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May 3, 2010

Despair? You're Soaking In It

They walked off the field, heads down, eyes hidden by the brims of their caps. The dugout swallowed them as they headed to pack their suitcases for a return to Boston. It was ... a new low in a season full of them.
It was the first time Boston had been swept in a three-game series in Baltimore in 35 years (September 2-4, 1974).

The Red Sox are 11-14.

They are in fourth place.

They are 7 GB.

And this week's schedule has four games against the Angels and three against the Yankees.Dustin Pedroia:
Everyone thought Baltimore was three easy wins, and we got our asses kicked three times.
Theo Epstein:
... bad baseball. Unintelligent, undisciplined, uninspired baseball. It's got to change. It either changes itself or we have to do something to change it.
Nick Underhill, RSM:
[T]hey are either going to wake up and start playing well or sink closer to oblivion.
Example
At Over The Monster, in a "Comprehensive Guide to April", 0157H7 asks: "Why is such a good team, at least on paper, playing so badly?"

First, he notes that the Sox are actually overperforming (!) their expected wins by one game and claims that the offense "has been fine. They are 5th in the league in runs scored."

Well, ... Boston is actually 6th in RS, and if they had scored only four fewer runs over the 25 games, they would be down to 8th. 0157H7 points out the Sox's good record when they score 5+ runs (8-3). However, for a team averaging 4.56 runs per game (an average boosted by three games of 9, 9 and 13 runs, by the way; it's 3.77 in the other 22 games), that tidbit may not offer the clearest picture of the offense.

Plus, you can turn it around and say that when the Red Sox have scored six runs or fewer, they are 4-11. By contrast, the Rays are 7-6 and the Yankees are 8-7. Only when the Sox get seven or more men across the plate is a win pretty much assured, as they are 7-1 when that happens. Tampa Bay is 11-0 and New York is 8-1.

There have been is very little late-inning heroics so far:

Red Sox record when they are tied ...
After 6 innings    2-3
After 7 innings    1-6
After 8 innings    2-5
Extra innings      1-5
The Soxaholix ask "Is It 'Still Early' Yet?":
Example
And is this the first indication of clubhouse trouble?
A clear divide is opening between the veterans of the team's World Series and playoff runs and the new players who were acquired to bolster the club this winter. Marco Scutaro seems like the only truly assimilated player of the bunch.
Pedroia sounds like Jeter circa 2005/06 when he says, "There's a lot of guys that have been here that are not used to this."

Jonathan Papelbon:
This game is going to test you, it's going to test every last bit of your will and fortitude. ... . You can't sit here worrying about the last game. You have to move on to next game and keep grinding away.
A reminder:
at

12 comments:

  1. laura kMay 3, 2010 at 10:32 AM

    I hate baseball.

    ReplyDelete
  2. laura kMay 3, 2010 at 10:32 AM

    Nice post, btw.

    ReplyDelete
  3. 9caseyMay 3, 2010 at 11:06 AM

    Clubhouse divide? I can't believe in the article how he basically makes this up , and then gives no facts or names to back it up....

    Is it too late to bring back Millar?

    ReplyDelete
  4. laura kMay 3, 2010 at 11:13 AM

    I can't believe in the article how he basically makes this up , and then gives no facts or names to back it up....

    We don't know if he's making it up or not. He's stating his own observation.

    ReplyDelete
  5. mattymattyMay 3, 2010 at 11:38 AM

    By all accounts I've read everyone the Sox have brought in has always been a good teammate. The exception is Bill Hall, but not because he isn't a good teammate, just because I haven't read anything about him one way or the other.

    The bottom line is they have to get their starting pitching going. If they do you won't hear any more about a clubhouse divide.

    ReplyDelete
  6. johngoldfineMay 3, 2010 at 11:47 AM

    I don't understand the point of Theo making a public statement like the one you quote. Does he think the team will play better if it knows the boss is mad? Does he think a bunch of obvious but insulting adjectives pump clubhouse motivation?

    This is the team he assembled and now he slags it? Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes it eats you--I'd expect the GM to have a firmer grasp of than anyone.

    ReplyDelete
  7. laura kMay 3, 2010 at 11:51 AM

    I took Theo's statement to be more for the fans than anything else. A display.

    ReplyDelete
  8. laura kMay 3, 2010 at 11:52 AM

    The bottom line is they have to get their starting pitching going. If they do you won't hear any more about a clubhouse divide.

    Very true. Winning creates chemistry, not the other way around.

    Geez I'm blathering here today.

    ReplyDelete
  9. 9caseyMay 3, 2010 at 12:21 PM

    mattymatty said...
    The bottom line is they have to get their starting pitching going. If they do you won't hear any more about a clubhouse divide.




    There starting pitching was good enough to win 2 of those games....

    ReplyDelete
  10. AmyMay 3, 2010 at 12:32 PM

    OTM seemed to suggest that pitching is the real problem, that our pitching staff is performing below reasonable expectations, from the starting rotation through the bullpen, except for HH. That seems right to me. The offense may be underperforming also, as is the defense. In fact, the whole team sucks.

    I hate baseball also.

    ReplyDelete
  11. allanMay 3, 2010 at 1:00 PM

    Tomase offers this:

    "There's no accountability," fumed one clubhouse source.

    ***

    ?

    ReplyDelete
  12. 9caseyMay 3, 2010 at 1:45 PM

    Despair - its always darkest before it goes pitch black...:)


    I prefer its always darkest right before dawn....

    ReplyDelete