Sox Finish May Upbeat

Jon Lester & David Ortiz finished off a great May by leading the Sox to an 8-1 victory last night over the Royals. Lester pitched 7 strong & Big Papi added another homer to his collection for the month.

Their 18 wins in May keep the Sox within striking distance of Toronto & New York. Tampa Bay has a comfortable lead, but I don't expect the Rays to play .700 + ball all season.

June's schedule will include the return of interleague play & the return of Manny Ramirez to Fenway Park. That ought to be interesting to say the least.

Whether it's Tampa Bay or Kansas City the Sox must look for consistency in June, night to night, building on a good month of May. Another 18 win month will keep them in the hunt heading into the All-Star break.

Buchholz Spins A Beauty

Zack Greinke must be wondering what he has to do to get a win. He loses to Clay Buchholz in a 1-0 pitching gem from both sides.

Buchholz went 7 innings without allowing a run to pick-up his 7th win on the season. There is no question that he & Lester are carrying the Sox this month.

And how about Mike Lowell getting a rare start at 1B & driving in the lone run of the game with good old fashion situational hitting. Lowell hit a grounder to the right side of the infield with runners on 2nd & 3rd to plate the only run of the game.

The rollercoaster that is the 2010 Boston Red Sox keeps going up & down. The Sox have 17 wins in May after a sub-.500 April. Which way will the ride take us in June?

Memorial Day Weekend

Thanks to all of the veterans out there for your service to this country. We may have some issues with our government, but the U.S. is still the best country in the world. Just travel a little & you'll see.

I think of Ted Williams giving up his prime years to be a Marine fighter pilot. I think of a soldier that David Ortiz met before a Sox game a few years ago who was killed in action 6 months later. There are many stories of brave men & women who served & are serving in the wars in Iraq & in Afghanistan.

The Red Sox Run Home Project provides much needed services to these vets as they transition back into civilian life. If you watch the Hurt Locker, you get a feel for how stressful life in combat can be.

We hope the Red Sox win the final 2 games this weekend against Kansas City. But, more importantly, let's not forget the military folks who put their lives on the line so we can watch baseball.

Thanks again for your service.

2 Stinko Starts

After a huge series win in Tampa, the Sox are off to an 0-2 start at home versus the lowly KC Royals.

Stinko start by Dice-K on Thursday. 8 walks. Can't make it out of the 4th inning.

Stinko start by Wakefield on Friday. 12 hits & 9 runs in 3 plus innings.

No good starting pitching = 2 losses. It's that simple.

The Joe West Show

This blog article came from one of my podcast partners, Steve. I'll summarize his thoughts on Joe West.

Joe West was umpiring the Chicago White Sox game earlier this week. He didn't like Mark Buerhle's move to first & called a balk. He called a second balk as well. When Buerhle dropped his glove West tossed him from the game. The Ozzie Guillen got tossed as well.

This is the same Joe West that complained about the length of Red Sox-Yankees games. Before the game last night he did not retract any of his comments & said a lot of people agree with him.

Steve's point is that Joe West is like the people on reality shows. They have to be in the spotlight. He likes the hype. Instead of leaving the game to the players, West is a guy that needs the attention.

I agree Steve. Maybe it's time for Joe West to retire & go on Survivor or Big Brother.

Beltre Goes Nuts

Adrian Beltre went off in Tampa Bay last night -- 2 homers, a single, a triple, 6 RBI. Not a bad night's work.

Who would of "thunk" it that the Red Sox could go into Tampa Bay & sweep the Rays? 5 runs in the 9th last night added an exclamation point to their 3rd victory, 11-3, at the expense of Red Sox killer Matt Garza. (His goatee is ugly & has to go.) It was a total domination of the best team in baseball & much needed payback for the earlier 4-game sweep in Fenway.

With last night's win the Sox climb back into 3rd place ahead of the Blue Jays & are just 3 out in the loss column behind the Yankees. As several so-so teams play The Sox over the next 4 series (KC, Oakland, Baltimore, Cleveland) it's an opportunity for Boston to gain more ground on the Yankees & Rays.

