May 14, 2018

Dead Heat at the Quarter Pole



Road Recap

 Record (6-4)        Season (28-12)      GB 00.0      Series Play (10-3-0)
  • It seemed inevitable that this would manifest itself, but I didn't expect it to happen this soon. After 40 games, the Red Sox have been tracked down by the Yankees who went on a blistering winning streak. The Red Sox epic run of 17-2 to begin the season was followed with a sluggish 11-10 mark. It was April 21st when the Red Sox fortunes began to turn, and New York was 10-9 at that time. Since then, the Yankees have gone on a remarkable 18-3 tear which included a pair of 8 game winning streaks. After the Yankees' first two wins against Boston at Yankee Stadium, they had even bumped Boston from their first-place perch atop the AL East. It would be the first time the Red Sox lost their grip on the AL East lead since March 31st. The Sawx regained a share of the lead by winning the getaway game of the series to bring us to this current deadlock.
  • Despite the monumental push by their fabled foes, Boston won the series they were supposed to on this road trip and turned in a solid 6-4 record. The Red Sox also own a 17-8 road record, and those 17 wins are the most in the majors. Looking at some other road numbers, they sit in third in overall win percentage behind the major league-leading Angels (.778)  and the second place Astros (.700). Additionally, Boston is tied with Atlanta for the most homers with 36 and is fourth in the majors in runs with 116. On the bump, the Sawx have the third-best road ERA in the AL (3.16) with opponents batting a meager .207 good for second stingiest in the AL. However, Sawx chuckers have issued the third most free passes (78).
  • Starting pitching was the Achilles Heel of the Red Sox during their recent decline. As they were treading water during their 11-10 stretch, the starting rotation turned in a disappointing 6-5 record with a salty 4.58 ERA. Not to be outdone, the bullpen chipped in with their own version of mediocrity going 5-5 with a 3.84 ERA. The real story with the struggles with the bullpen lies in the free passes. The relief corps walked 19 batters in 63.1 IP with Matt Barnes and Heath Hembree combining for 13 of these in 16 innings. David Price took a huge step forward in Toronto after all the blather concerning his gaming habits that may have contributed to "mild" Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I'm sure somewhere Dennis Eckersley was laughing his ass off when that was revealed. His inability to experiencing feeling in his throwing hand forced him to miss his start in New York. He also bailed in his first start against the Yankees due to the same malady. Hey, if you're hurt, ya can't do anything about it, but it's not a good look for a guy who really needs to take the ball every time his turn comes around. Price only went 5.1 innings in Toronto but he earned the "W". In Price's last 4 starts, he is 1-3 with a 7.25 ERA  getting tagged for 28 hits in 22.1 IP, so he really needs to step in up in a huge way.
  • JD Martinez continued his stellar production on the road trip drilling 4 long balls and tying for the lead for ribbies (9) on the trip with Hanley Ramirez. Hanley didn't hit for average on this trip, but he smacked 3 homers. Martinez was overshadowed early on by the feats of Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts to a lesser extent, but he has now thrust himself into the spotlight with his prodigious stroke. Even as the team battled through that 21 game tailspin mentioned above, JD still hit .346 with 6 dingers and 18 RBI. He also owns a .481 BA when hitting to the opposite field with 6 of his 10 homers finding landing spots in the right-field seats. JD is also second in road batting average among regulars with a .322 mark, and he is also is tied with a team lead in road ribbies with Rafael Devers as both men have 16.
  • It is becoming increasingly painful to watch Jackie Bradley Jr. attempt to put the baseball in play. He has only 6 hits in his last 57 ABs for an unfathomable .105.  If he can pull himself out of this hole, he'll bring a whole new meaning to the term streak hitter.  The Catch-22 is that he needs to play to try and work himself out of it, but with Mitch Moreland playing so well, it's almost impossible to sit him while Bradley tries to find himself. Bradley struck out 11 times in 21 trips on the 10 game road swing and doesn't even look close to snapping out of it. Maybe Dennis Eckersley needs to take to the airwaves and tell everyone JBJ can't hit to light another fire under him. The eighth and ninth spots in the lineup have been a huge black hole so far with Christian Vazquez unable to provide any offense either as the de facto starting catcher. Vazquez has only 8 hits in his last 53 ABs (.151). With Leon having a decent 4 game road trip under his belt, I'd like to see Cora ride with him for a little while.
Road Trip by the Numbers
Name G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA
▼		 OBP SLG OPS
Mookie Betts104640101441265640.350.413.6501.063
J.D. Martinez104541614304941200.341.400.7071.107
Mitch Moreland626222710264500.318.423.6361.059
Sandy Leon412102300132200.300.417.6001.017
Andrew Benintendi9444081131154920.275.341.475.816
Rafael Devers10383839002301300.237.237.395.632
Eduardo Nunez937354820010710.229.222.286.508
Xander Bogaerts10424049401311100.225.262.400.662
Hanley Ramirez837343710392900.206.243.500.743
Brock Holt310101210000201.200.200.300.500
Blake Swihart2751100002000.200.429.200.629
Christian Vazquez826252400011401.160.192.160.352
Jackie Bradley Jr.6242122000011110.095.208.095.304
Tzu-Wei Lin1110000000000.000.000.000.000
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/14/2018.
Name G GS
▼		 W L SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA GB/FB BAbip SO9
Drew Pomeranz2210.095571224.5037%.28010.8
Rick Porcello22111.1116641114.7652%.3238.7
David Price22119.01111951019.0039%.37010.0
Eduardo Rodriguez2211.055551834.0935%.11814.7
Chris Sale22116.0104412722.2553%.27615.2
Matt Barnes6015.13224503.3857%.2318.4
Heath Hembree4013.064445012.0040%.60015.0
Brian Johnson2011.012210118.0025%.0000.0
Joe Kelly60216.24113901.3567%.28612.2
Craig Kimbrel4033.22220714.9133%.20017.2
Bobby Poyner101.01000100.000%.3339.0
Carson Smith503.23000700.0075%.37517.2
Hector Velazquez3013.24111312.4558%.3007.4
Marcus Walden103.24100400.0073%.4009.8
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/14/2018.




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