Charlie Brown, Lucy, The Tortoise, The Hare, and the 2011 Red Sox

I'm back from the blogging DL to wax metaphoric, among other things, about WHAT THE FRICKITY-FRACK HAPPENED TO THE 2011 RED SOX. When September began, the Red Sox were a half-game up on the Yankees in the AL East and 9, that's NINE games up on the Rays. What transpired in the next four weeks would be too ludicrous, too outlandish to believe if you're not a Red Sox fan and not familiar with the decades of futility that preceded 2004.

Remember the story of the Tortoise and the Hare? If not, here's the Cliff Notes version: The tortoise and the hare decide to race each other. While the tortoise is plodding along slowly but surely, the overconfident hare takes a nap along the way, sure he could snooze a while and still beat the poky turtle. Surprise surprise! The tortoise crosses the finish line first! In the context of the AL East in 2011, the Red Sox were the hare (despite having a couple guys who are tortoises on the basepaths) and the Rays were the tortoise (despite their youth and athleticism). The Sox, laden with all-stars and a laid-back skipper, took a nap in September, to the tune of an atrocious 7-20 record. The Rays, while not setting the world on fire, gained ground on the Sox by simply playing good baseball closing the gap little-by-little over the course of the month until they passed them on the very last day of the season and usurped the Wild Card berth the Sox had taken for granted. The Yankees, who had passed the Red Sox early on in the month, took the division crown.

Even though the Red Sox won only 7 game in September, it seemed as each win could be the one to set them back on the right track. Wake's 200th win, after 9 tries, was a monkey off their back. The 14-inning, 5-hour tangle with the Yankees where MVP candidate Jacoby Ellsbury won it with a 3-run jack, surely that game would spur on a 4-game winning streak and a Wild Card berth, right? Wrong. How about the last game of the season, all the way up to Papelbon's 0-2 pitch to Chris Davis with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th at Camden Yards? Davis doubled, Nolan Reimold followed with another double to tie the game at 3, then the latest member of the Sox Killer Society, one Robert Andino, dealt the death blow with a walkoff RBI to score Reimold. Then, what seemed like 2 seconds later, another Sox killer Evan Longoria hit a walk-off dinger to give the Rays their playoff berth. Lucy, set up that football. Here comes Charlie Brown!

You have to tip your cap to the Rays, who battled back from a 7-run deficit against the Yankees to tie the game, force extra innings, then walk off with the win. It was a microcosm of their September, rallying from 9 games back to overtake the Red Sox and clinch their third post-season berth in 4 years. With their perseverance the deserve to be in the playoffs. While the Red Sox completely imploded, the Rays kept it together and took advantage of an opportunity. How I wish it was the other way around.

This historic crash-and-burn caps off a several-years-long decline from the glory days of 2007 and even 2008, despite missing out on the World Series that year. The team has lost its competitive edge, its hunger to win as many games as they can and take home a championship. No one person is responsible for this decline, rather it's a combination of people and events. Theo Epstein may have brought the Red Sox two high-profile players in the offseason, but his free agent talent evaluation leaves a lot to be desired, as well as his ability put together an elite starting rotation. Terry Francona seems like a wonderful guy with sincerity and integrity. However, in the absence of a strong clubhouse leader, is he really the best manager for a seemingly directionless team? The laid-back demeanor that helps him cope with the pressure cooker that is Boston sports may be detrimental to keeping the team as competitively sharp as their divisional and league rivals.

Sometimes a manager's tenure with a team runs its course and I think this is the case with Francona and the Red Sox. Maybe both team and manager need a fresh start. I'm not familiar with who's available as a replacement, but ideally he would manage the team with a firmer hand, making sure everyone's in shape when they report for Spring Training and emphasizing baseball fundamentals both then and throughout the season.

