Red Sox Can’t Be Offering Excuses and Other Thoughts From Week in Baseball

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Jun 11, 2012

Red Sox Can't Be Offering Excuses and Other Thoughts From Week in BaseballThe Red Sox were 28-26 when the finishing touches were put on last week’s Red Sox 6-4-3. As we get ready to publish this week’s edition, the club is now 29-31 after a rough week against a pair of Mid-Atlantic clubs.

The Sox’ 1-5 record against the Orioles and Nationals this past week certainly hurt some of the momentum they had built up in previous weeks, and Boston is now just 3-5 in June.

For better or worse, the Celtics’ loss to the Heat now means the focus in Boston has shifted to the Red Sox. This was right about the time the Sox went on a tear last summer, and with the way the rest of the division is playing, the Sox are going to have to act quickly if they want to hang around.

Let’s get right into our weekly look around baseball with this week’s 6-4-3.

Six Red Sox Thoughts 

1. Just be better

Plain and simple, the Red Sox just need to be better. More importantly, they can’t be offering up excuses. Bobby Valentine, to an extent, put the blame on the umpires following Sunday’s game. With the way this team has played for much of the season this year, that’s a little disappointing. The calls on Sunday that Valentine and the Sox seemed to have the most beef with weren’t exactly horrible. The pitches that Alfredo Aceves were begging for were certainly borderline, and both were missed spots. More often than not, you’re not going to get a borderline pitch if the catcher has to move across the zone. Just hit the spot and you get the call. And if you don’t get the call, you still can’t throw a 2-2 pitch middle-middle at the belt. In the bottom of the ninth, Dustin Pedroia was the victim of a borderline strike two call. The pitch appeared to be on the outer edge of the zone — maybe a little bit away — but it certainly wasn’t egregious. It’s frustrating, no doubt, but no one wants to hear this club blame the umpires for anything as it stands right now.

2. Reason for optimism after rolling the Dice

The final line on Daisuke Matsuzaka wasn’t particularly pretty, with the right-hander surrendering four runs in his return. That being said, there was some reason for optimism after his first game back. One thing that stood out was Matsuzaka’s ability to miss bats on the way to eight strikeouts. Matsuzaka got nine swinging strikes, and might have had more had he not started pitching backwards the second time through the order. The righty started throwing breaking balls — his slider was tremendous — early in the count and that gave him the ability to get guys later in the count on fastballs. Matsuzaka was able to strike out Steve Lombardozzi and Bryce Harper on fastballs because of it. Of course, we have to mention that the Nationals came into the game Saturday with just three at-bats total on their roster against Matsuzaka. Facing someone with the variety of pitches that Matsuzaka features for the first time certainly isn’t easy, but there were definitely some encouraging developments, despite the final result.

3. Bucking the trend

It looks like we can finally start to say that Clay Buchholz is breaking out of the horrendous start to the season that he labored through. The right-hander was good enough on May 27 against Tampa Bay, but you wanted to see him do it a little bit more. He pitched even better his next time out on June 1, going eight innings and giving up two runs. On Thursday, he turned in by far his best outing of the year, tossing a four-hit shutout. Entering that May 27 start, Buchholz’s ERA was 7.19. It’s now 5.77. One solid start would be encouraging given the way Buchholz started the season, but three in a row? Maybe he is finally turning the corner.

4. Yo, Adrian!

Can anyone explain the season that Adrian Gonzalez is having? It’s so confusing at this point. He’s certainly underperformed compared to the lofty expectations placed upon him this season. There has been a lot made about the power numbers, and for good reason. At this point of last season, Gonzalez had 12 home runs and 58 RBIs to go along with a .961 OPS. This season? He has just five home runs, 32 RBIs and a .733 OPS. However, he did hit a home run on Friday night and was robbed of another in the same game. He’s starting to feel good, and there is no better time than right now for one of his hot streaks. With the way his season has gone, though, who knows if that’s on the way. No one can tell at this point.

5. Reloading through the draft

The Red Sox had, by most accounts, a fairly strong draft this week. Their first-round selection, Deven Marrero, is a shortstop out of Arizona State. Those facts have a lot of people wanting to compare him to Pedroia, but that may be a bit unfair to Marrero. He’s got a great glove, but there are plenty of scouting reports out there that question what his bat can and will turn into. You could live with a glove-only shortstop, especially in today’s game, but the Sox seemingly already have that with Jose Iglesias knocking on the door. The Sox also took a chance on some highly touted high school players (who have a lot of leverage in the negotiating process) during the draft’s two days. The signability of those players may actually be higher because of Boston’s selection of a handful of college seniors (who have very little leverage in negotiations). That’s a strategy that the new draft rules and the new draft capping led many teams to adopt.

