Cody Ross, much to the chagrin of Phillies fans, had a lot of hardware to hoist in 2010. (AP)

City of Brotherly Love? To Cody Ross, that sort of title for Philadelphia would be laughable.

Ross is returning to a city and ballpark that he demolished two postseasons ago. As such, at Citizens Bank Ballpark, he will almost assuredly be given a welcome reserved for the most infamous villains.

And in a way, he qualifies for the designation, thanks to a 2010 playoff series in which he pulverized Phillies pitching and played an immense role in leading the Giants to an NLCS triumph over Philadelphia and an eventual World Series title.

Ross was locked in during that series. He jumpstarted the Giants by slamming a pair of solo homers against Roy Halladay in San Francisco’s Game 1 victory, and he went on to go 7-for-20 with three homers, three doubles and a .350/.435/.950/1.385 line en route to NLCS MVP honors.

Yet with that honor came outrage from the fans of the team that he beat.

One publication called him “the worst thing to happen to this country since Lee Harvey Oswald.” Enmity towards the outfielder inspired the manufacture and sale of a T-shirt to publicize the sentiment.

And then, of course, there was the Facebook page called simply, ‘I Hate Cody Ross.’

“I didn’t know about it until my mom brought it up,” Ross recounted of the Facebook page. “I was like, wow, that’s pretty interesting that somebody would go out of their way to make an I hate Cody Ross Facebook page, to take some time.

“It’s understandable,” he added. “They are passionate about their team. They want their team to win. They don’t like to see them lose. That year that we beat them, they were supposed to run away with it. It ended up going the other way. You can understand why they got so upset about it. But to have a Facebook page, that may be going a little far.”
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Adrian Gonzalez watches his third-inning blast go just to the right of the right-field foul pole. (AP)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — This time, it was the Red Sox who won the pitchers’ duel at Tropicana Field.

Felix Doubront out-dueled his rookie counterpart, Tampa Bay lefty Matt Moore, on the way to leading the Red Sox to a 5-3 win over the Rays in the teams’ series finale Thursday night. Doubront picked up his fourth win while lowering his ERA to 4.09 after allowing two runs (one earned) over 5 2/3 innings.

Leading the offense was Cody Ross, who drove in four of the Red Sox’ five runs.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

• Ross got the Sox on the board first with a two-out bases loaded walk, scoring Mike Aviles. The pitch came on a 3-2 changeup, punctuating an eight-pitch at-bat. Moore had loaded the bases thanks to singles by Aviles and David Ortiz, and Adrian Gonzalez being hit by a pitch. Moore finished the first having thrown 33 pitches.

• Marlon Byrd broke his streak of not hitting a home run in 126 at-bats, rocketing a 3-2 pitch from Moore over the center field fence to lead off the second inning and give the visitors a 2-0 lead.

• Ross handed the Red Sox their third run of the game with his seventh homer of the season, launching a Moore 0-2 changeup over the center-field fence.

• Doubront got out of a huge jam in the fourth inning when he induced a hard line drive right at Gonzalez at first off the bat of Luke Scott. The Sox starter was most likely one batter away from being pulled, having finished the fourth at 78 pitches with Scott Atchison warming up.

• Rich Hill got Doubront out of a tough spot in the sixth inning, getting the first batter he faced, Scott, to fly out to left field, stranding runners on second and third while preserving the Sox’ one-run lead.

• Ross capped the scoring for the Red Sox with a two-run single in the eighth inning, grounding a ball up the middle to score Dustin Pedroia and Ortiz. It marked the 18th time in Ross’ career he has totaled at least four RBI in a game, having last done it on April 14 against the Rays.

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Much to his dismay, Cody Ross just can't stop executing bat flips after home runs. (AP)

For the first time since April 23, it made an appearance.

The Cody Ross bat flip.

