May 03, 2018

Betts' Hattrick Preserves Parity



Homestand Highlights

 Record (3-3)          Season (22-8)      GB 00.0      Series Play (8-2-0)
  •  The incredible season of Mookie Betts continues, and it seems now more than ever as Mookie goes, so do the Red Sox. After returning from a cranky hamstring, Betts three bombs in the Royals' finale gave them the series win and evened Boston's unimpressive homestand. Mookie has become such a dynamic leadoff hitter with a superb blend of power, speed, and an ability to hit for high average. When leading off an inning, Betts has belted five dingers and owns a .395 BA. As a table setter, he has been extraordinary. In 26 games, Mookie has counted for 32 runs to lead the majors. and also is tops in many other categories. He is now tied for the league lead in homers with Mike Trout with 11, and stands alone in batting average with a .365 mark. Furthermore, he also is tops in slugging percentage (.823) and weighted runs created (232). It also doesn't seem to matter to Mookie what the count is when he decides to leave earth. Five of the homers he has hit have come when he was behind in the count, and to that end, he is mashing at a blistering league-leading.480 when the pitcher is ahead. An even more impressive trait of Betts' is his matter-of-fact modesty when discussing his achievements. In this demonstrative era of baseball with players flashing gimmicky gestures and routines, Betts just plays the game the right way and has become a prominent leader in that Boston clubhouse.
  • The Red Sox ran into an unlikely buzzsaw in the Tampa Bay Rays. They came into Fenway and extended their winning streak to 8 games before Boston could quell their bats in a 4-3 comeback win in the finale. As a matter of fact, Boston was forced to rally to pick up all three wins on the homestand, with two more coming at the expense of the Kansas City Royals. Boston is now 11-4 at Fenway, and the team is batting a major league-leading .291 on home turf. They have scored the second most runs in the majors at home with 102 trailing the Yankees by 5. It comes as no surprise that Mookie Betts leads the Red Sox in home BA stroking a remarkable .439 in 12 games. Mitch Moreland has also become a force as of late and is second on the team in home BA authoring a .400 clip. JD Martinez is tied with Mookie for Fenway homers as both men have cranked 4 apiece. Martinez is delivering on the promise of muscle in the lineup as he drove in 6 runs on the homestand and leads the team in this category at home with a total of 17. Coming back off the ankle fracture it was feared that Xander would have cooled, but it didn't take him long to reveal that wouldn't be the case. Bogey drilled his second grand slam of the season in the Red Sox first win against the Royals. Both of his slams came at Fenway, and Xander also delivered both blasts with 2 out. Bogey also collected 6 steaks in the two series, and despite his stint on the DL, he still shares a second-place tie in home RBI as he and Betts both have 13. Click here for stats on the last Red Sox homestand
  • Some very inconsistent starting pitching in these past 6 games forced Boston to play from behind early and often. The Boston staff went 1-2 with a rancid 5.50 ERA. David Price has been regressing with a 0-2 mark in his last 2 outings allowing 9 runs in his last 13.1 IP, and Eduardo Rodriguez has a whiff of Felix Doubront about him as he struggled through a miserable effort against the Royals. Rodriguez continues to cast nagging doubts with uneven performances, and he needs to be an intricate part of a successful playoff season. Boston squandered another fine effort by Chris Sale (2-1, 2.14, K% 30.5) leaving him with his fourth no decision of the young season. Sale has turned in five quality starts and has yet to surrender more than 3 runs in all seven of his outings. Drew Pomeranz ended up hanging around long enough for the win in the Royals' finale, but a decrease in velocity and an ineffective curveball is compounding his problems. In the bullpen, It was the best of times and the worst of times for Hector Velaquez and Brian Johnson respectively. The days in the Boston bullpen may be numbered for Johnson as he had a horrid homestand. His stuff just doesn't seem to play in the pen as I feel he's more of a rhythm pitcher, and his repertoire seems best suited for the starting role. Consequently, Hector has been an unexpected surprise as he picked up a victory after Eduardo shit the bed in his home start. Velazquez is now 4-0 with a sparkling 2.05 ERA on the season. He has 2 wins as a starter and 2 more out of the pen as Boston's staff Swiss Army knife.
  • The Blake Swihart conundrum has become prominent once again after Christian Vazquez had a shitty defensive game in Boston's extra-innings loss to Kansas City. Vazquez picked up the rare catcher's balk, botched negating double steal with a low throw and failed to squeeze a perfect throw to the plate. I'm done drinking the Kool-Aid that he is a Molina-esque defensive wizard in the offing. He is very capable and could be an above average backstop. He just looks a bit too comfortable for my liking, and I think he needs to be pushed. Leon is better defensively, but due to the fact Sandy hasn't been hitting either, that really doesn't provide the fear factor with respect to playing time. Enter Blake Swihart. The team is playing well and that has been the excuse for not giving him a look behind the plate. I say it's the perfect time to try him out. You fix the roof when the sun is shining, not when it's raining. It can't hurt to give him a game here and there just to see what you have. Then there is the double talk. Cora says that Swihart is capable of catching at the major league level in one breath, but just not for the Red Sox in the other. So what do you do with him? If he doesn't play, it makes it hard to trade him because people don't know what he can do. It's a shame really, but if Vazquez doesn't step up his defensive play and Leon can't hit, Boston's hand could be forced if the club takes a prolonged trip through a valley.
Homestand by the Numbers
Name G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA
▼		 OBP SLG OPS
Mookie Betts413117730341210.636.6921.7272.420
J.D. Martinez6262341120163400.478.538.6961.234
Xander Bogaerts524221810160500.364.375.545.920
Mitch Moreland419175610232410.353.421.7651.186
Andrew Benintendi625235730011500.304.320.435.755
Rafael Devers523224620131700.273.304.500.804
Hanley Ramirez628243620013500.250.357.333.690
Eduardo Nunez624243500120700.208.208.333.542
Christian Vazquez417171310010300.176.176.235.412
Sandy Leon2760100010010.167.286.167.452
Jackie Bradley Jr.625221200032800.091.160.091.251
Tzu-Wei Lin3880000000000.000.000.000.000
Blake Swihart2330000000100.000.000.000.000
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/3/2018.
Name G GS
▼		 W L SV IP H R ER BB SO HR HBP ERA BAbip SO9
Drew Pomeranz221111.0147747305.73.3445.7
Rick Porcello117.273306103.52.2737.0
David Price1115.286545207.94.3757.9
Eduardo Rodriguez114.0555360211.25.50013.5
Chris Sale117.052126021.29.2637.7
Matt Barnes303.031105113.00.33315.0
Heath Hembree303.052222106.00.4006.0
Brian Johnson3015.01299052016.20.5009.0
Joe Kelly101.010002000.00.50018.0
Craig Kimbrel30113.141107102.70.60018.9
Carson Smith202.030003000.00.50013.5
Hector Velazquez2015.150013010.00.2945.1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/3/2018.




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