From cheering for Rick Porcello & his four-run first innning to Sandy Leon becoming the regular starting catcher, the Boston Red Sox are looking desperate.
Not to knock Porcello’s 10-2 record or Leon’s .500 batting average in 40 at-bats this season, but the recent silver linings are becoming somewhat ridiculous. Why not just add the Baltimore Orioles losing to the mix? The Red Sox are just two games behind them in the American League East division. So what if the Toronto Blue Jays are only a half game back of Boston, right?
The Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers in convincing fashion, 12-5; however, the way that the team congratulated Porcello in the dugout, just after being relieved by Matt Barnes in the seventh inning, was a bit much. Between the high fives, hugs, laughter, and boisterous cheers, one would have thought that he threw a shutout. Even the NESN commentators sounded very surprised by the amount of love that Porcello was getting. The Red Sox starter allowed four runs, three earned, on 12 hits in six innings, yet David Ortiz, the face of the franchise, fully embraced Porcello when he came back to the dugout like as if he were a long-lost brother returning to bring eternal happiness to Red Sox Nation.
It was great for Boston that Porcello didn’t fall apart after giving up the big first frame. Some Red Sox starting pitchers have completely given up after they made mistakes, allowing the game to get even more out of hand than it already was. It still doesn’t mean that Porcello deserves a hero’s welcome, unless that’s what passes for heroism at this point. Champions are supposed to keep fighting, no matter what. Is Boston in a place where their starting pitching should be highly praised for doing what they’re expected to do and being paid (very well) to do in the first place?
Leon is another matter. He definitely deserves the spotlight, at least for the moment. He went 4-for-5 in the nine-spot in the lineup, crossing the plate for one of the team’s 12 runs. Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe reported that Leon’s hot streak has earned him a spot as the everyday starting catcher: “Whatever it is, the Red Sox bought into it enough Monday to send their beloved Christian Vazquez back to Pawtucket as Ryan Hanigan is set to be activated Tuesday after a long bout on the disabled list.”
However, Cafardo also added, “Leon is a .238 career minor league hitter in 10 seasons. He’s a .225 major league hitter, but started the season hitting .187. He’s never hit more than six home runs in a season in the minors. He had eight RBIs in 235 plate appearances entering this season and now he has nine RBIs in 45 plate appearances.”
Leon is only two years older than Vazquez, yet his wealth of experience is much greater, as well as the great amount of evidence supporting people who doubt Leon’s hot streak will last. True that Leon calls a game well and that the difference between the two men’s fielding percentages is minimal, but the threat that Vazquez poses on base stealers is much greater than any throws Leon has been making.
While Leon has been on this run at the plate, Vazquez has been making quiet strides to improve his own bat. Currently sitting at a .226 batting average, Vazquez made improvements to get himself out of the funk of June, when he hit .189 for the month. In his last 44 at-bats, Vazquez hit .250 with both his on-base percentage and slugging percentage moving up. If one makes the argument that Leon has figured out his hitting issues, it’s just as possible that Vazquez was on the cusp of his own batting epiphany before being sent down to Triple-A.
There’s nothing wrong with cheering for both Porcello and Leon for what they have accomplished, which was needed and well-deserved. Both battled back to earn the success that they’ve had. Leon over Vazquez makes sense at present, since the Red Sox cannot afford to be outscored even with having the biggest run total by any team in the majors. While Leon was out of options to the minors, Vazquez wasn’t. Leon’s bat is much hotter than Vazquez’s, so it makes sense to keep him in the lineup. Porcello didn’t allow the first inning against the Rangers to rock him enough to allow another run for the rest of the game. However, to say that Leon is now the future of the Red Sox catching situation is a decision that the proverbial jury is still out discussing. To say that Porcello was a hero yesterday, even after bleeding 12 hits in total over six innings, seems iffy at best.
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What is for sure is that if any member of Red Sox Nation is strutting around today because of Porcello’s efforts and having Leon as their big bat, without fearing that it’s all going to eventually come crashing down in their next few games, that member is being foolhardy at best. It would be hasty and irresponsible for the Red Sox to feel so happy about either situation as if it were the best of times. Even if Leon can sustain his success, he still is only one of nine bats, which were already doing pretty well before he got hot. Even if Porcello battled back, those 12 hits could be 12 runs in his next start. Red Sox fans shouldn’t be pessimistic, but they shouldn’t lose their minds in a passionate lovefest either.