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.

Rangers Sweep Red Sox in Weekend Series

This was a big series for the Red Sox. Coming into Arlington they were the best team in baseball going up against the class of the American League. If they did well here it would be hard not to consider the Red Sox the best team in baseball. If they did poorly it would introduce some doubts about this team's ability to beat high caliber teams. The Red Sox didn't come through in this series and were on the wrong end of a series sweep. The Red Sox bats must have gotten lost by the airlines as they did not show up for this series scoring a combined four runs in 3 games. The one caveat to this series is that we saw their three best starters in terms of ERA this season (Darvish, Holland, Ogando) and they missed our two best ERA starters (Buchholz, Dempster). Regardless, it was a poor performance from the Red Sox and they will need to be better than they were here to get through Texas if they make the playoffs.

GAME 1: Red Sox 0, Rangers 7

Felix Doubront got roughed up for the first time this season and didn't make it out of the 4th inning. His stat line for this game isn't pretty going 3.2 innings, giving up 12 hits, a walk and 6 earned runs and picking up just 2 strikeouts on 97 pitches. It's worth noting that all 6 runs charged to Doubront came with two outs in the inning. It's a setback for Doubront who had looked very solid in his last two starts.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: F

Alex Wilson came in after Adrian Beltre hit a bases loaded double to score 3 runs to make it 5-0. Wilson didn't do Doubront any favors and gave up a single to the next batter to make it 6-0 and close the book on Felix Doubront. Wilson got the next batter out to end the inning, but the damage was done. Wilson ate a few more innings and gave up another run. Clayton Mortensen came into the 7th with one out and a man on first and got the next two outs. He hit a little trouble in the 8th, but didn't give up any more runs. Doubront left the bullpen in a tight spot and with plenty of work left to do and they mostly managed to stop the bleeding.
BULLPEN GRADE: B-

On the other side of this game Derek Holland pitched 8 shutout innings against the Red Sox. Salty, Middlebrooks, Mike Napoli and Dustin Pedroia all failed to reach base. Jacoby Ellsbury was the only player to have a respectable game going 2 for 4 with two singles. All 6 hits for the Red Sox were singles and Jonny Gomes worked their only walk of the game. The only time the Red Sox even threatened to score was in the 6th when they hit back to back singles with one out. As bad as Felix Doubront was, even one run would have been enough against the anemic offense in this game.
BATTING GRADE: F

GAME 2: Red Sox 1, Rangers 5

John Lackey made his 3rd start of the season in this game. He looked good in his last start against the Astros, but this start was not as encouraging. Still, 3 earned runs in 5 innings of work is hardly an implosion. If the Red Sox had been hitting better they might have been able to make a game out of this. Will Middlebrooks didn't do Lackey any favors with two throwing errors.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: C

Andrew Miller came in for the 6th and gave up a leadoff single, but got the next three batters. Tazawa came in for the 7th and gave up a leadoff single and then struck out the next 3 batters. Koji Uehara came on for the 8th and gave up a 2-run home run to make it 5-1. It was really disappointing to see Uehara giving up crucial insurance runs late in a tight game.
BULLPEN GRADE: C+

The lone Red Sox run in this game came off of a leadoff double from David Ortiz and a single to drive him in from Daniel Nava. The Red Sox had some opportunities this game but couldn't capitalize going 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left 9 men on base. Dustin Pedroia was the only Red Sox player to not reach base this game. Shane Victorino and Stephen Drew both went hitless in this game, but worked the only two walks given up by Rangers pitching. Jacoby Ellsbury was, again, the only player to have a multi-hit game going 2 for 5 with two singles and a stolen base.
BATTING GRADE: F

GAME 3: Red Sox 3, Rangers 4

It fell to Jon Lester to attempt to salvage a game from this series going up against Japanese sensation Yu Darvish. Darvish is what I think the Red Sox were hoping for when they signed Dice K, but Darvish seems to have come closer to meeting the high expectations. Lester got roughed up in his last start for the first time this season against Toronto. Lester had a better outing this time and got through 6 innings and limited the Rangers to just 3 earned runs. He left the Red Sox with a very winnable 3-3 game and ate a reasonable number of innings.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: B

