Ever since Tampa Bay eviscerated the Sox in that four game beatdown a week ago, Boston has run off a tidy 5-2 winning streak that has them a mere 5 1/2 games behind the Devil Rays (yes, I am calling them by their birth names – they’ve earned it).
So tell me, why does this little run have all the feel of a summer blockbuster that has had 3D effects added in post production?
I mean it looks alright on paper, but watching it makes you feel a little bit queasy and definitely like you’ve been cheated.
Yes, I’m talking to you, Clash of the Titans.
Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that Boston’s five wins have come against Texas, Baltimore and Toronto – not exactly the elite clubs of the American League.
No, against such teams (NYY, TB & MIN), Boston is 2-8. Throw in a couple Ws against the lowly Royals, and what you have is a team that is feasting on weak competition and getting devoured by better clubs.
Go deeper into the box scores of this recent stretch and you will be asking yourself, when is a win not really a win? Answer - when you have to scrape & claw & fight, then hang on for dear life, just to beat said lesser teams.
Okay, technically they are still wins. Just not quality, reassuring wins.
Case in point would be last night’s game at Rogers Center vs. the backsliding Blue Jays. Boston staked Josh Beckett to a 5-0 lead after three innings, only to watch the former ace give it all back in a sloppy, 6-run Toronto third.
What followed was a see-saw affair with both clubs trading runs and leads like a couple of Little League squads. When the dust settled there were a combined 34 hits, 25 runs and 399 pitches, and Jonathan Papelbon had to close out the game as Boston hung on for a mind-numbing 13-12 victory.
Not exactly a confidence-inspiring win, right?
Other less-than-impressive games in this streak, in which six of the seven games have been decided by one run, include: a pair of extra-inning nailbiters against the Rangers; a 7-6 extra inning loss to the Orioles where Boston allowed 3 runs in the 7th and 3 more in the 10th; and a win against the Birds on a bases loaded walk.
Did I mention all those games were at Fenway?
Gee, maybe I should contact my buddy Higs at Higs Tickets and reserve my World Series ducats now, huh?
Granted 2/3 of the Sox outfield is still on the DL. Jacoby Ellsbury learned he did have cracked ribs after all (nice medial work, Bosox docs), and Mike Cameron is waiting to decide whether or not to have surgery on his sports hernia.
But offense has not been the problem in this streak. In fact, Boston averaged almost 6 1/2 runs per game the past week.
No, the problem has been on the mound.
Boston hurlers have allowed nearly the same run total to the opposition (45-43), as the Sox staff has been surrendering just over six runs per game in the same time frame.
And an average score of 6.43-6.14 makes for a lot of close, tense, beer league softball-type games.
Now the pitching staff is about to be shaken up with the arrival of Daisuke Matsuzaka from the disabled list. To make way for the high-priced head case, Boston is moving Tim Wakefield to the bullpen to allow Dice-K one last chance top prove he was worth the $101 million the Sox invested in him.
Chalk this up to another example of post-production tinkering.
Sox fans have to believe that Beckett won’t be toting an ERA over 7.00 in September, and his co-ace Jon Lester won’t be wielding an ungodly plus-six number by then either.
And we also have to hope that one of the trio of Wake, Buchholz and Matsuzaka will step up and be a reliable #4 starter, that Manny Delcarmen will get back in the good graces of Terry Francona, and that the two Scotts, Atchison and Scoenweis, still have their arms attached to their shoulders after July.
Until then, we’ll have to wait for that other summer blockbuster to arrive - the trade deadline.
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