The Red Sox outfielder launched his sixth home run of the season in the sixth inning of his team’s 4-1 win over the Indians Saturday night. And before the ball even cleared the left field wall, Ross’ bat had been tossed toward the Indians dugout to punctuate the moment.

But believe it or not, for Ross it is a trademark he never wished made an appearance in the first place.

“I’m not trying to show anybody up. It’s just a reaction,” he explained. “I actually don’t like it. I wish I could get rid of my bat a different way, maybe like Lance Berkman, hitting it and setting it on the plate. It just happens.

“You can’t really practice that. I don’t go home at night and think about ways to let go of my bat when I hit a ground ball or a fly ball. It just happens. When I hit a ground ball I let my bat go back where it hits the plate. Sometimes when I hit a fly ball I’ll throw my bat another way in disgust. When I hit a home run I still throw it, but it’s more like … it’s kind of a weird deal.”

Ross doesn’t know exactly when the practice of tossing the bat to the side after hitting a home run first appeared, but he does remember when it was initially noticed.

“I’m not sure when the first time is, but I know when I was with the Marlins and I was facing Matt Cain was the first time people made a big deal about it,” Ross said. “I hit a home run off of him and I guess I flipped my bat and he kind of stared at me and watched me run around the bases. I didn’t really realize I did it because I don’t realize I’m doing it, and I don’t want to do it. But it’s just something that kind of happens.

“So, he didn’t like it, we left town and about a month later I got claimed off waivers by the Giants. I was walking around the clubhouse saying, ‘Hey,’ to everybody and he’s sitting in his locker. I knew Matt was a really nice guy but didn’t really know him all that well. I walk up to him and said, ‘Hey man, how you doing?’ He looked at me and said, ‘Do you think you could have flipped your bat any further?’ I’m just like, ‘Bro, I’m so sorry. You’re not the first. Let me go show you some video of people I’ve actually done it to in the past, but I don’t mean to.’ ”

Since then, Ross has made nice with Cain, while continuing his unwanted habit.

“Nobody has really thrown at me before,” he joked, “probably because they would rather try and get me out.”

Clay Buchholz turned in his first quality start of 2012. (AP)

The Red Sox have been desperate for quality starts, and no one has inspired more desperation than Clay Buchholz.

The right-hander allowed five or more earned runs in each of his first six starts of the year, posting a major league-worst 9.09 ERA and 2.02 WHIP. He’d been a mess, seemingly reluctant to use a changeup that had long been his most dominant weapon and unable to locate his fastball consistently. In six starts, he was averaging about 5 1/3 innings, and most recently, he was shelled by the Orioles last Sunday for five runs on seven hits in just 3 2/3 innings.

And so, Friday’s outing represented something of a landmark in the team’s season. For the first time all year, Buchholz managed to control the damage done by an opposing lineup, allowing the Indians four runs (three earned) on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings. At the time he left the game (with the bases loaded and one out), the Sox were up, 7-1, in an eventual 7-5 victory.

Still, while he recorded his first quality start of the season, Buchholz was not dominant. Far from.

For just the second time in his career, he did not record a strikeout in a start. (The first came on Aug. 20, 2008, and immediately preceded a demotion to Double-A for Buchholz.) He allowed eight hits (six singles, two doubles), walked three, hit a man and was the beneficiary of multiple critical defensive plays by his outfielders that kept the game at bay.

Nonetheless, for Buchholz, the final line represented a potential life raft in a season where he has been adrift in unfamiliar waters. For the first time this year, he allowed fewer than five earned runs, thus snapping a string of six straight starts of such a yield (the longest by a Sox starter since Red Ruffing had eight straight starts in which he gave up at least five or more earned runs in 1925).

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE RED SOX Read the rest of this entry »

Felix Doubront set career highs in strikeouts (8) and earned runs allowed (5). (AP)

It is, at times, the nature of the beast with young starters who are getting their footing in the big leagues. While a young pitcher may feature a dominant arsenal, it can be difficult to harness it on a consistent basis. Such was the case for left-hander Felix Doubront, who once again showed stuff that ranked with anyone on the Red Sox staff but nonetheless could not locate his fastball en route to a 5-3 loss to the A’s.

