Forget Cole Hamels, the Red Sox need Tom Brady

Bill Foley (@Foles74)

Contributing Writer

The Red Sox don’t need Cole Hamels. They need Tom Brady. Or maybe Frank Reich.

Watching the 2015 Boston Red Sox has been nearly impossible this season because it is extremely difficult to stay tuned to a game when your team is trailing by a touchdown — or more — by the third inning.

(Getty Images)

That’s like a football team trailing 35-0 early in the second quarter. Nothing Don Orsillo and Steve Lyons say can make that worth sticking around. Not even the RemDog can make it worth watching. (Get well soon, Jerry.)

Things were looking good for the Sox on Sunday, April 12 when the team was 4-1 and Red Sox fans couldn’t wait for the Sunday Night Baseball game when they went for the three-game sweep in the Bronx.

Then, Clay Buchholz gave up seven runs to the Yankees in the first inning, and the night was shot.

Unfortunately, this season has seen a lot of nights like that.

Sure, games like that happen in any baseball season, and a blowout only counts as one loss. The 1927 Yankees probably lost a game by seven runs.

Usually, though, such blowouts are kind of rare. The Sons of Farrell have been getting blown out like that every other night it seems. They’re showing us why high school and American Legion games have mercy rules.

The Sox trailed 8-2 to the Nationals on April 15, 12-0 to the Orioles on April 26, 8-0 to the Yankees on May 4, lost 7-0 to the Blue Jays on May 8 and fell 7-1 to the Jays on May 9.

None of those games held the attention of even the most optimistic Sox fans past the fifth inning. When the team is down 7-0 in the third inning, we might as well be watching a spring training game.

Then, of course, there was last night’s debacle when the Sox trailed the A’s 7-0 after three innings in the 9-2 loss, letting New England go to bed at a decent hour.

The Red Sox outscored their opponents 30-15 through their first five games this season. Today they are minus 32 in the run differential. Only the White Sox (minus 37), Phillies (minus 66), Brewers (minus 44) and Rockies (minus 50) are worse.

At this point last season, which was a monumentally lousy season, the Red Sox were only minus five.

The Yankees are plus 34 in that category right now, by the way. The A’s, who are 13-22, are plus three. That means at least their games might hold the attention of a casual fan for more than three innings.

While pitching has been the major problem for the Red Sox, they are also clearly having big-time struggles on offense as well. You can’t have numbers like that without stinking on the mound and at the plate.

A 2-0 deficit feels like it is 10-0 this season. A 7-0 hole is like 50-0.

The Red Sox are three games below .500 and 5 and a half games out of first place 33 games into the season. There’s a ton of baseball left and an incredible amount of time for this team to turn it around.

It is hard, however, to have much faith in a team that keeps getting blown out like a Bronco in the Super Bowl.

Overpaying for an alleged ace like Hammels isn’t the answer. The Red Sox need someone who can lead a comeback like a Hall of Fame quarterback.

Thanks to Roger Goodell, who sometimes forgets there’s two O’s in his name, we all know of one who won’t be busy until Oct. 18.