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Sox Head West, Offense Goes SouthMay 30th, 2008
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Superman has his Kryptonite. Spider-Man has his forever-conflicting sense of responsibility. And the oh-so-close-to-being-immortal Achilles had that pesky heel thing.
But the fatal weakness for the Red Sox thus far this season has been quite simple—with no intergalactic travel required. Because just outside the friendly nooks and crannies of Fenway Park, the mighty Boston lineup tends to morph from a run-producing powerhouse into the motley crew that made up the anemic offense of the painfully awful ‘62 Mets.
OK, a bit of an exaggeration, for sure. After all, the Sox, despite a recent run-scoring outage, still maintain the second best road OPS in the American League. But with Boston dropping 10 of their last 12 away from the Fens—and averaging only 3.5 runs in the process—the team needs to take the nearest exit ramp off this road to perdition.
After the first six contests of a ten game trip—a West Coast swing through Oakland and Seattle before heading back east to square off against Baltimore this weekend—the Sox find themselves with only a single etch in the win column.
Scoring a not-so-grand total of 14 runs over 54 innings of play, the Boston bats have been almost non-existent, batting .169 overall on the trip with nearly as many whiffs (45) as hits and walks combined (54).
Twice shutout, the Sox were nearly no-hit by the Athletics’ Justin Duchscherer last weekend. The club’s offensive woes continued this past Wednesday when the Mariners’ Erik Bedard blanked the homesick BoSox in the rubber game of the series. No, not even a rendezvous with baseball’s worst team could cure Boston’s ills on the road.
Six games into the trip, the combination of right fielder J.D. Drew, third baseman Mike Lowell, outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, shortstop Julio Lugo, and second baseman Dustin Pedroia collectively sport a Tony Pena Jr.—endorsed batting average of .165.
And, meanwhile, the recipe of first baseman Kevin Youkilis, center fielder Coco Crisp, catcher Jason Varitek, and his backup, Kevin Cash, have managed to cook up a Weight Watchers zero point dish … as in zero hits in 40 at-bats. Yum, the bland taste of futility.
Playing .808 baseball at home (21-5), the Sox have been polar opposites away from Boston as they sit at 11-19, the second worst road record in the AL.
Dicey Situation For Daisuke
After leaving Tuesday night’s game against Seattle before the start of the fifth inning due to right shoulder fatigue, Daisuke Matsuzaka will return to Boston on Friday for a precautionary MRI and further evaluation.
Despite picking up his eighth win versus zero losses on the year in his last start, Matsuzaka struggled against Kansas City, allowing six hits and issuing six walks in five and two-thirds innings pitched. The laborious effort required 118 pitches from Daisuke.
Will Carroll, the injury guru over at Baseball Prospectus, chimed in about Matsuzaka’s shoulder fatigue in his most recent “Under The Knife” column. Here’s a snippet of what he had to say (subscription required for full article):
Uh-oh. A fatigued shoulder on a pitcher known for his workload? That doesn’t sound good, but how do the facts match up for Matsuzaka? Reports say that Matsuzaka’s shoulder “compared favorably” to his baseline, but that’s a very broad and intentionally vague statement … More telling is the MRI scheduled for Friday. No, it’s not that he’s having an MRI, but that he’s having to wait more than 48 hours. That indicates some swelling, and that tells us that Matsuzaka isn’t going to make even a delayed throw day; his next start is all but out of the question … The Sox are very cautious with pitchers, but they have some depth and a favorable upcoming schedule to work with. They have a lot invested in Matsuzaka, so expect a very conservative play here, but nothing more than conservatism.
A currently rehabbing Clay Buchholz (fingernail) or Justin Masterson, two-for-two in exceptional spot starts this season, will likely take Matsuzaka’s turn in the rotation next week. And by then, the Sox will know much more on the status of their $100 million international investment.
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