Red Sox Report: No Need To Panic
Thursday, August 25, 2011
The Boston Red Sox haven’t been playing the best baseball as of late. They’re 6-7 in their last 13 games and, as a result, now find themselves chasing the Yankees in the close American League Eastern Division race. But there are two reasons not to panic.
First, Boston has played many of these games without three of their best offensive players in Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz and Jacoby Ellsbury. With Ellsbury and Ortiz now back and Youkilis expected to return sometime soon, their line-up should once again be the most productive in all of baseball.
When that happens, that will take a lot of pressure off of the lower part of Boston’s rotation which has pitched okay during this difficult stretch.
The other reason not to panic is that, barring an unforeseen collapse, Boston will be a playoff team when October rolls around and that’s all that matters. Let’s not forget that the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 as a Wild Card team. Would they like to win the division? Yes. They would prefer to avoid Texas in the ALDS and to have the home field advantage in the ALCS against the rival Yankees should it come to that. But those things are not necessities. Getting to the postseason is.
-Speaking of the Yankees, we need to give credit where credit is due. New York has played outstanding this season with a suspect rotation behind ace CC Sabathia. Did anyone really think that Ivan Nova was a #2 starter coming into the season? Probably not. But he has pitched very well for the Bombers.
New York has also had to deal with its share of injuries this year. Phil Hughes missed a majority of the first half of the season, same goes for Rafael Soriano and Alex Rodriguez was on the shelf for 7 weeks. Despite that, the aging Yankees managed to stay with the Red Sox in the division race and pass them in the standings after the All-Star break.
Captain Derek Jeter who appeared to be showing signs of age this season has quietly lifted his average to .295 heading into play Wednesday night. Curtis Granderson has had a flat out MVP season hitting .279 with 35 homeruns and 98 RBI. Robinson Cano has been his usual solid self hitting .303 with 21 homers and 88 RBI. Mark Texiera, even though his average is down to .248, has 35 homers and 95 RBI. And Nick Swisher has had a solid year as well.
On the mound, Sabathia has been virtually unbeatable when he is pitching against any team other than the Red Sox. Nova has been a pleasant surprise while Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia have been more than serviceable. About the only disappointment in their rotation has been AJ Burnett who had a solid start to the season before falling apart in the months of July and August.
As for the bullpen, Mariano Rivera has been, well, Mariano Rivera – which is to say excellent. David Robertson has been outstanding as the set-up man as well.
Can the Yankees keep up this pace of play for the remainder of the season? Who knows. The bigger question for them will be can their starting pitching take them on a deep run into the playoffs? The bet here is probably not.
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