Lest you wonder what happened to my command of the English language: http://memegenerator.co/Y-U-No
Now that you're familiar with that particular Internet meme, get a load of these sobering statistics, courtesy of Peter Abraham of Boston.com's Extra Bases blog: In the last 8 games, the Red Sox are hitting a frosty .225 with a .617 OPS, which translates to a couple of widely-spaced nickel-and-dime singles that don't add up to many crooked numbers on the scoreboard. As a matter of fact, they are averaging only 2.87 runs per game. The All-Star break did little to rejuvenate the Red Sox bats and some of the early season heroes have gone into the dreaded second-half fade. Iggy's bat has predictably crashed down to earth and Nava has found himself grabbing more pine as Gomes and his wacky glove are roaming left field on a more regular basis. Even stalwarts such as Pedey and Papi are putting up plenty of O-fers at the plate over this stretch. Ironically, Napoli, who had been in a prolonged slump, has come around of late and rediscovered his power stroke.
Is it time to push that big, glowing, red PANIC button yet? With a series with the team of their recurring nightmares coming up in Baltimore, one can hope the Red Sox have a firm hold on their lunch money, lest those schoolyard bullies dressed in black, white, and orange snatch it over the weekend. Funny how, until recently, it was the other way around, with the Red Sox smacking the O's around. It was much more fun that way.
How can the Red Sox get their run-scoring mojo back? Do they give Will Middlebrooks another shot, or do they go off-book and call up uberprospect Xander Bogaerts? Bogaerts could provide a spark to snap the Sox out of their doldrums or he could struggle mightily like Jackie Bradley, Jr. did at the beginning of the season. The X-man is only 20, but so was Manny Machado when the O's called him up last year. Do they find a reason to put Nava on the DL and bring Bradley back up as a left-handed bat to platoon with Gomes? Fortunately for the Sox, their best options for improving the offense are in-house and no trades need to be made.
As far as pitching goes, with Buchholz's rehab going at a glacial pace, there is still a sizable hole in the rotation. Webster showed he was far from ready to pitch at the major league level, but Brandon Workman has looked solid in his first two starts. If the Red Sox were only fringe contenders this season, they could afford to keep Workman in that spot or rotate other arms from AAA there. However, since they are in a position, albeit a very tenuous one, to win the division, they'll probably need a proven major league starter holding down that spot to insure them against Buchholz missing the rest of the season or another key starter hitting the DL. Trouble is, the pickings are slim since Cliff Lee doesn't appear to be available. Jake Peavy is the best starter on the market right now and he's sporting an ERA over 4 and has an injury history to rival Buchholz's. Hurry up, Clay!
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