Doubront ended up highlighting both his talent — striking out a career-high eight — and his inconsistent ability to translate that into dominance, as he permitted a career-high five earned runs.

Doubront left the game with the Sox in a 5-0 hole, and that proved insurmountable even as the Sox spent the later innings trying to rally back. The Sox pushed a pair of runs across in the ninth, but with the tying runs on base, Lars Anderson struck out against left-hander Jordan Norberto and Dustin Pedroia grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the threat.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE RED SOX

– On the one hand, Felix Doubront continued to show swing-and-miss stuff that rates with anyone on the staff, in particular, demonstrating a devastating changeup that was responsible for five strikeouts. The left-hander struck out a career-high eight, and he’s now struck out 30 in 26 innings. He has punched out 25.6 percent of all batters he’s faced, a mark that ranks third in the American League behind only Jered Weaver and CC Sabathia, and on Tuesday, he became just the eighth Sox pitcher to record as many as eight strikeouts in an outing of four or fewer innings, and the first since Tim Wakefield did so on June 1, 2003.

All of that said, he lasted just four innings and the Athletics tagged him for five runs on six hits while walking twice. Doubront struggled with both the command and control of his fastball, working behind in the count for much of his outing while tossing just 58 of his 94 pitches for strikes. Of the six hits he allowed, five came on fastballs and one on a cutter.

While Doubront has shown tremendous stuff, he is still struggling with his pitch efficiency and with working deep into games. His four-inning outing was his shortest of the year, but the 24-year-old is now averaging just over five innings an outing in his five starts. The five earned runs and three wild pitches he uncorked were also new career highs, and the southpaw now has a 5.19 ERA for the year. He also allowed three steals of third base. Read the rest of this entry »

Dustin Pedroia cruised through the clubhouse the other day, took one look at the footwear of a reporter — which consisted of spring training flip-flops — and started screaming that the new collective bargaining agreement was being violated. He was right. Reporters are being forced to dress (gulp) more respectively this season per the new CBA.

Then Pedroia went on the defensive: “Look. Not in my pocket. In my hand.”

What the second baseman was holding was a tin of chewing tobacco. What he was referencing was another new CBA rule that fans might not notice right away, that players aren’t allowed to carry tobacco products in their uniforms. You know what means: No more of the trademark tobacco tin ring in back pockets of players.

Another CBA-related item comes from Hardball Talk’s Craig Calcaterra, who outlines baseball’s new social policy. In a nutshell, here are the new rules:

Players can’t make what can be construed as official club or league statements without permission;

Players can’t use copyrighted team logos and stuff without permission or tweet confidential or private information about teams or players, their families, etc.;

Players can’t link to any MLB website or platform from social media without permission;

No tweets condoning or appearing to condone the use of substances on the MLB banned drug list (which is everything but booze, right?);

No ripping umpires or questioning their integrity;

No racial, sexist, homophobic, anti-religious, etc. etc. content;

No harassment or threats of violence;

Nothing sexually explicit;

Nothing otherwise illegal.

Are the Red Sox pushing the envelope? Probably not. The last tweet from Cody Ross (@IamCodyRoss) was a caption contest, with the winner passing along this for the following picture: “So this is what Pedroia sees when he steps up to the plate…”

Other recent Red Sox tweets: Darnell McDonald (@MacDime54) – “Don’t really get into college hoops”; Ryan Sweeney (@RyanSweeney12) – “Our bed is like a concrete slab so I caved and bought a memory foam mattress cover AND a down mattress cover, this crap better work…”; Kelly Shoppach (@ShopHouse10) – “Ft. Myers Beach is packed. Spring Break”

FORT MYERS, Fla. — In relative terms, spring training remains in its infancy. Pitchers and hitters alike are still looking to work their ways into playing shape and so it’s difficult to place too much credence into what is seen in games.

