This Red Sox season has been horrible in every sense of the word. The list of what has gone wrong for the team is getting longer every day. However, even in the worst of seasons, there are bright, shining moments and Brock Holt provided such today by being the first Red Sox player in nearly two decades to hit for the cycle in a 9-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves. He started his 4-hit game with a double off the Monster in the first inning. In the fifth, he singled to right. In the seventh, he extended the Red Sox lead with an opposite-field dinger. Finally, in the eighth, he hit a triple to the deepest part of the ballpark to complete the cycle. You can see all of those hits here.
Brock Holt has been on the short list of things that have gone right for the Red Sox this year. That list includes Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts. Straddling the "good" list and the "bad" list have been Mookie Betts and Eduardo Rodriguez, who was clearly on the "good" list before getting lit up like a Christmas tree by the Blue Jays on Sunday. He can make it back on the good side by bouncing back with a strong outing on Friday against the Royals. Mookie has shown flashes of the dynamic player we saw last year, but he still has some adjustments to make. Holt is a super utility player whose bat forces its way into the lineup more often than not. He's hitting over .300 for the year and he can play any position but pitcher and catcher. Lots of dead weight needs to be removed from this roster, but Brock Holt is a keeper.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Hope? Nope.
Like the fabulous Opening Day win in Philly, the weekend's
three-game sweep of the A's and the 7-run eighth inning on Sunday was a
mirage in the hot, dry desert that is the Red Sox 2015 season. After
Monday's off-day, the horribly inconsistent offense ruined another great
outing by Eduardo Rodriguez. Tonight, Sandoval and Porcello showed
off their epic bust potential, the former by getting stupid on the
basepaths trying to stretch a single into a double (after Xander was out
for doing the very same thing) and the latter by giving up 5 runs.
Heaven forbid they actually carry forth some momentum after pulling off
their first series sweep of the season.
Of course, the team they swept, the Oakland A's, have an even worse record than the Red Sox, so it's not as if they swept a contending team like Twins, Astros, or (shudder) Yankees. The Red Sox are, even if their record doesn't show it yet, by far the worst team in the division. Most of the time, they play as if they would rather not win. There are bright spots on this team (Pedey, Xander, Holt, EdRod, and, for the most part, Buchholz) but the guys who were supposed to carry the offense and hit for power (Hanley, Ortiz Sandoval, Napoli) have an all-or-nothing approach at the plate and have failed miserably, except for Hanley in April. Ortiz, sad to say, looks washed up, as does Napoli. Sandoval (He's not Panda to me until he plays better) looks like something out of the Carl Crawford/Edgar Renteria book. Joe Kelly, Wade Miley, and Clay Buchholz have been more consistent than Rick Porcello (is he the pitching version of Crawford?). Mookie is suffering from Sophomore Slump. Rusney is raw at the plate and in the field.
Most of the disinterested and unfocused play falls on the players themselves, but poor leadership from the field coaches as well as the front office and ownership should be held accountable too. Fundamentals are lacking across the board and they are heading for their third losing, last-place finish in four years. This ownership team did a great job of bringing the Red Sox three world series championships in 10 years and they had the Red Sox competing for the better half of the 2000s, but the 2010s, with the exception of 2013, have been a different story and it's fair to wonder whether the days of the Red Sox being a consistent contender are behind them as long as Fenway Sports Group is at the helm.
Of course, the team they swept, the Oakland A's, have an even worse record than the Red Sox, so it's not as if they swept a contending team like Twins, Astros, or (shudder) Yankees. The Red Sox are, even if their record doesn't show it yet, by far the worst team in the division. Most of the time, they play as if they would rather not win. There are bright spots on this team (Pedey, Xander, Holt, EdRod, and, for the most part, Buchholz) but the guys who were supposed to carry the offense and hit for power (Hanley, Ortiz Sandoval, Napoli) have an all-or-nothing approach at the plate and have failed miserably, except for Hanley in April. Ortiz, sad to say, looks washed up, as does Napoli. Sandoval (He's not Panda to me until he plays better) looks like something out of the Carl Crawford/Edgar Renteria book. Joe Kelly, Wade Miley, and Clay Buchholz have been more consistent than Rick Porcello (is he the pitching version of Crawford?). Mookie is suffering from Sophomore Slump. Rusney is raw at the plate and in the field.
