Well it’s not as though I know anything more or less about the Olde Town Team than I did in Spring Training. The word was out and was shouted loud and often that this edition of the Boston Red Sox would focus on ‘run prevention’ with great pitching and outstanding defense. Just ask Theo Epstein who got the word out early. To this end the front office signed the best free agent pitcher available, Los Angeles Angel John Lackey as well as gold-glovers Mke Cameron and Adrian Beltre.
So, with the signing of Lackey there emerged what many thought was the best starting pitching in all of baseball, Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, John Lackey, Clay Bucholtz and Tim Wakefield with the rehabbing Daisuke Matsuzaka waiting in the wings. Lackey was numero uno starter for the Angels and as a result the Sox were said to have three #1 starters, Beckett, Lester, Lackey – an embarrassment of riches. But something happened as the first 38 games of the MLB season unfolded.
Josh Beckett after a very good opening day win against the New York Yankees was uncharacteristically wild in his next starts with a 7:00+ ERA and posted no further victories. Jon Lester got off to his usual slow start but has improved and is now 3-2with a respectable 3:91 ERA and 54 K’s. John Lackey got off to a fast start but was shaky in his last outing as he comes in at 4-2 with a 4:86 ERA. He has walked more batters than usual. Clay Bucholtz remains a conundrum – dominating one time, knocked around the next. Presently he is 4-3 with an ERA of 3:46 but with 22 walks and only 28 strike outs. Innings eater knuckleballer, Tim Wakefield, off to a poor start with an 0-2 record and an ERA of 5:63 was relegated to the bullpen when Dice-K was ready to start for the big club. After three starts Matsuzaka is 2-1 with a decidedly not pretty 6:35 ERA.
The bullpen thought to be a major strength of this club has been erratic and undependable. The closer, Jonathan Papelbon, has not blown a save but is only 1-2 with an ERA of 1:47 after 16 IP. Daniel Bard has been up and down. Hideki Okajima was given a week off when he experienced a slow start and some health issues. Manny Delcarmen may be coming around but Ramon Ramirez has not done well and newcomer, Scott Schoeneweiss is a bit of a disaster. So, you see that the pitching is a ‘work in progress.
Now to the vaunted defense – gold-glovers Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis have been steady on the right side of the infield. The Sox signed Adrian Beltre and Marco Scutero in the off season. Scutero had some early trouble going to his left and Beltre has been anything but the gold-glover the Red sox thought they were getting. He has 7 errors and often looks uninterested. It’s alarming how he fails to cut off balls headed for shortstop. As for the outfield, Mike Cameron has been injured and out of the line-up for over a month. When he was in there he wasn’t getting good reads on balls hit toward him in centerfield at Fenway. Jacoby Ellsbury was playing in his sixth game when a collision with Beltre resulted in four fractured ribs. Cameron is rehabbing with AAA starts and Ellsbury had his first rehab start today in Pawtucket. J.D. Drew has been his usual dependable self in right field.
So there you have it between the lack of quality starts, and the lack of a dependable bullpen the Red Sox sport a mediocre record of 19 wins and 19 losses. As of May 3rd their fielding percentage was the second worst in the American League although it has been better in recent days. The feeling of confusion about what we can expect, injuries aside, from this team may be answered shortly as they face a tough schedule of games with the Yankees, Twins, Phillies and Rays in the next ten days. Personally I’m finding it hard to accept that the 2010 Boston Red Sox may be no better than a .500 team. Time will tell…
