I tried not to jump the gun and join the bandwagon, but with each loss, the Boston Red Sox seem to show off another flaw. The hitting will improve, but will they stop leaving so many runners stranded on base? Lester’s a solid ace, but the pitching behind him is a lot sketchier than it seemed.
I’m still willing to call them the best team in the American League, but it’s a much closer race than I initially thought.
Following the series last weekend against the Yankees, I talked to lifetime Sox fan John Griffin and asked him for an honest assessment of the team so far. Here are a few sound bites from the discussion. Remember, they’re 2-7 at this point.
“The bullpen isn’t terrible enough to screw them over in the playoffs.” – Okay, well apparently worrying about making the playoffs isn’t even an issue. Two wins in nine games are enough to instill confidence in Red Sox Nation.
“The batting lineup is 2009 Yankee-esque when everybody starts hitting” – Nice statement. And Ichiro will win the home run title this year when he starts hitting them over the fence.
(Ichiro is always a threat to go deep...and by deep we mean hit a slap bunt down the third base line)See? I can make theoretical statements too.
“Problem with lineup is that everyone tries to get on base. They follow Youk’s strategy of working the count.” – There’s some logic I can get behind here, but unless your name is Adrian Gonzalez, working the count is probably the best option. You bring up the pitch count, see more balls, and turn the tables on the pitcher. Respect the OBP.
(The Greek God of Walks respects the OBP)“Besides Pedroia no one can be counted on for an RBI” – And yet the playoffs are a certainty and the lineup is “Yankee-esque? Must be that stellar starting pitching…
“The old adage of Jason Varitek calling a great game finally seems to be true. Saltalamacchia’s improvement at and behind the plate is key this season.” – Well, you can’t have it both ways. Varitek may be the best catcher to help out a pitcher, but his bat is dead weight in the lineup. He’ll be lucky to see a game a week.
(On the other hand, he'll be able to spend more time with his new fiance)“Tek needs to be Beckett’s personal catcher and should also catch Lester’s games as well. Buchholz worked better with Victor Martinez last year than Tek. The catcher for Dice-K and Lackey don’t matter as much.” – See above remarks.
“Defense is spectacular. All outfielders have fantastic range. Youk needs to get used to playing third again but he’ll be fine.” - Spectacular is a stretch this early in the season, but sure, the Sox have solid D.
“Dice-K will be fine if the new pitching coach listens to his demands. I think he will have a better season than last year.” – Considering his ERA was 4.69 last year, sure, he’ll probably be better.
(Get ready for this face Red Sox Nation)So what did I get from that conversation? I went into it expecting to be swayed into seeing why the Sox will be just fine. I left realizing that there aren’t many answers to the current problems facing the Sox, and fans are in denial. They came into the season expecting to be the best, and that’s how they remain.
The hitting will improve. The one through five hitters in their lineup can compete with anyone. Carl Crawford and Kevin Youkilis will bring their respective averages up and Adrian Gonzalez will become acquainted with Pesky’s Pole soon enough.
(Gonzalez will need to carry the offense this year)To me, the problem lies with the starting pitching. Lester is doing just fine, and even though he’s had a terrible couple of starts, Buchholz should come around soon as well. But Lackey, Beckett, and Dice-K? There are no guarantees there. Beckett finally threw a great game on Sunday, and maybe that’s the start of something special. Or maybe it’s just a blip on the radar.
Lackey and Dice-K (and Beckett for that matter) have never lived up to their contracts, and at this point it looks like they never may.
All have great ceilings, but Dice-K doesn’t seem like he is going to turn into the God he was in Japan, Beckett may never fully recover from injury, and Lackey may very well be washed up. And you thought that the Yankees had starting pitching issues (they do).
There’s no reason they can’t turn this thing around and take the AL East, but don’t count anyone out of that division just yet...especially if the Yankees can strike a mid-season deal for a great arm. This may be the year that 90 wins will be enough to clinch that the division.
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