Most of the disinterested and unfocused play falls on the players themselves, but poor leadership from the field coaches as well as the front office and ownership should be held accountable too. Fundamentals are lacking across the board and they are heading for their third losing, last-place finish in four years. This ownership team did a great job of bringing the Red Sox three world series championships in 10 years and they had the Red Sox competing for the better half of the 2000s, but the 2010s, with the exception of 2013, have been a different story and it's fair to wonder whether the days of the Red Sox being a consistent contender are behind them as long as Fenway Sports Group is at the helm.
Monday, June 8, 2015
Dare We Hope?
After two 4-2 wins over the Oakland A's, the Red Sox looked to be facing the inevitable 4-0 loss with the "My Kingdom For Some Run Support" Buccholz on the mound. Buchholz was far from his best and lasted less than 5 innings, but, from what his teammates had shown him, he would need to have shut out the A's to have a chance of getting the W. The Sox were down 4-0 going in the 8th inning and they were 1-26 when trailing after the 7th, as clear an indictment as there will ever be of the lack of resilience of the 2015 squad.
But something happened in the 8th that seemed unthinkable given the way the Red Sox have played this season: They came from behind late in the game and put up a 7-run inning! It all started with Rusney Castillo's first home run of the season. The Red Sox saw 11 batters step up the plate in the 8th, with the biggest hit coming off the bat of Xander Bogaerts, who took his team from trailing by one run to leading by one run with a 2-run double off the Monster. Alexandro De Aza and Rusney added some insurance to make it 7-4 and unlikely closer Tommy Layne set the A's down in order in the 9th to nail down the win.
Games like this can get a team who has been stuck in quicksand all season headed in the right direction. Or they can be anomalies--bright spots in an otherwise miserable season. I would like to think the June 7 game against the A's was the former, but this season has given me little reason for such optimism. They were facing the team with the worst record in the American League, although they just came off of a sweep of the Tigers and they had given the Yankees fits a few weeks back.
Amid all the depressing statistics this team has amassed, none more damning than the -42 run differential for the month of May, there have been some bright spots on this team. The pitching has been solid more often than not after a horrid April. Eduardo Rodriguez has looked like a beacon of hope in his first two starts. Xander Bogaerts has been another bright spot, improving both his offense and defense after an underwhelming rookie year laboring under Mike Trout-esque expectations. Two 22-year-olds cannot be expected to carry the team, however. That's just not fair. However, if there is a time for the Red Sox to show they are capable of going on a winning streak, it's now. Momentum is on their side and they have the chance to do some damage in the AL East. Whether they will do so, however, remains to be seen.
But something happened in the 8th that seemed unthinkable given the way the Red Sox have played this season: They came from behind late in the game and put up a 7-run inning! It all started with Rusney Castillo's first home run of the season. The Red Sox saw 11 batters step up the plate in the 8th, with the biggest hit coming off the bat of Xander Bogaerts, who took his team from trailing by one run to leading by one run with a 2-run double off the Monster. Alexandro De Aza and Rusney added some insurance to make it 7-4 and unlikely closer Tommy Layne set the A's down in order in the 9th to nail down the win.
Games like this can get a team who has been stuck in quicksand all season headed in the right direction. Or they can be anomalies--bright spots in an otherwise miserable season. I would like to think the June 7 game against the A's was the former, but this season has given me little reason for such optimism. They were facing the team with the worst record in the American League, although they just came off of a sweep of the Tigers and they had given the Yankees fits a few weeks back.
Amid all the depressing statistics this team has amassed, none more damning than the -42 run differential for the month of May, there have been some bright spots on this team. The pitching has been solid more often than not after a horrid April. Eduardo Rodriguez has looked like a beacon of hope in his first two starts. Xander Bogaerts has been another bright spot, improving both his offense and defense after an underwhelming rookie year laboring under Mike Trout-esque expectations. Two 22-year-olds cannot be expected to carry the team, however. That's just not fair. However, if there is a time for the Red Sox to show they are capable of going on a winning streak, it's now. Momentum is on their side and they have the chance to do some damage in the AL East. Whether they will do so, however, remains to be seen.
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