May has been a great comeback month after laying an egg in April.

Sox Take Series In Tampa

Lester, Delcarmen, Bard & Papelbon combined for a 1-hit shutout of the Rays & David Ortiz got a big 2-run double as the Sox beat the first place Rays 2-0 & win for the 2nd night in a row. John Lackey goes against Matt Garza in the finale tonight.

Not to go unnoticed were some nice defensive plays by Adrian Beltre at 3rd. He got big outs for Jon Lester on 2 diving plays. I don't know what to make of Beltre so far this year. I think his throwing arm is erratic & he looks very bad on certain swings at the plate. But last night he made the plays & that's all that counts.

Red Sox Nation has to be impressed with a split at Yankee Stadium, 2 wins at home against the Twins, a series win in Philadelphia & now a series win in Tampa Bay. Most sportscasters are cautiously optimistic, but still don't think the Sox can make the playoffs.

Where's your faith?

Buchholz, Papi, Youk Shine

Clay Buchholz gave the Sox a great start to as important a series as can be in May. He pitched out of trouble several times, stranding Rays runners at 3rd in multiple innings, to lead the Sox to a big win 6-1 in Tampa Bay.

David Ortiz got the party started with a solo shot in the 2nd. Kevin Youkilis added a 2-run bomb later in the game to give the Sox a comfortable lead. Jeremy Hermida had a base knock with the bases loaded. Throw-in a bases loaded walk to J.D. Drew to add insult to injury.

The Trop has not been kind to the Sox over the years, so I was waiting for a big Rays comeback. But it never materialized. My grandkids were saying this game was in the bag for Boston, but I kept telling them it was early & not to count their chickens. Some of us have longer memories than others.

Are you starting to feel better about the Sox? I am.

Sox Win Series In Philly

Count me in as impressed. Tim Wakefield duplicated Dice-K's pitching effort on Saturday with 8 shutout innings of his own yesterday against the Phillies & the Sox beat Roy Halladay 8-3. They take 2 out of 3 on the road against one of the best teams in baseball. I'm impressed.

Now they roll into the ominous Trop to play THE best team in baseball 3 nights in a row. If -- & it's a big if -- the Sox win this road series, I'm saying that April & May are in the rear view mirror & the upcoming 4 months of 2010 look a whole lot better.

Several players are showing signs of rebounding from a poor start, none more important than Big Papi. He is hitting the ball well again, so much so that Lowell has seen even more limited action. Ellsbury is back in the lineup chasing down balls that McDonald & Hall couldn't get to. Dice & Wake are coming off strong starts. Lester has been unhittable. J.D. Drew is hitting again. A lot of changes have happened in May - all for the positive.

The Tampa Bay series will tell the Red Sox how much they have improved since their last meeting in April when the Rays came to Boston & massacred the Sox 4 games in a row. That was a low point in the early season.

Will that spark of hope in the 2010 season by Red Sox Nation still be alive on Thursday? Let's see.

Dice-K Has A Moment

It was a game that featured the return of Jacoby Ellsbury to the top of the Red Sox lineup. The extra adrenaline quickly shifted over to Dice-K who held the Phillies hitless through 7 + innings. Dice ended up pitching 8 innings of 1-hit ball & the Sox finished the night with an impressive 5-0 win.

A lot of things went right last night. Big Papi & Adrian Beltre stayed hot at the plate as both got key hits to drive in runs. The run-prevention defense was flashed around the infield from Pedroia to Ortiz to Beltre to Dice-K himself.

So let's review. Good starting pitching + timely hitting + excellent defense = win. We see moments like last night from time to time. The key to being a good team is to repeat that formula with consistency. That is something the Red Sox have not done so far this year. Maybe Ellsbury's return can start the process of consistency.

