Beckett implodes, but Red Sox win wild one over Blue Jays
The $68 million the Red Sox gave to Josh Beckett isn't looking like the smartest investment.
Josh Beckett continued to live up to the four-year, $68 million deal given to him by the Boston Red Sox prior to the season. Heaping sarcasm consumes that statement, as, after his offense scored four runs in the third inning to take a 5-0 lead, the Red Sox so-called ace promptly gave up six runs in the bottom of the inning to the Toronto Blue Jays.
In the fourth inning, it was more of the same. After Marco Scutaro scored on a wild-pitch and a reborn Jason Varitek knocked two in with a single, Beckett walked the only two batters he faced in the bottom of the inning. He was relieved by Scott Atchison, who allowed those two runners to score on a two-out triple by former Red Sox Alex Gonzalez. Beckett’s final line? Three-plus innings, nine hits, eight runs, three walks, raising his ERA to 7.22.
After four innings, Boston was tied at eight and, with Dana Eveland’s early departure for Toronto, both teams were into their bullpens. This had the makings of an offensive shootout. The Red Sox haven’t been in many high-scoring games, and when they have they have been on the short end. But this, for a change, was a different story. It was the Blue Jays that managed to pitch worse.
The two American League East teams exchanged runs in the fifth, both coming with two out as Kevin Youkilis drove in Dustin Pedroia and Adam Lind plated Fred Lewis. Boston appeared to break it open in the sixth. Varitek and Beltre singled with one out to begin the threat, then with two out Darnell McDonald, who made a name for himself last week upon being called up, stroked a double down the left-field line to score the go-ahead run. Scutaro followed with an infield single to third, scoring Beltre, and then Pedroia rewarded both McDonald and Scutaro for their efforts, socking a double to left to drive them in and give Boston a 13-9 lead.
After Toronto tacked on a run in the bottom, Red Sox reliever Hideki Okajima allowed three straight singles to begin the eighth. The tying run was at the plate for the Blue Jays, but though a second run would score to cut the margin to one, Okajima’s replacement Daniel Bard limited the damage by retiring all three batters he faced.
Closer Jonathan Papelbon had an equally simplistic outing, sending down Toronto in order in the ninth to give Boston a 13-12 win. It was just Boston’s fifth win in 13 chances at home, and it only improved their record to 9-11, where they stand 5 1/2 games back of Tampa Bay, but at least their offense showed some life. The problem is, they needed all 13 runs, thanks in large part to the continued ineptness of Beckett and the bullpen.
Again, just more fools gold.
The Red Sox are beating up on bad teams, the Orioles and the Blue Jays are bad teams, in fact I still think that in the end the Orioles will finish ahead of the Blue Jays, and Texas is struggling, and they gave away one of the 3 games up in Fenway.
The point is that despite having a winning record over the past 7 games, the Red Sox STILL have struggled, and none of these games were a breeze, and they couldn’t put away bad teams with little or no pitching.
They aren’t going to score allot of runs this season, not against good pitching, sure they can score 7 runs against a pitcher who belongs in the minors, but that isn’t going to happen enough, and starting May 3 and lasting 23 games, it may not even happen at all.
The key number for the Red Sox this season is 4.
Can they hold the opposition to less than 4 runs?
Can they get 4 runs across the plate?
In games that they hold the opposition to less than 4 runs, they are going to have a stellar record. The problem is, that it isn’t going to happen enough. In games where their starter is on and has his best stuff, normally a team would eventually have the big inning and put the other team away. The Red Sox aren’t doing that, and even in well pitched games they are letting the other team hang around and wait out the starter, who then has no margin for error, instead of being able to attack. On the other hand in games where the Red Sox give up that 4th run they are probably going to lose 75% of the time.
It is really pretty simple, if you think the Red Sox are going to win today parlay the Red Sox and the under, if you think the Red Sox are going to lose today, parlay the opposition and the over, because one of those 2 outcomes are going to happen at least 60% if not 70% of the time for Red Sox this season, and in that a parlay will pay 3 to 1, you will clean up if you can accurately make the right pick more than 60% of the time, and that is relatively easy to do, because good pitching has shut them down, and they have feasted on bad ptiching.
As for getting 4 runs across the plate, in the past 7 games they have primarily scored all of these runs against the bullpens and guys that should not even be in the Rangers, before this stretch of 7 games, they had demonstrated an inability to score that 4th run.
This team was built to consistently win games 4-2, and they have demonstrated that they cannot consistently do that.
If you think that Darnell McDonald is going to carry them through May and they are going to win slugfests against the Tigers, Yankees, Angels, Rays and Phillies, you are completely in denial.
This is the quiet before the storm, and the storm starts next week, and it is going to last for awhile.
You make some solid points. I don’t think this offense is built to score five, six runs a game. Maybe not even four over the long-haul, especially if Ellsbury is out for a extended length of time.
They are in trouble, and it could only get worse given their upcoming schedule.
When you have to rely on McDonald and Varitek to hit, its not a very good sign.
We’ll see, if they can somehow manage to weather this storm, they could make a run into the summer. But that’s if they find a way to score and pitch at the same time, and keep doing both simultaneously for a while.