May has been an interesting month for the Red Sox. Coming into tonight's game against the Phillies, they are in the same position in the standings that they were after their kick-ass April. However, that wasn't the case earlier on in the month.
After lighting the baseball world on fire for the first month of the season, the Red Sox crashed down to earth like an apocalyptic asteroid in the early days of May. They suddenly looked like a different team--a painful reminder of last year's debacle, starting the month out on a 3-9 skid. Their April success looked like a tease, a mirage. Their woes began in Texas, where they were swept by the Rangers. Then came their return to Fenway, which saw them drop 3 of 4 to the Twins and 2 of 3 to the Blue Jays, both opponents with records under .500. The began to recover down at the Trop, taking 2 of 3 from the Rays, and then sweeping the Twins for a 5-game winning streak. They experienced a bit of a backslide in Chicago, losing the first two games there, but they took the final game and then 3 of 4 from old friend Tito and the Indians and the first game of their interleague tilt with the Phillies.
At one point during their "dark period", they had slipped to third place in the division behind both the Yankees and the Orioles. To their credit, they pulled out of their funk and started bearing some resemblance to their April selves by putting together a couple of winning streaks and some thrilling come-from-behind victories, two of which came on back-to-back days this weekend. With Buchholz continuing to dominate and Lester being a generally reliable, if not dominant, starter and the emergence of a healthy (and trimmed down) John Lackey, the starting pitching has been solid. Doubront has improved of late as well, while Dempster has been scuffling something fierce.
On the hitting side of the game, while the bats have been streaky and strike out like there's no tomorrow, they still have scored the second most runs in all of baseball, trailing the Tigers by a mere 4 runs. Leading the Red Sox offense so far have been Pedey (.333/.425/873), Papi (.346/.408/1.030), and Nava (.289/.393/.857). Although his average is not as high as those three, Mike Napoli leads the team in RBI with 39 and has hit as many big flies (8) as Papi and Will Middlebrooks. Nava, for all he has been overlooked over the course of his career, has made a case so far this season for All-Star consideration.
Will this team be in the mix in August and September? A lot will depend on the health of key players (especially Papi, Lester, Buchholz, Pedey, and, yes, Lackey). Team chemistry has vastly improved since last season and they have shown some resilience, especially in a month that had started out so poorly for them. No one is running away with the AL East this season. The Yankees and Red Sox look pretty evenly matched as far as pitching and offense go. Both teams are relying on some veterans coming back from down seasons and while the Red Sox may have the edge in the starting rotation, they Yankees have the edge in the bullpen. The Orioles are going to stick around, remaining within striking distance of the division or wild card. The Rays have taken a step back and their pitching has struggled for the first time in a few years, but you just can't count them out yet. The Jays thought they had built a juggernaut in the offseason, but so far they've sputtered. Can they turn it around or have they dug themselves too deep a hole?
Overall, this season has been a refreshing turnaround from the recent past. There have been signs that this team will be contenders up to the very end. There have also been areas of concern, such as the lack of production from third base due to a struggling Will Middlebrooks that the team may be able to survive now, but if other things go wrong, it could become a bigger problem. The amount of free passes given out by Red Sox pitchers is a little unsettling as well. Only the atrocious Houston Astros have walked more batters than the Red Sox. So far, the pitchers have been limiting the damage caused by walks, as their ERA is 6th in the AL, but it would behoove them to stop handing out bases on balls like candy on Halloween. Cutting down on the walks will help starters go deeper into games and relievers from creating late-inning messes.
