Red Sox Lose Control of Game, Division

The Red Sox bullpen blew a 2-1 lead last night, and with the Rays winning in Baltimore, the Sox are now tied with them at the top of the AL East.

Jake Peavy pitched well enough to win. He was pulled in the 6th inning, which was a surprise. But Craig Breslow was great in relief, retiring 4 batters with 7 pitches. The Sox were up 2-1 and just needed the bullpen to hang on.

Then Junichi Tazawa entered the game. And as important as he's been to the Sox bullpen, he has blown 7 saves. The 7th was last night. That stat came as a surprise to me. I think because the Sox have come back to win many of the games one of their relievers had previously blown, so you forget those bad outings. Tazawa's stats are great this year. Except this blown save number. He's recorded 20 holds. So in the 27 "save-like" situations he's entered, he's blown about a fourth of them.

In the 9th, Franklin Morales and Brayan Villareal (who was acquired in the Peavy deal) had major control issues. All with 2 outs. Morales walked Andres Torres. Then a stray fastball hit Hector Sanchez in the elbow. Villareal came in with the bases loaded and immediately fell behind 0-3 to Marco Scutaro. The fourth ball could have been called a strike. It wasn't. And the game was over. You can blame the umpire for one bad call, or you can blame the Sox relievers for a walk, a HBP, and 3 balls.

The last few weeks the Sox have played some hard games. They've won many of them. They've lost a few. The difficulty takes a toll in either outcome. Extra innings games tax the bullpen. And sometimes the bullpen isn't there to convert a tight lead into a tight win.

Tonight Felix Doubront faces Barry "yes that Barry" Zito. He's been poor this year, but the Sox have struggled against lefties, but Ortiz hits him well and so does Drew.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

Red Sox Miss PAT, Lose 14-13

After last night's loss, Sports Illustrated's David Sabino tweeted this:

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

King Felix Rules Over Red Sox

Felix Hernandez is a really good pitcher. I know we all know that, but without regularly seeing him, we sometimes forget how good he is. He's an Ace. And comparing him to the likes of Beckett and Lester fully demonstrates how much those two guys aren't Aces.

In 9 innings the Red Sox managed 5 singles. Hernandez didn't allow a walk, and he struck out 13.

The only chance the Sox had to win this game was to get Hernandez out of it. And that would have required more than 9 innings. Scott Atchsion allowed the winning run in the bottom of the 9th.

On the bright side, Franklin Morales continues to be sensational. He went 7 innings and only allowed 3 hits. All singles. He struck out 7 and walked 2. In his three starts he's only 1-0, but he's pitched 18 innings, allowed 4 earned runs (2.00 ERA), walked only 3 batters, and struck out 24 (12.00 K/9IP). He's striking out 8 for every batter he walks.

If every Red Sox starting pitcher were healthy right now, it would be difficult to justify removing Morales from the rotation.

There's no shame in being shut down by Felix Hernandez. The Sox can rebound tonight. Aaron Cook faces 2-9 Hector Noesi. Noesi has problems with walks and homeruns. So perhaps David Ortiz can get career homerun #400, or walk #998. That's right, he's 3 shy from 1,000 BBs in his career.

He's 1 for 2 in his career against Noesi. That hit was a homerun.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

Red Sox Drive Braves Out of Boston... Again

The Red Sox finished interleague play with a 12-6 record. Of course it helps when you play the lowly Cubs 3 times and the mediocre Marlins 6 times. Though considering the health of the Red Sox' rotation, taking 2 of 3 from a solid Braves team is a nice little achievement.

Franklin Morales is the latest secondary player to play a primary role in the Sox winning. He's been very respectable filling in for Josh Beckett. He threw 6 innings Saturday night, striking out 8, and only allowing 2 earned runs. As a starter he's thrown 11 innings, only walked 1 batter, allowed 4 earned runs (3.27 ERA), and struck out 17. 17 strikeouts and only 1 walk. That's fantastic.

Guys like Morales, Prince Felix Doubront, and Cody Ross have kept the Sox afloat this year. They are The Other Guys.

Speaking of Cody Ross, he hit his 10th and 11th homeruns yesterday. In 6 games since coming off the DL, Ross is 7 for 22 (.318 average), with 3 doubles, and 3 homeruns (.864 slugging).

The Sox have endured injuries this season, especially in the rotation and the outfield. The secondary players have stepped up, especially in the rotation and the outfield. They're playing at their maximum potential. Now if only some of the stars would do that, this team could go on a serious run.

If these secondary guys continue to contribute, and guys like Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, and Dustin Pedroia perform as they're capable of performing, this team is a contender.

But they need every player playing at that maximum level.

They host the 5th place Blue Jays. Prince Felix faces 22 year old righty Henderson Alvarez. Alvarez is 3-6 with a 4.30 ERA. He's not much more than an innings eater, and he's allowed most of his earned runs in his last 6 starts. Since May 20th, he's 0-3 with a 6.94 ERA. The Sox, in theory, should hit him.

