Moving Company: Speedy Ellsbury, Victorino Set Tone For Sox


Leading off is Jacoby Ellsbury.

Batting second is Shane Victorino.

One is a needle. The other is a pincushion. Together they set a tone in the ALDS that screamed aggression, a cerebral assault, that made the Tampa Bay Rays blink, blink again, blink a third time and ultimately go to sleep for the winter.

"Yeah, we talk about the one-two punch," Ellsbury said Friday on the eve of ALCS Game 1 against the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park. "Victorino has done a great job at the plate seeing when I'm running, taking pitches, getting on base anyway possible, hit by pitch or hustling down the line. It has been great fun to play with him."

How much fun? Ellsbury hit .500 (9-for-18), had a .526 OBP and 1.37 OPS against the Rays, while Victorino hit .429 (6-for-14) with a .556 OBP and .984 OPS. Ellsbury stole four bases and scored seven runs. Victorino knocked in three and was hit four times, already tying the postseason record for one year. With wraps about his arms, his stomach, wherever he happens to get hit that particular game, Victorino often looks like a member of the Revolutionary War fife and drum corps.

"Whatever it takes," Victorino told reporters Thursday.

In the decisive two-run seventh-inning in Game 4, Ellsbury's single put runners at the corners with two outs. A wild pitch allowed Xander Bogaerts to score. Ellsbury stole second and kept going to third on the wild pitch. Victorino, who once won the Hawaiian high school state 100 meter title at 10.8 seconds, beat out a broken bat single to shortstop Yunel Escobar to score Ellsbury.

Victorino also broke up double plays on Rays second baseman Ben Zobrist in Game 2 and Game 3 that, if the Red Sox go on to win their third World Series since 2004, will become part of team lore. Both led to Ellsbury scoring runs, the second time in Game 3 when Zobrist threw the ball wildly off the dugout. Both times, Victorino went in hard, clean. He said he never wants it to be dirty.

It was baseball ballet.

"Shane has been great all year, man," Dustin Pedroia said Friday. "He does so many things that impact games — his at-bats, the way he plays right field, his arm."

That's another thing. Some of their teammates say having them is like having two center fielders.

"With a big right field [at Fenway], we've been able to do some things, use it as a weapon in some of our positioning,'' Ellsbury said.

The Sox had Big Papi and Manny Ramirez on 2004 and 2007 world championships. Well, they're on the Tigers in this ALCS in the form of Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder. Oh, the Sox still have David Ortiz's big stick, but the tone set by Ellsbury and Victorino — who would've been ALDS co-MVPs had they given an award out — is one that ultimately should be the difference in defeating a loaded Tigers team. You can call it small ball. I see at as high IQ ball.

"The one thing that stands out with the base stealing and the overall tone of the base running is to try to put as much pressure on the opposition as we can," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "That means running smart. And not just giving outs away."

Justin Verlander is an absolute bear. One eye brown, own eye blue, Max Scherzer has both eyes on winning the 2013 Cy Young Award. Anibal Sanchez, the Game 1 starter, led the AL with a 2.57 ERA. Doug Fister is no slouch. Still, if the Red Sox can get pitch counts up, get runners on base, get into the bullpen, they will win this series. It all starts with Jake and the Flyin' Hawaiian.

"Early in spring training, the coaches emphasized aggressive base running," Ellsbury said. "Going first to third, second to home, seeing what we had and setting the boundaries. It created what we've done in the regular season. Obviously there's a fine line between running into outs, but I think we've done a tremendous job of being aggressive at the right times, not being reckless.

"Getting on base definitely has an impact on what the pitcher throws to a hitter. Disrupting his rhythm, that sort of thing, maybe a pitcher doesn't throw a curve, leaves a fastball over the plate. The long ball isn't going to happen every night. It's a way of putting pressure on the defense and making something happen. It's another dimension. It's something we take pride in — aggressive but smart."


The Red Sox stole 123 steals this season and were caught only 19 times. At one point, they stole 45 in a row. The 86 percent success rate was the second-best in the live ball era.

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