One run just isn’t going to get the job done. Jon Lester had another great outing, but once again he lacked the run support. Why the Sox bats disappear at the beginning of the season is beyond me. The start of this season is beginning to look almost exactly like lasts. Last year the Sox started the season without producing any runs and the pitching couldn’t contain the other team. While the starting pitching hasn’t been awful for the most part so far this season, the bullpen and hitting has been. This is supposed to be the most dangerous lineup in baseball and they mustered up three hits against Ricky Romero?
I’m not really sure what is causing the entire Sox lineup to play so poorly. It isn’t always that haven’t been getting hits either, it is that they don’t get hits when runners are in scoring position. Yesterday the Sox went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position while the Blue Jays went 2 for 4. That is one of the most important offensive stats in baseball and the Sox just aren’t performing when they need to.
The Red Sox are hitting .236 as a team. In my opinion this is a good to hear. Knowing that the Sox are 1-5 you know something has to be going terribly wrong and we know it has been for the most part the bullpen and hitting. What would be bad was if the Sox were hitting .270 as a team and not winning. They have a lineup filled with guys who have proven themselves in past years at the plate so I am confident they will begin producing. All hitters go through slumps, it just so happens the majority of the team is in a slump right now and it is the beginning of the season. Going 1-5 in any stretch hurts, but it hurts the most when you have no other wins on the year. Going 1-5 in July could very well go unnoticed, but not to start the season.
The main problem with starting the season so poorly is guys begin to get anxious and they lose confidence. Fans lose confidence, the media becomes worse than ever. The season after one of the worst collapses in baseball history as well as hiring a new manager and GM, is not a good time to start the season with doubts. While I am confident these Sox will turn it around, many others are losing faith very quickly.
The Sox now get a much needed day off before their home opener with the hot Tampa Bay Rays. It will be Josh Beckett who will try and stop the bleeding for the Sox. Unfortunately it is not a good matchup for the Sox. They go against lefty David Price who shut down the Yankees in his first start of the season. The Sox have a lineup packed full of lefties so it is going to be tough for the guys to finally get it going against Price. As for Beckett he better hope he pitches well or he may find himself on the DL due to his thumb.
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