Sox Win 3rd In A Row

Jon Lester finished off a mini-sweep of the Minnesota Twins with a complete game, 9 strikeout, 6-2 victory. He got run support from Kevin Youkilis (3-run jack & double), Adrian Beltre (solo HR) & Victor Martinez (3 hits).

Lester is in a groove now with several quality starts in a row. It's too bad the season didn't start in May since Jon has a slow April every year. I hope the Sox adjust his innings in Spring Training next year so we don't have to wait a month to see how good this kid really is.

When you have a line-up that starts Bill Hall, Darnell McDonald & Angel Sanchez & you get a win, that's pretty impressive. The other 6 starters really picked up the load to get 6 runs on the board off a tough lefty in Liriano. As a team, the Sox have around 60 homers in 42 games. Not bad for a team that wasn't going to hit much this year.

We'll see what the Sox can do this weekend against the bad boys from Philly. Should be a very interesting series. How about a 2-1 series win? I'd be happy with that.

Buchholz, Bard, Papi Spark Win

Clay Buccholz & Daniel Bard held the Minnesota Twins to 2 runs as the Sox took Game 1 with a 3-2 win. The 2 young arms set the Twins down with ease.

Big Papi went yard with a 2-run shot that barely made it over the Monster. Ortiz continues to have a good month of May, so much so that Mike Lowell is rumbling about having no position on the team.

Josh Beckett was put on the 15-day DL with his ailing back. Besides his back, Josh can probably use a mental break to get his act together for the June, July, August push as Peter Gammons mentioned on NESN.

Marco Scutaro got a night off. I thought he looked tired on his error at Yankee Stadium in the 9th on Tuesday. Nice to rest a starter & still get a win.

So far the Sox are 3-3 on this 17-game span with no off days. They need to pick it up over the next 11 games if my prediction of 11-6 is going to be accurate. 8-3 seems like a stretch at this point for a team bouncing back & forth around .500.

Different Night, Different Result

I almost couldn't watch. The Sox were ahead by 2 in the bottom of the 9th - again. Pap came on to close - again. There were runners on base - again. But last night Pap blew away Randy Winn for the final out & a 7-6 win at Yankee Stadium.

It is deja vu all over again. Just when you think the Sox have 2 feet in the grave they put together a great effort & show that there's still some fire left in their hearts.

Lots of big performances - Youk & Hermida in particular. But none bigger than Pap snagging a hard hit ground ball back to the mound, keeping the runner at 3rd from tying the game & getting the 2nd out at first in the 9th.

Let's give the Sox credit for last night's hard fought win.

Is the Curse Back?

I heard a quote somewhere about war that goes as follows. Wars never end. They just take a break from time to time.

After last night's nightmare in New York I think the same can be said about the curse. Maybe it just took a break in 2004 & 2007.

Dice-K & the Sox begin the game by giving up 5 runs in the 1st. To the Sox credit they hit their way back into the game by clobbering 5 home runs. Going into the bottom of the 9th the Sox lead 9-7. Then the wheels fall off as Pap gives up not 1, but 2, 2-run homers. What could have been a great, come-from-behind win results in a heartbreaking loss 11-9.

It's deja vu all over again.

- It's Grady Little leaving Pedro Martinez in.

- It's Aaron Boone winning the ALCS in Game 7 off Tim Wakefield.

- It's Johnny Damon being taken off the field in a stretcher.

- It's Bill Lee being malled in fight at home plate.

Last night put me back to the future.

It will be a tough thing for Red Sox players to walk onto the field at Yankee Stadium tonight & put last night's fiasco behind them. It's tough for us fans as well.

Long Stretch of Games

The Sox are in a stretch of 17 games in 17 days. It's not starting well as they went 1-2 in Detroit, dropping the first series.

According to today's standings, the Sox are 3 games behind Toronto in the loss column, 6 games behind the Yankees & 8 games behind the Rays. Playing .500 ball at 19-19 in the AL East gets you 4th place after the first 6 weeks of the season.

