Red Sox set record train wreck
 |
| From worst, to first, to worst... |
Contributing Writer
It's official folks.
The Red Sox 2014 season is a complete train wreck.
One for the record books.
As of this weekend the Red Sox are the first team in MLB history to go from worst in the division, to first in the division, and back to worst over a three season period.
They finally did it.
They dropped into last place in the AL East, allowing the Tampa Bay Rays to climb out of the cellar after at one point being seven games behind the Red Sox.
Now nine games back, the Red Sox seem to be on track to completely bury all our hopes and desires with a team that is playing worse than when 'that other' manager was derailing the team in 2012.
- 2012: 69-93 record with a .426 winning percentage
- 2013: 97-65 record with a .599 winning percentage
- 2014: 39-49 record currently with a .443 winning percentage
- projected on Fan Graphs to post a 78-84 losing season
- projected to end with a .480 winning percentage
- finishing last in division with -30 run differential
- Jackie Bradley Jr. going 4-7 at the plate and making some defensive plays of the game out in center field.
- Stephen Drew hit two homers this weekend.
- Xander Bogaerts went 2-5 on Sunday with an RBI maybe ending his slump.
- Red Sox came back from a 5 run deficit by batting around, their first honest to gosh rally (scoring 5 runs) of the 2014 season.
- John Lester was stellar again, going 8.0 innings with seven strikeouts and only giving up two runs on five hits.
- Koji Uehara picked up a win, threw in total 3.0 innings, struck out three,only giving up a single hit, and threw his fastball in the low 90's for the first time in years (usually 88mph avg).
There were also the continuing examples of the train wreck that the Red Sox are this season:
- Stephen Drew going 2-7 at the plate, with both hits being homers, before going back to his normal pace of 0-5 on Sunday.
- still hitting just .141/.173/.256 confirming his title as the $10MM dollar (broken) man.
- Xander Bogaerts committed 2 more errors this weekend, bringing total to 14 errors on the season.
- still hitting just .144 AVG since moving over from shortstop.
- Red Sox left 20 men on base over the weekend, had 30 strikeouts in 110 at-bats, and had a total of 7 errors as a team.
- John Lackey derailed over 5.1 innings, giving up five runs (2x homers) on 10 hits, and walking one.
- Jake Peavy lasted 6.0 innings with an unremarkable performance allowing two runs on 6 hits and walking two batters.
- Red Sox bullpen gave up 7 runs over the weekend to the Orioles.
No pitching, no relief, no offense, bad base running, and an inability to move runners across home plate when they are in scoring position. This team is dangerously close to challenging the 69 loss mark set in 2012.
It has been a runaway train for some time now, heading downhill, gaining speed, with no amount of tinkering (Stephen Drew acquisition) seeming to help the situation.
This weekend the train jumped the tracks.
Time to send Wally out into the outfield grass at Fenway with a hammer and the yard sale sign.
Post a comment or via twitter @ericschabell with your thoughts.
More by Eric D. Schabell