Other areas of improvement include the coaching staff, particularly Curt Young and Tim Bogar. Pitching, or lack thereof, was the downfall of the 2011 Red Sox. Part of that's on Epstein, but the on-field staff also bears some responsibility for the mess that was Red Sox pitching in September. Even Beckett and Lester got Charlie Browned (Again with the little bald kid! Oh, good grief...) on a regular basis. Starters were hard-pressed to go 6 innings, let alone 7 or 8. Only one pitcher threw a complete game all season (Beckett vs. the Rays on June 15). That left the bullpen completely gassed by the end of the year. The Sox pitchers plunked more batters than any other team in either league.

How about those trainers and that medical staff? Two seasons in a row with an avalanche of injuries isn't just coincidence. How long did it take them to diagnose Clay Buchholz with a stress fracture in his back? Imagine how much sooner he might have been able to return had they diagnosed him correctly right away.

They say it's not how you start, but how you finish. The 2011 Red Sox started terribly and finished even worse. In between they looked like world-beaters, but in the end, that in-between wasn't enough to offset the ugly baseball that bookended the season.

The Glass Menagerie

Look out! The 2011 Red Sox are falling down the 2006-hole! Papi has an achilles heel, Youk and Scoots are moaning "Oh my aching back!" (joining Buchholz, of course) and Red Sox Nation has a collective headache watching the overrated Red Sox offense flail away like blind, disoriented squirrels at pretty much any pitch that pretty much any pitcher throws. Add to all this a "settle for the Wild Card" mentality from the Powers that Be and it's going to be a brutal stretch run for this team. They look like the woebegone April version who lost 10 of their first 12 games and played baseball like blindfolded 5-year-olds playing Pin The Tail on the Donkey. Guess what? The blindfolded 5-year-olds are back and have no earthly clue where they're throwing the ball. How they stumbled upon a triple play last night is a mystery to me, but even the aforementioned blind squirrel finds an acorn once in awhile.

Something needs to be done about this team's training and conditioning regimen: They're made of glass! First the pitchers started dropping like flies and now the hitters are looking like players in the Old Timers' Game. Lowrie is one twinge away from managing to get hurt again and he's hitting and fielding atrociously to boot. Gonzo looks like Sean Casey, but with a better glove and looks like he's one sudden head turn away from a neck brace. Crawford may need to connect himself with an eye chart. Reddick has come back down to earth, as predicted, and still has some plate discipline issues. Tek's average is plummeting again. Only Ells (who provided the singular clutch hit of the series against Tampa "We Own The Red Sox at Fenway" Bay), and to some extent Pedey, are hitting and playing the type of baseball they're capable of. Ells and Pedey are great players, but they can't do it all themselves. It's only a matter of time before they get dragged down by the rest of the team.

The pitching has not been terrible, but it hasn't been great either, save for Lester's gem in the first game of yesterday's double-header. Bedard's pitching well, but getting no run support, just like back in Seattle. Of course, the Red Sox made the Mariners' offense look pretty damn good last weekend. Beckett's been getting no run support all season. The run support even dried up for Lackey today.

Good luck on that road trip, Red Sox, because you're gonna need it. As for me, I need to step away for the sake of my sanity. If that makes me a "bad fan" so be it. I get too emotionally invested in these games and it takes a toll. I had to get this rant out of my system before going on the blogging and Red Sox-watching DL. If things turn around for the Sox, that's great, but I'm not counting on it. In the meantime, I need to try to give my mind (not to mention my blood pressure) a little break from it all.

Winning the Division Does Matter

MLB may have taken away the division winner's right to choose the playoff schedule, but home field advantage could be very important to the Red Sox for another reason and that reason is the Texas Rangers. Even though the AL West is about as close as the East right now, I still think the Rangers have the best chance of winning that division. If the Rangers hold their lead and finish with a better record than the Tigers, then they (the Rangers) will face the Wild Card team, which is practically guaranteed to be either the Yankees or the Red Sox, and have home field advantage. If the Red Sox end up as the Wild Card, that means they have to face a team that they do not match up well against and play as many as 3 of 5 games in a ballpark where they have not had much success. If the Red Sox win the division, however, they will play the team from the Central (likely the Tigers, against whom they went 5-1 this season) and only have to play as many as 2 of 5 away from home. They would also have home field advantage should they advance to the ALCS because whoever wins the East will, barring anything crazy happening, have the best record in the league. Even if it happens that they face the Rangers in the ALCS, at least they would play up to 4 games at Fenway. Therefore, it's not only pride that would come with an AL East win.