I'm going to focus on the Sox catching the Jays. You can't go from 4th to 1st without first going from 4th to 3rd. By the end of the month it would be nice to see the Sox in 3rd place & perhaps within 5 games of the Yankees & Rays. They play a short 2-game series in New York this week & travel to the Trop for 3 next week.

Playing some of the better teams this month will give us a sense of how good or how bad the Sox are as a team. So far they are just average.

Sox Start Road Trip Badly

The Sox lost 2 out of 3 in Detroit. The finale was 5-1 as the Sox offense couldn't break through - again - with a big hit when they needed it.

I believe that the Sox lost their opportunity to take this series in Game 2. They had plenty of scoring opportunities in extra innings, but couldn't push across a run. You sometimes get only one chance to win a series & the Sox didn't do it. We are back to 19-19 & .500 again.

Is anyone else feeling the pre-2004 symptoms with the Red Sox? The teams of old did enough to give you that flicker of hope, but ultimately they ended up on the short end of stick. I have that feeling about the current year so far.

It may be a bumpy ride in 2010 for Red Sox Nation.

ESPN: Enough On LeBron

LeBron - LeBron - LeBron. Enough already! ESPN needs to take a break & get off the whole LeBron thing. Go back to reporting on the teams left in the playoffs, like the Celtics.

It's always about money & ratings, so stories on LeBron & Kobe aren't going away. ESPN has been hitched to the LeBron wagon for a long, long time. This LeBron mania reminds me of Fox reporting on A-Rod signing with the Yanks in the middle of a Red Sox World Series game.

ESPN, give it a break. LeBron is out. The Cavs are out. Move on.

Walk Spells Loss

Ramon Ramirez walked in the game-winning run in the 12th. It's going to be easy to jump all over Ramirez & say he lost the game.

How about putting some blame on the Red Sox offense for stranding several runners in the extra innings? How about giving Detroit some credit for being a good team? How about Okajima still struggling & giving up key runs? In the end this was a team loss.

Ramirez is a better pitcher when he gets consistent work. With Bard & Oki getting the set-up roles for Pap there just hasn't been enough work for Ramirez lately. He, Delcarmen & Schoenweis get mop-up duty or situational use.

That being said, Ramirez & Co. need to find a way to stay sharp. Once Pap was finished & we blew our chances to score I knew it would not end pretty. We need to take the rubber game today & win 2 out of 3 in Detroit. Both the Yankees & Rays won last night.

Ortiz Unloads

Big Papi had a night. 2 homers, both way out, & 4 RBI in a 7-2 win by the Sox to start their road trip in Detroit.

Clay Buchholz pitched around 5 walks to allow just 1 run on 3 hits over 6+ innings. And let's not overlook the 8th homer of the year by Dustin Pedroia.

But the night belonged to Big Papi with his 2 monster shots. Ortiz is having a good month of May. Perhaps hitting against righties agrees with him.

Whatever the case a road win in Detroit is a great way to start the trip. My prediction of 11-6 for the remainder of May looks good right now.

Sox Hit the Road

Next up - 11 out of 13 games on the road for the Sox. 3 in Detroit, 2 in the Bronx, back home for 2 against the Twins, off on the road again for 3 in Philadelphia & then 3 in the dreaded Trop. The Sox finish out the month with 4 at home against the Royals.

With 17 games left in the month the Sox need to do more than play .500 ball. They need to win series & beat good teams like the Yankees, Rays & Phillies.

What's your guess? I'm predicting 11-6. That would be a nice comeback month of May after an awful start in April.

Hermida & McDonald - 2 Surprises

Jeremy Hermida & Darnell McDonald have been pressed into active duty on an everyday basis. They have both performed better than anticipated.

With Mike Cameron & Jacoby Ellsbury still working their way back into the lineup from injuries both Hermida & McDonald have been more than adequate fill-ins. Both have contributed big hits at times. Both have played well, for the most part, in the outfield. Tito can't have any complaints about the play of these two guys.

