The Red Sox have lost 5 games in a row including a dreadful sweep in Texas. They have not been able to hit much of anything since the All-Star break and while the pitching has not been great it should have been enough to win a game or two. The Yankees have rattled off 7 in a row and they have overtaken first place in the division. Time to panic, right? Wrong.
Five games do not a season make. During those five games, we had a good performance by Lester but he was outdueled Roy Halladay, who was spectacular. Smoltz had one bad inning. And while Buckholtz wasn't great, I'm not sure it was the disaster some have made it out to be. Let's remember that Wakefield is coming back and don't be surprised if Roy Halladay isn't in a Red Sox uniform by this time next week (I don't think it WILL happen but wouldn't surprised if it did).
That brings me to the hitting. This lineup is too good to be kept down for long. It just so happens that the majority is cold all at the same time. One would hope this means that they will all get hot at the same time. The struggles of Jason Bay have really dragged down the middle of the order and allowed pitchers to be more aggressive with Youkilis and others. Bay is certainly not helping his bargaining positioning for that new contract with this latest drought. I think the pressure of playing for that new contract may be getting to him a little bit and he is certainly pressing at the plate and he continually swings at bad pitches which is making him a very easy out at the moment.
Let's remember this team is not that much different from last year's team that was one win away from back-to-back World Series appearances. Adding Laroche should help with the depth down the stretch and allow Lowell more rest time which will hopefully make his playing time more productive. If Lowrie can step up and the Red Sox can make one more deal to shore up the starting rotation, this is a team that is as good as any of the other contenders when it comes to a 7-game series. If they stumble a little now and then and end up with the Wild Card, that's fine. Let the Yanks have the division. I'll take the post season success of the past few years of divisional success any day.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
The only reason I cared about the losses is 2 of them were the only Sox games I have managed to catch all season. Yeah, it kinda sucked to finally be able to see them play ~ and see them lose. Had to explain to Lithus almost this exact post though as to why I wasn't concerned. Great minds, evil twins, all that.
Post a Comment