The countless injuries are finally catching up to the Red Sox as they stagger into the All-Star break. The erratic pitching isn't helping matters either. Nor is the off-field drama surrounding Ells, the Sox docs, and his time in Arizona. The latter, I believe, is largely media-created, but having it play out so publicly can't be helping team morale.
The pitching has been a problem all season, with the exception of Lester, Buchholz, and Bard. After Lester and Buchholz, the rotation looks pretty shaky. Nowhere was that more evident than in Tampa Bay earlier this week, where the Sox were broomed by the Rays, sending them tumbling back into third place and undoing much of the progress they had made in May and June. Felix Doubront did an admirable job filling in for Buchholz, but Neimann and the Rays' pen kept the depleted lineup down. Wake and Dice-K were both trainwrecks. After a 14-3 romp on Friday night at the Jays' expense (and with Lester on the mound), Lackey was a trainwreck in his own right on Saturday. The bullpen has been an opponent's dream, with the second-worst ERA in the league. Oki looks cooked, as does RamRam. MDC is a yo-yo, and Paps still relies far too heavily on his fastball. Atchison has been decent most of the time since his return from Pawtucket, and he's stepped up when the Sox need long relief. Manuel and Richardson still have some kinks to iron out before they can be considered dependable. All this leads to Bard being grossly overused. This will come back to haunt them in the second half of the season, I'm afraid. Let's hope Theo has some magic up his sleeve as far as how to fix this broken bullpen because the Sox' season depends on it. Beckett had better come back in dominant, 2007 form after spending more than 2 months on the DL. How awesome would complete-game machines Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee looked in a Sox uni this season?
No team needs this All-Star break more than the Red Sox. This has been a bizarre season, with the injury-related devastation of the roster to their inexplicable struggle in day games. There have been some great stories, like Darnell McDonald and Daniel Nava. There have been some impressive stretches, like their sweep of the Rays in May and their dominance in interleague play, including the surprising bats wielded by Sox pitchers and the roughing up of NL aces like Ubaldo Jimenez and Tim Lincecum. If they were in any other division, they would have little to worry about during this rough patch, but the AL East is not known for being forgiving. Not when the Yankees and Rays are putting constant pressure on them.
Today is the last game before the break. The Sox look to Dice-K to pitch them to a series win. Forgive me if I'm not all that confident. It's gotten to the point where I can no longer watch him pitch because his nibbling and walks and bad innings drive me crazy. I hope the bats can come up big like they did on Friday night.
LET'S GO RED SOX!!!! PLEASE WIN TODAY!!!!
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