Red Sox Recap: Home Run Derby

Population: Red Sox Opponents

Results

Orioles 1-8 Red Sox                                                       Rays 10-5 Red Sox                    

Orioles 12-5 Red Sox                                                        Rays 1-2 Red Sox

Pirates 3-4 Red Sox                                                        Rays 5-7 Red Sox

4-2 record for the boys this week. Solid showings against teams they should beat, with the offense performing much better overall. This makes sense, as most of the starting lineup was actually playing instead of vomiting all over the clubhouse. 

      The best part of this week was the Red Sox demonstrating resilience and an ability to win in a variety of ways. In the makeup game against the Pirates on Wednesday, Chad Kuhl absolutely shut down the Sox for 7 innings, giving Pittsburgh a 3-1 lead through 7. Boston got into the bullpen and rallied back for 3 runs in the 8th, with HanRam and Xander Bogaerts providing the key hits. On Saturday, Chris Sale was lights out once again, but the bats were quiet despite facing the Rays bullpen for the entire game after Odorizzi pulled a muscle in the 2nd inning. Baseball is a weird game, and that will happen sometimes, but it was great to see the bottom of the lineup scratch out the winning run in the 7th. On Sunday, the Sox got multi-hit days from 6 different players, scoring consistently throughout the game to win a wild, back-and-forth affair. This week they won a blowout, a comeback, a pitchers duel, and a see-saw game. That's the kind of flexibility that can do serious damage in the playoffs.

Hero of the Week: Mitch Moreland

Wonderful tee shot, Mr. Moreland!

        

       When the Sox signed Moreland in the offseason, I expected outstanding defense but below average offensive production compared to other first basemen. He's made a big dent in proving me wrong this week, going 9-21 (is hitting .428 good?) with 4 doubles and a homer. If he can return to his 2015 levels of production, when he hit .278 with 23 HR, that will go a long way towards making the Red Sox lineup the best in the AL. 

Honorable Mention: Chris Sale 

Sale turned in another brilliant start this week, striking out 12 Rays over 7 innings of 1 run ball. His starts are quickly becoming appointment viewing, and he's singlehandedly driving up the price of K sign stock in Boston. Take notes, David Price: this is what a high profile acquisition Ace is supposed look like. 

Goat of the Week: Steven Wright

Has that ball landed yet?

     Steven Wright made one start this week. He got four Orioles hitters out, and gave up four home runs. I am on the record as saying that knuckleballers results are mostly luck; they throw the knuckleball at the plate and hope for the best. Sometimes, they string a bunch of good luck together and win the Cy Young (RA Dickey) or make the All-Star team (2016 Wright). Sometimes you give up 8 runs in an inning. I fear that we're due for a lot more of this Steven Wright than the one we saw last season. 

Honorable Mention: Rick  Porcello

     Rick made a damn good push for this dubious honor, as he also gave up 4 homers and 8 runs to the Rays, but he at least made it into the 5th inning. For those of you keeping score at home, Boston pitchers allowed 12 home runs in 6 games this week. Let's work on that shall we?

Looking Ahead

        Patriots Day game at 11:30 AM on Monday, then hitting the road for a 6 game road trip: 3 in Toronto then 3 in Baltimore. The Blue Jays are off to the worst start in franchise history and the Orioles are the Orioles. Let's shoot for 6-1, 4-3 at the worst.