Photo by Charles Krupa / AP Photos
The Red Sox narrowly avoided getting swept in four games against the Toronto Blue Jays yesterday, winning in extra innings.
Don’t let that result fool you, however, as Toronto essentially gave that game away with costly errors and bad baseball.
After destroying the Cardinals this past weekend, the Red Sox were teed up to do the same thing to the Blue Jays.
But the bats went absolutely silent.
The Red Sox had double-digit strikeouts in each game and didn’t score more than four runs en each.
The timely hitting on this team is nonexistent. In two games against St. Louis on April 4th and April 6th, the Red Sox went 19 for 38 with RISP. But in every other game this year, they have gone 17 for 107.
So what’s wrong? Duran had a good game yesterday, but besides that, he has underperformed. Story can’t hit anything over 93 MPH. Abreu cooled off so much that he can’t get on base anymore. Campbell cooled off. Wong still stinks. And Rafaela is swinging at everything.
But it’s not all hitting. Despite seeming to make improvements on defense this year, the Red Sox once again find themselves leading the league in errors.
And can we stop pretending that Kristian Campbell can play second base?
If Campbell played in an era where errors were scored more accurately, he’d probably have around eight in 14 games. Every time I watch him, he looks awkward and uncomfortable, and he is good for at least one horrendous error per game.
I’m getting to the point where I think the Red Sox should put Devers back at third, Bregman at second, and DH Campbell.
That being said, former gold glove winner Alex Bregman has sucked defensively as well, tallying three errors already this year.
What’s even more frustrating is that the Sox have gotten some good pitching in these games.
Some Red Sox apologists blame Fenway’s frigid conditions for how they’ve played. That is a statement so stupid that I won’t spend any time on it, except to say: You know the Blue Jays played in the same conditions, right?
What I actually think is going on is that they just had a bad series. I am still (somehow) optimistic about this team. What they showed against St. Louis is what I believe they can be for most of the year.
That said, I am starting to press the panic button if they don’t clean it up soon.
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