The Red Sox Are Testing Out A New Theory To See If You Can Still Win Games Without Scoring Runs, Has Not Been Going Well
Don’t ask me about a panic button. Teams who panic because they’re struggling in April never had a chance to be anything that season anyway.
Slow starts happen. Quite often, actually. And the thing is, I wouldn’t even categorize this as a slow start for the Red Sox. It’s been more of a meh start. Lately, like over the past week or so, they’ve been horrendous offensively. But if we’re looking at the entire sample here, I think that “meh” is a fair assessment.
Right now, you’re 11-10, 3.5 games back of first place with two teams ahead of you. Not the worst spot you could be in, but obviously not what you had hoped for or even expected, either. What makes this particular position they’re in lean towards “not so great” is the fact that you’ve got the defending World Series champion Cubs coming in this weekend for three, and then the first place Orioles come to town for four starting Monday. The Red Sox can’t afford another seven-game stretch on top of the one that they just had.
The Red Sox offense has been abysmal over their last seven games, but that better not be used as an excuse as to why Boston was shut out for the THIRD time over that seven-game span. That Red Sox lineup got WORKED by Masahiro Tanaka last night. That dude needed less than 100 pitches (97) to sit your ass down all night long, allowing just three hits.
Tanaka only struck out three batters, while getting FIFTEEN ground ball outs. Fifteen! You know what that says to me? That’s a major, major failure to make an adjustment on the Red Sox’ part. You’ve gotta tip your cap to Tanaka for sticking to a game plan that worked all night long, because these Red Sox hitters weren’t smart enough to figure it out.
Over their last seven games, the Red Sox as a team are hitting .202 with a .538 OPS. That’s the third worst batting average and the second worst OPS in the MLB over that span in which they’re 2-5. They’re also averaging 1.86 runs per game over that clip, which is the worst in the majors. It’s beyond frustrating to watch, and what’s even more frustrating? They’re now making excuses that make them look even worse.
This is not a good look. The Red Sox scored 100 more runs than the next best team in the American League last year with David Ortiz in their lineup. They should still be one of the best run-producing teams in the league without him. Using Ortiz’s absence as an excuse for why the team hasn’t hit for shit over the last week is as lame as it gets. Prior to this seven-game stretch of shit hitting, the Red Sox were hitting .296 as a team. The next best team in the majors wasn’t even really close, either (Nationals, .279). So, you didn’t need Ortiz back on April 18, but you need him here on April 28? Stop the fucking excuse making and hit the ball.
And one more thing — when Chris Sale pitches, I shouldn’t have to start talking about him when I’m already 500 words into the blog. Every time that guy takes the mound, his performance should be the lead story. The fact that Sale went 8 innings and struck out 10 batters for the fourth consecutive start and he wasn’t the first thing that we were talking about after that game is a fucking disgrace.
After allowing two earned runs last night, Chris Sale is third in the majors in ERA (1.19), second in WHIP (0.77), first in strikeouts (52) and he’s 98th in run support (2.00). What. The. Fuck. By the way, nobody else in the majors even has 40 strikeouts yet. Motherfucker got 52. According to Elias, Sale’s 52 strikeouts are the second most ever by a pitcher through their first five starts with a new team. Only Randy Johnson, who struck out 55 batters through his first five starts with the Diamondbacks in 1999, had more.
Final score: Yankees 3, Red Sox 0