Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
The Boston Red Sox have to be the most enigmatic and frustrating teams to watch this season. The starting pitching was dreadful. Just when the pitching looked to get better, they stopped hitting. Fortunately, and somewhat miraculously, they have managed to hang on and stay on the fringes of contention.
Why has Boston been so bad? It could be because a lot of expectations have been made of Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval. Ramirez has been solid as a hitter, but his fielding has been horrible. He just got out of a funk where he went pretty much the month of May without a run batted in. Sandoval all of a sudden can’t seem to throw a ball to first base. David Ortiz has started out extremely slowly. Mike Napoli had maybe one of the worst slumps to start a season of his career.
There are times during a season when a team might be able to point to a particular event and say that was the moment that turned the team around. Sometimes it can be something very simple like a song or a mascot. Other times, it could be a fight that unites a team. When Boston rallied almost out of nowhere against the Oakland Athletics on Sunday, that might have been the most energetic and alive we have seen this team this year.
It almost felt like a new Opening Day for a team that was really getting criticized for a lack of fight. Whether or not this gives them any sort of momentum is highly debatable. If they can go on from there, this comeback is just the shot of confidence this team badly needed.
Maybe the offense has finally arrived after a month’s vacation, and it couldn’t happen a moment sooner.
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 +.
