The Boston Red Sox are struggling right now. There is no
other way to put it. The current standing have them in last place in the AL
East, 7.5 games back from first place Tampa and 7 games back from second place
Baltimore. That’s right, I said Baltimore. Looking for a silver lining? The Yankees are
in second to last, but the Red Sox are still 4 games back from them.
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I know that it is May, and that we have yet to even have a
quarter of a season, but as things stand right now, on May 10, The Red Sox are
struggling. The most apparent reason is
pitching, and specifically starting pitching. The Red Sox best record pitcher
is Clay Buchholz, who has a record of 3 – 1, however taking a look beyond his
win-loss record shows that Buchholz has the worst ERA in all of baseball amongst
starting pitchers with a 9.09 ERA. He is also receiving the best run support of
all the Red Sox starting pitchers. The other 2 of the “big three”, Beckett and
Lester have also struggled, but they have both struggled beyond just their
statistics. Lester, who was given the start on opening day and as such earned
the right to call himself the Ace of the staff, has been like a child on the
mound, complaining to umpires about not getting calls, which is a sign of
passion and desire, yet he then allows these perceived bad decision to affect
his next pitch and often gets consumed with the decisions.
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And then there is Josh Beckett, who before the season began
was a hot topic, with his new manager criticizing the amount of time he takes
between pitches when he was an analyst on ESPN. Then Beckett becomes the face
of the chicken and beer scandal (only because John Lackey went to get Tommy
Johns surgey), and even voiced his displeasure at the fact that someone in the
club house spoke to the media, as if the notion of being a rat is worse than
drinking beer and eating fried chicken. We should expect more from professional athletes whose team
needed just 1 more win to get into the playoffs. But let’s move past everything
that happened last season in September and even in the off season. This season Becket has been up and down, but
his last start, on April 29th against the Chicago White Sox, Beckett
threw 126 pitches, and actually pitched pretty well allowing just three earned
runs on six hits, walking three and striking out eight. With this stellar performance,
his next start should have been one where he would be on fire, with momentum on
his side and the Fenway faithful backing his every pitch. This start should have been on May 5th
at Fenway against the Baltimore Orioles, yet Aaron Cook made that start, got
injured and the Sox went on to lose 8 – 0.
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Beckett complained of a sore lat muscle, and was alleged to
feel disgruntled about having to pitch 126 pitches again the White Sox. So he
told the staff that he would be unable to make his last start. Then yesterday
(May 9th) reports surface that Beckett was seen with Clay Buchholz
playing golf on their off day. These reports have yet to be confirmed, but IF,
and I repeat IF they are true, then the Red Sox need to look no further than
this for reasons why the pitching staff are struggling. Player’s do not feel
connected with the ball club, or they would have the respect and foresight to
see that playing golf with a sore lat muscle is not the best use of down time
to recover for a start just 2 days later.
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Of course, the Red Sox have lots of other reasons as to why
they are struggling. They have been missing Jacoby Ellsbury, Andrew Bailey and
Carl Crawford for virtually all of this season through injury. Their bullpen, which has been great out of necessity,
took some time in figuring out who would be taking which role. Much debate was
had over whether or not Daniel Bard should be moved back from the starting
rotation to the bullpen, but it was to be just a onetime visit during a road
trip in Minnesota. Alfredo Aceves has
become the closer, and surprisingly strong performances from unlikely pitchers Scott
Atchinson and Clayton Mortensen has meant that when the starting pitchers only
managed a 4 or 5 inning outing, there was often still a chance to win.
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Then there is the problem of the bats. The Red Sox expects
their big bats to deliver, and none have been more disappointing than Adrian
Gonzales, highlighted by his 0 for 8 performance against the Baltimore Orioles
in an 17 inning marathon that saw him strike out when facing Orioles designated
hitter Chris Davis. Youkillis has also struggled with both a slow start and a
subsequent stint on the DL. However there have been some bright sparks; Big
Papi, the Red Sox DH, has been on fire, and the emergence of Will Middlebrooks
has been a boost of young enthusiasm the likes of which are usually reserved
for the captain elect Dustin Pedroia.
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Boston is a tough sports town, and when the chips are down,
Bostonians are not shy in voicing their opinions, which is a fantastic thing.
However, from a psychology perspective, I am launching a new campaign – the “SUPPORT
YOUR SOX” campaign. The Boston Red Sox, YOUR Boston Red Sox, MY Boston Red Sox
are still a good baseball club, and still have some of the best talent in the
Majors. We are in a rut, but we need to get behind our Sox. So please, join me in tweeting
#Supportyoursox, share this blog post to the Red Sox nations, and call into
WEEI and tell them to Support Your Sox. We have a long way to go this season,
but with support from the Red Sox Nation, the Red Sox can get back to doing what
they do best – playing ball and winning games! SUPPORT YOUR SOX!
SUPPORT YOUR SOX
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