Red Sox Skid Continues Against Toronto

This stretch of bad baseball just keeps on going. The Red Sox dropped their third series in a row by losing two games to Toronto at home. This is especially disappointing as Toronto hasn't been a very good team so far this season and we had our two best starters go out and make some great starts. When you get really good starts from Buchholz and Lester you need to be able to turn those into wins. The Sox are now firmly in 3rd place in the AL East behind the Yankees and Orioles.

GAME 1: Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 0

Jon Lester was amazing. He carried a no hitter through 5 2/3 innings and pitched a 1-hit complete game shut out. This was essential until the Red Sox put 4 runs on the board in the 7th to give him some breathing room. The Red Sox desperately needed a win and Lester managed it almost single-handedly. It's games like this that make you think that he could be an ace.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: A+

BULLPEN GRADE: N/A

As I mentioned in my last Red Sox Grades Jays starting pitcher Ramon Ortiz is an older journeyman who has been bouncing around the minors and hasn't made a major league start in years. There shouldn't have been a problem hanging some runs on this guy. Ortiz did his best to help them out by allowing 4 hits and 5 walks in his 5 innings of work, but the Red Sox just couldn't convert, getting just one run. Ortiz also made a throwing error to try and help the cause, but the Red Sox just couldn't capitalize. Maicer Izturis tried to help out with a throwing error to create a 1st and 2nd 1-out jam, but the Sox couldn't get any more runs in that inning. The Red Sox left 9 men on base and went an astounding 3 for 17 with runners in scoring position. They finally got to the Jays bullpen in the 7th and touched them up for a big inning and four runs to give Lester some breathing room. 5 runs is 5 runs and a win is a win, but this game was much closer than it needed to be. David Ortiz's slump continues going 0 for 3 in this game with a walk, he had runners in scoring position for all 3 of his outs. Mike Napoli and Stephen Drew both went 0 for 4 and 0 for 3 with runners in scoring position. Victorino, Pedroia, Salty and Middlebrooks were the workhorses this game all having multi-hit games.
HITTING GRADE: B

GAME 2: Blue Jays 3, Red Sox 2

This was the first Clay Buchholz start that the Red Sox have lost this year and I don't feel that the blame lies with Clay for this one. He went out and pitched another very good game. He pitched 8 innings and gave up just two runs on 6 hits and 3 walks. You can't realistically ask much more from your starting pitcher. He got himself into a dangerous spot with bases loaded in the 3rd, but managed to get the out to end the inning.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: A

With Hanrahan done for the season and Bailey on the DL with bicep issues our 3rd closer Junichi Tazawa took the mound in the 9th with the task of holding on to the tie game. Tazawa wasn't up to the task and gave up a solo home run to the first batter he faced in Adam Lind to put the Jays back on top. Tazawa handled the rest of the inning thanks to a strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play, but the damage was done. Since being named the closer Tazawa has given up two runs in two innings of work.
BULLPEN GRADE: F

In keeping with the theme of this series, the Red Sox couldn't turn baserunners into runs again. They went 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position and left 8 men on base. That's impressively non-clutch. Mark Buehrle looked more impressive than he had been recently. The only Red Sox starter to not reach base was Jonny Gomes. Even after Tazawa blew the lead Will Middlebrooks got them off to a great start with a double to lead off the 9th, but they couldn't get the tying run.
BATTING GRADE: D

GAME 3: Blue Jays 12, Red Sox 4

Ryan Dempster got shelled this game. He only worked 5 innings and gave up 6 earned runs and 3 homers. Just bad.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: F

Andrew Miller gave up a leadoff homer and then gave up a single and walked a batter while only recording one out. Clayton Mortensen came in and finished off the inning, but not before allowing a home run to score all the inherited runners. Mortensen came back out for the 7th on mop up duty with the Red Sox down 9 runs and pitched a 1-2-3 7th. Craig Breslow pitched a 1-2-3 8th  Jose De La Torre made his major league debut in the 9th and got roughed up for two more runs.
BULLPEN GRADE: F

Another 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position for the Red Sox offense with 8 men left on base. So the aggregate from this series is now 3 for 36 with runners in scoring position and 25 runners left on base. Ciriaco and Napoli hit solo home runs and some runs scored on sacrifices. Mike Napoli had a pretty good game going 3 for 4 with a homer and a double.
BATTING GRADE: C-

The Sox are looking to get back on track in Tampa on Tuesday night against Matt Moore. Moore is 6-0 in 7 starts for the Rays.

