It’s no secret the Red Sox have been a dumpster fire so far. 17 games into the season and they’re a shitty 6-11. They have the 2nd worst record in the American League. The Orioles have a better record than them. Yes, the Orioles. The team with the worst hitter in baseball.
The Red Sox had a 6-game home stand the past week and only came out with a 3-3 record. Usually this would be about the time a team with THE HIGHEST payroll in baseball would kind of start figuring things out. But that’s not this years Red Sox… so far.
The Sox finished the homestead losing 8-1 and giving Chris Davis a hit. 4 hits and 5 RBI in the series. This guy hadn’t even gotten a hit in his previous 62 plate appearances. BLEH! It seems like everything is going downhill, from the pitching staff, to hitting, and to coaching. What’s wrong with them!?
The Pitching
The pitching staff isn’t hot shit. From starters to the ‘pen, they’ve been a big part of the Sox looking like a joke. They are 28th in the league in ERA and 4th in home runs allowed.
Oddly enough, the bullpen’s ERA is 14th in the entire league. The starters? Worst with a 7.18 ERA. Now former Red Sox catcher Blake Swihart didn’t help. Even pitching coach Dana LeVangie didn’t like the way Swihart was calling the games in their series vs the Mariners. Read what he had to say here:
“We sort of got away from our plan a little bit. I thought our cutters were going to play a big part of this pitch mix tonight. He used the cutter a lot but he didn’t keep the right-handed hitters uncomfortable in with it. We made a few mistakes to the lefties that we can’t do. We didn’t use his changeup against the lefties, which was really surprising against his best pitch versus lefties. It’s a wipeout changeup. It’s a really good pitch against those two guys. We didn’t get to it.”
And now Swihart is being designated for assignment. You know what that means!? The only active Hall of Famer EVER, Sandy Leon, is coming up! He’s someone who Chris Sale is comfortable pitching to and someone who doesn’t change the gameplan to the point where its mistake after mistake. Lets hope Leon can be a spark. I know he can’t hit for shit but he’s better than Vázquez and Swihart where it matters.
The Hitting
“What I’m doing is unacceptable. I have to figure out a way to get something done and help the team.” -Mookie Betts after Monday’s loss to the Orioles
Well, I didn’t think the offense was going to be this bad, but it’s definitely fixable. A .236 batting average is good for 20th in the MLB. Mookie Betts is only hitting .222. Your AL MVP is in a slump to start the year. What are you going to do? Yes, it’s better than getting a slump now than in October, but what if he can’t get it going? Then the Red Sox won’t even sniff the postseason.
Xander Bogaerts, Mitch fucking Moreland, and J.D. Martinez are carrying the team the best they can with a combined 29 RBI. Without them, the Red Sox would probably have no shot at coming back from this early season slump.
Pedroia isn’t helping one bit. In 5 games, he has a .105 batting average and 1 RBI. Can we get rid of him or is loyalty going to kick this season in the nuts?
Can the nerds who helped us last year during the World Series help us out now? I’m tired of this season already and it hasn’t even been 18 games.
The Cockiness
LAST YEAR IS LAST YEAR CORA. Fuck! At this point last year, you were 15-2. This year, a shitty 6-11. I’m sure Cora means well with these comments, but living in the past and not fixing what’s in the present fucks with people, especially championship hangovers.
On April 1, when asked if there was any panic after the horrid Mariners series, Cora responded nonchalantly, “Whoever is doubting us, check what happened last year.”
Look, I get it. You have the majority of your team back from 2018. But last year, the offense did all the work despite not having a 2nd baseman, a good bullpen (until the postseason), and a consistent David Price. Now all of those problems are hurting this team this year. Things need to be changed. Fires need to be lit under peoples asses. I get that it’s not Cora’s fault the team is like this. Dombrowski put the team together. Now, they’re in last place in the division and aren’t performing at even 10% of what the team was last year.
The Red Sox have until the All Star break to clean this up before Red Sox Nation panics into mass hysteria. Lets hope they do so I don’t have to hear “Tear is all down and start over again.” They have a winnable 2-game series against the Yankees that starts tonight, and have a good test against the Rays this weekend. Maybe they’ll make a turnaround?
Follow Fredy on Twitter (@fat_Fred53)
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