Series Wrapup: Cleveland Indians
The year was 1945 and it was the last time the Red Sox opened the season with an 0-6 record. That is 66 years ago to be exact. A lot has happened since then, including the Red Sox winning two World Series. Here we are in the early part of April 2011 and once again the Red Sox find themselves winless on the season through the first half of a dozen games. What makes this dreadful start even more difficult to digest is the fact that Boston was recently swept out of Cleveland, a team that many have picked to finish near the bottom of the American League, let alone the Central Division.
The series started with Josh Beckett having a decent outing on Tuesday, although we may have to get used to the idea that Beckett no longer has his over powering fastball, as he only topped the gun at 91mph. Relying on more junk pitches and off speed stuff, Beckett wasn’t all bad. He did however throw over 100 pitches in just 5 innings of work, in which he surrendered 3 earned runs on 5 hits, striking out 4 while walking 4. The Red Sox found themselves in a close ball game when Beckett left, but again, the offense couldn’t muster up much of anything, only collecting 4 hits all game.
Wednesday night with Dice-K on the mound, one would have thought that surely the Red Sox would find a way to win this game and be able to take advantage of a young Indians pitcher in Matt Talbot??? Wrong again. Dice-K was solid in his 2011 debut, 3 earned runs through 5 innings on 6 hits. He struke out 2 while offering 3 free passes. Again the game was close when Dice-K left, but Dennys Reyes was as bad as a relief pitcher could possibly be. 2 walks, a hit batsman and a 3 run home run blew the game open at a 7-2 score. The streak had reached 5.
The series finale, played on Thursday afternoon, saw Jon Lester and Fausto Carmona throw two gems. Both had only surrendered 3 hits through the first 7 innings, before the Indians ripped a double off Daniel Bard in the home half of the 8th inning. A sac fly two batters later would score the runner and that was all the offense in the game. 3 hits for the Red Sox over nine innings of ball. In fact, through the 3 game series in Cleveland they could only muster up 15 hits, and only score 5 runs. This ball club is simply not hitting when they need it most and now the streak is up to 6. Do you think these guys are feeling the pressure? How tight will they be grabbing those bats this weekend?
Series Monstah’
I have to give the series monster to Adrian Gonzalez. He did manage to crank his first home run of the season during Wednesday night’s contest and what an at bat it was. 12 pitches into the at bat, he finally connected on a fast ball down in the zone and ripped it over the right field wall for a two run shot. Prior to that, he did have a double in the game and is now batting .304 for the year on a ballclub that is averaging a lowly .140.
It’s often said that home is where the heart is. Let’s hope that for the Red Sox, home is also where the wins are. After opening the season with 6 games on the road and not showing much of a pulse, this ballclub can finally get home and get some home cooking. The pitching has improved over this past series, Dennys Reyes being an exception to that statement, however the hitting continues to be absent from the Sox lineup. It hasn’t been a lot of fun through the first 6 games, but better to have an oil change like this in April than in September when the division is on the line.
On Deck:
It doesn’t get any easier for the Red Sox as they get set to play host for the first time this year. Next up for the winless Sox are the New York Yankees, a team that has shown they can hit the ball all over the field during this early season. Ready or not, bring on the Yankees. For more on this series, look for my post “A Series Snapshot: New York Yankees.”
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