’re the guy who hit that home run the first pitch.’ I said, ‘Yeah,’” Nava said on Monday night, a reference to the fact that he blasted the first pitch he saw in his first big league at-bat for a grand slam into the Red Sox bullpen on June 12, 2010. “He goes, ‘You really haven’t done much since then’ in terms of hitting another one. I don’t even know if he remembers that but I think it was just a joke. I started lauging, said, ‘It’s true, I can’t really say anything to that.’”

Now, Nava has his rebuttal. After a 23-month wait that stretched across 205 plate appearances, Nava finally went deep for the second time. The switch-hitting left-fielder jumped on an 87 mph first-pitch fastball from Mariners starter Jason Vargas and snuck it just over the Green Monster for his second career homer, and his first as a right-hander.

“I didn’t think it was gone, knowing how big the Wall is, and seeing some other balls that guys have hit, I didn’t feel like it compared to a [Will] Middlebooks bomb or what Shop did later. I thought it was going to go off the Wall and I was surprised that it barely squeaked over. I’ll take it,” said Nava. “When I hit that one, I was like, ‘Thank God, I’m not going to have just one.’ That’s all I was thinking. I wasn’t expecting to, I wasn’t trying, it just happened.”

Of course, the home run was only the latest surprise in what has been a remarkable call-up. The 29-year-old has been a game-changing force for the Red Sox in his five games in the majors, playing a significant role in the fact that his team has won four of those contests. Nava went 1-for-2 with two walks on Monday night. Amazingly, that merely sustained his .750 OBP. Read the rest of this entry »

Suddenly, the Red Sox are on a roll, led by the efforts of their rotation. While the Sox had produced three straight quality starts (and with them, three straight wins) entering Monday, none was so overpowering as the effort put forth by Jon Lester on Monday night against the Mariners in a 6-1 victory over Seattle.

Lester featured an arsenal that was at times overpowering, with a 93-94 mph fastball, a swing-and-miss curve and changeup and the occasional cutter, a mix that had the Mariners guessing as to pitch type and location. The combination was electric, as the left-hander retired the first 11 batters he faced without permitting a single ball to leave the infield before Ichiro Suzuki ended any visions of a perfect game with a single lined off of the pitcher’s glove.

While that ended any visions of a second career no-hitter, Lester delivered one of his most dominant efforts in some time. He struck out six, walked none, and of the eight hits he allowed, seven were singles. It was Lester’s first nine-inning complete game since June 27, 2010.

Though he has been inconsistent this year, Lester has delivered the Sox’ most dominant outings of the year. He has now allowed one or no runs in four of his eight starts, and his ERA stands at a Red Sox-best 3.73.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE RED SOX

– Lester became the first Red Sox pitcher of the season to pitch into the ninth inning. (Prior to Monday, Lester and Josh Beckett were tied for the longest outing of the year, having each tossed eight innings.)

– Daniel Nava launched his second career home run, 205 plate appearances after he memorably delivered a grand slam in his first big league swing. The left fielder continued to serve as a spark for the Red Sox, as he went 1-for-2 with the homer and two walks (the second intentional). In 20 plate appearances, Nava has reached base 15 times, good for a .750 OBP, along with a .583 average and 2.750 OPS. He has five extra-base hits in five games since being called up.

– Kelly Shoppach went deep for his first homer of 2012, part of a 2-for-4 night. Though there is something of an all-or-nothing aspect to the play of Shoppach and Jarrod Saltalamacchia, as Red Sox catchers have more strikeouts (40) than any team, but the duo also ranks as one of the most — if not the most — productive in the league.Sox catchers are hitting .262 with a .324 OBP, .516 slugging mark and .840 OPS this year, along with six homers. The slugging percentage and OPS are tops for any team’s catchers.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE RED SOX

– Mike Aviles, batting leadoff against left-hander Jason Vargas, went 0-for-4, as his on-base percentage dropped to .287. In 17 games since April 27, he’s hitting .189 with a .218 OBP, .270 slugging mark and .488 OPS.

– Dustin Pedroia went 0-for-3 (with a walk), snapping his five-game hitting streak.

Daisuke Matsuzaka has at least two more rehab starts ahead of him. (AP)

Daisuke Matsuzaka is on the clock. Sort of.

Even though the pitcher is currently on a 30-day minor league rehab assignment, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he will have to be called up to the big leagues when it expires on May 23. Matsuzaka has appeared in four games thus far, and his performance has been mixed.

At times, he’s looked like he’s close to being able to contribute in the majors. At others — most notably, in his most recent outing for Triple-A Pawtucket, when he allowed five runs on seven hits and two homers in 5 1/3 innings — he hasn’t. In four starts (one in High-A Salem, one in Double-A Portland, two with the PawSox), he is 0-1 with a 4.34 ERA, 19 strikeouts, six walks and four homers allowed in 18 2/3 innings.

The 31-year-old is slated to make two more rehab starts, one on Thursday and another on May 22. Technically, that will be the last time he can make a start under the 30-day window of his current assignment. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the pitcher will be done pitching in the minors at that point.

With Matsuzaka returning from Tommy John surgery, if there is some kind of physical setback — whether inadequate arm strength or some physical malady with either his elbow or something else — then if the Sox shut down the right-hander for at least seven days, they can restart his rehab clock, thus permitting them to commence a new 30-day rehab assignment. While Major League Baseball has to approve the renewal of the rehab clock, it is typically either rubber-stamped or — so long as the issue is legitimate — approved after a brief phone call to clarify the need for the renewal of the rehab clock.

That being the case, if Matsuzaka does not look like a pitcher who is ready to help in the big leagues after two more starts, the Red Sox likely will be able to take more time to evaluate him in the minors while deciding when — or whether — to call him up to reinforce the starting rotation.