Koji Uehara came in for the 7th after a bad outing the previous night where he gave up two runs in a tight game. Uehara gave up a leadoff single, but kept the run from scoring. A nice bounce back appearance for Uehara. Junichi Tazawa came in to start the 8th, got one batter to foul out on one pitch and was pulled for Andrew Miller.  Miller gave up a single, but got two strikeouts to end the inning. Clayton Mortensen came in for the bottom of the 9th and struck out the first two batters, but then gave up a single to Elvis Andrus. Andrus got to second on a wild pitch. They intentionally walked Lance Berkman and Adrian Beltre hit the walkoff single to score Andrus from second. Tough break for Mortensen and the Red Sox bullpen who had a tough task trying to hold onto that 3-3 lead for 3 innings.
BULLPEN GRADE: B+

David Ortiz ensured his hitting streak would continue early in this game when he hit a 2-run home run off of Darvish in the top of the 1st. David Ross would add the third Red Sox run on a solo home run in the second. After this Darvish settled down and struck out an impressive 14 batters in his 7 innings of work. The Sox managed to get baserunners and threatened more runs, but couldn't get anything done going 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and 7 runners left on base. Jacoby Ellsbury, who had done well in the previous 2 games, went 0 for 5. Daniel Nava and Mike Carp also failed to get on base. David Ross and David Ortiz both had good nights; each had a home run and added walks.
BATTING GRADE: C-

This was a tough series for the Red Sox against a good baseball team on the road. Hopefully coming home to Fenway tonight with Clay Buchholz on the mound at home against the Twins and their 0-4, 7.22 ERA starter Vance Worley will help right the ship.

Red Sox Grades

This was a frustrating game for the Red Sox. It was essentially a complete pitching failure. John Lester had a terrible start, the bullpen gave up multiple runs and a good day for the Red Sox at the plate was squandered.

Jon Lester struggled for most of this game. It seemed like every hit, walk, hit batter and error came back to haunt him and put runs across for the Blue Jays. Part of this is just bad timing, but to some extent he shouldn't have been in those positions in the first place if he had been pitching well. It was disappointing to see this as Lester had pitched so well against the Blue Jays 3 weeks ago and he struggled in his previous start against Oakland as well. Hopefully this isn't Lester reverting back to his 2012 form.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: D

The Red Sox bats came through in the top of the 7th putting 3 runs up to give the Red Sox a 7-6 lead when Junichi Tazawa came on for the bottom of the 7th and struggled. After getting the first two batters out Tazawa walked Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion hit his second 2-run home run of the game to give the Jays back the lead. This was a poor showing from Tazawa, but I think it's important to keep some perspective on this. This doubled Tazawa's earned run total for the season from 2 to 4 and Tazawa leads the bullpen in innings pitched. Joel Hanrahan made his first appearance since coming off of the DL with the task of keeping the game within a run for the Red Sox in the bottom of the 8th. Hanrahan didn't help matters by giving up a leadoff single, the runner advanced on a sacrifice and was brought home by another single to make it a 2 run game headed into the 9th. I'm not overly concerned because the bullpen has some solid depth to it, but Hanrahan hasn't looked good. This was hardly a meltdown like the ones he was having before his DL stint, but this is unacceptable if he wants to get back into the closer role.
BULLPEN GRADE: F

The Red Sox had a pretty good night at the plate that went to waste because of bad pitching. David Ortiz and Mike Carp hit solo home runs in the 4th to cut the lead down to 2. Stephen Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia all hit singles in the 5th to add one more. Jonny Gomes hit a solo shot in the 6th to add another. Ellsbury hit a single, Daniel Nava reached on error and Dustin Pedroia worked a walk to load the bases for Big Papi. Papi hit a bases clearing double to put the Red Sox on top 7-6. Unfortunately, Tazawa blew the lead shortly thereafter and the offense couldn't produce anything in the 8th and 9th. Ortiz had another great night going 2 for 5 with a solo home run and a 3-RBI double. His boost to this offense has been tremendous. Pedroia had a 2 for 4 night with two singles, a run, an RBI and a walk. Jacoby Ellsbury got on base 4 times with 2 singles and 2 walks, but had a costly baserunning error in the 5th. Mike Napoli had a tough night striking out in all four at bats. Daniel Nava went hitless, but managed to reach and score a run on an error. Will Middlebrooks went hitless and hit into an inning ending double play in the 4th.
BATTING GRADE: A-

