Is he Carl Crawford, Carl Everett, or Carl Yastrzemski?
Is David Price destined to become a Red Sox lefty hero on a par with Jon Lester, or an overpaid free agent flop like Jack Clark and Pablo Sandoval?
Price is a Fenway lightning rod in the spring of 2017. At this hour, the big questions around Price are:
■ Can he pitch in Boston?
■ Does he hate it here?
■ Will he exercise his option to leave Boston after the 2018 season?
■ Should he have taken less money to sign with the Cardinals?
■ Does he spend more time and energy on Twitter than Donald Trump?
After his unfortunate two days in New York last week (immature blowout at reporters on Wednesday followed by six runs and eight hits in 6-1 loss Thursday), Price made his first Fenway start Tuesday and labored through six innings, yielding three runs on four hits and four walks while throwing 103 pitches in six innings. He turned a 3-3 game over to the Sox bullpen in the top of the seventh and the bullpen did a great job in a 4-3, 12-inning victory that lasted a tidy 4 hours and 24 minutes.
In a mild surprise, Price was not booed by local fans. The bad news is that he’s walked 11 batters over his 23 innings since coming off the shelf.
The good news is that he says his elbow feels fine and he has great expectations for the remainder of the season. In a five-minute news conference just after midnight, Price said, “I expect to go out there and dominate, to be honest. I don’t expect anything less. It doesn’t matter how I feel or what’s going on or whatever the circumstances may be. I expect to dominate every fifth day. My mind-set has not been altered with the injury or anything else. I expect to go out there and dominate whoever I’m pitching against.’’
Given the considerable amount of negativity that has enveloped Price over the last week (some of it deserved, some of it just piling on) Sox fans should be heartened to hear those words. With all the noise and hot takes on Price, he’s going to be important if the Red Sox are going to contend for a playoff spot all summer.
“Manager John” Farrell continues to say that the club wants “David Price to go out and be himself,’’ and in case you have forgotten, Price “being himself” generally means a strong start from the 31 year-old southpaw.
For all the noise about Price’s $217 million contract and his misbehavior in New York, he typically was a shutdown starting pitcher in the seven-plus seasons before he flew into Logan. Price is 122-66 lifetime with a career ERA of 3.24. He has a Cy Young trophy on his shelf and — for those who think he stinks in the postseason — don’t forget that rookie Price fanned J.D. Drew with the bases loaded in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the an ALCS that kept the Red Sox (“That might have been the best team I had in Boston” — Terry Francona) out of the 2008 World Series.
That, of course, means nothing 2017. In the here and now, Price is a guy who has a $217 million contract, underachieved in his first Sox season, bombed in his playoff start, and last week behaved like a thin-skinned baby before getting rocked in Yankee Stadium. So the knives were sharpened before Price’s 2017 Fenway debut.
He hadn’t uttered a word to any media member since his non-contrite midnight-hour remarks in New York last week. More than a few folks were waiting for Price to fail in his first game in front of the home fans.
“We’ll get you, my pretty! And your little dog, Astro, too!’’
Price no doubt was relieved that there were not boos before the national anthem when his name was announced as the evening’s starting pitcher. The stands were less than half full, nobody was really paying attention, and we all know that folks to actually go to games are far less harsh than Twitter tough guys and those who call 98.5 The Sports Hub and WEEI.
Pitching against the worst team in baseball (why is it so hard for the Red Sox to beat these bums?), Price cruised through a six-pitch, 1-2-3 first, then loaded the bases on a single and two walks with one out in the second. He got out of the jam on a couple of weak fly balls by the Nos. 8 and 9 batters.
Price’s pitch count was a Schilling-brand 38 pitches, but the Sox led, 2-0, after two. After a leadoff walk in the third, Price surrendered a significant homer, over the Monster, to Phillies right fielder Aaron Altherr on a 1-and-1 pitch. That made it 2-2.
Price settled down in the fourth and fifth after Mitch Moreland’s homer gave the Sox a 3-2 lead. Price issued his fourth walk to start the fourth inning, then settled down and retired six straight Phillies. He was at 85 pitches with a 3-2 lead after five.
He coughed up the lead for the second time in the sixth on a double, a single, and a ground out. He struck out Cameron Rupp on a 93-mile-per-hour fastball on his 103rd and final pitch.
He can take comfort in the fact his next start will be Sunday in Houston, far from the radio-television signals of all those meanies in Boston.