Middle infielders are weird.  Shortstops and second basement share a no-mans land in the field, positioned between bases in the hopes of fielding a ground ball up the middle.  They both tend to be (at least until recently, see Chase Utley, Robinson Cano, and A-Rod in his younger days) light-hitting speedsters who are more able to get on base and advance runners than they are able to mash home runs.  They both cover second base, and have to make and then communicate split-second decisions on double plays.

Baseball people will talk a lot about the bond between pitchers and catchers: the pitcher needs to trust that the catcher can handle any pitch and hold runners on, and the catcher has to understand the pitcher’ capabilities and limits, and also be an on-field psychologist for the pitcher.  The bond between middle infielders is less-touted but definitely there: the defense would fall apart if there wasn’t some kind of connection.

Which brings us to last night’s Red Sox spring training game against Puerto Rico’s WBC team.  The Sox won, John Lackey had a good night, and Will Middlebrooks and Mike Napoli each launched home runs.  But, this is spring training: Napoli’s home run and a Charlie Card will get him on the T.

I thought Pete Abraham’s twitter feed was much more interesting.  Abraham, a reporter for the Boston Globe, captured an awesome reunion between Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia an Mike Aviles, Boston’s former shortstop who had suited up for Puerto Rico.  Apparently, their reunion was a happy one, punctuated with some predictable Pedroia height jokes:

The Boston Red Sox split a doubleheader against the Toronto Blue Jays today.  Dustin Pedroia jacked a home run, and knuckleballer Daniel Webster put up a good showing in his Sox debut.

But, that’s not what I was thinking about today.  See, I got my hands on a copy of Baseball Prospectus today.  BP loves Xander Bogaerts, but sees him long-term as a third baseman.  This revelation got me thinking about Boston’s perennial shortstop problem.  Why can’t Boston make a shortstop stick?  The shortstop position in Boston is a black hole, a vortex, the MLB job where job security goes to die.

Mike Aviles, one of many

Scene: it’s early 2004, Nomar Garciaparra’s the Boston shortstop, and despite persistent Magglio Ordonez trade rumors, everything’s groovy – everything, that is, except for the team’s not having won the World Series in 86 years.  But, the fans like their team, they love their shortstop, they have faith.

Then, the doldrums set in, Derek Jeter runs headlong into the stands in New York, and Nomar gets traded in a trade-deadline deal to Chicago.  The Sox win the World Series, but without their star shortstop.

Since then, we’ve seen a bevy of shortstops come and go, but none of them seem to quite fit.  Let me just clear my throat a second here: Orlando Cabrera; Edgar Renteria (hey, let’s trade Hanley Ramirez while we’re at it, he’ll never amount to anything); Alex Gonzalez; Alex Cora; Julio Lugo; Jed Lowrie; Nick Green (?); Marco Scutaro; Mike Aviles; and, the flavor of the month, Stephen Drew, with Jose Iglesias, a man who simply CANNOT HIT, close behind.

The heck?  What is happening here?  It’s just weird that none of these players could stick in Boston.  I don’t know if it’s something about the pressure of playing in Boston, I don’t know if it’s something about ridiculous contracts given out to mediocre shortstops (looking at you, Lugo), I don’t know if there’s some kind of divot at the edge of the grass that makes it impossible to field routine grounders.  But for whatever reason, the Sox can’t make a shortstop stick.  It’s weird, it’s disconcerting, and I don’t like it.

Dustin Pedroia wants a consistent double-play partner.  He doesn’t even have to say so for me to know it’s true.  Give Dustin what he wants – a shortstop that will last more than one year, earn a reasonable paycheck, and maybe fling himself headlong into the stands at Yankee Stadium once or twice.

The Boston Red Sox went through some major changes over the last year. Some good, some bad and some just… meh. They unloaded some dead weight — Josh Beckett and his bad attitude, Carl Crawford and his bad contract and Adrian Gonzalez and his bad luck (as collateral damage.) Needless to say, the 2013 Opening Day line up is going to look a lot different from 2012 with only four players returning for the starting nine.