9 Toronto, 7 Red Sox

A couple weeks ago, Bob wrote in a rant piece "I told you Lester was good", well after last night I'm starting to wonder if our "ace" is turning back into the Jon Lester of the past 2 years. In his previous start Jon Lester walked 6, in this start Lester walked only 2, but gave up 6 runs. He needs to be a lot more consistent if the Red Sox want to make the playoffs.

But with Lester sucking, the Sox did have a chance to win the game as they tied the game up and even took the lead at the top of the 7th. But then the bottom of the 7th happened, Junichi Tazawa surrendered a two-run homer to Encarnacion. Then Joel Hanrahan came on for the bottom of the 8th and gave up a run of his own. I guess that puts any discussion to bed on who are closer will be.

This loss, sucks. But hopefully the Sox can shake it off.

P.S. How good is David Ortiz, he's like reincarnation of Barry Bonds, it's ridiculous.

Red Sox Grades

This was a bad outing for Jon Lester. He allowed a ton of baserunners and was very fortunate not to get burned by it any worse than 3 runs. Luckily the bats and the bullpen picked up the slack and delivered Lester his 4th win of the season. The Red Sox are still undefeated when Lester starts going 5-0. The A's are a very strong offensive team as we learned Tuesday night, so hopefully this says more about their hitting prowess than it does about Lester's production dropping off. Lester's next start will be against a last place Toronto team that's middle of the pack in terms of run production. Last time Lester matched up against Toronto he threw 7 shut out innings, if he struggles there I might start to get a little worried.

This entire game was a struggle for Jon Lester. He gave up hits, he gave up walks and his pitch count soared. He got bailed out by two double plays and was lucky to get out of this game only giving up 3 runs on a 3 run home run by Chris Young in the 4th and in position to pick up the win. When he left Tazawa bailed him out of a 2 out bases loaded jam. When all was said and done he pitched 5.2 innings, gave up 6 hits, 6 walks, 3 earned runs and got 5 strikeouts. By no means an impressive start from the ace, but the game was still in their grasp so he gets some credit for that.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: C

Junichi Tazawa came into a tough situation to finish out the 6th inning with 3 runners on base and 2 outs and came through by getting Coco Crisp to fly out. Tazawa seemed to be cruising in the 7th as well until Jed Lowrie hit a 2 out double and he was brought in by a follow up single. After this Miller was brought in to close out the 7th. Miller collected the strikeout to end the inning. Koji Uehara came out for the 8th with a 6-4 lead and immediately gave up a solo home run to Chris Young to cut the lead to 1 run. Young had a monster game against Red Sox pitching going 2 for 3 with a walk and two home runs. Uehara managed to settle down after this and got the next 3 batters in order with two strikeouts. Uehara has definitely cooled off from his early season form giving up a solo home run in each of his last two appearances. Bailey came on to close in the 9th and was really impressive striking out the side while holding on to a slim 1 run lead.
BULLPEN GRADE: C

The Red Sox offense was pretty quiet for most of the day, but managed to get some serious damage done in the 4th and 5th innings to provide the necessary runs to win this game. In the 4th Ortiz and Napoli hit back to back doubles to get on the board. Jonny Gomes walked and Stephen Drew hit a two out triple to score two more. It was Drew's only hit of the night, but it was a big one. The Red Sox kept the pressure on Brett Anderson in the 5th as Ellsbury lead off the inning with a single and then stole second. Victorino brought Ellsbury in with a double. Pedroia and Ortiz had back to back singles to bring in Victorino. At this point Bob Melvin had seen enough of Anderson and pulled him for Chris Resop. Resop didn't fare much better immediately hitting Napoli to load the bases. Daniel Nava got a single to bring in Dustin Pedroia from third and keep the bases loaded, still with no outs in the inning. Resop managed to get Will Middlebrooks out before being pulled for Jerry Blevins, the third A's pitcher of the inning with bases loaded and one out. Blevins got the final two outs to end the threat and keep the game in striking distance for the A's at 6 to 3. The top and middle of the order did a lot of the heavy lifting this game with Pedroia, Ortiz, Napoli and Victorino all coming in with doubles, contributing runs and RBIs. Ortiz has been a real shot in the arm for this lineup, but he's still looking for that power stroke as we wait for his first home run of the year. Daniel Nava had another good game going 2 for 2 with an RBI. Middlebrooks continues to slump going 0 for 4 in the game and 0 for 2 with runners in scoring position. David Ross also went 0 for 4 in this game and 0 for 2 with runners in scoring position. The catcher spot has been a real problem this year for the Red Sox. Salty is inconsistent at the plate and terrible defensively. Ross is a better defensive catcher, but I don't think we can realistically expect to see much production out of him at the plate.
Hitting Grade: B+