6. Bard on the farm

Daniel Bard was not happy about being sent down to Pawtucket following his disastrous start in Toronto last weekend. He didn’t do much to give hope about the immediate future with his first start in Pawtucket. He hit two of the first three batters he faced in his one scheduled inning of work. That led to a three-run inning for the Indianapolis Indians, a rough start to what Bard hopes is a short road back to the majors. He’ll go again on Monday night for the PawSox.

Four Observations Around Baseball

1. National pride

The Washington Nationals may be the real deal. Know what the biggest reason they swept this weekend’s series at Fenway? They’re just a better baseball team than the Red Sox, and right now, it’s not even close. They have a balanced lineup, a terrific starting rotation and actually a pretty good bullpen. There was nothing to dislike about that team, at least in a small three-game sample. The Stephen Strasburg inning limit watch will be fascinating this summer, though. At this point, it’s tough to see how they can shut him down. This is a team that no one will want to face in the playoffs with a 1-2-3 punch atop the rotation with Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Zimmermann. That’s a trio that can make a legitimate run, assuming, of course, that Strasburg is the anchor.

2. Bombs away

Russell Martin‘s walk-off home run on Sunday at Yankee Stadium was the exclamation point on a Yankees sweep of the Mets, and it also continued a tremendous roll for the Bombers. The Yankees are now 11-4 in their last 15 and breathing down the Rays’ necks. They enter the week just 1/2 game out of first place in the AL East. As it usually does, it comes back to starting pitching. Andy Pettitte has been sensational since returning from retirement, allowing two earned runs or fewer in four of his six starts. Hiroki Kuroda has been a big part of the turnaround, too, giving up just two earned runs in his last three starts, a 22-inning stretch. He’s finally starting to look like the $10 million bargain many thought he would be.

3. Bucc-le up

It’s June 11, and while the Red Sox are in last place, the Pittsburgh Pirates are tied for first place in the NL Central. So how are the Pirates doing it? It’s unclear if anyone really knows for sure, but Andrew McCutchen‘s play doesn’t hurt. He’s one of the best young players in the game, and he’s off to another fantastic start. James McDonald, who is making $500,000 this season, has been rock solid atop the rotation, sitting at 5-2 with a 2.39 ERA. Can the Pirates make it last? It sounds like they’re going to make a push, at the very least. FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reported over the weekend that the Buccos are looking at corner infielders, and they may have interest in a player like Kevin Youkilis. Will Pittsburgh win the Central? Probably not. But there’s reason for optimism that the Pirates can finish over .500 for the first time since the Clinton administration — the first term.

4. Interleague fun

Interleague play is scorned by many, but this weekend at Fenway is exactly the reason why interleague play doesn’t totally suck. It’s pretty cool to see players like Strasburg and Harper up close, and if you look around the league, there are those types of rare matchups across the board. There was a boost in attendance last season during interleague play, and it sounds like we could be headed for the same this season. That’s good for baseball, of course, and isn’t that what benefits everyone the most?

Three things to watch this week

1. Boston road show

The Red Sox have a couple of cool stops this week as interleague play rolls on. The Sox will get their first look at Marlins Park this week, which means they’ll also get a look at this slice of fantastic pie. From there, the Red Sox will get to go check in with Theo Epstein during a three-game weekend series at Wrigley Field. That will be just the second time the Sox have played at Wrigley during the regular season since interleague play has started.

2. Can R.A. keep it going?

R.A. Dickey has had a terrific year, in case you haven’t noticed. The Mets knuckleballer has baffled hitters, limiting them to a .225 batting average, almost 50 points below his career mark. That may even itself out over the course of time, but for now, Dickey looks like an All-Star, perhaps the starter if the Nats decide to keep Strasburg out of the game. Dickey gets the ball in the second game of a three-game set with the Tampa this week with David Price going for the Rays.

3. Matinee hair! Against the Red Sox! At Wrigley!

Our obsession with Jeff Samardzija‘s hair continues, as he’ll get the start against the Red Sox in the series opener on Friday. 

Red Sox Can't Be Offering Excuses and Other Thoughts From Week in Baseball

And guess who’s scheduled to be on the bump for Boston if the current rotation continues? You guessed it. This guy!

Red Sox Can't Be Offering Excuses and Other Thoughts From Week in Baseball

Screen shot via MLB.com

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