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 »

Jon Lester lasted just two innings on Tuesday, tied for the shortest start of his career. (AP)

It wasn’t quite the worst outing of Jon Lester‘s career, but it wasn’t far from meriting such a title, as the Red Sox had little hope of recovering from his dismal start en route to a 18-3 loss to the Rangers. The left-hander lasted just two-plus innings, matching the shortest start of his career, and he allowed seven runs on eight hits and four walks while striking out two.

The Rangers made him labor in extraordinary fashion, foremost in a four-run, 49-pitch second inning. Overall, he required 80 pitches to record his six outs, becoming just the third major league pitcher since 2000 to make a start of no more than two innings while requiring at least 80 pitches. The last was Chris Young on April 15, 2007.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE RED SOX

– Lester, Lester, Lester. The left-hander was entrusted with a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first only to see the Rangers roar back for four runs in the next half-inning. He’s now been given leads by the Sox just twice in his three starts, but both times, Lester allowed the opposing team to take the lead back in the next half-inning.

On Tuesday, his most significant issue was an ability to Lester put away Rangers hitters once he got ahead of them. He got to two-strike counts on 11 hitters. As a group, the Rangers were 5-for-8 with three walks after getting into two-strike counts, not only keeping the bases filled with runners but also driving up the starter’s pitch count.

– Mark Melancon achieved a dubious sort of Red Sox and major league history. He was shelled for six runs without retiring a batter, giving up three home runs, including back-to-back home runs (one an absolute moonshot by Josh Hamilton to right, another a blast to dead center by Adrian Beltre). He tied a major league record (at least dating to 1918) by allowing three homers without recording an out. In just two innings this year spanning four appearances, Melancon has allowed five home runs, matching his total yield in 74 1/3 innings in the entire 2011 season with the Astros.

Melancon has been scored upon in all four of his outings, making him the first Red Sox pitcher ever to give up runs in four consecutive appearances of one inning or less to start his Red Sox career. The six runs he allowed without recording an out are also tied for the most by a Red Sox pitcher since at least 1918.

Melancon’s struggles have been sufficiently extraordinary (of the 18 batters he’s faced this year, he’s retired six) that despite the incredibly early stage of the season, the Red Sox may be in a position where — assuming that he is not injured and in need of a trip to the disabled list — they have to consider extraordinary measures, chiefly, whether to option Melancon to the minors.  Read the rest of this entry »

Bobby Valentine said that he continues to hold his breath about the health of Josh Beckett. (AP)

“Any nerves?”

Bobby Valentine, at Fenway Park for his first regular season game as Red Sox manager, was asked that question as he was nearing the end of his pregame session with the media. In response, he held out his flat hand in front of the mic, before breaking into a grin.

“There’s nerves. There’s anticipation,” he said. “It’s a beautiful day. Let’s go do it.”

Yet while enthusiastic about what he described as a “special day,” Valentine also acknowledged some anxiety, foremost for the health of starting pitcher Josh Beckett. Valentine said that the right-hander’s right thumb has been a non-issue in the training room, but even so, he conceded that the Sox are carrying a whopping 13 pitchers on their roster as a direct reflection of the fact that he wants to make sure that Beckett — who saw two specialists about his thumb last week — can get through his second start of the year with a clean bill of healthy.

“After today’s game, [the 13-man pitching staff] could be more of a resolvable situation, but I’m still holding my breath making sure Josh is fine,” said Valentine. “I was happy one time through the rotation, I was happy with the health and the ability of the starting staff. The extra pitcher was really protection against that situation.”

That said, asked whether that meant that the thumb is an active cause of concern, Valentine tried to downplay the notion that the pitcher’s health is in concern.

“It’s a moot point, but it’s a situation that was out there, right? He has not even blinked an eye in the training room or in the clubhouse about the thumb being anything other than a historical fact,” said Valentine. “He looked good this morning. He had a bounce in his step. He was ready to go. I’m looking forward to a quality pitcher pitching a quality game.”

Beckett was shelled for seven runs and five homers in 4 2/3 innings in his first start of the season. His velocity was also down that game. However, Beckett dismissed the idea that the thumb was responsible for his poor outing, and GM Ben Cherington said on the Dennis & Callahan Show that Beckett is continuing to build arm strength, suggesting that his diminished stuff in the start against the Tigers was not cause for concern.

