General Manager Ben Cherington took most of the blame on Friday for the current Red Sox underperformance. He did not point fingers at Manager John Farrell as he easily could have and said that the team is ” ironing out their problems from within for now”. He also stated that the Red Sox would be actively pursuing trades to solidify the team during the busy Baseball months of June And July.
Many Fans are wondering how the Red Sox could be in the basement of the AL East with so many good players on this year’s team. They have played tough opponents however and are trying to successfully integrate a solid core of veterans with an up and coming roster of rookies. This is never an easy task. The Red Sox management and owners from John Henry to Ben Cherington to John Farrell have stessed that they are doing this all while pursuing an AL East Title.
This past week was somewhat turbulent in immediate results though. The Red Sox dropped the last game against the Rangers on Sunday. However, after the Monday game was postponed….. they played Minnesota again. Clay Buchholz stepped up and surrendered 0 runs in a spectacular 1-0 Red Sox Win. The next game a bright spot occured as Lefty Rookie Pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez picked up the win as the Red Sox scored 6 and the twins only had 3 and his record improved to 2-0. It seems that there will be a roster spot for Rodriguez as Porcello and Kelly struggle and Wright pitches… fans are wondering who will be sent back to Pawtucket.
As the pitching staff looks to settle into a consistency….they cannot have games like Thursday where they were up 4-0 , the bullpen then collapsed and Uehara got roughed up taking the loss for the night. Some pitcher’s may need to be re-shuffled to address this problem for the Red sox to have a good chance at being competitive in the stretch run.
This weekend’s matchup against the Oakland Athletics will answer some important questions as Miley and Kelly get starts to show what they can continue to do for the team.. Hanley Ramirez is back and the bats should be warming up to support the starting pitching when it does perform well. The Red Sox lineup is still stacked and will be exciting to watch during the fun Summer months to come.
Let’s Go Sox.