CHICAGO — Change is happening so fast and so often these days, you need to use a pencil and not a pen to write a single word about the Boston Red Sox.
In Wednesday night’s 3-0 victory against the Chicago White Sox, however, the Sox showed a side to themselves that felt as if it had staying power and permanence.
UP NEXT
WHO: Red Sox (Owens 2-1) at Mets (Harvey 11-7)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m. Friday
TELEVISION: NESN
The three guys in the outfield – Jackie Bradley Jr. in left, Mookie Betts in center and Rusney Castillo in right field – not only were the right three guys to roam the outfield but also are the three guys we expect to be in the Red Sox outfield for the foreseeable future.
This was only the sixth time this season the Bradley-Betts-Castillo unit played together. Since Hanley Ramirez is the lame-duck left fielder, No. 7 might not happen for a while. Wednesday was only Day 2 of training for Ramirez with a first baseman’s glove in batting practice, and there’s no way he’ll leave his everyday job soon. He got to play his most suitable position as the designated hitter Wednesday, with David Ortiz getting a rest.
All season, there’s been a mixture of dread and hesitation whenever a ball is hit toward left field, eyes hiding behind hands while prayers are being sent out for Betts to run as fast as he can to get to the ball before Ramirez.
There is no sense, none at all, of experimentation or hesitation or dread with this outfield alignment.
“They’re really making some good headway. They’re opening a lot of eyes and doing some special things there,” interim manager Torey Lovullo said Wednesday. “We’ve always known what they’re capable of doing, and they’re getting a great opportunity to do something in front of us every night.”
What helped make Wednesday’s outfield feel more sticky than previous alignments was it came a day after both the team and Ramirez conceded his 4 1/2-month experiment in left field had reached its conclusion.
That the experiment was unsuccessful has been clear to just about everyone for four months, but on Tuesday, everything changed when Ramirez bought into his terminal status in that position.
It’s a buy-in the ballclub needed to have, and Ramirez gave it to them, a welcome development (not to mention a welcome diversion on the same day it was revealed that the Sox will be parting ways with their longtime TV announcer, Don Orsillo).
Ramirez also was gracious in recognizing that Bradley, Betts and Castillo are the outfielders who deserve to be running around and chasing baseballs in the wide-open spaces where his defensive limitations are more fully exposed than they are in the infield.
Perhaps it was Ramirez’s new boss, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who deserves credit for planting the seed of change in his mind. Maybe somebody else did.
That it took root is what counts the most, though.
“We’ve got a guy out there, he’s trying to put the best pieces on the field, he was like, ‘If you put this guy over here and put this guy in left field, how would the team look?’ ” Ramirez said Tuesday. “And I was thinking about that, too. I was thinking, ‘Yeah, we’re a way better team with me on first, and with Jackie and Mookie and Casty on the field.’ Hopefully we can do it and they can keep doing what they’re doing – playing great outfield and keep hitting because we’re going to need that.”
This trio of outfielders is not going to be together as much as everyone would like down the stretch. Ramirez’s bat, in theory, is too valuable to be skipped more than once every 10 days or so. And with an interleague series coming up this weekend in New York, where Ortiz will be at first base for at least two of the three games, the easiest escape route for Ramirez from left field is foiled.
Lovullo will continue to shuttle two of the trio – Bradley and Castillo – in and out of the lineup to keep them as fresh as possible.
The one development we all are hoping to see sooner than later is Castillo in left field, a position he has yet to play in 59 big league games. If the tea leaves for next season are to be read correctly, the Red Sox would prefer to have their outfielder with the best arm and best glove – that’s Bradley – play the most challenging corner outfield position at Fenway, which is right field. Castillo has, so far, only taken fly balls and balls off The Wall a few times.
One can only assume he will be ready to play there before Ramirez is ready to play first base, so repeated sights of him in left field will be hard to come by this season.
Next season, that’s a different story.
“We’re excited when those three guys are active out there,” Lovullo said.
Everyone else is, too.
It’s a look that makes everybody look good.
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