OTHER NOTES

– Andrew Miller is reaching the latter stages of his rehab assignment in his return from a hamstring injury suffered midway through spring training. The left-hander logged 1 2/3 shutout innings on Thursday for Triple-A Pawtucket, recording two strikeouts and three groundball outs while allowing no hits and two walks (a runner also reached on an error). Read the rest of this entry »

Jarrod Saltalamacchia had his best day of the spring on Wednesday. (AP)

FORT MYERS, Fla. — It had been a slow start to the spring for catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who not only was just 1-for-13 in Grapefruit League action, but also missed time due to bursitis in his hip.

On Wednesday, in a 6-5 loss by the Red Sox, the 26-year-old had a game that represented a satisfying change of fortunes. Batting left-handed in all three of his at-bats against Pirates starter Kevin Correia, he went 2-for-3 with a double to left-center and a massive home run to right field.

“Me and [hitting coach Dave Magadan] have been working on some things, trying to stay on the ball more, and I was able to do it today at the plate,” said Saltalamacchia. “This spring I’ve really been getting underneath the ball and popping it up too much, just kind of bat head dragging a little bit. So we’ve really worked on getting the head outand staying on top. If I roll over or ground out, that’s OK, at least it’s not a pop-up. But what I’m still trying to do when I get two strikes, is trying to fight my way to get the ball in the field instead of striking out.”

That being the case, Saltalamacchia was particularly pleased with his second-inning double, in which he lined a two-strike fastball off the fence in left-center, a potentially important sign for a player who struck out in 119 of his 358 at-bats last year.

A year ago, the average AL hitter hit .185 with a .252 OBP and .283 slugging mark in two-strike counts. Saltalamacchia hit .157/.208/.347/.555, marks upon which he is hoping to improve. Read the rest of this entry »

The praise began to pour in on Tuesday for Red Sox captain Jason Varitek, who will retire on Thursday in Fort Myers. (AP)

FORT MYERS, Fla. — With the news spreading of the retirement of Red Sox captain Jason Varitek on Thursday, the players he leaves behind in the clubhouse began to react on Tuesday.

Clay Buchholz:
“It was awesome being a part getting to play four seasons with him and being able to throw to a guy that everybody is going to remember as the captain of the Boston Red Sox. It was a good time for everybody. I hope his decision makes him and his family happy and they go with their lives and know that he was one of the greatest guys ever behind the plate.”

What he learned from Varitek:
“How to pitch. He’s a guy that you know when you’re on the mound and you shake him off and he sort of just stares at you, you’re like, ‘OK, I won’t throw that pitch. Don’t worry about it.’ Especially being a young guy coming up and you’re already intimated by just pitching in front of 40,000 people at Fenway and then you have Jason Varitek catching you.

“How to slow the game down, how to pitch to certain guys, how to get out of situations. He was a vocal part of my learning experience in baseball.

What he remembers about Varitek calling the no-hitter of Sept. 2, 2007 vs. Orioles:
“A couple of times, early in the game, I shook him off a couple of times and had a couple of missiles hit and they were caught but after that, it was like, ‘OK, I’m just going to throw what he puts down.’ The game started to speed up on me a couple of times. I remember him calling timeout, running out there and telling me to take a couple of deep breaths and throw a pitch wherever, down and away, get a ground ball and get out of an inning. That’s what I’ll always remember about him, he was always the guy that could always calm you down when he things were starting to speed up.”

Did he expect Varitek to show in camp?:
“He’s an animal. You see how every year he comes into spring training, what he looks like, how his body is a specimen. I was expecting Tek to play until he was 60. He was awesome behind [the plate] and still think he could be awesome behind the plate and have a job in baseball but that was his and his family’s decision.”

Jarrod Saltalamacchia:
“He meant a lot obviously. He helped me out a lot last year. The year before, he was trying to recover from injury so we didn’t get to spend a lot of on-field time together but still picking his brain a lot. But last year, [he] was a huge, huge help for getting my career back on track. And just the person he is, you can’t find a better person.