6 Sox, 5 Oakland

Yesterday we saw the 2011 and 2012 version of Jon Lester. He sucked an was lucky to get the W, I am willing to forgive him this time because he has pitched really well this year. However, 5.2 innings, 3 runs and 6 walks is not what we want from our "Ace". Luckily this was not the pitchers dual that Bob predicted as Brett Anderson sucked more than Jon Lester. He let up 6 runs in 4 innings.

There were a couple hiccups from Taz and from Koji, but again, I'm willing to forgive those, and Andrew Bailey had his strongest inning as a closer with 3 Ks.

The Bad. Shane Victorino will be landing on the DL. I don't know if it's true or not, it just seemed that he was awfully gimpy in the 7th and that would suck because he's played really well for us so far.

Some clutch hitting from Stephen Drew and Danial Nava last night.

I'll take the win.

Red Sox 6, Indians 3

I recognize how trivial last night's Red Sox game is in comparison to the events of last night, a murdered cop and my city on lockdown; but I'm stuck at home and there doesn't seem to be much new information in the past few hours.

This was a tight game until the 7th inning when the Red Sox blew it up with a 3-run inning to create some separation. That's the first proper sweep of the season for the Red Sox (the first game of the Tampa series was postponed for rain) and they're currently on a 6 game winning streak.

Jon Lester continued to roll and recorded his third straight quality start. The Red Sox are 4-0 in his starts and he's starting to look like the ace we always hoped he would become. He pitched 7 innings, gave up 4 hits, 1 walk, 2 earned runs and 5 strikeouts. In the second he allowed a leadoff ground rule double. The runner tagged up and moved to third on a sacrifice fly and then scored on a ground out by Mike Aviles to tie the score 1-1. The second run Lester gave up came in the 5th in a similar fashion. Mike Aviles hit a leadoff double. Aviles advanced to third on a ground out and then scored on another ground out to bring the Indians within a run at 3-2. Outside of that Lester stayed pretty clean and nobody else got beyond second base.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: A-

Lester handed off the game to Andrew Miller with a comfortable 6-2 lead in the 8th inning. Miller struck out the first batter, but then hit some trouble by allowing a walk and a single. Both runners advanced on a fielder's choice to third. At this point Andrew Miller was pulled for Koji Uehara to get the final out with men on second and third. Uehara gave up an RBI double to make the score 6-3 before striking out Nick Swisher to end the threat. I think Uehara doesn't do as well coming into the game to get just one out with inherited runners. The only other time he did not have a clean inning was in a similar situation. Still, he hasn't been charged with an earned run this season. Andrew Bailey came in to close in the 9th for his third save opportunity of the season. Bailey had a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout to close out the game.
BULLPEN GRADE: B-

Jacoby Ellsbury had a pretty good 2 for 5 day with a double. Mike Napoli went 2 for 5 with a triple and an RBI. Mike Carp followed up on his great game the night before with a pinch hit RBI single to provide some insurance. Stephen Drew was a black hole in the lineup again going 0 for 4 with no walks. I noticed he hit some balls well, but they weren't well placed. He's hitting .087 so far with the Red Sox. Meanwhile Jose Iglesias is hitting .217 in 6 games at Pawtucket. Iglesias is hardly tearing it up, but I wonder how long Drew can struggle like this before they'll consider bringing up Iglesias again. The laser show added an RBI single and Daniel Nava had an RBI single and a sacrifice fly.
HITTING GRADE: B+

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

Captain's Thoughts: Red Sox Opening Day

Here are some thoughts after the Red Sox beat the Yankees in Game 1 of 162 yesterday.