Red Sox Grades

This game was tougher than the Red Sox than it should have been. The pitching matchup alone should be reason enough for confidence. Buchholz came into this game the best pitcher in baseball. Vance Worley came into this game with an 0-4 record on the season and lost 7 straight decisions going back to last season. The Red Sox offense had disappeared in Arlington, but had otherwise been prolific this season. The Twins are a mediocre hitting team so far this season. But of course you have to actually play the games and nothing went as planned.

The Twins started on Buchholz early hitting him for two quick runs in the 1st to put the Red Sox into a 2-run whole to start the game. He gave up 2 doubles, a single and two walks with 1 out in the first inning before he seemed to find his bearings and struck two batters out to get out of the inning. After that he cruised through the 2nd and 3rd with 1-2-3 innings. A pair of back to back 1-out doubles made it a 3-run game. In the 5th a  ground rule double, a single and a sacrifice fly would add another run to make it a 4-1 game. Buchholz settled down again for a 1-2-3 6th inning. This was an awful start for Buchholz compared to his body of work thus far this season. He had allowed 5 earned runs in his previous 6 starts, he gave up 4 in his 6 innings of work this game. Luckily, a bad start from Buchholz is about the same as a good start from John Lackey or Felix Doubront and the game was still easily within reach when Buchholz left the game after 6 innings. This unfortunately ends a 6 game winning/quality start streak for Buchholz.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: B-

Alex Wilson came on for the 7th with the Red Sox trailing by just 1 run. He immediately put on the first two batters with a single and a walk before getting his only out of the inning on a strikeout. Andrew Miller came in to clean up Wilson's mess and struck out the next two batters to end the threat. Ever since taking the loss in that 5-4 loss to the Royals on April 21st Miller has been in really good form. He has come into some tight spots and performed well. We got our first look at Craig Breslow this season as he recently came onto the roster with Andrew Bailey coming off with some bicep issues. Breslow worked a 1-2-3 8th and started his season off on a good note. The Red Sox took a 1-run lead in the bottom of the 8th and with Andrew Bailey on the DL Joel Hanrahan was brought in to close. Hanrahan gave up the tying run on a solo home run to make it 5-5. He got the second out and gave up a walk before leaving the game with some sort of ailment. Hanrahan is having some serious issues this season between the blown saves, injury problems and ineffective relief appearances. It's a shame that the closer at the beginning of the season has become one of the least reliable arms in the bullpen for the Red Sox. Mortensen got the last out to end the inning. Mortensen gave up two free passes in the 10th with 1 out, but got himself out of the jam without giving up a run. He kept them off the board in the 11th as well. This was a nice outing for Mortensen going 2.1 innings in such a tight game was clutch. The bullpen had a significant chunk of innings to eat with a short start from Buchholz and the extra innings and got away clean outside of the blown save by Hanrahan.
BULLPEN GRADE: A-