“Just the way he went about his business, watching him. Wasn’t even in the clubhouse, but I could just see from across the field how people looked at him, how people respected him. You definitely look up to a guy like that.”

What Varitek did for helping him lead the Red Sox pitching staff:
“I was definitely a little hesitant. I didn’t know how to act towards the pitchers. I always kind of looked toward him, ‘Get this meeting started, get this started.’ But he did an unbelievable job of letting those guys where I stood and where he stood. It was kind of overwhelming. I didn’t expect that, didn’t expect him to be so helpful and [tell me], ‘Hey man, this is your team.’ I said, ‘You’re the captain, it’s your team.’

“That’s the kind of person he is. He always wanted to make me feel comfortable. He always wanted to make me feel comfortable. He always wanted to help me out, stuck up for me and I can’t thank him enough for jump-starting my career.” Read the rest of this entry »

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Even in the absence of Jason Varitek, there are plenty of catchers who are making a favorable impression on new Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine. He praised Jarrod Saltalamacchia as an emerging leader “who is trying to step right into his own,” and suggested that the catcher was swinging quite well from the right side that is usually not his strong suit. The roster features Kelly Shoppach, Ryan Lavarnway and Luis Exposito, the latter of whom Valentine suggested appeared to be “trying to take a step into his time…He looks very good.”

That said, even as Valentine said that he was not ready to think about how playing time might be divided among his catchers, he did say that there was one construct he hadn’t considered to this point: Carrying three catchers on the roster.

“I think the American league affords you the opportunity to bring that extra pitcher and right now I’m thinking about carrying that person,” said Valentine. “I think the third catcher would have to be someone who plays other positions pretty well. But DH is a position.”

That said, DH is not quite as important as defensive versatility, and since Saltalamacchia, Shoppach and Lavarnway do not play defensive positions aside from catcher, that would appear to underscore the likelihood that the Sox will open the year with Saltalamacchia and Shoppach in the big leagues with Lavarnway and Exposito getting regular catching time in Pawtucket.

OTHER NOTES

– Left-hander Drake Britton came into his first big league camp in excellent shape after a full offseason of workouts. While he endured a brutal struggle in 2011, going 1-13 with a 6.91 ERA for High-A Salem, there were some interesting developments that could bode well for his future. First, after being limited to 75 innings in 2010 in his first full season after Tommy John surgery, he was healthy for every start of the year, taking the mound 26 times. Secondly, when he struggled to command his curveball, the Sox had him experiment with a slider late last season. He took to the pitch quickly, and the mechanics and grip of that pitch allowed him to reclaim his 12-to-6 curveball. Read the rest of this entry »

FORT MYERS, Fla. — If Jason Varitek has indeed caught his last game in a Red Sox uniform and will be retiring his spring, Jarrod Saltalamacchia will remember one act of kindness and generosity in particular.

Saltalamacchia was with the Braves in 2007 as a minor leaguer and made the trip to Fort Myers for a spring training game. He sent a Red Sox No. 33 jersey over to the Red Sox clubhouse to have the captain sign for him.

“He signed a jersey for me, and on it it said, ‘catch with pride.’ You take that and that’s what he’s done his whole career and I’m going to do the same.”

Now, ironically, Saltalamacchia – after taking over primary catching responsibilities in 2011 – is in position to assume the leadership role of the Red Sox pitching staff, with Kelly Shoppach and Ryan Lavarnway behind him.

Salty said Friday he hasn’t been preoccupied with whether Varitek will accept the minor league contract offer from the Red Sox and report to camp on Sunday.

“Honestly, I haven’t really though about it,” Saltalamacchia said. “I can’t assume anything. I don’t know where he’s at. I don’t know if he’s thinking about coming. I know they’ve offered him a minor league invite.

“I’m just preparing for myself. It’s like a game day, if I’m not playing, not in the lineup, I’m still going to prepare to play that day. So, I’m prepared for him to be here and for him not to be here.”

The final words of advice he take from Varitek?

“Just be yourself, be who you are,” Saltalamacchia said. “People are going to like you for who you are. People are going to respect you for what you do about your business. There’s a lot of little things as far as catching, that I learned. It’s mainly to be a good person, a good teammate and respect the game.”