The Red Sox won 8-3 tonight behind the strong pitching of Brad Penny, but was his pitching really as good as the box score indicates? Actually, no. Center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury tied a major league record with 12 putouts tonight. From my decades of experience in baseball, I will tell you that a lot of balls hit out to center field usually indicates that a batter is just missing the ball. Several of the fly balls Ellsbury caught tonight were on the warning track.

I’m sure the bigger news story of the night for most Red Sox fans is going to be the end to David Ortiz’s homerless streak. Big Papi hit a nice shot out to dead center field for his first home run of the season. The fact that this wasn’t some cheap shot around the Pesky Pole tells me that Ortiz still has some power left, it’s just a matter of putting it to work.

Tags: baseball, brad penny, david ortiz, homerless, jacoby ellsbury, major league record