The weekly article series where we examine the two players who deserve to strut their stuff for the Boston Red Sox. This week — Dustin Pedroia and the bullpen.
Now to fully understand what the Red Sox Strut is, it means to have reason to walk with a confident, proud air around you. Some people mistake it for vanity, arrogance, or being pompous. This incorrect assumption is not what we mean. The Strut is about knowing that your deeds showed off your amazing skills to the baseball-loving public.
It’s been a good week overall for the Boston Red Sox. They’ve gone 4-2 in their last six games since last week’s Red Sox Strut, including three victories over divisional rivals in the Blue Jays and Orioles to keep up a two game lead on each. The Red Sox offense is still capable of going off on any given night, but the biggest improvement overall for Boston in the last month or so has been in the pitching department. Specifically, the starting pitching has become much more reliable and even the bottom of the rotation has been holding their own while David Price has found his groove.
POSITIONAL PLAYER: Dustin Pedroia
The Sox put up 48 total runs in the last six games (8 runs per game). They had three games where they scored a minimum of eleven runs, including two games against the Jays in which they put 24 up on the board total. When this offense gets hot, they get scorching, flaming hot and are a nightmare for opposing pitchers.
This week’s Strut basically came down to three players that had simply awesome games throughout the stretch. These three have had very solid seasons for Boston, and all are veterans on a rather young squad. I’m of course talking about David Ortiz, Hanley Ramirez and Dustin Pedroia.
What a week for the 40-year old Big Papi. He went 6-for-21 (.285) and hit two huge home runs – one monster three-run shot against Toronto to take the lead in the sixth inning and another blast against the Orioles in a route. That home run against Baltimore was his 536th and tied him for 17th on the all-time list with the great Mickey Mantle. Still, not playing against the Padres and an 0-4 performance earlier in the week didn’t do him any favors in the race to Strut.
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Hanley has hit his stride and has found his power. That’s the bottom line for Ramirez, who seems to be enjoying his role as first baseman and middle-of-the-lineup crusher. He smashed four home runs over his last six games and knocked in eight runs. He had at least one hit in five games straight before going hitless on Tuesday night against the Orioles. They need this Hanley to get into October and to make a deep run.
However, the guy that stole the show is Mr. Laser Show himself…Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia has had an incredible season for a guy that many fans might have thought was entering the back nine of his career. He has remained healthy in 2016 for a change, and they may be why we are seeing eye-popping numbers from Pedey. He’s hitting .332/.391/.465 with 66 RBI and has been in the lead-off spot for quite a while now after Mookie Betts was moved to middle of the lineup. Pedroia has embraced that role in the top of order, and the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier says he’s actually making his mark in the record books.
This week Pedroia went an awesome 12-for-25 at the plate, which means his average was .480. He had at least two hits in four games in addition to a game with three hits. He also added another eight RBI and a homerun (his 13th). The guy is on a roll at the plate and has an incredible knack to get on base. His defense hasn’t taken a step back at all either. If anything, it’s gotten better. He’s has having a great season, and plays a huge roll in how this team approaches each game. One could argue that despite the seasons that Betts and Ortiz are having, Pedroia could be the team MVP…but for now, he gets to Strut.
PITCHER: Finally…The Red Sox Bullpen
It’s not a cop out. Sure, David Price has been electric, has totally taken on the role of “ace” over the last couple months and could certainly be deserving of the Red Sox Strut this week. Sure, Rick Porcello only let up two runs, struck out seven and notched his 20th win of the season against Toronto. But these guys have been Strutting all season long. Also, it’s what’s expected from the top of this rotation at this point.
The Sox bullpen has been huge let-down all season. They’ve struggled in pressure situations when John Farrell and the team needed them most. Injuries have been an issue in 2016 which has led to a lack of defined bullpen roles. Now the Sox have apparently weathered the storm and the relief staff is looking much more refined.
Brad Ziegler returned from his bout with the flu and struggled a bit in one game versus the Jays, but he also gave Farrel 1.2 innings and 3 K’s a couple nights later against Toronto when the almost the entire pen was needed to bail out Clay Buchholz’ poor start.
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Koji Uehara also returned from the DL to the surprise of many who thought that Boston may not have his services for the rest of the season. He has come back and got right back into the flow. In three appearances last week, he had five strikeouts and only let up two hits in 3.0 innings pitched.
And of course there’s Craig Kimbrel. He’s clearly had some shaky moments in his first season with Boston, but he was fine last week. Kimbrel only recorded one save, but there were no blown saves or bad outings.
In fact, pretty much everyone in the bullpen contributed at some point including Matt Barnes, Robbie Ross Jr, and even Noe Ramirez recorded a big out against the Jays. Heath Hembree didn’t have the best week, but he’s become more of an “eat some innings when the Sox are out of the running kind of pitcher” anyway.
Even Fernando Abad and Junichi Tazawa got the job done when their numbers were called. The bullpen as a whole only allowed three earned runs over the course of the last six games. That’s an incredible feat for a staff that was seen as the Achilles heel for this team only a few weeks ago. CSNNE.com’s Sean McAdam says the bullpen is coming around at precisely the right time, and he’s exactly right.
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So the bullpen has finally gotten on the right track with defined roles and impact pitchers. And for a change, they get to Strut this week.