If you feel like stealing a base tonight, head down to Fenway Park. The Red Sox are handing them out like Halloween candy, and the Rangers are happy to take advantage.
Boston has been basically defenseless when it comes to stopping anyone’s running game this year – throwing out just 1-of-23 runners into Tuesday night – and things get more messy when you have Tim Wakefield’s(notes) knuckler on the hill. Armed with this information, Texas hit the ground running Tuesday, picking up an insane nine steals over the first six innings. Poor Victor Martinez(notes), he’s had a rough go of it.
Elvis Andrus(notes) and Nelson Cruz(notes) led the running parade with three steals each, Vladimir Guerrero(notes) swiped a couple, and Rotisserie whipping boy Julio Borbon(notes) picked up one as well. If this game goes on long enough, Bump Wills might get a couple of swipes in. It’s the most steals the Red Sox have allowed in a game since 1913, and we’ve still got three innings to play.
Often these types of bag runs are fueled by a bunch of double steals, but that hasn’t been the case tonight – just one instance of players running at the same time. Bottom line, Texas identified a flaw and its taking full advantage.
For those looking to exploit this weakness for fantasy purposes, have a look at the Boston schedule. Texas gets two more games on the Merry-Go-Round, then it’s Baltimore, Toronto, Baltimore again, Los Angeles and New York.