Nonetheless, even this early stage of the spring offers some pieces of the puzzle, even if they don’t reveal the broader picture. Such was the case in the Red Sox’ 7-4 loss to the Pirates at JetBlue Park.

A few takeaways:

– Vicente Padilla, in the mix for the job of the Red Sox’ fifth starter, had a poor outing, allowing four runs on five hits (three doubles), all of which came in his second inning of work. While Padilla featured a fastball in the low-90s and changed speeds on his curveballs, his stuff was simply flat. He did throw 22 of his 29 pitches for strikes, but he didn’t miss many bats; he neither struck out nor walked any hitters.

“He wasn’t executing two-strike pitches,” said manager Bobby Valentine. “I think first time that [Kelly Shoppach] was catching him and I think there was a little quandary where to go when he got ahead of a couple of those hitters. I don’t know that, for my money, his armspeed was what it was last time, the last couple of times. It was pretty good. His location was decent. He was executing early. He just didn’t execute late.”

– David Ortiz offered a promising sign in his second at-bat. He turned on an 88 mph fastball from left-hander Tony Watson and lined it into the visitor’s bullpen. Given how central his success against left-handers was to his huge 2011 season (indeed, it was the best season he’s ever had against southpaws), the fact that he went deep against a southpaw at this early stage of the spring has to be taken as a good sign.

In 2011, Ortiz hit .329 with a .423 OBP, .566 slugging mark and .989 OPS along with eight homers against lefties, and .298 with a .386 OBP, .548 slugging mark, .934 OPS and 21 homers against right-handers.

– Clay Buchholz said that he was pleased with how he felt over the course of his 51-pitch, three-inning effort on Friday night. He focused on working his changeup into the mix, and threw some good ones, including an at-bat in which he doubled up on the pitch to punch out Brandon Boggs. He did leave some fastballs over the plate in allowing two runs on three hits, but overall, Buchholz was pleased with the opportunity to continue to build his pitch count.

– More important signs for the Sox against lefties: Darnell McDonald threatened to end modern telecommunications as we know it with his satellite-menacing blast into geosynchronous orbit of a fastball by Pirates lefty Doug Slaten. McDonald’s roster value derives in no small part from his ability to do damage against southpaws, something that he was unable to do in the first half of last year but then did with underappreciated effectiveness in the second half.

McDonald hit .260 with a .333 OBP, .471 slugging mark and .804 OPS against lefties last year. Five of his six homers were against southpaws.

McDonald also doubled in the ninth inning against a right-hander.

“I said, ‘You’re going to get two at-bats not one. Make the best of them.’ Geez, he sure did,” said Valentine. “Those were two loud sounds. It shouldn’t go unnoticed. He’s a guy that, at times, is going to come off the bench. He’s a guy who’s fighting for a job. Thus far in this spring, he’s made the best of his opportunities to play good baseball.”

– It’s early and almost all statistics at this point are irrelevant. That said, Cody Ross has hit the ground running. He is now 4-for-9 in Grapefruit League games, while his primary competition for right field, Ryan Sweeney, is 0-for-8. Ross also stole one base but was cut down on another attempted steal.

– It is easy to forget at times that there are spots to be won in the Red Sox bullpen. Michael Bowden evidently has not forgotten. The right-hander has looked sharp out of the chute, retiring all eight batters he’s faced (and all 14 if one includes the six-up, six-down, three-strikeout race through the Northeastern lineup).

– Former Red Sox infielder Yamaico Navarro had three electrifying swings and misses in punching out against reliever Will Inman. Navarro’s strikeout came with the abandon of one who believed that the only acceptable outcomes against his former team were either a home run or a strained oblique.

Navarro, now 24, was traded by the Sox to the Royals last July in the deal that netted the Sox Mike Aviles. Kansas City subsequently flipped Navarro to Pittsburgh.