DETROIT -- Admit it, disillusioned Red Sox fan: When Jackie Bradley Jr. turns his back to home plate, sprints to the warning track and makes an over-the-shoulder catch, Willie Mays-style, you shake your head and mutter to no one in particular, "If only he could hit .250."
How about .225? .200?
OK, .175, so long as he walks enough to make his on-base percentage respectable.
Bradley plays center field as well as anybody you -- or even Sox manager John Farrell -- have ever seen. Between his anticipation and his range, it's downright breathtaking to watch him track fly balls, like the sure-fire extra-base hit he stole from the Tigers' Jefry Marte with that basket catch in the fourth inning here today.