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AP Photo

Red Sox Suck Less Than Cubs

I like Terry Francona, but I've never considered him funny. The giggling by the ESPN announcers last night was close to insufferable. If Francona and John Gruden jointly broadcast something with an ESPN play-by-play guy in the booth, the Guinness World Record for giggling by sports commentators would be shattered.

Franklin Morales pitched pretty well. He struck out 9 in 5 innings, allowing only 2 runs off 4 hits. He didn't walk anybody. An impressive 65 of the 80 pitches he threw were strikes. He threw more than 4 times as many strikes as balls.

That being said, the Cubs have the 4th worst offense in baseball. And they play in a hitter's park. They're 22nd in batting average, 27th in OBP, 24th in slugging, 26th in OPS. It's great that Morales shut them down, but they seem to frequently shut themselves down.

So the Sox did what they're supposed to do. They took 2 of 3 from a team that has a .333 winning percentage. If you want to build hopes on the results of this series, be my guest. But I'd hold off. The Cubs average 2 losses every 3 games. And the Sox beat them 2 of 3.

It was nice to see Morales do well as a spot-starter. And Pedroia swung well last night. If he gets hot, the Sox offense improves dramatically. Those are some positives to build on.

One thing that bugs me about the Red Sox is their frequent neglect at the fundamentals. It's as if they feel like they're too talented to concern themselves with the little things in the game. They're good enough to win just on talent, unless the win or the umpires or the schedule interferes.

In the 6th, the Sox committed two errors, and it allowed the Cubs to tie the game at 3-3. The worst was by Mike Aviles. With a runner on 1st, Pedroia was supposed to over 2nd in case the runner went. The runner went, the ball was chopped to Morales, but Aviles was charging to back Morales up. Aviles then tried to cover 2nd, even though Pedroia was already there. The ensuing drop allowed the Cubs to score, and eliminated a potential double-play.

The next half-inning, Saltalamacchia did the worst thing any baserunner can do: he assumed something. After hitting a single to right, he assumed the throw would go to home. So he decided to try to get to 2nd base. But the throw was cut off. Had it been handled cleanly, Saltalamacchia would have been thrown out. Thankfully, the Cubs suck and it was dropped.

Anyway, the Sox are back to .500 at 33-33. They're 7.5 behind the Yankees in the division, but only 4 out of the second Wild Card.

They have tonight off, then the Marlins come to town. Buchholz faces Mark Buehrle.

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AP Photo

Bard Relieves Sox Fans

Daniel Bard wants to be a starter. And I can't blame him. But by doing such a good job as a reliever last night, he might have eliminated himself from the rotation.

He inherited a tough situation: a runner on third with 1 out in a 5-5 game. And he worked out of it. Cody Ross homered in the next half inning, and Bard got the win.

I was a little puzzled with Valentine's decision to take Bard out and put Aceves in to pitch the 9th. I know Aceves is the temporary closer, but Bard only threw 11 pitches in the 8th (4 were part of an intentional walk), and he's clearly the best option to pitch the 9th. Taking Bard out and putting Aceves in was tempting fate.

With the Sox struggling, Cody Ross has been somewhat overlooked. He hit homeruns number 4 and 5 of the year. And knocked in 3 runs, giving him a total of 13 RBI. He leads the Sox in both categories. He's also hitting .283. I don't know if this production will last, but the Sox desperately need it at the moment.

Jon Lester looked off, especially going through the Twins' lineup a second time. He allowed 5 runs in 7 innings. And if not for the 3 double plays the Twins grounded into, things might have gotten really messy. I'm not worried, though. He had bad Aprils in 2009 and 2010. And a bad May last year. Give him a few starts to warm up and he'll revert to his usual self.

The Sox needed the win. But there's still lots to work on. Morales looks awful. Aceves is unnerving. The Sox still make inexcusable little mistakes like screwing up a relay from right-field.

Those problems seem more manageable after a win, though.

Beckett faces Nick Blackburn tonight, who struggled in his first start, did well in his second, but hasn't pitched since the 14th.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

Sox Finding New Ways to Lose Every Night

One day it's a lousy starting pitching performance. The next it's an impotent offense. Then the next, the bullpen blows a save. The Sox have lost games in just about every possible way this season.

It really feels like September. Not just because of the brisk weather last night, but because the Sox are losing in new and interesting ways each night.You never know who you'll see fail when you come to the ballpark.

Beckett did well last night. Good. Maybe very good. Not great, but good enough. The offense was quiet, apart from a Youkilis homerun. But Franklin Morales sabotaged the Sox' chances of winning the game with his 3 run outing.

There's a new villain every night. A new player to display a shamed look on his face. But the image of Sox players limply hanging on the dugout rails is the same sorry sight from last September.

It's getting annoying.

