The Red Sox are in full retreat after a gawdawful road trip. They went 3-6, lost every series, and now face the Terror of Taipei and Murderer's Row version 6.3 at home for (mercifully) two games. No-luck Timmy Wakefield has four losses in five starts, four of them quality starts. Coco Crisp is two weeks away, at least, and the Sox bench is so thin that I actually was wishing that Josh Bard would pinch-hit for one of our all-glove, no-bat middle infielders.
The biggest surprise of the month is Mike Lowell, who leads the team in batting (excepting Coco) at .318, and in doubles with 11. Wily Mo Pena is second to Ortiz in slugging, and has 18 K's in just 47 AB's. Bronson Arroyo is 4-0 with a 2.34 ERA, 7 BB, 30 K over five starts. Compare to Curt Schilling: 4-1, 2.88, 7, 40 over six starts. Note to Theo: you can never have too much pitching.
Something in Boston baseball lore needs to be corrected: Babe Ruth did not ditch the Red Sox for the Yankees. The owner sold him. Management, not the players, held back Boston for 86 years, with backwards and racist policies and lousy decision. This year's real Bad Guy is not Johnny Damon, but Theo, who traded a good pitcher who had just signed a hometown-discount deal because he loved pitching for the Sox. In Theo we still trust, but that's the kind of sleeze that builds up ill will with players and bad karma with the baseball gods.
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