Red Sox Lose Game, Series to Last Place Orioles; Playoff Chances On The Brink Of Collapse
Sudden onset baldness grips New England and TVs across the region suffer a crippling projectile barrage as Red Sox continue to blow chance at playoffs
I try not to write mad. There are enough blogs and sports radio hosts out there to rant and scream and over-react to every game, at-bat, or mistake. You don’t need me to do that here. If you want more loud-for-the-sake-of-being-loud, ill-informed takes, just fire up Twitter.
But I’m a fan. I do get mad. And I live in fear of writing something stupid, something I’ll regret, something that I’ll look back on in a week or a month and realize how ridiculous it was. The heat of the moment doesn’t age well.
That’s why last night’s 6-2 loss to the Orioles is such a tough game to write about. What do you say about it that doesn’t sound like a screaming, drooling, freak out? What kind of intellectual angle is there to take on what was effectively a one-game playoff loss in which the Red Sox were thoroughly beaten both on the mound and at the plate by a last place team?
I’m sorry, but I don’t have one. The Red Sox were garbage. They were garbage in the series against the Yankees when they needed just a single win out of three, and they were garbage in this series against Baltimore when they needed to beat a 50-win team twice. In both cases they failed spectacularly.
Let’s start here though: the Orioles, while bad, don’t have a horrendous lineup. It’s not a good lineup, but it’s not awful. They have some guys who can hit. Cedric Mullins should be a top-five MVP pick this season. Ryan Mountcastle might win the AL Rookie of the Year (though he probably shouldn’t). Austin Hays is pretty good when he’s healthy and he’s healthy now. Trey Mancini is a league-average hitter or maybe a tick better. It’s not a lineup devoid of talent.
You could see the Orioles scratching out some runs, especially against the Red Sox lesser pitchers. Even in the series the Red Sox swept a few weeks ago the Orioles managed to score a reasonable number of runs. So it’s no surprise that Baltimore scored six runs off Nick Pivetta and Boston’s besieged bullpen last night.
Baltimore’s pitching staff, though? They are devoid of talent. Well, John Means is alright, and there are a few relievers who are fine, but on the whole this is one of the worst pitching staffs in baseball, if not the worst. The Red Sox should’ve scored a bunch of runs off this team. Instead, Boston managed 10 runs in three games, or a meager 3.3 per game. That’s simply not good enough against a team that, coming into the series, had given up an average of 5.9 per game.
For a team centered on their ability to hit the ball, the Red Sox put on a clinic in getting the least out of their at-bats. Yes, there was some hard contact, and in fact there was a good amount of hard contact, but much of it was on the ground or right at Baltimore fielders. And once the team had runners on base, that’s when things fell completely apart. Red Sox hitters were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and grounded into two double plays on the day, but even that doesn’t quite contain the proper depths to which the Red Sox hitters sunk. Let’s go through this inning by inning.
First inning: After Enrique Hernandez’s leadoff homer, Xander Bogaerts walked and Rafael Devers singled. But then JD Martinez and Hunter Renfroe both flied out.
Second: No baserunners.
Third: With one out, Kyle Schwarber singled, but Bogaerts grounded into a double play.
Fourth: No baserunners.
Fifth: No baserunners.
Sixth: With one out, Kyle Schwarber walked, but Bogaerts grounded out and Devers flied out.
Seventh: JD Martinez started with a double and Renfroe walked, but Alex Verdugo, Travis Shaw (pinch-hitting), and Jose Iglesias all made outs. The only run scored on a wild pitch.
Eighth: With one out, Kyle Schwarber walked, but Bogaerts grounded into a double play.
Ninth: After a two out single, Verdugo grounded out to end the game.
Their two runs scored on a lead-off homer and a wild pitch. That’s it. Against starter Alexander Wells, a pitcher with a 7.61 ERA, a 1.7 WHIP, and a strikeout rate straight out of 1985, they managed one run. Total failure.
The Red Sox have three games left in their season, all in Washington DC against the Nationals who are, despite Juan Soto’s potential NL MVP season, terrible. Given that and the fact that they’re fighting for their playoff lives, to reclaim their pride, and to extend their season, the Red Sox should win four of the three games in the series, whether or not that’s mathematically possible.
As for where the Red Sox stand right now? I kind want to say “who cares?” At this point it doesn’t really matter what the other contending teams do if the Red Sox can’t beat last place teams playing out the string. There’s no point in looking beyond the Red Sox boxscore if the Red Sox aren’t going to win winnable games. And that’s true, but it’s also whiney. So here’s the situation the Red Sox face right now.
The Yankees face the Rays for three in New York. The Rays are using the occasion to throw two of their best pitchers in Shane McClanahan and Shane Baz (yes, like some 80s lacrosse movie, they’re both named Shane). The Mariners are in LA facing the Angels. The Angels are bad, but as we’ve seen, sometimes that doesn’t matter. The Blue Jays host the Orioles. The Blue Jays will probably win all three games by a combined score of 60-2.
Somehow, despite going 1-5 in their last two series, the Red Sox are still in this thing. You could say they don’t deserve it, and I won’t argue based on their play of late, but the truth is that deserve has nothing to do with anything. This isn’t a morality play, it’s just standings. If the Red Sox sweep DC, at minimum they’ll clinch a pre-Wild Card playoff game to be played at Fenway Park against the Mariners. If the Red Sox don’t sweep DC, well, who knows?
Today’s starter is Eduardo Rodriguez in potentially his last start in a Red Sox uniform. The Red Sox haven’t announced any other starters yet, probably in the hopes that they could set up their rotation for the Wild Card game. Now, that’s not possible. Now they’ll probably have to use Chris Sale and potentially even Nate Eovaldi again, though that would be on short rest. It’s a mess, but it’s a mess of the Red Sox own creation.
Fortunately they still have the ability to stop this skid, to start to fix this mess. It starts tonight in Washington DC. It’s hard to feel optimistic, but baseball is a game that turns on a dime. That’s fortunate too, because there’s not much time left.
They...should enjoy it, they'd have to play with joy and fun. Like in the first half, lighthearted and cool. Very plain and simple, but also very complicated and difficult at this point. Cora is fantastic with the group but I never hear about the psychological staff: who is providing mental help for the players? That's not the only and single issue, but it could have been managed better.
First, Matt, kudos on managing to keep your composure and write an intelligent -- and intelligible --- post.
It's very hard to do when you're emotionally invested in a team. If it's any consolation, I find that the older I get, the less angry I get when the Red Sox let me down. Sadly, I must confess I also feel less pure elation and joy when they win, but I guess that's the tradeoff.
You pretty much nailed it; if you can't beat a 50-win team when you have to, it's really pointless to talk about the post-season. No idea what to expect this weekend, but my gut tells me the Red Sox will lose at least one game.