But fortunately, I was able to see the following play, which took place in the bottom of the 10th inning:
Now obviously, that's a fantastic catch, probably the best defensive play for the Sox to date this season. But I have ulterior motives for this particular blog. As you may know, Carl Crawford returns to the lineup tonight for Boston in Baltimore. Which means Reddick is going to be bumped out of regular playing time in left field. And that's perfectly fine.
You know why?
Because there's an opening in right field for Boston right now, really the only gaping hole in an otherwise outstanding lineup. The current Red Sox right fielder would not have hustled to make this play. He would have shied away from contact at the wall and let the ball fall in for a double, or worse. It's happened time and time again with said right fielder, who's also hitting .225 with a .638 OPS. Usually said right fielder is great in contract years, so he can always rope another team into paying him the big bucks, but with his already-stated intentions of retiring at season's end, there will be no "They fooled me, Jerry!" act this time around. He's playing out the string of an un-glamorous career.
So with the Red Sox owing said right fielder absolutely no loyalty, let's keep this Reddick kid in the lineup on a daily basis, right? If he's gonna be running around patrolling the outfield like this, it's a no-brainer, right? Doesn't hurt he's hitting .352 with a 1.036 OPS, either. It's time to end the JD Drew era in Boston once and for all.
Want to hear me bash JD some more? Tune in to 95.9-WATD FM at 9:00 tonight for the "Five Minute Major" where I'll be back on the airwaves discussing the Drew era in Boston.
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