Red Sox Bats Continue to Slumber
After the first inning last night not only did the Red Sox fail to score, they couldn't even mount a serious rally. As soon as John Lackey surrendered the early 3-0 lead, defeat felt inevitable. The work of former phenom Matt Moore played a large part in that, but the Sox offense has been scuffling which inspired even less confidence.
Ironically, with the return of David Ortiz the rest of the offense has struggled. For the most part the club has struggled with men on base and in scoring position. The Sox aren't going to hit below .200 in clutch situations all season, not even the Astros are that bad. To a large extent this is a bump in the road.
In a way the Red Sox lineup is a microcosm of baseball in the year 2013. Run scoring is as low as its been since the 1980s, with walks and strikeouts are at all-time highs. That macro-view is a column for another day, but the Red Sox do fit that to a T.
This isn't a lineup of what you would call "pure hitters." The only batters on the Sox one would think would have a shot at hitting .300 going into the 2014 season ar, Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury. Watching three-time AL Batting Champion Joe Mauer pepper the wall as the Twins took three of four in Fenway made me fantasize about the Boggsian numbers he could put up at Fenway.
The rest of the lineup will work the count, walk, strikeout, and have an above average amount of pop in their bats. Anecdotally it feels like we have been seeing a lot of lazy pop-ups and rolled over ground balls to second base when the Red Sox are putting the ball in play. Eventually the Red Sox hitters will get back to squaring the ball up and hitting it out of the park. Just don't expect them to do it as prolifically as we have become accustomed to and be prepared for a few more bumps in the road like this.