Once Cameron & Ells come back I think you will still see a lot of Hermida. He has 19 or so RBI on the season so far. You can't keep a hot bat out of the lineup too long. I think McDonald will go back down, but not for long if there's another injury.

Both guys were off the radar in Spring Training. Nice to see them take advantage of their playing time.

Welcome to the Dale Scott Show

Home plate umpire Dale Scott must be making a pitch for his own reality show. He was so bad on balls & strikes that he didn't seem real. You could say he "punk'd" the Red Sox.

A good umpire is one that you don't notice. Maybe he was having a bad day, but the 3-2 call to Big Papi in the 9th was a good 6 inches off the plate.

If that's his best, then it's time for Dale to check himself into umpire rehab in the minors. I'll have to watch for him the next time Dale is part of the umpiring crew.

Regardless, the Sox finish a successful 7-3 homestand which is just what they needed. Now it's off to Detroit for 3 & to New York for 2.

Finally Dice-K

Who was that strike-throwing machine last night who walked no one in 7 strong innings? Believe it or not, it was finally Dice-K pounding the strike zone batter after batter.

It is hard to believe. Dice has been a nibble, nibble, nibble guy who would try to make the perfect pitch & never give into hitters on counts in their favor. High-pitch counts through 5 innings of work are what we have come to expect from Dice.

What a refreshing change last night's gem for 7-innings was. Only 3 hits with 9 K's to go along with 0 walks.

Let's order up a few more starts just like that one.

A Win Is A Win

It's doesn't have to be pretty. A 7-6 win over the Jays to open their 3-game series at Fenway is just what the Sox need to build off Sunday night's win over the Yankees. (By the way the Yankees lost to Detroit on a homer by old friend Johnny Damon.)

It was more walks than hits. It was less than a stellar start by John Lackey. But a win is a win.

The Sox are 17-16 now & 6 games out of first place. Nothing gets decided in May, but the Sox are doing just enough to hang within striking distance until they figure out how to be a more consistent team.

Tim Wakefield will take Beckett's spot at home on Wednesday. Josh gets moved back to pitch in Detroit, a much bigger park where outfielders can run & catch more balls. I like that move.

How about Ellsbury? News media is trying to start controversy about Ellsbury not wanting to play through cracked ribs. How about we crack their ribs & see if they can play? I'm not buying it.

This current homestand has produced 6 wins in 8 games with 2 left. It's been enough to keep this team from falling out of contention. 2 more wins to finish it off would be nice.

Sox Strike Back At Evil Empire

OK, I've been pretty down on the Red Sox lately - just like all of you. But we all need to give them some praise for last night's 9-3 win over the Yankees.

It was a raw, cold night. After being beaten-up badly the prior 2 nights, the Sox players could have wallowed in their misery & just rolled over. But they didn't. And we saw a spark of life. That spark still gives me hope that all is not lost with a 16-16 record after 6 weeks of the season.

Jon Lester was great through the first 7 innings. Jeremy Hermida with 3 RBI looks more & more like a future J.D. Drew replacement. Even Tim Wakefield came onto pitch a scoreless 9th.

I give the Red Sox team a lot of credit for last night's win. Nice effort when they could have mailed it in.

Yankees Score 2 Touchdowns

Same old story so far this year. The Yankees win their 2nd series in 2 tries at Fenway, embarassing the Sox 14-3 at home. Pitching, hitting, defense continue to be inconsistent. I had to turn the game off after Beltre made his 7th error on a throw he should have never made.

My brother & I like to say that we have a 50-50 chance whenever Delcarmen comes into pitch. It could be good Manny or bad Manny. We can now say the same about the whole Red Sox team. We have a 50-50 chance that they will put together the 3 facets of the game on any given night. Just no consistency from day to day.

Fans may find it hard to keep the faith this year. After 86 years of nothing but failure, we got use to winning & making the playoffs every year. This may be one of those transition years where we end up with 80-85 wins & out of the playoffs.

Sox Help Soldiers With PTSD

There's not much to write about in a 10-3 loss to the Yankees. We got outhit & outpitched, period. The Celtics & Bruins also lost, so no joy in Boston last night.

