Red Sox Strut: Mookie Betts and Eduardo Rodriguez

The weekly article series where we examine the two players who deserve to strut their stuff for the Boston Red Sox. This week — Mookie Betts and Eduardo Rodriguez.

If you want 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 was a wild week for the Boston Red Sox. They played six games after the annual Marathon Monday morning match-up taking two out of three from the Toronto Blue Jays and then dropping two out of three to the Baltimore Orioles. These were six hard-fought games that were either highlighted or overshadowed – depending on how you want to look at it – by the Manny Machado escapades over the weekend.

An early theme thus far for Boston seems to be that their pitching may be a bit sporadic and difficult to predict when Chris Sale is not on the mound, however they are finding ways to win with timely hitting. Although the lack of power may be an issue, it’s still very early and there is certainly time for guys to step up in the heat of  the summer months.

Let’s take a look at who was able to perform at the highest level over the course of the last week giving them the rights to strut their stuff.

Strutting Candidates: A Recap of the Red Sox offense last week

It was a tough week for the Red Sox offense. They weren’t able to get much going as far as getting runners across the plate. It’s obvious that the team is lacking some power as currently constituted and are seriously missing the bat of David Ortiz is his first year of retirement. They did quite a few hits, but just had difficulty piecing things together. Boston was shut out twice – once by the Jays and once by the Orioles. They only managed to score twenty runs total for the week – just over three runs per game. There is no way an offense like this should only be scoring three runs per game or be shut out twice in one week.

Hanley Ramirez had an awful week. While he did hit his first home run of the season on Sunday, he had three games without one hit and only went 3-for-27 for the week – a measly average of .111. He needs to be better and to get back to the Hanley of 2016 in the middle of the lineup for the Sox to have success.

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Pablo Sandoval scattered a few hits, but still isn’t quite where they want him to be. He also still looks like he is pressing too hard at the plate.

The catching combo of Sandy Leon and Christian Vazquez is close to an automatic out at this point. Leon, who started the year on fire, has really fallen back to earth going 0-for-10 in his last three games. Vazquez wasn’t exactly tearing the cover off the ball going 3-for-11 in the same span.

Last week’s strutter Mitch Moreland didn’t look as strong at the plate either. He is striking out a bit more and is not quite as productive at the plate. He did have a big game in the first one of the Toronto series. No one really expected Mitch to keep it up anyway.

We all know what went down with Pedroia over the weekend. He left Friday’s game after Manny Machado slid into his surgically repaired knee and hasn’t returned. He will get an MRI Monday. He wasn’t exactly tearing it up in the Jays series, but that’s still a huge blow to an already struggling lineup.

So what went right for this team’s offense? Xander Bogaerts has been trying his hand at the leadoff position and is doing alright. He had at least one hit in all five games he played in. Andrew Benintendi has also been hitting. He had a big RBI ground rule double against Toronto and his week culminated with a 5-for-5 performance on Sunday in Baltimore.

Strutting Candidates: A recap of the Red Sox pitching staff last week

It was more of the same for the Red Sox pitching this week. Chris Sale looks absolutely dominant and is making an early case for Cy Young Award winner in the American League, but the rest of the Sox staff is shaky and inconsistent.

It was nice to see Brian Johnson make a spot start for the club in Toronto and he did OK getting through five innings allowing four runs on seven hits and three walks with six strikeouts. A lot of fans thought they’d never see Johnson in Boston again after his bout with an anxiety disorder. This a nice story all-around.

Drew Pomeranz is pitching just fine, but still cannot go beyond five or six innings. If they could stretch him out to seven innings, he would be a valuable middle-of-the-rotation guy.

Rick Porcello continues to be about a step behind what he was last season for Boston. He did manage to get through seven innings in a losing effort to Toronto in which the offense was held scoreless. A few more performances like this from Porcello and he’ll find a way to get in the win column. He needs to get that 5.32 ERA down a bit though.

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• How Red Sox’ latest cheap endeavor could carve out a role in 2023
• Conflicting report about Mookie Betts trade paints Chaim Bloom in even worse light

Talk about a guy that has regressed from 2016 to 2017 – Steven Wright is just not the same pitcher. This time he went a little further than his last effort, but that’s not saying much. Wright was knocked out of the game in the fourth inning after allowing four runs on nine hits, two of which were big homerun blasts.

What else is there left to say about Chris Sale? The guy is dominant. He could easily win the strut honors this week but I just can’t do it for the third week in a row.

The bullpen has been solid and has turned around for Boston. Matt Barnes has been fine, but his week was clearly defined by getting tossed for head-hunting on Machado. Craig Kimbrel, who easily could have had the strut honors last week, had a solid week considering he gave a homerun in the ninth of the Sale outing and blowing a huge save opportunity in the process. He turned it around that same game and struck out the side in the ninth to get the win. Kimbrel earned his seventh save of the season on Sunday in Baltimore.

Eduardo Rodriguez is a new father and a new strutter

With David Price on the mend and Chris Sale and Rick Porcello trying to lead the staff, it’s really important for one of the other starters to get things going early on. This week was a big one for Eduardo Rodriguez both professionally and personally. Rodriguez became a father and then returned to the club to have a huge performance.

Rodriguez threw a scoreless inning in relief against the Jays. Then he was tasked with stopping the bleeding against his former team in Baltimore. And that’s just what he did. With Boston backs against the wall against the rival Orioles, Rodriguez helped Boston avoid the sweep by throwing six scoreless innings. Sure, he walked five and needs to throw more strikes to go further into the game, but he only allowed one hit and sat down seven batters by way of the K.

Per the Boston Herald’s Jason Mastrodonato, after the game, Rodriguez said:

“It seems like every time I pitch here, I feel good. That’s what happens when you feel good, you throw a good game.”

Next: Early inning run drought could be a problem

Let’s hope that Rodriguez can keep this up. If he can solidify his spot as the “third guy” in this rotation, throw more strikes and keep his head straight, Rodriguez may just finally become the talented arm that Boston has believed he is from the beginning. So Eduardo can do the new-father strut this week as he looks to build on his last couple outings.