Jarrod Saltalamacchia eases nerves as hitless streak breaks with RBI single
Catcher, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, had a terrible outing in Arlington when he represented the Boston Red Sox in the batting line up against the Texas Rangers.
Going out of the series with a tally of 0-for-10, the backstop’s nerves were itching immensely. Instead of choosing Jason Varitek to catch, manager, Terry Francona, opted for Saltalamacchia. Much to his delight, the backstop had a good start against the
Cleveland Indians as he smashed a hitless streak and got a RBI single in the game.
Even though the choice was always there to pick the team’s captain, Varitek, for the catching job, Francona made fans happy by picking Saltalamacchia.
Francona told the press that he would like to get Saltalamacchia into form. He explained that the backstop has been overanxious and is prone to swing at anything. The skipper advocated that he would like him to settle in.
Francona explained that he calmed his backstop before the game.
"That's what I did. I said, 'Hey, settle down. It's a long year. Settle down’. He knows that", Francona said. "[But] it's human nature. This game will humble you in a minute".
Saltalamacchia, however, has come out of the clean sweep series defeat that saw him witness 11 home runs behind the plate.
"Any good catcher, they take it very personally. I've seen a couple in my day that don't seem to have a problem with it, and it doesn't usually [work] on a good team. You've got a responsibility to that guy. When [the pitcher] comes off the mound, sometimes
he's in your ear about what happened. You're trying to give them [attention], and then, all of a sudden, you're the second hitter of the inning".
Francona elaborated by stating that At-Bats tend to creep up on a hitter and that has been the way things have been for a while. He clarified that this is one of the reasons why catchers with good offensive numbers are better than what an average fan or
baseball critic may perceive them to be.
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