The bright spot for me was watching the pre-game ceremony where the Red Sox kicked off their Run Home Program for soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. Many men & women experience post-traumatic stress disorders & the Sox are helping by letting soldiers know it is OK to ask for help.

In conjunction with Mass. General Hospital returning vets can seek out the treatment they need to get back to normalizing their lives at home. I have a good friend from the first Gulf War that suffers from PTSD. I'm sure many of you know a family member, friend or neighbor who could use some help with this disease as well.

We owe a lot to the sacrifices made by our military men & women, so let's support the Run Home Project. The Sox may have lost the game last night, but they hit a homer by helping the military with this project.

Victor Has A Big Night

In baseball there is a stat for everything. How many times has a team been swept in a 3-game series, then come back to sweep their next opponent in a 4-game series? I'm sure someone has the answer.

The Sox finished off a home sweep of the LA Angels of Anaheim with an 11-6 win. Victor Martinez had a nice offensive night with 4 RBI on a homer & double. Jeremy Hermida added 3 more RBI.

Dice-K gave up 4 runs in the 1st on a combination of walks & hits, but then settled down to pitch shutout ball over the next 4 innings. If he can get better each outing, the rotation will finally have the 5 quality starters as advertised in Spring Training.

It's nice to have the Sox with momentum coming into the weekend series with the Yankees. Beckett, Buchholz & Lester get the starting assignments this time around.

Unfortunately, the Sox have been unable to gain ground in the AL East race. Boston is 7-3 in their last 10 games, but the Yankees have gone 7-3, the Jays have gone 7-3 & Tampa Bay is 8-2. We need a few teams to get cold.

Sox Win Again

It's been a long time since the Red Sox have been at the .500 mark, but they are finally 14-14. Alleluia! The Sox beats the low-flying Angels 3-1 last night for their 3rd win in row over the halos. Just one more win to complete a 4-game sweep would be sweet before the Angels wake up & start hitting the ball better.

John Lackey gave the Sox another solid start. David Ortiz hit the game-winning homer & Adrian Beltre added another in the 8th for insurance. It was the 2nd game in a row where Theo's run prevention theory worked. The Angels have scored a measley 2 runs in the last 2 games.

What's the probability that David Ortiz is shaking off his slow start - similar to 2009? He has 3 HR's in the last 2 series. With Kazmir going tonight Tito should use Lowell as the DH. Maybe these 2 guys are pushing each other to compete. Competition works for me.

Two In A Row

Last night's win was EXACTLY the way Theo would have described his run prevention philosophy in Spring Training.

Good Pitching (Lester) + Good Defense (Pedroia & Scutaro)+ Timely Hitting (Hermida) = 5 to 1 win. Nuf' ced.

Let's watch how many more times all 3 elements will click together.

Lowell or Beltre?

Who would you rather have play third base, Mike Lowell or Adrian Beltre? It's one of many interesting questions these days surrounding the new look Boston Red Sox.

Beltre was advertised as a Gold Glove at 3B. Really? You can't prove that so far with 6 errors on the season. One sports commentator defended Beltre by saying the Fenway infield is difficult to play on. Give me a break! I didn't see Lowell or Youk flubbing balls in the past few years. I would also say that Beltre's throwing arm leaves a lot to be desired.

You can say that Lowell has lost a step. I'm OK with saying he has less range. But the fews games that Lowell has started at 3B have been error free with good reflexes & a good, accurate throwing arm. Maybe it's time to start mixing him in at 3B more so Big Papi & Victor can DH.

Until the pitching becomes more consistent, I think you need to have your best 9 swinging the lumber every night. That said, I think Lowell deserves to be in the mix more.

Sox Club the Angels 17-8

Neither the Red Sox nor the Angels look like the playoff teams of 2009 that faced each other in the ALDS. Both have records under .500.

However, last night the Sox took out their frustrations from being swept in Baltimore & scored time & time again to beat the Angels 17-8. A win is exactly what the doctor ordered to start the homestand.