This was an interesting game for the Red Sox. They did a pretty good job of getting on base and eventually put up some runs, but were crushed by 4 double plays, Pedro Ciriaco getting caught trying to steal third and a bad call on a play at the plate against Stephen Drew. Shane Victorino broke the ice with a solo home run to put the Red Sox on the board in the 4th. Daniel Nava lead off the 5th with a double and Stephen Drew brought him home with a single. Jacoby Ellsbury followed up with a double that should have scored Stephen Drew from 1st base, but the umpire blew the call and called him out to end the inning. On the replay there was no doubt that Drew had beaten the tag and scored the run. I really think baseball needs to add instant replay. The umpires are only human and the technology is available and has been implemented successfully in the NFL for years. I may be upset when a call is overturned that doesn't favor my team, but knowing that they got it right makes it easier to take. There's nothing worse than being on the wrong end of a blatant and costly blown call by an umpire. Anyways, back to the game. Victorino and Pedroia lead off the 6th with back to back doubles. David Ortiz hit into a double play to kill the chance for a really big inning, but advanced Victorino to 3rd. Mike Napoli would follow up with a single to add another run to make it a 1-run game. After being denied a run in his last time on base, Stephen Drew took matters into his own hands with a solo home run in the 7th to tie the ballgame at 4-4. Dustin Pedroia added a solo home run over the monster to lead off the 8th and give the Red Sox the lead. This was the first home run of the year for the Laser Show. David Ortiz extended his hitting streak with a double and was pulled for Pedro Ciriaco to pinch run. For whatever reason Ciriaco chose to steal third after Salty had drawn a walk and was tagged out at third to end the inning. In the 11th Salty and Middlebrooks hit back to back 2-out singles and Stephen Drew brought the winning run home on a walk off double. This was the first real breakout game for Stephen Drew going an impressive 4 for 5 with a walkoff double, a home run and 3 RBIs. It was a nice all around effort with everybody in the starting lineup getting a hit. Pedroia and Victorino both had great games going 3 for 5 and a solo home run for each of them. David Ortiz managed to extend the hitting streak with his double in his last at bat, but the two double plays he hit into were devastating.
BATTING GRADE: B

6 Sox, 5 Twins

Stephen Drew saved the day last night where he hit an RBI double in the bottom of the 11th to cap off his best day as a Red Sox, by going 4-5 with 3 RBIs.

Joel Hanrahan had his chance to win his job back and to win the game, except he gave up a HR to Brian Dozier. And if that wasn't awesome enough, he seemed to tweak his elbow and not even finish the inning. Thankfully Clayton Mortensen came through huge, picking up where Hanrahan left off and went 2 1/3 innings of shutout ball. Looks like with Bailey on the DL and Hanrahan blowing, my prediction of Tazawa becoming the closer. Which he should, he's our best reliever.

Clay had his worst outing of the year, four runs over six innings. He did get nine strikeouts though and his ERA is still a ridiculous 1.60 on the year.

Victorino hit his first home run, and Napoli had an RBI and Ortiz extended his hitting streak to 26.

Red Sox Grades

I wonder how much longer Clay Buchholz will have to pitch like this before I'll be able to believe that this is who he is now. Buchholz has been solid and shown flashes of brilliance in the past, but this is the most consistently dominant I remember him being. It's still only a month into the season, but Clay Buchholz is 6-0 in 6 starts with 6 quality starts and he leads the major leagues in wins, innings pitched and wins above replacement. He has the best ERA in the American League and is just a hair behind Jake Westbrook in St. Louis (Westbrook has pitched two fewer games than Buchholz). With the resurgent pitching I think that the explosiveness of the Sox offense hasn't been as noticeable as it might have been. Since that 13-0 rain out stinker against the A's the Red Sox have averaged over 7 runs per game and never had fewer than 6 runs in a game. They lead the league in OBP, OPS and Total Bases and trail only the A's in a number of other categories. This is in large part thanks to David Ortiz finding the fountain of youth. He's only been in 10 games, but he's been amazing. It's incredible that as well as the Red Sox have been and as banged up as the Yankees are, the Yankees are hanging in there and trail the Red Sox by just two games. That puts the Yankees in a three way tie for the second best record in baseball.