Fenway Park turns 100 on Friday, and the Sox welcome the Yankees. New York is 6-6, so these are two struggling teams trying to remember how to win. Buchholz faces 2-0 Ivan Nova.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

Red Sox Preview: Bullpen

The Red Sox bullpen was decent last year. They didn't blow many saves. They had the 13th best bullpen ERA in the Majors, with the best WHIP. Then the Sox decided to let their best reliever go to Philadelphia, and convert their second best to a starter, with their third best likely to find his way into the rotation as well.

They did go out and acquire a handful of arms to try to backfill the voids left by Papelbon, Bard, and (eventually) Aceves. They got a closer who has never saved more than 26 games a season. Another guy who saved 20 last year and won 8 games as a reliever.

Andrew Bailey is from Voorhees, NJ. That doesn't bug anyone? The Sox once had Michael Myers on their roster, now they have a guy from Voorhees? And their home opener is on Friday the 13th. Why not rename Yawkey Way Elm Street?

Anyway, I don't trust the closers that Oakland produces. It's a very pitcher friendly ballpark. Bailey's numbers look pretty good. 75 career saves, only 9 blown ones. He doesn't walk people, he doesn't give up homeruns.

And now he's hurt. He might be out for 3 to 4 months. Even if he were healthy, he's never been tested. He's been closing a few games for a sub .500 team in front of less than 20,000 fans a game. Now he has to close games in a playoff race in front of a packed ballpark. He hasn't pitched more than 50 innings since his rookie year. And probably won't in 2012 either.

So he's capable of succeeding. It will be interesting to see how he deals with adversity in this city. If he blew a save in Oakland, who cared? It's a bit different here. I think he'll be decent when healthy. Not as good as Papelbon, not bad enough to search for a mid-season replacement.

Mark Melancon's resume is interesting. He's only 27 but the Sox are his third Major League organization. He was a reliever in college, which always raises a yellow flag for me. I feel like the best Major Leaguers relievers were once starters at a lower level.

But he is a worker. He made 71 appearances and pitched 74.1 innings last year. And it was his best year. He won 8 games, recorded 20 saves, had a 2.78 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. He only let 4 of 17 inherited runners score.

There are very few Mike Timlins out there who can have a long, consistently successful career as a setup pitcher. Maybe Melancon has a few good years in him, maybe he's already peaked, maybe he's a future closer. But for 2012, I think he'll be very good as a set-up man and should be okay as a replacement closer.

The problem is, with Melancon closing, you get an inferior pitcher setting up to replace him.

Matt Albers is a token middle-reliever. He recorded 10 holds last year, blew 3 saves, had a 4-4 record. He pitched mostly in losses. He was actually pretty good until August and September. He's a gap-filler, pitching the 6th inning of a game that the Sox are behind by 3 runs, pitching the 8th inning of a game that the Sox are winning by 5 runs. And as a gap-filler, you just want someone who isn't horrible, who doesn't make bad situations worse, or make you use your closer in a game you once had a 6 run lead in. And Matt Albers isn't horrible.

Franklin Morales isn't a shutdown situational lefty. But on the bright side, he's not bad against righties, either.

I'm not a fan of Morales. I'd rather have a guy who can dominate left-handed hitters and who can only give you 0.1 innings a night as opposed to a guy who is semi-good against both lefties and righties. Morales is very similar to Albers, in my view. These gap-fillers are fine, but the Sox need a second setup pitcher to emerge from this mediocre middle of the bullpen.

Michael Bowden has been in the Sox' organization since high school. He never excelled as a starter so now he's being used as a reliever. It's the equivalent of a failed film actor trying to make it as a TV actor. He's only 25, but this is his 7th year with the Sox.

He was a very good reliever in AAA Pawtucket last year, but struggled once he hit the Majors. He has potential to be the 2nd setup pitcher and as a former starter he's quite capable of pitching 2 or more innings in an appearance. I have a good feeling about Bowden. I think he has a breakout year as a reliever and records at least 20 holds.

The quality of the Sox bullpen will improve if the rotation struggles. Which is like saying that a car's engine will run more smoothly if the tires fall off. A slight bit of good news mixed with some horrible news.

If Bard can't make it as a starter, there's your 2nd setup man. But how many leads will he, Melancon, and Bailey need to protect? Where Aceves winds up will determine quite a bit. If Bard and Doubront struggle, you need to plug Aceves into the rotation. A setup pitcher might be more important than a #5 starter, but not a #4.

If the Sox had acquired just one frontline starter in the offseason, not only would their rotation been solidified, it would have dramatically improved the bullpen. Now you have guys like Morales and Albers who will need to be used when Matsuzaka throws his 5 inning, 140 pitch gems.

And there's very little safety net for this bullpen. With the loss of little old Andrew Bailey, the entire bullpen and even the rotation look so much weaker.

It's a very shallow, very tenuous bullpen.