Masterson is one tough cookie
It was on the way to the ballpark, in the car, that Justin Masterson discovered the box marked "Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo."
The box was filled with oatmeal-butterscotch cookies, a specialty of his wife, Meryl. They had already been handed out in Double A and Triple A, where manager Ron Johnson raved about them to the media, so the big club presumably needed a few. Not that bribing the broadcasters was part of the plan.
But after the game, Meryl, who has a dream to open a bakery someday, said someone suggested it was J.D. Drew who deserved the cookies. Drew, after all, helped save her husband both with a couple of stellar catches and with a walk, double, and home run as the Red Sox and Masterson beat the Rays, 7-4, in their return to Fenway Park last night.
In Masterson's third major league start, he got his second win, though this was by far his hardest. After giving up a home run to lead off the game and hitting Carlos Peña in the first inning, Masterson settled down, though he was touched for consecutive doubles in the fourth and a two-run homer by Peña in the sixth.
"He's extremely poised," said catcher Jason Varitek. "Even after a two-run homer, he came out there, boom, once again, made quality pitches. That's big. That's not an easy thing to do."
In addition to the composure he demonstrated, Masterson featured his best slider to date. Though he did give up the two home runs - both on changeups left up - his slider particularly impressed Varitek and manager Terry Francona.
"Competed great," Francona said. "Thought he threw some sliders tonight that were better than we have seen, have some depth to them. He also left a couple up.
"I don't know if he'll agree - we haven't seen him pitch that much - I don't think he had as much sink tonight as he has shown in his other two starts."
Masterson agreed. There was no question the outfielders got more of a workout than they typically get on a Masterson night. The sinkerballer usually gets more than his fair share of ground balls, but last night he was elevating his pitches a bit too much, leading to the four runs given up in six innings.
In his first two starts, he gave up a single run in each. Against the Angels April 24, Masterson allowed just two hits (one home run) over six innings. He allowed three hits against Kansas City May 20, earning his first major league win. He did walk four in his first start and three in his second, a number he cut to two last night.
"That's pretty much when I got hurt was when I left some pitches up," Masterson said. "That's a testament of good teams and good hitters. When you leave a ball up, they're going to hit it.
"This one was just good to have a little diversity. Being in a couple situations with base runners on second, giving up a leadoff home run. I mean, you can't just cripple, you've got to keep working with it. You mess up a little bit and balls will go."
But overall, not bad for a call-up from Triple A. While Francona has not announced that Masterson will start again for the Sox, the manager did mention that it would be nice to have him around. That seems to mean he'll get another shot in place of Daisuke Matsuzaka, who is on the disabled list.
So today, if nothing goes wrong, Masterson will arrive at the park as a spectator for the first time in his life.
"To be able to hang out, maybe come on a day I'm not pitching . . . " Masterson said, smiling and leaning back in his chair. "Just hang out. Enjoy the day."