What more can you really say about Buchholz at this point? His stat line says it all: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K. Both hits were singles and no Jays player got past 1st base until his last inning in the 7th. The only snag he hit was in the 7th when he allowed a 1-out walk and a single where the batter was out at 2nd trying to stretch it into a double. He got the next batter out to wrap up the inning to preserve the 8-0 lead. Another gem from Buchholz.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: A

With Buchholz's pitch count over 100 and the Red Sox holding an 8-0 lead Alex Wilson was brought in for the 8th inning. Wilson struggled in the 8th, but with such a substantial lead some of it can be written off as pitching for contact. He got two strikeouts, but gave up a single, a triple to score the lone Jays run and then a walk. Clayton Mortensen came in to collect the final out in the 8th. Mortensen came back out for the 9th. Mortensen gave up a leadoff walk, but got the double play and then a strikeout to end the game.
BULLPEN GRADE: B-

The Sox bats were no slouches either coming up with 5 runs on Mark Buehrle and another 5 on the Jays bullpen. Stephen Drew had by far his best game in a Red Sox uniform going 3 for 5 and hitting a two run home run to give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead in the 2nd. Somehow, Drew still managed to hit into two double plays this game. Mike Napoli and Daniel Nava hit back to back solo home runs to start the 4th to increase the lead to 4-0. They put the game out of reach in the 7th. Buehrle got the first two outs in the inning before giving up a walk to Jonny Gomes. With his pitch count climbing Buehrle was pulled from this game for Esmil Rogers with two down and Gomes on 1st base. Pedroia hit a single to advance Gomes to 3rd. Gomes would score on a wild pitch from Rogers to make it 5-0. David Ortiz was intentionally walked and they tried their luck against Mike Napoli, who already had a solo home run in this game. Napoli punished them with a 3-run home run to make it 8-0. Mike Carp added a solo home run in the 9th to make it 9-1 and a Mike Napoli double and a Daniel Nava single would add one more to make the final result 10-1. The Red Sox showed some great power this game with a total of 5 home runs. Everybody managed to contribute something. The only player to go hitless was Jonny Gomes and he managed to reach base twice on a pair of walks.
BATTING GRADE: A+

10 Sox, 1 Houston

Clay Buchholz is the Red Sox ace this year. I have had a lot of questions about him during his whole career, but this year, he's been phenomenal. Buchholz finished the night throwing seven innings and allowing two hits, three walks, eight punch-outs, and no earned runs.

Then on top of that, the bats woke up. Stephen Drew, Daniel Nava, Mike Carp, and Mike Napoli (twice) all went yard.

I can't believe how shitty the Toronto Blue Jay fans are. That was a pathetic showing last night. I thought going into the season that they would be a great team, and obviously it hasn't worked out that way, but the lack of fan support is outrageous. Were there even 2,000 people there last night?

Red Sox 7, Astros 2

This game had to heavily favor the Red Sox. The Sox have the best record in the American League and Houston has the worst record in the American League. Clay Buchholz is one of the hottest pitchers in baseball winning all of his starts and Philip Humber is one of the coldest losing all of his starts. It was almost like a trap game for the Red Sox. The Sox got to Humber early and often and chased him from the game with two outs in the 5th after giving up 7 earned runs. The Red Sox were done scoring for the night after that, but they had all they were going to need.

Although Jon Lester has been pitching relatively well, Clay Buchholz has been the Ace of the staff up to this point. This was a bit shaky of a start for Buchholz as he got into some trouble in the 2nd inning after allowing a leadoff double and a single. He got the double play on the next batter and the run scored from third to clear the bases. Buchholz struck out Rick Ankiel to get out of the inning with just the one run. Buchholz got caught with a leadoff double again in the third. Another run would score on a single. After that Buchholz clamped down and cruised for the rest of the game. Buchholz was pulled in the 8th after a two out single. Buchholz's worked 7.2 innings, gave up 6 hits, 2 walks and 2 earned runs with 10 strikeouts on 109 pitches. That makes 5 wins and 5 quality starts in 5 appearances for Buchholz.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: A