It could be that the Indians win the Central and the Angels win the West, but the most likely scenario is the Tigers and the Rangers. Home field advantage goes out the window for whatever AL team wins the pennant and represents the league at the World Series, but for the first two rounds of the playoffs, the advantage is within reach for the Red Sox. I hope they are hungry for a divisional win after losing out the the Yankees and the Rays the past 3 years. They need not lose their competitive edge settling for the Wild Card.

Jacoby MVP-sbury

Before last night, Jacoby Ellsbury had never had a walk-off hit in his major-league career. Tonight, he has two in a row! Last night, it was a single that drove in a pinch-running Salty. Tonight, it was a majestic shot into the stands in straightaway center field. Both nights, Ells and the Red Sox got it done in the bottom of the 9th, avoiding the bullpen toll of extra innings.

The starters of both walk-off games, Beckett last night and Wake tonight, can commiserate about paltry run support. Beckett got 2 runs and Wake got 3. Beckett gave up 2 runs and Wake gave up 3. Two tie games, two walk-off wins, one hero. Carl Crawford passed the walk-off torch to his fellow speedster tonight. With the Yankees steamrolling the White Sox, each Red Sox win has been essential to staying on top in the division race. Each team has one more game against their AL Central opponents before facing each other this weekend. The Red Sox have newcomer Erik Bedard facing old friend Justin Masterson. I like Masterson. He's a class act and a very talented young pitcher who has put together an excellent season for the Tribe. That said, I hope the Red Sox hand him a loss tomorrow and help Erik Bedard get his first win in a Red Sox uniform.

Bedard will be working with a reduced pitch count tomorrow (75-80 pitches) and may still have a little rust from his DL stint, so patience--not an area of great strength for me--will be necessary. According to scouts, the stuff is there. I'm looking forward to seeing how he transitions to the big market and the pennant race. Some run support for him would be nice. He didn't get a whole lot of that with the M's.

Back to Jacoby and the amazing season he's having so far. Once again, he has as many home runs as Adrian Gonzalez. He's batting .317 with 18 HR and 65 RBI out of the leadoff spot, with a .374 OBP and an .885 OPS. He has the highest batting average of all center fielders in the league and the second highest in the majors. All this after missing almost all of last year.

Pedey's another player who has bounced back admirably after a season-ending injury last year. Since June, he's become the Pedey he was before the fouled that ball off his foot and broke a bone that Red Sox Nation is now all-too-familiar with. Who else without a medical degree had heard of the navicular bone before Pedey's injury? He started out this season slowly, but once he got his balky knee checked out in June, the peace of mind he gained from the procedure fueled his return to Pedeyness and paved the way for the Legend of the Muddy Chicken. (Laser Show is so 2010) He was named AL Player of the Month for July, a month in which he put together his career-best 25-game hitting streak (which actually began in late June and extended through almost all of July).

Then there's Gonzo. He still leads the majors in batting average (.357) and RBI (90) but the power's down from his days as a Friar. Sometimes when the average rises, the power falls. He's also coming off of shoulder surgery in the off-season. When he's driven in more runs than any other player in baseball and gets hits more often than any other player in baseball, I'll take that any day. He plays a stellar first base to boot.

