25th September 2011, 12:05 AM
Apparently, that 120-loss 1960s Mets team had a 6-18 September, so the Sox have a worse record than one of the worst teams of the modern era, in September that is... however, for the 4 1/2 months before that the Red Sox had the best record in the majors (after their 2-10 start, that is).
So yeah, it's kind of strange, really, given how good they were... I mean, with how totally they've melted down this month. The starting pitching has been terrible -- apparently, so far in September the Sox starting pitchers are averaging less than five innings per game and have the highest ERA of any starting pitching staff in the league this month too, I think. The defense has been bad -- they have 20-something errors this month, plus multiple other major mistakes that probably should have been errors. The relievers have been overworked and have mostly been struggling, with Daniel Bard having four losses, and even Papelbon blew a save. There's one good reliever, but the rest... yeah. The offense has been mixed too, with a couple of 18-run games but then a lot where they barely manage anything, like tonight. So yeah, it's really been a failure on all levels.
Some people are trying to blame it all on the starting pitching -- "if we hadn't had so many starting pitcher injuries it'd all have been fine" -- but while those injuries, plus others like Youkilis's, are key, they aren't the whole reason. I mean, Jon Lester, who's supposed to be really good, has had three awful starts in a row now, including today's 2 2/3 inning, 8-run disaster, and Beckett got the loss, and gave up 6 runs, in his last start too, though he did go over 7 innings... the first time a Red Sox started had managed that since mid August.
So yeah, it's been bad. :(
So yeah, it's kind of strange, really, given how good they were... I mean, with how totally they've melted down this month. The starting pitching has been terrible -- apparently, so far in September the Sox starting pitchers are averaging less than five innings per game and have the highest ERA of any starting pitching staff in the league this month too, I think. The defense has been bad -- they have 20-something errors this month, plus multiple other major mistakes that probably should have been errors. The relievers have been overworked and have mostly been struggling, with Daniel Bard having four losses, and even Papelbon blew a save. There's one good reliever, but the rest... yeah. The offense has been mixed too, with a couple of 18-run games but then a lot where they barely manage anything, like tonight. So yeah, it's really been a failure on all levels.
Some people are trying to blame it all on the starting pitching -- "if we hadn't had so many starting pitcher injuries it'd all have been fine" -- but while those injuries, plus others like Youkilis's, are key, they aren't the whole reason. I mean, Jon Lester, who's supposed to be really good, has had three awful starts in a row now, including today's 2 2/3 inning, 8-run disaster, and Beckett got the loss, and gave up 6 runs, in his last start too, though he did go over 7 innings... the first time a Red Sox started had managed that since mid August.
So yeah, it's been bad. :(
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