Buchholz didn't leave much work for the bullpen, but Miller and Bard managed to work efficiently and not implode. Buchholz handed off the game to Andrew Miller with a man on 1st and two outs in the 8th inning of a 7-2 game. Miller collected the out on 4 pitches. Daniel Bard came out for the 9th with a comfortable 7-2 lead. We haven't seen Bard yet this year after his disastrous season last year with the attempted conversion from setup man to starter. He was recently called up from the minors after Alfredo Aceves was optioned to Pawtucket. I would like to think that Bard still has something to contribute. It wasn't so long ago that Bard was a pretty good setup man and considered the heir to the closer role once Jonathan Papelbon left for greener pastures. Bard had an uneventful outing giving up one hit and recording one strikeout in his inning of work. Not dominating stuff, but solid.
BULLPEN GRADE: A-

Everybody on the Red Sox lineup managed to get something going this game as every player with an at bat managed to reach base. Daniel Nava and Stephen Drew went hitless but managed to get walks. Mike Carp, David Ortiz and Salty all managed to have multi-hit games. David Ortiz managed to raise his batting average from .500 to .550 and looks spectacular for a guy who is 37 and missed spring training entirely. He'll cool off eventually, but it's great to see Ortiz off to such a strong start this season. Ortiz also nailed his first homer of the season, a solo shot in the third. It does bother me a bit that the Red Sox offense seems to show a trend of getting complacent with an early lead sometimes. They'll knock out a starter early in the game and then just coast against the bullpen for the rest of the game. I think sooner or later they're going to get burned when a team stages a big comeback. Still, a strong outing where they managed to capitalize on some opportunities to get the easy win.
HITTING GRADE: A-

Red Sox Pitching MUST Remain at High Level

This is not the same Red Sox team as last year. Clearly. You can talk about clubhouse chemistry, the coaching staff, the baserunning, and that's all well and good. The true difference maker is pitching.

So far this season, the pitchers are reaching their potential. Last year Beckett was a bum, Lester had a wasted season, Buchholz had a crappy April. Things are so much different this year. So far. And for this team to contend the pitchers must remain at this level of quality, because the offense isn't able to bail them out.

Jon Lester has 2 Quality Starts out of the 3 he's made. He started off 2012 with 2 very good starts, then he struggled. He must remain consistently at or near this level. He's the Ace now. And the Sox rotation is so top heavy that Lester and Buchholz have to collect as many Wins as possible.

The Sox are 6-0 when Lester and Buchholz start. Last year they were 28-34 in those games, and 13-20 when Lester started.

Buchholz had two things to prove this season. Could he have a good start to the season. And could he maintain durability for a whole year. He's answered the first question. And now it's about staying healthy and performing for a full season. The Sox need Buchholz. As I mentioned above, they're 6-0 behind Lester and Buchholz. That means they're 2-4 in their other games.

Ryan Dempster could anchor the middle of the rotation. And how the Sox do in those starts could be the difference-maker in the playoff race. He's looked good. Today he was brilliant, striking out 10 in 7 innings. He's struck out 25 batters already.

These pitchers have to perform. Because the offense isn't that good. Sorry folks. I know you think that aggressive baserunning and "manufacturing" runs is going to make up for the lack of power on this team. But it doesn't. And once the weather warms up and homeruns really start flying for other teams, that deficit will become noticeable.

Coming into today the Sox were 12th in runs scored, 10th in OBP, 13th in SLG. They're averaging 4.7 runs a game. Take out the 13 runs they scored on Aprl 7th, and they're averaging 3.9. That's not good. It's not horrible.

For this team to win, they NEED a good start, they NEED the bullpen to hang on to almost every lead, they NEED to win 1-run games. They will not be able to come back from 5 run deficits. They won't win 13-10 slugfests. The offense just isn't there. The Red Sox blueprint for victory is all about pitching.

Things are once again pleasant at Fenway Park. The Red Sox have a 1-game sellout streak going. The pitchers look good. And they need to continue to look good.

