Photo by Julia Aguilar / Getty Images
If you’re looking for a more optimistic piece about the Red Sox after their 16-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, this isn’t the article for you.
I am beside myself after what I just watched last night. After the series 2-1 to the Chicago White Sox, the worst team in baseball, I thought it couldn’t get any worse for this promising young Red Sox team.
Boy, was I wrong.
The Red Sox got absolutely embarrassed by their mediocre division rival. Aside from Kristian Campbell, who had a home run in what was the only run the team would score, nobody on the team played well.
Tanner Houck, the games starter for the Sox, got throttled. It seemed like any pitch he threw in the zone was getting hammered. Houck, quite frankly, has sucked to start the year. With Bello and Crawford still not back from injury rehab, the former All-Star needs to get it together before this season spirals out of control.
Houck finished giving up ELEVEN earned runs in just 2.1 innings pitched.
Let’s talk about that third inning.
The third inning of that game last night may have been the worst inning of Red Sox baseball I have ever seen. The box score of the game says that the team made one error all game. What a load of crap. I saw the Red Sox make at least three errors in just the third inning.
Houck got hit all over the place. Bregman continues to forget how to play like he’s a gold glover. And Trevor Story, of all people, had two misplays in the inning.
If you need to make yourself puke, watch the third inning of that game last night. My god. My recreational mens league baseball team would’ve gotten out of that inning faster than the Red Sox did.
Thank goodness they played Campbell in the outfield instead of second base, because they’d still be playing that inning if not.
They still can’t hit
Don’t let the Rays scoring 16 runs blind you to the fact that the Red Sox scored one run against the back end of the Rays’ bullpen.
Usually, in a blowout like this, the team getting killed can put up some runs late in the game because the team winning pitches their weakest arms.
But not the Red Sox.
They struck out 14 times. David Hamilton is still useless. Bregman’s still done nothing of note. And Casas has continued to stink, going 0-for-3 with three strikeouts.
Still wanna tell the media what the Red Sox should do with their lineup, Tristan? Because you’re running out of time to do something here.
I am a believer in Casas’s upside, but my god, the gall of this guy to act the way he did in spring training media scrums just to be the worst hitter on the team in April is appalling.
Can we please hold Alex Cora accountable?
Photo by Chris O’Meara / AP Photos
The manager needs to take some blame here. This is not the first time this year where the team just didn’t look ready to go, and Cora admitted as much after the game.
“It seems like there was a team [in the Rays] that was prepared for the other one. The other one wasn’t prepared for them,” Cora said to the media following the game. “And that goes from the top all the way to the bottom. That wasn’t a good night for us. I’ll take the blame, because it seemed like our team wasn’t ready to go.”
Ever since he won a title with the Red Sox in 2018 (despite being handed a loaded roster), what has Cora done in his tenure in Boston?
Honestly, getting the 2021 Red Sox to the ALCS is probably his best accomplishment. Beyond that, the team fell flat on its face in 2019 and has been mediocre literally every other season.
I’m keeping a close eye on Cora this year because I need him to prove to me that he isn’t a one-hit wonder.
Rock bottom.
This team came into the year with big expectations. They finally did SOMETHING in the offseason when they traded for Crochet and signed Bregman. We all thought that this season would mark the beginning of a new chapter in Red Sox history, where they would go back to their winning ways.
But the team has been a complete and utter letdown.
It can’t possibly get any worse than it did last night. If this loss doesn’t wake this team up, nothing will.