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF: He will most likely bat lead off as his did last year. That’s only if he doesn’t sprain his earlobe in spring training or catch a hangnail during warmups.
2. Shane Victorino, RF: Newly signed Victorino makes the most sense for the #2 spot. Dustin Pedroia held this spot last year, but with the addition of the speedy “flyin’ Hawaiian,” he may be better suited further down in the order.
3. Dustin Pedroia, 2B: He’s proved himself to be an offensive asset and has surprising power for a guy of his stature. He has a career .303 batting average with a .830 OPS. Last year, the #3 spot belonged to the departed Adrian Gonzalez.
4. David Ortiz, DH: Big Papi will once again commandeer the clean up spot. Let’s just hope that achilles can hold up and David can pick up where he left off last season before he went down with the bum heel.
5. Will Middlebrooks, 3B: The position stays the same, just the personel has changed. Middlebrooks takes over full time at the hot corner after the somewhat rancorous departure of Kevin Youkilis.
6. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C: Salty takes over the #6 spot from Ryan Sweeney who was allowed to go to free agency following an unspectacular year.
7. First Base?: With the Mike Napoli deal in limbo, could Mauro Gomez start the season at first base? Or will they continue to search for a more seasoned first baseman if the Napoli contract crumbles. If Napoli does end up in Boston, I imagine he’ll bat a little higher up in the order — probably 5th. In 2012, the recently departed Cody Ross held this spot in the line up.
8. Left Field?: Do the Sox see Jonny Gomes starting the season guarding the Green Monster? Or Ryan Kalish? This one baffles me. Salty batted #8 to start last season.
9. Stephen Drew, SS: Drew replaces last year’s shortstop Mike Aviles at the end of the order. Needless to say, my excitement level for this position is very low. I’m begging this guy to prove me wrong.

Well, 2013 should be an interesting year. There were some big holes to fill over the off season in this line up and I’m not feeling too confident that the new acquisitions are going to get them where they need to be. I’m not sure I can handle a “rebuilding year” so someone needs to do something really sparkly or that’s exactly what we’re going to get.

John Farrell (Photo by: james_in_to courtesy of Flickr.com)

The Red Sox finally got their wish. John Farrell has been named as their next manager, joining the team for the 2013 season after the failed Valentine Experiment. Well, hopefully he has more than 69 wins in him for next year because I’m not sure I could handle another season like that.

Farrell, who still had one year left on his contract with the Blue Jays, has signed a multi-year deal with the Sox and the official announcement should come on Monday. The Red Sox had to give up short stop Mike Aviles to get the deal done but I think I can live with that…as long as Farrell doesn’t suck as badly as Valentine did.

The Sox interviewed four other candidates, but evidently that was all a ruse. Did anyone thing they weren’t going to hire John Farrell? You can almost see the drool running down the owners’ chins when someone just mentions his name. He has obviously been their first choice forever.

One part of me is happy they got someone hired before the post season was over… but the other part of me is scared. Let’s hope his lack of success with the Blue Jays was more a result of a not-so-great roster and less an indication of his managing skills. And after last year’s fiasco, I think we all have the right to be a little nervous.

Word on the street is Farrell is a hard ass who’s not going to take any shit from this group of players — many of whom he has coached in the past. But can he manage to get this dreadful pitching staff and the rest of this indignant group of babies back on track? That remains to be seen.

What are your thoughts on the newly appointed manager? Would he have been your first choice?

It’s scary down there, boys.

Earlier today I did something really, really stupid. My husband bet me a dollar I wouldn’t eat a hot pepper he grew in the garden. I told him I wasn’t eating anything for just a buck… but maybe for twenty. He agreed and I ate a Super Chili. It may have been the stupidest move I’ve ever made. It was so painful, I thought my throat was going to close up and I was going to die right in my driveway. I drank a half gallon of milk trying to stop the pain. My entire face went numb. It was not fun.

Why am I talking about eating hot peppers in a post about the Red Sox? Well… as painful as it was to eat that pepper, it has been even more miserable watching the Red Sox play baseball this season. If that, in fact, is what they call what they’re playing.

The Sox opened a three-game series last night with the only team worse than them in the AL East — the Toronto Blue Jays. I figured this series might get the team back on track, beat up on someone lowlier than them. I was wrong.

