BACK TO REALITY

Apart from Victor Martinez's heroics, not much went right for the Sox last night. All off-season, we've heard the mantra of "run prevention" from the Red Sox Front Office. And quite simply, the Sox failed to prevent runs last night.

It started with Lester, who had unbelievably strong then unbelievably weak innings. I'm not going to worry too much about him, though. He had a forgettable start to his '09 season (4-5, 5.65 ERA in April and May).

But it continued, with Okajima, Atchison, and Scutaro.

As important as the Sox' Front Office has publicly declared "run prevention" to be, they seem to have forgotten that a deep bullpen can prevent many more runs than a fleet-footed center-fielder, or a Gold Glove 3rd baseman. Red Sox Nation, prepare yourselves for many more games blown by middle relievers.

And when the Sox signed Scutaro, for some reason everyone in Boston thought he was a Gold Glove winner or something. He's a decent defensive short-stop, but he's no Alex Gonzalez or Pokey Reese. He's not even Rey Sanchez.

I know it's early, but how long should the Sox stick with Ortiz? I think it's unwise to hit him 5th in the order, and at the very least he should be moved down a few spots. He was 0 for 4 last night, 0 for 2 with runners in scoring position. As a team, the Sox went 1 for 12 with RISP.

Rubber game tonight, Andy Pettitte vs. John Lackey.

Source:
ESPN

Photo Credit:
Elsa/Getty Images