Tuesday, June 16, 2015

A Brief Ray of Sunlight

     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.  

No comments: