Yuckitude: O's Sweep Sox To Start '21 Season

It's not time to drink bleach though

Getting swept by the Yankees. Getting swept by the Blue Jays. Getting swept by Gonzaga. Getting swept by the Doug’s Hardware Little League team. Getting swept by a group of greyhounds on roller skates. Getting swept by a team of actual brooms. These are a few ways the season could have started out worse than it has.

No it’s not good. It’s bad. Nobody wanted this, but the truth is all baseball teams lose three in a row at some point The 2018 Red Sox lost three in a row. The 2013 Red Sox also lost three in a row. The 2007 Red Sox lost four in a row. The 2004 Red Sox lost five in a row. Even championship teams go on losing streaks. That’s not to say this team is a championship team. They haven’t come close to earning that yet. They haven’t earned a damn win yet. But every baseball team loses and often those losses make the losers look worse than they are. The Red Sox will win a game eventually. They will win quite a few, in fact. If this losing streak goes to seven or eight, we have a problem, but right now it’s a normally sized, if exceedingly annoying, losing streak.

It’s really easy to be frustrated by the start to this 2021 Red Sox season. This team had an opportunity to begin strong and they, like any infield grounder, fumbled it. But it’s important to understand that this isn’t the NFL. This isn’t the NBA or NHL playoffs. This isn’t the NCAA tournament. There are 159 games left in this season. That could be a blessing or a curse but either way it’s a fact. Nothing is decided yet. Nothing. It feels like it’s over, but really it’s not yet begun.

Let’s look at a few positives before I point this car at a bridge abutment.

1. Garrett Whitlock was fantastic. He had some trouble commanding his change-up, but the fastball was electric, the slider slid, and when he got the change at the bottom of the zone, he dominated. He looks like quite a find by the front office, and I say this based on the way he looked in spring as well as yesterday. He lead Red Sox pitchers in generating swings and misses with eight on Sunday, and I’m surprised the number was that small. He finished with five strikeouts and no walks or runs allowed in 3.1 innings. I can’t wait to see him pitch again soon. If he continues like this you’ll see him in far more important situations than down 10 to Baltimore [shudders].

2. J.D. Martinez didn’t hit in the first two games, but oh boy did he hit yesterday. His double on Opening Day was a fly ball to the warning track that Baltimore’s left fielder (I think it was Austin Hays) lost in the sun, but today he crushed a legit double into the left field corner, and he hit the first Red Sox homer of the year into the batter’s eye above the triangle in center field. Neither of those were cheapies. What’s more, one came on an off-speed pitch, and the other on a fastball, exactly the kind of pitch Martinez had trouble with last season. It’s great to see Martinez hitting again. He’s a true middle-of-the-order bat and the Red Sox are going to need him badly this year.

3. Tanner Houck pitched well in Game 2. He finished with eight strikeouts and one walk in five innings and I thought he looked in control the whole time. He’s clearly a guy who responds positively to the pressure of a Major League game, and that’s great to see. He did give up three runs, two earned, in those innings, but it’s hard to fault him too much given how roughly the infield defense performed. That’s a topic for later though. For now, Houck looked strong. It’s not clear if he’s going to remain in the rotation for another turn or if Eduardo Rodriguez will return next time through, but if he goes down to the minors, Houck will be the first call up when the Red Sox need a starter. Given the nature of this rotation, it wouldn’t shock me if he ended up getting extensive time starting by the time this season ends.

OK that’s enough happiness. To the bad stuff.

1. Garrett Richards had a bad start. He didn’t exactly get crushed, but he gave up enough hard contact to get burned repeatedly and he was. I didn’t get the sense that he was pitching as badly as the numbers showed, but even so, the numbers said he should be in Double-A so [shrug emoji]. Richards himself said after the game that this was just his first start and there was nothing to worry about. I’m not sure it was the best phrasing, but I do think he’s ultimately correct. If he’s healthy he’ll get a lot more starts and he’ll do much better than he did yesterday. It wasn’t a great way to introduce himself to a new team and a new fanbase, but sometimes that’s the way it goes.

2. The back of the Red Sox lineup is scary. Bobby Dalbec’s great spring hasn’t carried over as he’s struck out a ton but hasn’t made hard contact once. It’ll be interesting to see how much rope Alex Cora gives Dalbec. I imagine he’ll start every game of the Rays series upcoming, but if things don’t improve he might earn himself a night off or two. Beyond Dalbec, Hunter Refroe is, well, also Bobby Dalbec. He strikes out a ton and doesn’t make hard contact when he doesn’t K. I’m not convinced he should be an every day player, but the Red Sox obviously feel differently. If he continues to struggle though (and it’s only three games) it’ll be that much easier for Jarren Duran to make his way up to the Big Leagues.

3. Somehow the Red Sox managed to give up 18 runs in three games to a Baltimore team that slugged below .400. Yes, that’s right, somehow the Orioles managed to slug .384 in this series. Why? Well, the answer is they’re not very good. Yes, Cedric Mullins looked like the next coming of Rickey Henderson, but sad news for Mullins fans, he’s not. The Orioles BABIP (batting average on balls in play) that series was .425, best in baseball. The Red Sox was .197, third worst. Yes, there is a quality of contact issue here, and the Red Sox didn’t exactly earn a .400 BABIP, so I’m not chalking it all up to luck, but I think a big part of this series was that Baltimore’s batted balls were falling in for hits and Boston’s weren’t. That happens over three games.

4. Now, part of that blame can be laid at the feet of the team’s collective defensive efforts. The Orioles always seemed to be standing there waiting for the latest line drive off a Red Sox hitter’s bat, while the Red Sox never seemed to quite be in position, or when they were in position, they screwed it up. The left side of the infield looked particularly rough during the first two games. I have confidence in Xander Bogaerts to make the routine plays, but Rafael Devers gave substantial fuel to the ‘move him off third base’ crowd. But, again, it’s early.

As they say, this isn’t what you want. Blowing a season-opening series to a team that figures to lose 95 games seems like a pretty big missed opportunity, and it was. But that doesn’t mean the season is over. Remember there are 159 of these things left. There’s time folks. There’s time. Doesn’t mean they don’t have to play better though. The Red Sox looked like crap. But don’t mistake that for being crap. Those are two different things.