The Red Sox wanted this loss more.
— David Sabino (@SI_DavidSabino) August 24, 2012
And it's true. The Red Sox did more to lose this game than the Angels did. Franklin Morales, Clayton Mortensen, and Alfredo Aceves sucked. And the defense was shabby.
The offense scored. But as we've seen all year long, when one part of the team excels, the other part cancels out the good performances. Pedro Ciriaco (4 for 6), Jacoby Ellsbury (3 RBI), Dustin Pedroia (double, homerun, 5 RBI), and Cody Ross (homerun) did their job. Adrian Gonzalez could have done better. As a unit, though, the Sox offense did what should have been more than enough.
It wasn't.
Guys like Morales and Felix Doubront have come down to earth. Earlier in the season they were pitching above their weight-class. They've since regressed to the mean.
Then there's the bullpen. To be fair, they've been overworked due to the inability of the starters to go deep into games. But the bullpen was built to fail from the beginning.
Get rid of Papelbon, convert Bard to a starter (not because you think it's a great idea, but because you don't want to sign a proven starter), sign Andrew Bailey, and it's no surprise that the bullpen hasn't been great.
Last night Aceves blew his 7th save. He has a 2-8 record. Even after blowing the save, he allowed another homerun. Bailey has missed most of the season due to injury (which he's always been susceptible to), but he's looked poor since returning from the DL. Mark Melancon has been a complete load.
This bullpen sucks.
This team sucks. They're 7 games under .500, 8 games under .500 at home, 9 games in the loss column out of a Wild Card spot. They'll host the Kansas City Royals, who are only 3 games behind the Sox in the standings.
Jon Lester faces Bruce Chen. Chen has 2 more wins than Lester. This should be a win, because Lester's been decent lately and the Sox hit Chen well. This Sox team finds ways to lose, though.
Photo Credit:
AP Photo
No comments:
Post a Comment