Runs:
How do I put this delicately? Screw it. Boston’s run differential sucked in week eight. They scored 35 runs last week and their opponents scored 34 runs. That means in the absence of a blowout – which didn’t happen – they lost and won a lot of one and two-run games, which is exactly was happened.
Hits:
A quick rundown
– After not playing in the bigs since 2010, Scott Podsednik‘s 2-3 day with a run scored and game winning homer in game three of the Orioles series was a whole lot of fun to watch.
– Even though the end of the week finished unevenly – Derek Stykalo said it best when he noted that Jon Lester threw batting practice Friday night to the Rays – Boston moved up seven spots in the MLB power rankings to number 16. The only problem was Baltimore moved up one to number 2 and Tampa Bay moved up two to number five. Starting last Friday Boston finished the week 4-3. Last time I checked that’s about .500 baseball, which is just where they remain.
– Will Middlebrooks is a stud, period. In 20 at bats over five games Middlebrooks batted.400, smacked two doubles, scored three runs, knocked in three and had eight hits. And oh yeah, he was healthy.
"Youk, I love ya. Always have. I hope the Sox do the right thing by you and Middlebrooks and showcase you enough to prove you’re healthy and then deal you to a team where you can DH and spot start at first and third. Middlebrooks is the new sheriff in town. Serve youth!"
Errors:
Boston’s M.A.S.H. unit of an outfield continues to be cobbled together with bubble gum and band aids. Adrian Gonzalez played right field for three games. That speaks volumes. That’s an upside down, dogs sleeping with cats world kids. True, Ryan Sweeney is hopefully only out for MLB’s mandatory seven-day concussion sit-down and will return next week. Right now the only thing Jacoby Ellsbury, Cody Ross, Ryan Sweeny, Carl Crawford, Ryan Kalish, Darnell McDonald and Jason Repko are good for is a round of golf. Oops, terrible analogy.
Even as Josh Beckett is stepping up (does it really take him turning in to jackass and then hitting the redemption button to pitch better? Oh wait, yes it does) Jon Lester is simply a Clay Buchholz wanna be so far this year. Lester is 4-3, alternates between dominant and dork and to date frankly infuriates any Sox fan looking for quality, consistency and stability in the starting rotation.