If John Lackey is pissed at his teammates for not having his back, I wouldn't blame him one bit. He pitched 6 innings, four on a sore ankle, allowed 2 runs (one which was painted on by suicide squeeze while Tazawa was on the mound), and got not a shred of run support. When your ERA is in the low 3s, you deserve a way better record than 7-9. When that big fat goose egg the Red Sox lineup gave him tonight comes at the hands of the team with the worst record in baseball in the Houston Astros, it makes it all the more exasperating.
Besides the field day the Astros were having on the bases tonight, the lack of offense highlighted some pretty sizable holes in the Red Sox lineup. Napoli is striking out at a record pace, often in key situations (batting a woeful .219 with RISP) and we have a pair of lightweights platooning at third. The high runs scored count is likely skewed by some blowouts because a team with this little home run power which is reluctant to sac bunt and gets easily shut down by halfway decent lefties shouldn't be so high up in the run-scoring column. Not to mention that there are a lot of easy Ks in the lineup, with Napoli, Salty, Drew, whoever is in the outfield on any given day, and Holt/Snyder.
It's exceedingly easy to pitch around Big Papi because Napoli will most likely whiff. With Middlebrooks looking like more of the same from earlier in the season, Xander Bogaerts looks to be the better choice. Even without any major league experience, X-man has more advanced plate discipline than Middlebrooks. They can't do much about Napoli and any substitute for him at first will strike out almost as easily as he will. However, they can drop the AAA-level platoon at third. Keep Holt around to be a utility guy, but swap Snyder out for Bogaerts. At least upgrade ONE of the corner infield positions. It's to the point where I'm actually more concerned about the Red Sox offense than I am the pitching.
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