View from the Monster 5-5

By Mike in Featured, Red Sox ⋅ May 5, 2008 at 3:23am ⋅ Post a comment

The Red Sox got back on track this week by taking two-of-three from the Blue Jays in three great pitcher’s duels, all despite scoring a meager three runs. They also took care of business in sweeping the Rays pretty convincingly. I expected a tough stretch as the opposition was a pair of hungry young teams looking to prove that they are in the mix in the divisional race and not just an afterthought.

The Red Sox continued to struggle at the plate early in the homestand, mustering just 16 hits against the Blue Jays, only four of those for extra bases. Fortunately, the hitting was timely, winning the first two games in their last at bat to make an MLB-leading nine times on the season and earning Jonathan Papelbon his first two wins of the season.

We all knock Manny Ramirez for his aloofness and penchant for admiring singles (that should be doubles), but did you notice the hustle to score the winning run in the second game of the series from second on a Jason Varitek single up the middle? Perhaps more notable was that Jed Lowrie could not score on a near identical play in the previous at bat by David Ortiz. How often did we think we would see Manny score where Lowrie could not?

The bats finally woke up during the series with the Rays in scoring 26 runs over the three games. The Sox were able to knock out all three Rays starters within four innings and were able to work on their bullpen. As for the pitching, Jon Lester pitched well in his second start of the homestand, allowing one run over six innings, after holding the Jays to zero over eight in his prior start.

The Red Sox head into this week leading the East by three games and will have back to back four game sets on the road in Detroit and Minnesota (wrapping up the trip with a two game series at Baltimore). The Tigers began the season with an 0-7 start, which was disappointing given the expectations coming into this season after adding Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis over the winter.

Though the Detroit pitching did appear to be suspect, especially in the back end of the bullpen, it seems everyone made them a near lock to score 1,000 runs. The Tigers are sporting a team ERA near 5.00, putting them near the bottom of the majors in the category, which is the primary factor to the poor start. Their offense, which finally seems to be firing on all cylinders, is now scoring just under five runs per game on average, putting them among the MLB leaders. This past week, they swept their final regular season series at Yankee Stadium for the first time since 1966, but followed that up by having the Twins return the favor to them.

Later in the week, the Red Sox head to the Metrodome (I cannot wait until we don’t have to see that building anymore) for four with the rebuilding Twins. Recently, the cost-conscious Twins have always seemed to have a call-up ready to fill a gap left by a departing veteran, but with Johan Santana and Torii Hunter gone this season, the voids seem to be so big on this team.

They lack an anchor in the rotation, though they have a lockdown closer in Joe Nathan, and the lineup is missing a legitimate feared hitter. Francisco Liriano, finally returning from Tommy John surgery, may have been the Twins’ new expected No. 1 starter, but after an ineffective spring and minor league stint, he was called up for a disastrous major league stint before being sent back down. Carlos Gomez brings speed, Joe Mauer gets on base consistently (when healthy), and Justin Morneau will hit for power, but the lineup does not go deep enough one through nine to scare most pitchers. Despite the negatives, the Twins are riding are five-game win streak after dispatching the Tigers.

While this week is not as critical since the games are outside the division, it will be another good early road test for the Red Sox, as they are under .500 (6-8) outside Fenway. The team actually has fared pretty well on the road, sweeping two game sets in Oakland (after the split in Japan, of course) and Cleveland and split the series in New York. However, they have already been swept in Toronto and in last weekend’s series in Tampa Bay.

From my view, continued solid starting pitching is the key to winning games right now. If the starters continue to go deep into games, the relief staff will stay fresh and continue to lock down games. The recent funk seemed to be mostly offensive in nature and the heart of the order finally seems to be hitting together for the first time all season.

Tags: Detroit Tigers, Jed Lowrie, Jonathan Papelbon, Manny Ramirez, Minnesota Twins, View from the Monster