Red Sox Slump But Win...

by user A QQ

People are hearing the Red Sox loudly and clearly this season while watching them succeed in somewhat unorthodox ways. Boston beat San Fransisco 9-5 on Sunday behind the knuckleball pitcher Tim Wakefield and a home run and three runs batted in from Manny Ramirez. This completed a weekend sweep and raised their record to 44-24, the best in the Major Leagues. They led the American League East by 8 1/2 games, but there is something counterintuitive about these 2007 Red Sox,who play in a hitters' ballpark and are generally thought as a power team. Their success goes beyond their starting pitchers who include Wakefield(7-7), Josh Beckett(9-1), Daisuke Matsuzaka(8-5), Curt Schilling(6-3) and Julian Tavarez(4-4), and beyond their bullpen, whose stepup man man, Hideki Okajima, has an ERA of 1.04, and closer Jonathan Papelbon, who has 16 saves. The curious numbers for the Red Sox involve the hitting. Although Ramirez, the left-fielder, homered for the second consecutive game sunday, he has only 10 this season, far off his pace from last season when he hit 35, and from 2005 hit 45. David Ortiz, the Red Sox's other big boper, has just 11 HR's.He hit 54 last season, 47 in 2005 and 42 in 2004. Terry Francona, the manager, said home runs"are not the end-all, be-all for us".In their place, the Red Sox have been getting consistent hitting from their infielders. Kevin Youkilis, the first base-man, had two hits sunday to raise his average to .332. Dustin Pedroia, the rookie second base-man, had one hit sunday and is batting .322. Lugo, the latest in a long line of shortstops to replace Nomar Garciaparra, is batting .207 after going 0 for 4 sunday (no surprise). Center-Fielder Coco Crisp, who replaced Johnny Damon last season,is hitting.233 after hitting .264 last season following a trade from Cleveland. Right-Fielder J.D Drew,signed as a free-agent from the Dodgers, perked up this weekend as a lead-off hitter with three hits Friday, one Saturday and one Sunday. But he is hitting just .242. The batting order will be an issue now that the Sox are to play 9 road games in the next 10 days-three in Atlanta,San Diego and Seattle.Because the first six games are in National League Ballparks,they will not be able to use a DH,who is usually Ortiz.(im sure they will do well) Has Francona thought about this problem? "No"he said. He didn't seem overly concerned. No doubt, 29 other managers would love to have his problems.

Willf123JV Squad

895 days ago

Score 0

Here are a few dates to consider. April 14th, Sox take the AL East lead by 1/2 a game over Toronto. May 14th the Sox are 8 1/2 games ahead of 2nd place NYY. May 27th the Sox are 11 1/2 games ahead of 2nd place Baltimore. June 14th the Sox are 7 1/2 games ahead of NYY. Todat 6/20, the Sox are 9 games ahead of 2nd place NYY. So in over a month approx. 36 days the NYY have actually lost ground by half a game.

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Willf123JV Squad

895 days ago

Score 0

More accurately the second place team has lost ground by 1/2 a game from 5-14 to today.

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RomiezzoLegend

895 days ago

Score 2

This brings up an excellent point. Terry Francona is very smart for saying this: Home runs don't mean anything. David Ortiz has only 11 home runs. Well... BIG DEAL!! He's the number 3 hitter, which means that you want a guy who has a pretty high average and can get on base for you, so that the cleanup hitter can bring you in. To be honest, home runs are overrated. Home runs are usually mistake hits that just manage to get get over. Anything that is hit over the green monster is a mistake in my opinion. It's 314 feet away from home plate, so you'll NEED to hit a pop fly to get it over. Guys like Kevin Youklis and Jason Varitek and Dustin Pedroia can probably hit it over if they wanted to, but they decide to share the spotlight and help the team out by getting on base, because it's not HOME runs that count, it's just runs at the end. Which team has the most runs in the game in nine innings played? OK, whoever has the most wins. If I was manager, I'd say the same thing that Francona said.

Another thing about the Red Sox is that a lot of people are going through "slumps" (slumps in quotations cuz some might not be considered slumps). Guys like Julio Lugo, JD Drew, Curt Schilling now with the MRI, and Manny was in a big slump in April,but now it looks like he's coming back to what he was before. It doesn't matter how players do individually, teamwork is key in baseball. Like the all time great, Babe Ruth once said:

“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime.”

The reason why Red Sox win so many games is because of the great teamwork that they have, as well as the team chemistry. Jason Varitek, is a major key to the Red Sox team, since he's captain, and a great leader. Remember when he got injured last year? With him injured, the Red Sox fell back and the Yankees took a huge lead, and they couldn't come back after that 5 game sweep by the Yanks. Sure, many others got injured as well, but he was the captain, and he does great for the Red Sox as far as leadership and calling games goes. He might be a little rough at the plate now, since he's in his mid 30s, but he knows the game very well.

Look at the Yankees now. They're catching up. You know why? Two words: Roger Clemens. He brings great motivation to the clubhouse, and is a great influence to many players, including team captain, Derek Jeter. They're doing a(n) (all around) better job on offense, defense, pitching, etc. He is really helping, and it shows by looking at the standings now compared to 2 weeks ago.

Bottom line is this: Whoever works best as a team (without injuries being involved)will probably win the division. Can the Red Sox hold it? Maybe, maybe not. We'll find out in a couple of months..

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