Red Sox Report: Time To Panic?
Monday, September 12, 2011
It’s officially time to worry about the Red Sox.
After being swept by the Rays in Tampa over the weekend, Boston’s losing streak stretched to 5 games and, more importantly, their lead in the American League Wild Card race was reduced to just 3 ½ games.
The good news, if there is any, is that there are only 16 games remaining in the regular season so it is possible that Boston could limp to the finish line and manage to just make it into the playoffs.
But there’s also some bad news. Boston’s 3 ½ game lead in the Wild Card race is over none other than the very same Rays team that just swept them in convincing fashion. And, wait, there’s more. Tampa will play 4 more games against the Red Sox in Boston this week beginning on Thursday.
Is it time to panic? David Ortiz thinks so. “Hell, yeah, you’ve got to panic,” he said. Ortiz and his teammates know that they should have never let it get this close and they only have themselves to blame.
Yes, injuries have hampered their efforts to a certain extent. Losing Josh Beckett recently and not having a healthy Kevin Youkilis in the line-up are both big blows. But they still should be playing better baseball than they have as of late.
Boston was a mere 1-15 with runners in scoring position in their weekend series against the Rays. And their starting pitching failed them too. Jon Lester is supposed to be an ace along with Beckett. He didn’t pitch like one on Sunday. Lester had to be lifted after just 4 innings because he ran his pitch count up to 111 pitches. He yielded 8 hits, 4 earned runs, walked 3 and struck out 2. That’s not nearly good enough.
In the series opener on Friday, John Lackey was, well, John Lackey unfortunately. In just 3 innings of work he gave up 5 hits, 5 earned runs, walked 3 and struck out 2. That’s terrible, which is exactly what lackey has been since he signed his mega-contract with Boston two years ago.
Is it possible for this team to get healthy before the playoffs begin and hit their stride before heading into the postseason? Yes. But that had better happen sooner rather than later or they will be watching the playoffs on TV as opposed to from the dugout at Fenway Park.
-There is some encouraging news on the injury front for Boston. Josh Beckett will throw off the mound at Fenway on Monday and, if all goes well, he could be back in the rotation for the series against Tampa over the weekend.
Clay Buchholz also continues to press forward in his attempt at coming back from a fractured vertebrae in his lower back. Buchholz will play long toss on Tuesday and, if all goes well, would thrown off the mound shortly thereafter.
-Boston’s streak of 5 straight losses is its longest since the team started the season 0-6.
-How about a little credit for the small market (and small revenue) club that is the Tampa Bay Rays? With a payroll of about $41 million dollars, the Rays have the second lowest payroll in all of baseball ahead of only the Kansas City Royals ($36 million). By stark contrast, Boston’s payroll is the third highest in baseball at approximately $162 million while the Yankees spend more than any team at $202 million.
Forget about the rumors of the Chicago Cubs being interested in Red Sox GM Theo Epstein. If they were smart, they would do whatever it takes to bring in Rays GM Andrew Friedman to be their new general manager.
-The Red Sox have Monday off before hosting the Toronto Blue Jays for a brief 2-game series on Tuesday and Wednesday at Fenway Park.
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