Felix Doubront continued to have troubles and lasted only four innings last night and gave up five runs on six hits against a pretty weak hitting Jays line up. Might the Sox have put too much pressure on Felix this season? He looks just a tad tired to me…

Heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Jays had a 5-0 lead. The Sox started chipping away, scoring a run in the fifth, one in the seventh and one in the eighth to cut the lead to 5-3. It looked like the bats were starting to heat up and there was a slight possibility they could catch the Jays and avoid falling into a tie for last place.

And then Daniel Bard came in for the top of the ninth. (Yes, I may have groaned when I saw him.) With a man on second and two outs, Bard served up a high slider that Colby Rasmus jacked just over the right field wall for a two-run homer that put the Jays up 7-3.

The thing that just kills me about this turn of evens was that the Sox came back with a two run dinger of their own in the bottom of the ninth off the bat of birthday boy, Mauro Gomez. If only Bard had done his job… I might just possibly be writing about a rare win today. But that’s just how this season has gone — more painful than eating hot peppers.

These losing ways are obviously getting to the players too. Mike Aviles voiced his frustrations to reporters after the game.

“I’ll tell you what, it’s not fun,” said shortstop Mike Aviles. “I know it’s a tough game to play. In all honesty, we’re out there trying to win. We’re not trying to lose. It’s just unfortunate we can’t get anything going in the right direction. It’s just not fun.”

It’s not fun for me either, Mike. *sigh*

The Sox and Jays face off again tonight with Daisuke Matsuzaka taking the mound against Aaron Laffey. If the Sox lose this one, they’ll be all alone in the basement. I was really hoping to never have to type those words again this season. But… here we are.

For once a Red Sox win is not the biggest news in town. Although it should be big news since it’s not a commonly occurring event these days. In the midst of the trade rumors swirling about Boston last night, the Red Sox finally managed to stop their current four-game skid and beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 behind another good pitching performance by Jon Lester.

You would’ve thought, especially considering their history this season, that those pesky trade rumors would have sent this team into a spiral of despair. But no… it seemed to do just the opposite.

The Red Sox took the quick lead in the first on singles by Pedro Ciriaco and Jacoby Ellsbury. After Dustin Pedroia moved the runners to second and third on a soft ground out, David Ortiz, in his first at bat since he injured his achilles on July 17th, laced a line drive single up the middle to score Ciriaco and Ellsbury.

After going down 3-2, the Sox came back in the bottom of the seventh to take the lead back for good. Mauro Gomez walked to open the inning. Mike Aviles singled to right and Scott Podseknik sacrificed the runners to second and third. Ciriaco followed with a double to left scoring both Gomez and Aviles.

Jon Lester looked good in his seven plus innings, giving up three runs on six hits while striking out six. He left after three pitches in the top of the eighth with a left hamstring cramp — hopefully, it’s nothing serious. Lester didn’t appear too concerned about it when talking to reporters after the game.

“I’m fine, it just cramped up on me,” Lester said. “I’d been kind of battling with it a little bit since the fifth inning. It got a little worse as the game went on.”

Vicente Padilla, Andrew Miller and Andrew Bailey held the Royals scoreless and secured Lester’s eighth win of the season, and third straight. Bailey, who had originally been acquired to fill the departed Jonathan Papelbon’s closer role, got his first save of the season.

Click here for the winning box score, courtesy of the Red Sox. These two teams go at it again tonight and your guess is as good as mine as to who’ll be on the mound for the Sox. Josh Beckett was scheduled to pitch but since he’s been traded… it’ll be a surprise!

Jon Lester. Yeah, remember him? (Photo by: Keith Allison, c/o Flickr.com)

I would like to think my recent tongue-lashing of the Red Sox has something to do with yesterday’s win, but I’m not that delusional. Although it is quite a coincidence, don’t you think? I wondered if maybe Jon Lester was tired of me writing about how much he sucks. Today, I cannot write about Lester’s suckage or the offense’s lack of production. Both were non-existent as the Sox pummeled the Indians 14-1 to earn a split of the four-game series.

Let’s start with Jon Lester. His performance Sunday afternoon was, by far, his strongest of the season. After allowing one run in the first (and possibly prompting me to tweet: “Dear Jon Lester. Is it physically impossible for you to get out of the first inning without giving up a run?”), he held the Indians scoreless through the remainder of his outing. Vintage Jon Lester, if you ask me. This is the Jon Lester I’ve been looking for, waiting for, all season. This is the Jon Lester that earned him the #1 spot in the rotation and the title of Ace (a title he’s been unworthy of since last September.)