-The Captain

Red Sox 3 Orioles 1

The Red Sox are off to a 5-2 start and are looking better than I think anybody would have guessed in their first seven games. The pitching has vastly improved and the hitting hasn't dropped off as much as I would have guessed after losing Adrian Gonzalez. Everything is clicking right now and the excitement and optimism of the fan base is building. Yesterday afternoon the Red Sox beat the Orioles on opening day. The winning runs came on a 3 run home run in the 7th and Buchholz pitched a gem and the bullpen finished the job.

Many people were critical of the Red Sox decision to bench Jackie Bradley Jr. for opening day, but it couldn't have worked out better for the Red Sox. Daniel Nava was 2 for 2 and drew a walk in his 3 at bats. One of those hits was the 3-run home run that won the game for the Red Sox. The Captain has been critical of this team for being guided by their PR department instead of their baseball people. I think that benching such a popular player in the home opener might indicate that this is not the case anymore. Pedroia had a solid night going 1 for 2 with a walk. Napoli had a double and Victorino had a single. Everybody else on the team failed to get on base. It was nice that in a game where they didn't get many opportunities to score, when there were two runners on Nava managed to get the big hit to bring them in. It was clutch.
BATTING GRADE: C

Buchholz and Lester look dramatically improved from their performances last season. Buchholz's stat line is pretty impressive: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, 113 Pitches. He got into a little trouble in the third by giving up back to back singles with two outs, but he got the third out to get out of the jam. I wonder how much of the turnaround by Buchholz is because of the return of his old pitching coach John Farrell.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: A

Despite not giving up any runs, Buchholz's pitch count was climbing at 113 through 7, so Andrew Bailey came in to protect a 3-run lead in the 8th. Bailey didn't disappoint, collecting two strikeouts and a fly out on 14 pitches to pick up his 3rd hold in 3 appearances. In Bailey's 2.1 IP over 3 appearances he's given up only one hit and one walk and no runs and looks like the player we thought we were getting from the A's when we gave them Josh Reddick. Hanrahan came on in the 9th to close out the game. This was Hanrahan's shakiest appearance this season allowing the game's only run on a leadoff home run and a 2 out double to bring the tying run to the plate. Fortunately, Hanrahan got Ryan Flaherty to foul out to wrap up the game and collected his third save.
BULLPEN GRADE: C+

Red Sox 7, Yankees 4

The Red Sox are making hay when the sun shines, taking advantage of the injury ridden Yankees, and starting their season 2-0 for the first time since 1999. The Yankees lost starter Hiroki Kuroda in the 2nd when a ball hit his finger. The Red Sox capitalized as Kuroda struggled, then went to work on the Yankees bullpen.

Clay Buchholz scythed his way through the JV Yankee lineup, needing only 96 pitches in 7 innings of work. The one blemish on his outing was a Travis Hafner solo homerun. Buchholz typically struggles against the Yankees and in April. It's April, and these players were technically the Yankees, so good for him.

It was a game the Red Sox should have won. Which is good news for two reasons:

#1. The Red Sox are back to being a team that is supposed to win games.

#3. The Red Sox are winning games they should win. They didn't do that often enough last year, or in 2011.

Are they the best team in baseball or their division? Impossible to tell after 2 games against a hodgepodge Yankee roster. Are they taking care of the business that should be taken care of? So far, yes. That's an improvement. It's refreshing.

Not so refreshing was the fact that Alfredo Aceves allowed a 3 run bomb by Vernon Wells that made the late innings interesting. This worries me because Aceves wasn't reliable at all last year.

In the 9th, Joel Hanrahan was on the opposite end of the spectrum. He looked very sharp, hitting 96 and 97 on the radar gun, with movement.

Jackie Bradley Jr. continued his ROY/MVP/HOF campaign with an RBI single in the 3rd. His first Major League hit.

Jose Iglesias went 2 for 4, and is hitting the softest .556 in history.

The Red Sox knocked in 5 runs with 2-outs. That's my favorite stat of the night. That's the difference between winning 7-4 and losing 4-2 right there, just a few 2-out at-bats.