Pitching FAIL

If this Red Sox team has a glaring weakness, it's their starting pitching. Their starters have a combined ERA of 4.11, which ranks them 9th in the league and 20th overall. Those aren't championship-caliber numbers. Not even close. The average AL team's starting pitchers' ERA is 3.98, making the Red Sox rotation's number below average. The reason they're in first place in the league (as of tonight, however, only by a single game) is their offense, defense, and bullpen. After Lester and Beckett, the drop-off in the rotation is pretty steep. With Buchholz shelved for the season with a stress fracture in his back, the team will have to look to Erik Bedard to provide a reliable presence as the #3 starter. That's a lot to ask of a guy coming off a knee injury and having to adjust to a new team in a large market with sky-high expectations.

Tonight, neither the starter (the maddeningly inconsistent John Lackey) nor the relievers (Daniel Bard and Matt Albers) could keep the ball in the ballpark. The Tribe clubbed 4 dingers off Red Sox pitching: 2 off Lackey, 1 off Bard and 1 off Albers. Let's hope this was just a bad night and not the start of a trend. NESN, with whom I usually have no problem, tempted fate to the nth degree by repeating a few too many times statistics on how long Bard and Albers had gone without giving up a run.

The Red Sox starting pitching is going to have to improve if they are to hang on to the division lead and play deep into October. Had Lackey rose to the occasion tonight and pitched a quality start, it could have taken some of the pressure off Bedard to stabilize the rotation.

Advantage: Red

Owned by Ozzie & Company no more, the Red Sox took 2 of 3 from the White Sox at The Cell this weekend. After dropping Friday night's game due to lack of offense, the bats busted out on Saturday night behind a strong Lester (8 innings, 4 H 2 ER 1 BB 8 K) and won 10-2. This afternoon, Andrew Miller, while being far from economical, kept his team in the game and struck out 8 White Sox, but it was Aceves who got the win. The Muddy Laser Chicken Show, a.k.a. Pedey, knocked in the tying and winning runs in the 7th and Gonzo, who went yard last night for the first time since before the All-Star break, added insurance with an RBI double in the 9th. Pap struck out the side in the ninth to nail down the save. Tek provided some early offense when he hit a 2-run jack in the 2nd off Mark Buehrle. Miller ended up allowing 3 runs and left with 2 outs in the 6th, with the Red Sox down 3-2. Aceves pitched an inning (1 out in the 6th and 2 in the 7th) and handed it off to Bard and Pap.

This jaunt to Chicago was the shortest road trip of the season. The Red Sox come back home to Fenway for a 4-gamer against the Tribe starting tomorrow night and then 3 with the Yankees over the weekend. Bedard last pitched on Friday night, so his first start in a Red Sox uni could be on Wednesday. That could push Wake to Thursday and have Lester on the mound to greet the Yankees. It didn't go so well for Bedard on Friday, but DL rust probably played a role in his being touched for 5 runs in less than 2 innings against the Rays, especially since he didn't make a rehab start.

Bedard it is

Right at the deadline, the Red Sox pulled off a trade for Erik Bedard in a 3-team deal involving them, the Mariners and the Dodgers. The Red Sox sent minor-leaguers Tim Federowicz, Juan Rodriguez, and Stephen Fife to the Dodgers for Trayvon Robinson and Chih-Hsien Chiang and Robinson to the Mariners in exchange for Bedard and minor-league reliever Joshua Fields. Top prospects Will Middlebrooks, Ryan Lavarnway, and Anthony Ranaudo stayed put.

While Bedard, with a health history about as checkered as that of Rich Harden, wasn't my first choice for the Red Sox, the Red Sox only had to give up guys who might have gotten claimed anyway in the Rule 5 draft, so the cost was very low. The Red Sox needed a pitcher and Bedard is worth a shot, with a 3.45 ERA on the season. He will be coming from a team who, to date has scored the least runs in the majors to one who has scored the most and, if they keep playing the kind of baseball they've been playing since May, and assuming the major players who are currently healthy stay that way, will make the playoffs.

Welcome to Boston, Erik Bedard, and Mike Aviles too!