Multiple HR's by several Sox players. A grind-it-out performance by Clay Buchholz. Another error by Andrian Beltre. But, in the end, it was a win. And the Sox need to have a big homestand to get back into the AL East race.

It was a good start.

Sox Swept By Baltimore

A wasted effort by Josh Beckett. No timely hitting in the 8th or 9th. Another loss. The Sox go 3-3 for the road trip which isn't that bad, but getting swept in Baltimore was very unexpected.

It's like a broken record. There were signs of life this weekend -- Big Papi 2 homers, Lackey a good start, Beckett a good start, Drew with 3 HR's -- but we just can't put it all together at once. This time it was the bullpen giving up 2 of the 3 losses when the offense couldn't score. Like you, I'm frustrated, but there's a long way to go.

There's an old saying that sometimes you play to the level of the competition. A 10-game homestand against the Angels, Yankees & Jays might be just what the Sox need to pull out of their funk. Consistency in all 3 phases of the game will be necessary to win each of the next 3 series at home. The Sox play much better at Fenway than on the road.

Let's see if the Sox are up to the challenge.

Sox Bomb in Baltimore

It was suppose to be a weekend where the Sox beat up on the cellar-dwelling O's. Not so. An OT win by the O's on Friday night & a big inning against Dice-K last night sank the Sox chances for winning another road series. Josh Beckett goes today to try & salvage the last game. The Sox are a miserable 11-13 & in 4th place.

Good news. Big Papi did hit 2 homers. It would be a huge boost to the offense to have him contribute.

More times than not, however, it has been the pitching that has let the Sox down. Daniel Bard gives up a tying HR to Tejada on Friday & a seeing-eye ground ball ends the game in the 10th. Dice-K & Wakefield are both ineffective last night & give up 12 runs to a poor offense.

Good pitching, good hitting, good defense -- you can count on one hand how many games have featured all three at once. The better teams are consistent in all 3 phases of the game. Right now, the Red Sox are very inconsistent &, as a result, they are not a very good team.

Players Underperforming

I sometimes watch the Concast Sports Net baseball show on Saturday mornings. I caught a little bit today. Usually, it's 3 hours of commercials & 1 hour of actual baseball talk. But I did hear a point from Lou Merloni today that really made sense to me.

Lou simply said the Red Sox players are underperforming. Hence, the 11-12 start. On the flip side, Lou said if players were performing well & the record was still a poor 11-12, that would be a bigger cause for concern.

I'm with Lou on this one. If our players perform to this historical averages, we will be fine. It's just a downer to come out of the gate so slow in April. Usually we see this kind of slump after the All-Star break.

Good point, Lou!

April Was A Bust

11-12. That's the final Sox record for the month of April. It is very a-typical for the Sox to get off to a slow start, but there has been nothing typical about the first month.

- Starting pitching, most notably Beckett, has been inconsistent. That was suppose to be a strength.

- Adrian Beltre, touted as a defensive Brooks Robinson at 3B, has committed several errors in the field.

- Ellsbury & Cameron have not returned from injuries. Bill Hall & Darnell McDonald are lesser players in the field & it shows.

- The weakness of Victor Martinez at catcher has forced Tito to use Varitek more.

- David Ortiz & J.D. Drew hit under .200 for the month. Drew did have 2 homers last night which is a good sign.

- David Ortiz has become a platoon player, still striking out frequently with RISP. No production from his #6 spot in the order.

- The 4-game sweep of the Sox by the Tampa Bay Pays at Fenway was the low point of the season thus far. It looked like men playing boys.

There is a lot going wrong with the good ship Red Sox. But the bright side is the fact that they have won each of the last 3 series, the starting pitching has been better & the return of Ellsbury & Cameron is getting close.

To get to 95 wins you need about 16 wins per month. With 11 wins in April the Sox are behind schedule, but not by any means out. There is enough talent on the roster to still win 84 more games.