| 18 May 2009
Sunday's game was a microcosim of Nick Green's season with Boston. He went 2 for 3 wit ha walk, but made a crucial error late in the game. Green hasn't made many "crucial" errors while filling in for Julio Lugo and Jed Lowrie, but he has made EIGHT total in 94 total chances at short stop. He's also made some great plays in the field and is hitting .302 out of the 9th spot in the lineup, so you have to take the good with the bad here...
Julio Lugo has already made three errors in 42 total chances, but he's hitting .333 himself... so I think we need to be happy that both players are performing above expectations at the plate. Errors can kill a game and a starter's confidence, but yesterday's loss was not Green's fault... it was the lack of offense from the rest of the team.
Bottom Line: Some Sox fans have been clamoring for a trade, but the usual suspects aren't all that appealing: O. Cabrera is hitting .231 with Oakland... JJ Hardy is hitting .220, but does have 5 homers and 21 RBI... and K. Greene is hitting .194.
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With Youkilis on the DL, Jason Bay and Mike Lowell coming back to earth over the past week and David Ortiz still in a funk, the Red Sox struggled to score runs and the mediocre starting staff was exposed.
Example: On April 29th Jon Lester struggled through 6 innings against Cleveland, but the offense beat up on the Indian's bullpen and they won the game 6-5 thanks to a 10th inning homer by Van Every. But in his past two starts, Lester has imploded in the 5th or 6th inning and the offense has not been able to bail him out.
Bottom Line: Just like in 2007, Lester is struggling to get deep in games. It's no-coincidence that Lester's two wins so far this year have come from the only two games in which he lasted through 7 innings.
Other than Josh Beckett's solid outing on Saturday, Justin Masterson was the only real bright spot in the starting roation this week. After giving up 6 runs in back-to-back starts, Mastey held the Angels and Mariners to just two runs each in his last two starts... but thanks to that slumping offense, Justin was left with two no decisions.
He'll be heading back to the bullpen with Daisuke Matsuzaka set to return to Boston forcing Francona and Co. to decide who should be sent back to Pawtucket: Hunter Jones or Daniel Bard.
Jones was near perfect in April, allowing one run (on 4/30) through 5.1 innings (4 games), but things have gone pooorly since then. Jones has surrenedered a run or more in all four outings this month and he's lost his command - 4 BB and 2 Ks in four May appearances.
Meanwhile, Bard has been outstanding. The strikeout of Mike Napoli, the first batter Bard faced in the majors, is his only strikeout so far, but the young fireballer fanned 29 batters in 16 AAA innings before the call up. Bard seems to be the right guy to keep on the roster, but options always play a role here, so we'll have to wait and see.
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Lastly, I wanted to point something out. Some fans are worried about the Sox road woes. But here's a look at the 2008 and 2007:
2008: 56-25 (69 W%) at home; 39-42 (48%) away... they finished 2nd in the AL East and went to the AL Championship series.
2007: 51-30 (62%) at home; 45-36 (55%) away... they won the World Series.
So far this year the Sox are 13-4 (76%) at home and 9-12 (42%) on the road. I'll admit that 42% is low, but they haven't exactly been lighting it up on the road in the past.
Bottom Line: When the smoke clears, I expect them to win 60% of the homes games and 50% of the away games... per usual. And incase you're wondering, they play 6 at home starting tomorrow and 7 straight on the road to close out the month of May.
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