So Much For the Easy Part of the Schedule

After the Red Sox started the year in similar fashion to last season it was easy to point to the schedule and say it was a difficult first, five series.  Most of April had the Sox playing teams that will compete for a postseason birth this year, the Rangers, Rays, Tigers, Blue Jays and Yankees so a tough start could be somewhat reasoned.

Then the schedule turned softer with series lined up against the Twins, White Sox, A’s, Orioles and Royals.  Surely this would be the stretch where the Red Sox get hot and start on a roll that will help them climb out of the AL East basement.  Wrong.

After a promising start in Minnesota that carried over to Chicago, optimism was on the rise.  But an ugly series against the A’s, swept away by the birds and then losing two of three in Kansas City, the Red Sox are once again searching for answers.  To try and find those answers the team is going to have to get through another difficult stretch of the schedule.

Good teams always find a way to win and when you’re playing a club that has a miserable home record, it is mandatory to take two of three with a sweep within expectation.  The Sox failed to do that and now return home to face the first place Cleveland Indians who will have their top three pitches showcased in the series.  Throw in the Sox horrific record at Fenway Park where they are 4-10 as the host club and this four game series presents a real sense of urgency.  In fact, the Sox have only one home win in their last eleven games played at Fenway.

Through the first 30 games the Sox are 12-18 and sit 7.5 games back of the division lead.  The schedule for the rest of May is back to playing first rate teams with the Rays twice, Phillies, Tigers and Orioles.  The good news is that if the Sox can get on a roll and start winning some of these series they will make up ground in the division.  The bad news is………you get the idea.

Maybe a tough, grind em out, win by committee is what this team needs to rally around, something that will be necessary on multiple occasions when looking at who they will be facing over the next few weeks.

Is it out of context to use the line “time to cowboy up?”

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