“Lights Out” Lester (I just made that up), pitched six innings and gave up just one run on three hits. But the most impressive stat for me was his 12 strikeouts. I don’t remember the last time that happened. Maybe it was the 3-0 lead he was given in the top of the first (amazing the confidence a little run support will get you.) Who knows… but he finally earned his first win since June 27. JUNE 27th! There were seven starts between then and yesterday where he did. not. win. Good job, Jon… let’s keep up the good work.

Now let’s talk about the offense. Can I just say, “Wow!”? I mean that was fun to watch. The one through four spots in the line up (Jacoby Ellsbury, Carl Crawford, Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez) knocked in 10 of the 14 runs on nine of the 16 total hits, and scored nine runs. And they didn’t even all play the whole game! Mike Aviles also has a three for three day and scored three runs.

The Red Sox scored three runs in the first, two in the second and one in the fourth, but the real magic happened when they exploded for eight runs in the top of the fifth. I just love offensive eruptions like this one. It makes you remember why you love this team in the first place but also makes you hate them for not doing it more often. Bobby Valentine, speaking to reporters after the game, seemed to like it too. Is it just me or does this guy rarely make sense?

“We hit a lot of balls in the gap,” said Bobby Valentine. “It’s a good look when we look like that. I like it a lot. And [the players] like it a lot, which is even more important. … They deserve that. They deserve four games like that.”

Just four games, Bobby?

For the high-flying, hard hitting, football-like box score, click on over to here… courtesy of the Red Sox. The Sox will enjoy a post-win night off before they start up a three-game series with those pesky Orioles, and then another three-game series with the even peskier Yankees this weekend. It’s going to be a tough week, hopefully this recent win will give them the confidence and drive they’ll need to keep it going!

In Jon Lester’s last start for the Red Sox, he sucked. But he owned up to the sucking. He lamented about his sucking. And he sat long-faced in front of the media fielding questions about his sucking. Don’t get me wrong, just because you admit to playing poorly doesn’t mean I think it’s acceptable.

Guess what? Last night, Josh Beckett kind of sucked too. And he did not own up to it. He did not take the heat from the media (which has become the norm these days.) Nope, he fled the stadium like a rat flees a flooding sewer.

Granted, he was not as bad as he has been in some of his other losses (at least he didn’t give up five runs in the first), but let’s face it folks, he’s not burning up the mound with his blazing speed and control. In fact, Beckett has just one victory since the end of May. Um, yeah… that was two months ago. One win in two months is not going to help your team win a championship. Or even manage to make that highly coveted second wildcard position for that matter.

After Clay Buchholz pitched seven innings of one-run ball against this tough Rangers line-up on Tuesday night, you want to think that someone like Beckett would want to keep that momentum. But it’s almost as if he doesn’t care. If he cared, maybe he would have explained himself. My guess is there must have been a honkin’ bucket ‘o fried chicken with his name on it that he was anxious to dive into.

Tuesday night, the offense was just so-so but on the heels of a great performance by Buchholz and the bullpen, they were able to come out on top with some scrappy, two-out heroics in the form of two walks and a Mike Aviles single. Here’s the link to the box score.

Wednesday night was no better. I’d love to give you all the details of what happened but I’m afraid if I relive it, I might throw up all over my desk. So instead, here’s the link to the vomit-inducing box score, courtesy of the Red Sox.

I feel deflated. I feel like this team is spiraling out of control and no one is in a position to stop it. Bobby Valentine is like a deer in the headlights and answers post-game questions with incomplete thoughts that make no sense. I thought, when he was hired, he would come in and take this team by the balls and turn it on its head. But no…he still makes decisions that suck.

Oh yeah, let’s start Carl Crawford against lefties when historically he’s been horrible against them. And let’s just ignore that he’s 7 for 32 since coming off the DL with not ONE extra base hit. He has struck out more times than he’s put the ball in play. But he’s making boatloads of money so you have to play him? Maybe if he were a defensive rock star I would agree with that. But the Red Sox have to send the cut-off guy out to left field so Crawford can reach him.

