YankeesRedSox.com

The one thing we were all sure of was that the Red Sox would have good starting pitching.  Maybe not the best, but decent at worst.

Through 21 games, the Red Sox are 10-11.  Red Sox starters are 5-6 with a 5.27 ERA.  Opposing batters are hitting .291/.363/.449/.812 against them.  That's not going to get it done.

In fact, one of the bigger question marks in the rotation, Clay Buchholz, has been by far the best pitcher thus far posting 2-2 record with a 2.19 ERA.  Compare that to Josh Beckett: 1-0, 7.22 ERA, Jon Lester: 0-2, 6.23 ERA, John Lackey: 2-1, 5.09 ERA and Tim Wakefield: 0-1, 5.40 ERA.

What's going on here?  Each starter has made 4 or 5 starts and at this point, should have mixed in a few good turns in the rotation.  I'm not worried long-term, but these games do matter.

Another confounding, yet less surprising issue is the Red Sox inability to stop base stealers.  Red Sox catchers have stopped 2 of 38 stolen base attempts which is about 5%.  They say a player should only attempt a stolen base if there is a 75% or so chance or better of success.  In other words, have at it opposition.  In fact, I'm stunned every last team hasn't tried to steal second every chance they've had.  Why not?

Obviously opposing catchers and DH's might not be wise to steal, but everyone else should be making the 90 foot dash.  Do it until the Red Sox can stop it.

My next post will address that lack of excitement and aura being created by this Red Sox edition.  I'm not feeling the excitement with this crew and I'm interested in figuring out why.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 01:01 PM | Permalink

Well Darnell McDonald knows how to please the home crowd.  In his Red Sox debut Tuesday night, McDonald hit a game tying 2-run home run in the 8th and then delivered a game winning, walk-off hit in the bottom of the 9th.

McDonald was called up today when the Red Sox put both Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron on the DL.  Arriving from Pawtucket with McDonald was Josh Reddick, who also had a good game driving in 2 runs.

So the new guys got it done offensively and the Red Sox bullpen showed up and shut the door.

A good win and a fun game, especially from the 6th inning on.  The Red Sox need to build off this.

In what might be a clear signal on how things might go from here, David Ortiz was pulled for a pinch hitter, a sign that Terry Francona will not let Ortiz scuffle his way out of a slump.  Francona must realize that these April games count just as much as the September games.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 10:31 PM | Permalink

The Red Sox made a clear shift from bashing to defense this off-season.  The players they got to play defense aren't totally inept at offense, but they are best known for their defense.  Well, at least Adrian Beltre and Mike Cameron are, Scutaro is known for holding his own defensively.

Thus far, each has cost his team a victory.  In the opening season series against the Yankees Scutaro's low thrown allowed the winning run to score.

On this past Friday night's game (continued on Saturday), Adrian Beltre lost an infield flare in the lights allowing the first run of the game.  The Red Sox tied it and would have won it in 9 had Beltre made the play, instead the TB Rays won it in extra innings.

Lastly, Mike Cameron made a game changing/losing error in the top of the 1st on Saturday's game (the 2nd one) which led to a 4 run inning instead of a 0 run inning had be made the catch.

It is early, but so far this defense experiment isn't working with the Red Sox 4-8.  For those savvy with number crunching, how many times did the Red Sox go 4-8 (or worst) in any 12 game stretch last season?

It's easy to blame the new guys on defense, but we are really looking at a perfect storm of lousiness.  The starting pitching, bullpen and offense are all stinking a bit.

Extended spring training is over boys, time to pay attention and win a few games.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

7 games into the 2010 season and already there is talk about what to do about David Ortiz.  He has looked very bad with 11 strikeouts in 22 at bats and has us all wondering if this is 2009 all over again.

Given how bad he has looked, we should be so lucky to see the 2009 Ortiz, the same man who hit 27 home runs from June 1st on, but the real fear is that he is done, for good.  He lost a bunch of weight in the off-season, but he still looks lost and slow.

Platoon Ortiz with Lowell, just release him or the standard sports talk radio show caller "just trade him and a bunch of prospects for Albert Pujols!"  There are many options.

If I'm Terry Francona, I give Papi until May 1st and then go from there.  If he is hitting, keep him in the line-up, if he isn't, then I first go to the platoon with Lowell and if he still doesn't hit, send him to the bench or beyond.

The Red Sox cannot afford a total void in the DH spot for 33% of the season like they got last year.  Management will need to get creative and get a real number 5 hitter.  It is sad in a way to even be talking about this, as I've always enjoyed Ortiz both as a player and a fan friendly person, but the goal is to win games and if you aren't helping win them, you're helping lose them.

What would you do with Ortiz?

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Josh Beckett today signed a 4-year, $68mm extension with the Red Sox.  That makes the top 3 starters all in Boston's long-term plans and the future 4th & 5th starter around a while too.

Beckett signed through 2014.

Lackey signed through 2014.

Lester signed through 2014 (2014 is a team option).

Buchholz under team control through 2013 (I think).

Matzusaka signed through 2013.

The Beckett deal is a good one in that they didn't go too many years.  I will say my confidence that he'll hold up for 5 more seasons including this one isn't high, but that could be a concern for just about every pitcher in baseball.

The next big contract discussion should be Victor Martinez, but he went on record the other day that he'd prefer not to negotiate during the season.  Not sure it'll get done.  Martinez is the 2nd best offensive catcher, but he isn't young and going too long on him might be a bad idea, especially if you see him catching full time.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

With a 9-7 come from behind win by the Red Sox over the New York Yankees last night, many are saying the early-season 1 game lead is simply too much to overcome in the next 161 games.

Of course a 1-game lead doesn't mean the season's over for New York, but a 2-game lead...

First off, YankeesRedSox.com didn't exactly come roaring out of the gate for this series.  Both Peter and I have had various distractions of late, probably not too dissimilar than everyone else.  That said, we are committed to providing our usual feedback, fear not.

Given the small sample size, I don't want my comments to be misconstrued, but one thing I noticed last night was that the 8 and 9 spots in the Red Sox line-up weren't automatic outs.  The 2009 version featured any combination of Jason Varitek, Nick Green, George Kottaras and Alex Gonzalez.  I just hoped their "outs" would be productive, that's how little faith I had.

The upgrade started last year with the acquisition of Victor Martinez.  His arrival allowed Varitek to warm the bench and represented a major offensive upgrade.  Marco Scutaro, no hitting phenom, is a much improved option over Gonzalez offensively.

There are no guarantees of course, but I like the bottom of the line-up much more this year.  That said, the core of the line-up has a lot to prove.  Those who suggest David Ortiz is the key to this offense are correct.  If he can hit 35 HRs, well there isn't the concern, but if he can't get around on fastballs (like he failed to do a few times last night), we could be in for a long season.

Game 1 in the books, let's hold off on any major analysis until we are at least a month or so into the season.  Until then I'll just stick with observations.

As for playoff tracking, take a look at CoolStandings.com and their take on the 2010 season.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 09:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)