Well that wasn’t the start to the home stand the Sox were looking for. After taking the first game against Oakland, the A’s pitching shut us down winning the last two to take the series. Once again the Sox find themselves staring up at .500 and in the basement of the AL East. The Orioles come into town for a weekend series, but that doesn’t sound quite as good as it has in past years. Baltimore brings a 16-9 record to Boston after having taken a series against the Yankees.
The Sox have more injury problems, Kevin Youkilis has been placed on the disabled list and Josh Beckett will miss his start on Saturday, but that seems more like
an excuse for Aaron Cook than anything. However, fortunately for the Red Sox they have Will Middlebrooks while Youkilis is out. In his first big league game he went 2 for 3 with a walk and a stolen base. He was batting well over .300 in Triple AAA and was leading the PawSox with nine home runs. He has a tremendous combination of speed and power and the Sox may have to find a roster spot for him after Youkilis comes back. It is nice to see someone from the farm system getting the call because it seems like the Sox have been going away from that recently, we don’t want to turn into the Yankees. Sorry Nick Punto, but if this kids for real you may need to find a new home.
Now for the pitching situation, we all new Aaron Cook was coming up, but no one knew what they were going to do with him. Beckett apparently is feeling a “bit stiff” so Cook will start in his spot on Saturday. What happens after that, well your guess is as good as mine. I imagine that whoever has the worst start out of Dubrount, Bard, and Cook will be moved to the bullpen, but it is really just a complete and utter mess. The Sox brought up Clayton Mortensen to the bullpen for a few days until Cook is actually needed, turns out the guy has some real stuff. He struck out six batters in three innings, allowing just one baserunner during that time. Are you really going to send him down for Cook after a performance like that? They said they are going to so they most likely will, but I feel like someone else in the bullpen should probably get the boot.
The Red Sox also added Jose Iglesias, the strong fielding shortstop, who many wanted to start the season as the Sox shortstop. The problem is he can’t really hit and his speed is useless if he isn’t getting on base. Aviles’ glove has been fine this year and he is hitting great and even running on the bases so don’t expect Iglesias to last past Youkilis’ return. He will probably get a start at shortstop or pinch run for someone, but they are just trying to give him a little taste of the Bigs while they have the chance.
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