-Notice there was no flyover. That's because of sequestration. Fun fact.

-The 2nd inning epitomized the difference between the 2013 Red Sox and the 2012 Red Sox. In that inning we saw speed, effort, patience, and most of all hunger. Jackie Bradley Jr. beating out the throw to 2nd allowed that inning to turn into a crooked number frame, instead of just a 1 run inning. This team had no hunger in 2012, which is why they lost despite having so much talent. This 2013 team has less talent, but hopefully more hunger.

-This was felt more like Spring Training game than a typical Red Sox/Yankees game. There were many unfamiliar faces. There was no Jeter, no Ortiz, no A-Rod, and no beard on Youkilis.

-The Souvenir Store is already accepting orders for Jackie Bradley Jr. t-shirts. But let's not overlook the performance of the two stars in the lineup, Pedroia and Ellsbury. Pedroia was 2 for 6 with an RBI. Ellsbury was 3 for 6 with a triple and 2 RBI. Especially with Ortiz out, these two will be responsible for carrying the offensive burden.

-The Red Sox saw 190 pitches from Yankees pitchers. They only did that five times in 9 inning games last year (stole this note from WEEI). Jackie Bradley Jr. saw 26 of those pitches. Such levels of patience were absent in 2012, but were a hallmark of Red Sox Baseball from 2002 to 2007.

-Jon Lester sucks in the 4th inning. In 2012 Lester had a 6.75 ERA in the 4th, and opponents had a .906 OPS against him. Yesterday both his earned runs were allowed in the 4th, and the Yankees were close to inflicting much more damage than that.

-The bullpen looks deep, with lots of options, and lots of guys who can throw hard.

There are 161 games left so let's not go nuts. The Red Sox are only 68 wins shy of matching their total from last year, so let's be cheerful. It's too early to formulate any concrete conclusions. So let's speculate. This team is more interesting to watch. They're much more likable. They are getting 100% from their talent.

Clay Buchholz pitches tomorrow. He has always struggled in the Spring months of the season. Hopefully he pitches like it's summer.

-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

Jon Lester Starts Red Sox Whining Season

What was your date in the Red Sox Whining Pool? Which player did you pick to be the first to complain about something this season? If you had February 9th and Jon Lester, you win the jackpot.

"What next level is there? That's the thing that frustrates me. People don't consider me an ace or don't consider me a front-line starter. Well, when there are two other pitchers in all of baseball who (won at least 15 games four straight seasons), what am I? That's my argument to it. What extra level is there to it? Am I supposed to win 25 games every year? It's not possible."

That's Jon Lester in a Rob Bradford column from Saturday.

Even with the departure of Josh Beckett and Bobby Valentine, there is still so much to not like about this team's attitude. Lester is complaining about how he's perceived and the lofty expectations people have of him.

Guess what, Jon, this year you're not expected to win 25 games. We expect you to win more games than you lose, win more than 10 games, have an ERA below 4.00, a WHIP below 1.300, allow 20 HRs or less, and allow less than 100 earned runs. These are things you failed to do last year, but used to do every year. I don't think these goals are asking too much.

Last year, perhaps your preseason griping was legitimate. You were a solid, consistent #2 pitcher, and some expected you to be more than that. Maybe that was unfair, maybe it was just optimism. Nobody disliked you for being a perennial 15 win, 3.40 ERA pitcher. Nobody booed you, criticized you, or felt like you weren't trying 100%. They were hopeful to see more because they liked you and thought you could do it.

This year, oming off a 9-14 and 4.82 ERA season, is not the time to moan about people expecting too much from you.

Aces don't whine, Jon. Aces don't recite their stats to prove they're Aces. They don't keep track of how many other pitchers had four straight 15+ win seasons and then brag about it (especially after a 9 win season). They just pitch.

And that's all I want you to do. Stop pumping your own tires, shut up, and pitch to your capability.

-The Captain