2 Things Red Sox Nation Should Worry About
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| Photo from NESN |
Conor Frederick
Contributing Writer
Right now, the Red Sox are in the thick of a heated division battle with the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles. That Yankees aren't included in this because their luck seems to have run out. Their captain, Derek Jeter probably will have a minimal role to play and Alex Rodriguez...well, you know. No point in reiterating it again. Basically, two of their best players seem like they're done for the season (well, one is and the other seems like he won't play due to injury). Barring a miracle, the Yankees are no longer major players in the division race, unless you count a race to finish ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays. So, I'll go through the two things I think the Red Sox need to worry about in the race for their postseason race.
The first thing the team needs to worry about in my books is wasting good outings. Last night was a perfectly good example. John Lackey struck out 10, and the Sox still lost. To the Astros, no less. Let that sink in for a second....Now that that's over with, the main concern out of last night, as I mentioned above, is wasting good outings from our starters because our offense falls silent. That'll be a glaring weakness for us for the rest of the season and the playoffs, should we make it that far. It's simple really - when our starting pitchers pitch well, the offense has to pick them up. It doesn't seem that big because we're still scoring runs, but a playoff series can be decided by one or two plays or at bats, and our inability to get run support to our starters when they pitch well could be costly in a 5 or 7 game series.
The other worry that Red Sox Nation should have is Clay Bucholz. Ok, I know it probably sounds like I'm harping, but the sooner we get him back to 100%, the better off we'll be. With him in the rotation, our chances of getting into the postseason go up greatly. So, here's a little message from me to Clay: HURRY UP AND GET BACK. Other than that, I can't say anymore than has already been said. For more on Bucholz, you can follow our own Guru's "Bucholz Watch."
Twitter - @ConorJF1016
Contributing Writer
Right now, the Red Sox are in the thick of a heated division battle with the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles. That Yankees aren't included in this because their luck seems to have run out. Their captain, Derek Jeter probably will have a minimal role to play and Alex Rodriguez...well, you know. No point in reiterating it again. Basically, two of their best players seem like they're done for the season (well, one is and the other seems like he won't play due to injury). Barring a miracle, the Yankees are no longer major players in the division race, unless you count a race to finish ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays. So, I'll go through the two things I think the Red Sox need to worry about in the race for their postseason race.
The first thing the team needs to worry about in my books is wasting good outings. Last night was a perfectly good example. John Lackey struck out 10, and the Sox still lost. To the Astros, no less. Let that sink in for a second....Now that that's over with, the main concern out of last night, as I mentioned above, is wasting good outings from our starters because our offense falls silent. That'll be a glaring weakness for us for the rest of the season and the playoffs, should we make it that far. It's simple really - when our starting pitchers pitch well, the offense has to pick them up. It doesn't seem that big because we're still scoring runs, but a playoff series can be decided by one or two plays or at bats, and our inability to get run support to our starters when they pitch well could be costly in a 5 or 7 game series.
The other worry that Red Sox Nation should have is Clay Bucholz. Ok, I know it probably sounds like I'm harping, but the sooner we get him back to 100%, the better off we'll be. With him in the rotation, our chances of getting into the postseason go up greatly. So, here's a little message from me to Clay: HURRY UP AND GET BACK. Other than that, I can't say anymore than has already been said. For more on Bucholz, you can follow our own Guru's "Bucholz Watch."
Twitter - @ConorJF1016