Ryan Dempster faces Andy Pettitte tonight. With that matchup and Jaromir Jagr coming to the Bruins, I feel like it's 1999 again. I'm going to check my smartphone for the Y2K bug.

-The Captain

Red Sox Deja Vu

I keep checking my calendar. This is February of 2013, right? Because it feels eerily similar to February of 2012. At least the Red Sox of 2013 seem to be acting like the 2012 team..

Jon Lester is whining again, about not getting enough credit, about high expectations. He's reciting his stats and his record, and making excuses. He's become very annoying and very unlikable. He seems to care more about perception than performance. Just pitch, please.

David Ortiz is still making excuses and is still injured. He blames Bobby Valentine for last year's struggles. And he's still hobbled by an injury that a younger man (or a man taking HGH) would have healed from long ago. Ortiz, like a number of his teammates, made excuses in September of 2011, all throughout 2012, and they're starting off 2013 the same way. 2012 was all Bobby V's fault.

There is no sense of responsibility on this team.

Clay Buchholz remains fragile. Buchholz has always been an IHC (if he can...) type of pitcher. If he can stay healthy. If he can get off to a good start to a season. If he can pitch consistently. And in this Spring Training, many are still saying "If he can" about him, and still being optimistic. I've gotten to the point where it's "can he?" with Mr. Buchholz. Can he stay healthy? Can he pitch in April like he can pitch in June? I just don't know.

But there's a new manager in town, so things are different, right? We have a tough, no-nonsense, disciplinarian manager now. And he'll set the players straight.

Didn't people think that during February of 2012? Wasn't Valentine supposed to set the clubhouse straight, get rid of the alcohol, and stop pampering the players?

I like John Farrell much more than Bobby Valentine. As a Manager, however, what has Farrell accomplished that we here have so much allegiance and admiration for him? He was a decent pitching coach, and kept Beckett in line. At least for awhile. Why does that make us think he can solve all the problems this team has?

Farrell has already had to draw on his disciplinary tools in dealing with Alfredo Aceves. The versatile reliever was disinterested in participating. We have yet to see if Farrell's chat with Aceves will yield anything. At least Farrell didn't pull a Bobby V and embarrass the player in front of the whole team... for not properly doing a drill he was never instructed how to do.

And there's Pedro Martinez too. He can instill some discipline into these young men.

So not everything is the same as 2012.

Unfortunately, most things are. We still have an ownership with split attention between Fenway and Anfield. We still have spinster Larry Lucchino running things in Boston. We still have a puppet GM. We still have excuse making players. We still have whiny pitchers. We still have more "ifs" than "whens."

There is a new manager in town, and new special assistants to the GM. But how much influence does a special assistant to the GM wield over million dollar babies like Jon Lester?

There are new players in town. Role players and clubhouse character guys.

Though what does it say about a team if the most likable and respectable players are the new ones? What does it say if the likable and respectable guys are the middle-tier and bench players?

It's early. Change takes time. Maybe the Sox will change in 2013. But up to February 20th of this year, more has stayed the same than changed.

-The Captain

Buchholz Already Hurt

John Farrell announced that starting pitcher Clay Buchholz suffered a right hamstring strain bending over to pick up a ball during the first day of pitchers fielding drill. Ahhh, you got to love baseball. The only sport you could get hurt cleaning up after practice.

I am sure this won't be a big thing, but it just got me thinking about Buchholz. I keep hearing "well if Buchholz and Lester are good, the Red Sox could surprise people". I get that statement, but what hope is there that Buchholz is going to be good? I mean he had 1 good season 3 years ago, and that's about it. I feel like he is just a newer version of Dice-K. Lester I can see, since he has more of a track record, but my faith in Buchholz has really wavered. He has the stuff to have some incredible games, but he also gets hurt all the time and is just as capable of getting lit up as he is throwing a gem.

The Red Sox need some constancy from their pitchers, and I'm just not sure where they are going to get it from.