Jesse Johnson-US Presswire
So many things are wrong with the Boston Red Sox right now.
When Jon Lester decided to sign with the Chicago Cubs, that basically left the Red Sox without an ace. General Manager Ben Cherington decided to go with get a bunch of middle-of-the-rotation pitchers and hope that they play a bit above their heads. Add the forever mercurial Clay Buchholz to the mix, and Boston was hoping for at least a solid rotation. It didn’t work out that way.
The pitching really struggled, so bad that pitching coach Juan Nieves had to take the fall. Now to Boston’s credit, the starting pitching has been better recently and in particular Buchholz, Wade Miley and Rick Porcello, for the most part. If Boston can get out of their rut, those top three could be as solid as any other three starting pitchers out there. It’s not the pitching that is really puzzling, as not a lot was expected going in. It is the offense that has left fans completely baffled.
They aren’t hitting. Not at all. The thing that is unsettling is that this is a team that was built for offense and they can’t score against anyone. Don’t even get me started with left-handed pitchers against them. If you are left-handed and you have a pulse, you can probably beat this team. I was even thinking about suiting up and going against them since I am left handed. I’m kidding, sort of.
David Ortiz is really struggling and particularly against lefties. It could be he is just off to a slow start or it could be his age is catching up to him. Let’s hope it isn’t the latter. Hanley Ramirez started out red hot, but ever since he ran into a wall and hurt his shoulder, he only has one run batted in during the month of May. Pablo Sandoval has two hits batting right-handed all season. They didn’t spend that money to have a platoon player. Mike Napoli finally got it going this weekend but he can’t do it alone. And is anyone else getting tired of Daniel Nava grounding out and killing rallies every few days or so?
The middle of the offense has to hit or else losing is imminent. As well, teams are starting to figure out that lefties destroy the Red Sox so they will run 0ut any lefty that they can get their hands on. Until Boston figures out how to overcome these issues, they won’t go on any sort of run.
Thank heavens they play in the putrid American League East.
Carter Roane is a Boston Red Sox writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @CarterGRoane, “Like”him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
