The Boston Red Sox started the year pretty quiet. Their Ace in their staff, Curt Schilling, was put on the DL with his infamous ankle bruise. Their record was overshadowed by the Orioles impressive start and Boston’s average one. Some people were a little too quick to count the defending World Champions out.
At the beginning of the season the Sox were in bad shape pitching wise. They didn’t have an ace and no one seemed to step up. Their clutch closer wasn’t playing to his full potential either. Boston’s offense was playing sub-par but keeping the team at .500.
Lucky for the Sox, the Yankees were playing horrible and gave the Sox an opening that normally isn’t there at the beginning of the season. Unfortunately for them, the Orioles took the Yankees’ spot and started as hot as a fireball. In April they went 16-7 and expanded it to 31-20 in May.
This surprise in the AL East let the Sox fly under the radar. They went 12-11 in April and improved their record going 16-12 in May and 28-23 for the season. This kept the Sox in the race for the AL East.
Boston kept improving by going 20-7 in June. Their cause for doing this well in June is because of their improved starting pitching. In May and April their ERA was in the mid 4 area. In June it improved to 3.91.
The other improvement was of their offense. In June, the Sox had 34 HR, 141 RBI and a .296 BA. Their lead-off hitter, Johnny Damon, is 2nd in the American League in batting average for the season. Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz would also continue to be RBI and home run machines which would help the Sox improve their record.
Fortunately, at the same time, the Orioles have been plagued by injuries and winning less and less. The AL east is now for the taking and the Sox, with their improved play, have jumped in the first. Lately they have been on a 6 game win streak and have shown no signs of slowing down. At the All-star break the Sox are going to get Curt Schilling back which is going to make their starting pitching that much better. There is nothing but high hopes for this team.
Another reason the Red Sox are back in first is their chemistry. They had it last year and they have it this year. They have fun like you are supposed to when playing baseball. This lets them just relax and play and that is why they are in first place. This is also why the Yankees are one game over .500. There is so much press for them to do well that they can’t play anywhere at the level the Red Sox are playing at.
Lately the “idiots” have found their groove. They have had a 5 and 6 game win streaks in June and there is no one stopping them. If their bullpen improves and they get Curt Schilling back, they are bound to run away with this thing. Maybe they are just having some good runs, but I think this is a good enough team to fight off the Orioles and any other team that tries to take the AL East.
3 replies on “The Idiots: Back in First”
WOW I’m impressed that you can dig deep into the psyche of the Red Sox and the Yankees. Your knowledge of what is going on inside their heads really impresses me. Are you a mind reader?
Red Sox psyche Don’t get me wrong- you are a great writer and I know that your note about the Red Sox is very warranted indeed.
HOWEVER—losing 12-8 to the Indians after getting dropped 7-0 the night before probably wasn’t good news for the Bosox pitching staff. The ‘stud closer’ Keith Foulke, had another embarrassingly crap outing, but then again, he’s also been darned good for 80% of the year. You need Schilling- hoping his outings won’t be anything near as appalling as they were at the start of the year.
Clement and Wakefield are your studs, and David Wells is certainly doing well as picking up the slack. Oh, and I love Varitek- because he’s part of my fantasy league team more than anything else….
reply The Indians are a good team so losing 2 to them isn’t that bad and they won 5-2 today so they are alright. Thanks on the compliment about my writing, your good yourself.