This Streak Goes To Nine

The Twins are the latest victims of The Streak

I could’ve waited until they won 11 in a row to make the Spinal Tap joke, but could I really take the chance that they wouldn’t get there and the joke would be wasted? No, clearly I could not. So here we are. This winning streak goes to nine. I apologize to nobody.

When last we spoke, dear reader, this Red Sox winning streak was at a gentle, an unassuming, a merciful six games. It was the kind of winning streak you’d meet after church for tea. The kind of winning streak you hope your son or daughter brings to the sock hop. It was a pocketable winning streak, a portable winning streak, perfect to show off at small get-togethers on a whim. “Hey,” you might say. “I just realized I brought my Winning Streak with me! Isn’t it cute?” It was a reasonable winning streak, a relatable winning streak, a sensible winning streak.

But three wins later and the game winning has grown. This is a nine gamer. This winning streak, friends, readers, fellow patriots, this is a winning streak that could choke a horse, and without being asked. You wouldn’t even have to suggest it. This winning streak wraps itself around its prey and squeezes until the lights go out. This winning streak drops from the sky unannounced, jams its talons into your shoulders, and carries you away without warning. What I’m saying: This winning streak abducts people! In midday!

Consider the case of the nice, Midwestern-type Minnesota baseball team. There they were, carrying on with their baseballing in a regularly scheduled fashion, successfully hitting and pitching and whatnot, when this Winning Streak came swooping down from the clouds and just started wrecking stuff. And like that, the nice Twins baseball season that had been progressing nicely with niceness and nicety was all blood and feathers and smoke and desiccated limbs and other such nastiness that it shouldn’t be spoken of in polite society.

Before the Winning Streak came, say the remaining townsfolk who now spend their time hiding in mud huts just outside town, the Twins were in first place. They had cookouts and barbecue and played shuffleboard and drank macro lagers in the tender spring air.

“But what about After the Winning Streak though…?”

The townsfolk sigh, stirring their gruel in large pots over an open flame as if it could provide answers. After the Winning Streak, the Twins were in last place. Their barbecue grills lay in pieces strewn about the field, charred meat bits of unknown origin still clinging to the grates. When asked, the townsfolk talked about how beautiful the Twins pitching staff had looked “before The Streak came through town.” Oh, how gorgeously things were shaping up, what promise the summer possessed, all until The Streak showed up. Remember, they would say, remember the Before Times? And others would nod and a glint of happiness would shine in their eyes for just a moment before they remembered The Winning Streak.

OK, that’s enough of that.

• When this winning streak began, the Red Sox were 0-3 and had lost three straight home games to Baltimore. Remember that? Me neither.

• So much has been made about how good this team is and how good their chemistry is and blah blah blah. I’d hope their chemistry is good! They’ve won nine in a row. If their chemistry isn’t good now, this team is a disaster.

• Of course it isn’t a disaster, I think that much we know (baring a silly number of injuries). Re-hiring Alex Cora looks like a masterstroke right now, as does, well, everything else. Everything looks good in this light. This is the most flattering of lights!

• It’s so flattering that it’s easy to forget that Enrique Hernandez and Hunter Renfroe have OPS’s in the .560s and Marwin Gonzalez is somehow worse than that. But it’s true that winning cures all, or at least alters our perceptions enough that we see all these players through a different lens. Would this team be better off with someone else besides Renfroe? Probably! But he’s a handsome dude who looks like Mike Trout, hit that homer (remember?) and has made some nice plays in right field. So right now he fits great! It’s easy to overlook things during a winning streak. But I’m guessing we’ll have time to discuss this more in-depth at some point.

• The real reason this team is on this winning streak is the pitching staff. Over the nine games, six of which have been on the road, Red Sox pitching has given up 30 runs. That’s an average of 3.3 runs per game. Over a full season that would equate to 540 runs allowed. Ever team in 2019 or 2018 allowed more runs. Probably other seasons too, but it’s late and I don’t want to look through every MLB season in history right now. I will say the record for fewest runs given up in a season by a team in a 162 game season is 472 by the 1968 St. Louis Cardinals. That’s the “Year of the Pitcher” in which Baseball decided to lower the mound. The Red Sox aren’t on that level, but they’re not too far off. Anytime you’re in sniffing distance of that record it means you’re absolutely crushing it on the pitching side. That’s how well the Red Sox are pitching right now.

• Doesn’t hurt that J.D Martinez is crushing the ball, Xander is getting going, Verdugo is, as I heard possibly too often yesterday, “having a day", and Rafael Devers is fuuuuuuun! Can’t win on pitching alone.

When will it end? Possibly by the time you’re reading this! Or not! Who knows! Sure beats getting your butt kicked by Baltimore though, right? The team is healthy, they’re happy, and they’re winning. That’s the good stuff right there. The season is long, with ups and downs, so enjoy the view when you have the chance!