Red Sox Crawford On First HR: 'Was Getting Kind Of Worried'
BOSTON (CBS) - Carl Crawford's Red Sox career did not get off to the start everyone anticipated.
After being seen as Boston's everyday third hitter, Crawford has shuffled to nearly everywhere in the lineup. Nothing seemed to bust him out of his slump. As of April 17th, his batting average was down to .127 and he had just one extra base hit.
But things are starting to look up after his second straight multi-hit game in Sunday's 7-0 win over the Angels, when Crawford went 2-for-4 including his first home run with the Red Sox.
"It felt good to hit the ball hard and have it leave the yard," Crawford said. "To have something like that happen feels good."
Carl Crawford Talks First Red Sox Home Run
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Crawford made it 6-0 Boston in the sixth with a two-run shot to right-center on a full count against Hisanori Takahashi. After being greeted by David Ortiz at home, it looked like a party in the Red Sox dugout as Crawford joined his teammates with a smile from ear-to-ear.
"Those guys have always been supportive," said Crawford of his teammates. "It was nice to be able to greet them from a home run. I was getting kind of worried there."
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"There's a lot of guys pulling for him," Manager Terry Francona said after the game. "They see how hard he's working and that was a good feeling."
"He's a dynamic player, he does everything on the baseball field," teammate Dustin Pedroia said. "We're going to need him to do what he does to accomplish our goals."
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Crawford signed a seven-year, $142 million deal with the Red Sox in December after setting career highs with 19 homers and 90 RBIs last season for Tampa Bay. With his slow start it does not look like Crawford will come close to those numbers, but his teammates still have plenty of faith in him.
"We all know it's just a matter of time until he's going to hit .300, just like he does every year," said Adrian Gonzalez, Boston's other big off-season acquisition. "When you go through it in the middle of the year, no one makes a big deal out of it because he would have been hitting .300 and it would have went down to .280. They just made a big deal about it because it's the middle of the season."