*sigh*

The Red Sox have tonight off. I need this night off as much as they do, mainly for my mental health. But it doesn’t get any easier. They head to New York for a weekend series with the A-Rod-less, first place Yankees. Oh great, another weekend of marital bliss for the mixed Sox/Yanks household. My confidence is low, my glass half empty. I hope they prove me wrong.

I’m pretty sure Josh Beckett’s job is to keep a healthy head of momentum going after a big win, not to deflate it all by giving up four runs in the first two innings of a start against the Toronto Blue Jays – the only team in the AL East with a worse record than the Red Sox.

So, it’s safe to say that Josh Beckett’s not doing his job.  Just one day after Cody Ross’s walk-off home run inspired celebration, smiles, and accounts of Having Fun Again in the Boston clubhouse, Beckett allowed four earned runs (a fifth unearned run also came under his watch) in six innings, while allowing three walks.  The Red Sox lost, 6-1.  Now granted, it’s not exactly as if the Red Sox offense stepped up and did much of anything to help out: Will Middlebrooks and Kelly Shoppach had two hits each, and the only RBI came on a Mike Aviles groundout fielder’s choice in the bottom of the ninth; but really, this game falls on Beckett.  He should be able to hold the Toronto lineup at bay.  Only two Blue Jays in last night’s lineup are hitting over .250 (Edwin Encarnacion and Travis Snider, who each went 1 for 3).  There’s no reason that Beckett should give up 2-RBI doubles to Colby Rasmus and chippy RBI singles to J.P. Arencibia and Adam Lind, but that’s what happened.

Beckett’s only won five games this year.  Five.  It’s after the All-Star break, and the Red Sox will be two-thirds of the way done with their season in just another two weeks or so.  Beckett’s not being paid to be a 10-game winner, or even a 12-game winner; he’s being paid to be an 18- or 20-game winner, and so far this year, unless something turns around quickly and enormously, he’s not even going to get close to that.   The stats don’t look good – opponents have hit .258 against Beckett this year, and, disturbingly, they’ve hit .333 against him in July.  That doesn’t fill me with confidence.

With Jon Lester in a continued funk and Clay Buchholz quickly becoming the only hook that Red Sox Nation has to hang its hat on, Beckett needs to step up.  It’s easy to say that the Sox are only two games out of the second wild card spot, but really?  That’s not what a team with this caliber of pitching staff and position players – offensively and defensively – should be aiming for.  Instead of banking everything on a one-game playoff against an undetermined opponent (look at the standings – two out of the five teams above the Sox, Baltimore and Tampa Bay, are in the AL East and will be at least as tough as an Angels, Tigers or Oakland team to beat in a one-game playoff), this team should be aiming for the division, or at least for the old-fashioned kind of wild card berth.

I don’t know – I guess it’s just depressing that this team can’t get it together.  The injured players are back, Beckett’s had four of his eighteen days off (since, you know, he wasn’t even close to being an All-Star this year), we should be well-rested, invigorated, and ready to storm the AL East.  Instead, the Red Sox are thisclose to riding the basement again.

Here’s a link to last night’s deflating box score, courtesy of the Red Sox.  Boston takes the field again tonight at Fenway, led by Aaron Cook (2-2, 3.34 ERA).

After all that – the offseason drama, the dirty laundry, the vows to do better, the stacked lineup – the Red Sox are officially a mediocre team.  They’re back at .500 heading into the All-Star break after losing to the New York Yankees again last night, 7-3.  With the loss, the Sox dropped three of four to New York, and head into the furlough at 43-43.

Last night, Jon Lester took yet another tough loss, dropping his record to 5-6 on the season.  He allowed two runs in the first inning, via a Mark Teixeira double that scored Derek Jeter, and a double-play ball gone wrong to Sox third baseman Mauro Gomez.  For the fourth time in four games, the Red Sox let the Yankees take an early lead in the first inning.

The Sox scored in the bottom of the first, when upstart and most popular man in Boston Pedro Ciriaco singled, stole second (the throw was on time, but Jeter missed the tag), and scored when Jeter dropped a popup.  PS – Jeter was off last night.  The muffed Ciriaco steal, the dropped pop fly, a few muffed plays at short – I don’t think he’s hurt, but it was just weird to see him off his game like that.

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