Eagle-Tribune Blogs: Burt Talks Sports

I said I would chime in if something “extraordinary” happened at Fenway Park last night (three hours ago) and like a good rookie blogger I’m keeping my promise.

Jonathan Papelbon looked human.

So here it goes, a few points about last night’s 5-4 stunning loss to the A’s:

• Jonathan Papelbon said he didn’t have command of his fastball or slider. That was obvious, especially on the home run to Travis Buck. But he didn’t have the explosion on the fastball, topping out at 94 mph. The fact that Buck, a lefty, pulled Papelbon’s fastball down the right field line says it all.
• Coco Crisp had a great opportunity to slowly work his way back into the good graces of Red Sox Nation if he could have gotten a hit in the ninth inning, with Eric Hinske the go-ahead run on third. He has been hot of late (11-for-28, .393, nine runs scored, 4 RBI, 3 stolen bases), but coming through in opportunties like last night trump decent looking stats. We have no problem with Coco’s feet and glove.
• While it was second largest post-World War II crowd, with 37,052 fans crossing through the turnstyles, it didn’t feel that way in the park. As noted earlier, maybe the Yankees’ week and overall success took a lot of steam out of this team, including Papelbon. The guess here is tonight (Josh Beckett, 5-0, vs. Chad Gaudin, 1-1) will be a marked improvement in that category.
• What would David Ortiz’s  batting average (.302) be without the shift? Maybe .350? His flyball to right field in the ninth inning would have been a base hit for every other batter but A’s second baseman Mark Ellis was in perfect position to snare it easily.
• I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Fenway Park, especially the immediate grounds outside the park, gets better and better, every year.
• Expect Alex Cora, the topic of today’s column, to get a start or two real soon, maybe even today. One of the most talked about plays in the press box last night was when the A’s intentionally walked Cora to get to Julio Lugo, with two hits in his last 14 at bats. And Dustin Pedroia’s average, .172, just dropped below his weight. He also only has 2 RBI in 22 games.
• Boston rat watch: I didn’t see any upon leaving the park at midnight. Honest.

I will be answering questions later today.

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