Red Sox Report: A Playoff Preview?

Monday, August 22, 2011

Scott Cordischi, GoLocalProv Sports Editor

That was the easy part.

The Red Sox wrapped up the first half of their 8-game road trip by taking 3 of 4 from the lowly Kansas City Royals. Now the true test comes as they head to Arlington, Texas for a 4-game series against the A.L. West leading Rangers.

While it may seem like a long time ago, Boston has to remember the beat-down they took in Texas to open the season. The Rangers outscored the Red Sox 26-11 to sweep the 3-game series. It was a series that put Boston into a bit of a tailspin to start the season.

In that opening series, Ranger bats hammered Boston pitchers for a total of 11 homeruns in the 3 games. They also had their way with starters Jon Lester, John Lackey and Clay Buchholz who combined to give up 18 earned runs on 21 hits in just 15 1/3 innings of work. Texas also got to Boston’s Daniel Bard in the opener of the series. Bard was hammered for 4 runs on 4 hits in just 2/3 innings of work.

But a lot has changed since that opening series. These are not the same Red Sox. Their much-touted offense found its groove and has been the most productive line-up in all of baseball. Even in Kansas City over the weekend without David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis for all four games and Jacoby Ellsbury for the final two, Boston managed to score 21 runs in the series.

This series will be more of a test for Boston’s pitchers as the Rangers have an equally as formidable line-up. Texas is tied with Boston for the best team batting average (.278) in all of baseball. They have more hits (1234) than any team in the Majors, they’re third in homeruns (150) and third in runs scored (651). The Red Sox will send, in order, Erik Bedard, John Lackey, Josh Beckett and Tim Wakefield to the mound in Arlington.

This is the first of 7 very important games against the Rangers over the next couple of weeks. Following this series, these two teams will meet for a 3-game weekend series at Fenway September 2-4.

What makes these games important is that they could very well set the tone for an opening round playoff match-up between the two clubs in the American League Division Series. As it stands now, the Red Sox and Rangers would meet in the opening round of the playoffs while the Yankees would play Detroit.

-Jacoby Ellsbury missed his second straight game Sunday after he took a fastball between the shoulder blades in Friday’s game at Kansas City. Ellsbury is still sore from the contusion and will likely miss the first game or two of the series in Texas.

-There’s better news on the injury front regarding David Ortiz. Terry Francona said that Ortiz was feeling much better and will take off his walking boot on Tuesday. Francona said that they would probably give him a day or two out of the boot before putting him back into the line-up. He could possibly DH before the end of this 4-game series in Texas and will likely be back in the line-up on a regular basis when the Sox open up a 9-game homestand in Boston Friday against Oakland.

-Rookie Ryan Lavarnway is starting to heat up at the plate. He went 2-4 Sunday and nearly hit his first career homerun in the Majors in the 8th inning. After an 0-6 start to his Big League career, he has gone 5 for his last 9 to boost his average to .333.

-While Lavarnway is heating up, Josh Reddick is cooling off. Reddick went 0-4 Sunday to see his batting average drop below .300 for the first time this season at .298. While his entire body of work has been terrific thus far, Reddick is trending downward. He hit .556 in the month of May, .407 in June, .280 in July and just .245 in August. Are teams figuring out how to pitch to the rookie? Just asking.

-The Sox are now 11-9 in August. The Yankees are 13-6 this month. New York (77-48) currently leads Boston (77-49) by a half game in the A.L. East standings.