Red Sox Fans Pulse Check: More Injuries, More Wins

See Ya!...No really, see ya. Cody Ross hit the DL yesterday for 6-8 weeks with a broken bone in his foot. So R.I.P the Cody Ross bat flip. We loved it, even if you didn't.

"I'm not trying to show anybody up. It's just a reaction," he reportedly said of his trademark bat flip. "I actually don't like it. I wish I could get rid of my bat a different way, maybe like Lance Berkman, hitting it and setting it on the plate. It just happens."

I love the idea of a guy getting so jacked up after a home run that he basically blacks out for a couple seconds and acts like a complete boss. Makes my day. And frankly, I'm amazed his trip to the DL is completely unrelated to some pitcher finally plunking him. 

In other news, the sox are winners of three in a row and and 9 of 11...so they're on fire. The bats are producing, the starting pitching has righted the ship (Buchholz withstanding), and the bullpen is lights out. How long they can keep it up with five outfielders on the DL, I have no idea. It's to the point now where I'm seriously debating sending a couple of my company softball highlight reels down to Yawkey to see if I can get a spot. I can track flies with the best of them, might be a little light with the bat but my UZR is off the charts. Even if I don't make the big club they could at least stash me in Pawtucket for depth purposes.

And finally, it wouldn't be the Red Sox if there wasn't some manufactured controversy to talk about. Though this time it appears the media and ownership had nothing to do with starting it. David Ortiz took it upon himself to lace into the media yesterday over supposed questions regarding his leadership. 

Listen, maybe we don't know the whole story, maybe someone really offended D.O, or maybe it was a language barrier thing, I don't know. And honestly, I don't care. Has Ortiz gotten an un-fair shake in the past? Yea, maybe. For a guy that should be nothing short of revered around here, he may have a point. Should he act like a whiny brat, throwing temper tantrums? You know what? If that's what he wants to do, while he's batting like this and the team is winning the way they are, then sure. Throw hissy fits all you want, lash out at perceived slights (reality and non-reality alike). He's crushing the ball like 04-05 Ortiz, I'll take it however I can get it. I can dig it. Pedro pulled the same routine for years, constantly making up boogey men who were supposedly disrespecting him, even though he was widely regarded as one of the best pitchers of all time. 

If that does it, then shit, all players should go around playing the respect card, most notably Clay Buchholz...someone pass on this message to him. Hey Clay, you've really sucked lately and I don't respect you. 

That should do it.

Red Sox Fans Pulse Check: Break Up the Sox!

Bat Flips and Hand Gestures to God, That's What Cody Ross Does

Honestly, I've been hesitant to write this in the past week. It seems like every time I strike and opinion one way or the other and hit publish the team decides to swing wildly back the other way. I write they suck, they start winning, I write they're cruising right along, they start going down in flames, I write how their pitching staff sucks, their starting pitchers rip off 5 straight wins and 6 of their last 7. It's like I'm the key to this whole crazy thing (don't believe me? click the tag below for Red Sox Fans Pulse check and check the published date against the sox schedule and results on espn, its been uncanny). 

And part of me just wanted to keep my mouth shut this time, but I couldn't. I'm your leader. You guys depend on me. It's not like there's an over abundance of Red Sox related analysis and opinions out there on the internet, its basically me and a bunch of other hacks, so here we go...

The pitching is back, baby! Over a 5 game span Buch (a minor miracle), Doubront, Bard, Lester, and Beckett  all picked up W's.  And none of them have been cheap either, Lester and Beckett combining for 16 innings of one run ball at one point. All the while the bullpen has been its usual dependable self (honestly, two weeks into the season, who would have imagined that sentence making any sense at all?) 

It's squelched the ridiculous Aaron Freaking Cook talks, and it's kept the Daisuke buzz at a manageable level (for the few out there asking about him...you remember how much he sucked, right? the 120 pitch 5 inning starts? The silly 6 walks, 3 hits lines he threw out there? Lets not let revisionist history prevail here). 

Things are kind of rolling right along right now, its pretty nice actually. I'm just deathly afraid of rocking the boat and causing yet another turn around with one of my blogs, so a few things I'm concerned about:

The pitching staff, still.  Yes they've been great as of late, but it's going to take a few more turns through the rotation before I buy into it. Seeing Lester step up like an Ace was fantastic. Watching Beckett bounce back and throw the defiant game that I was looking for (albeit a start to late to salvage his reputation) was excellent...but it's got to continue. It starts with those two guys, if you're getting consistent efforts from them, everyone else falls into line. You can eat a bad start here or there from the young guys at the back of the rotation, and if Buch continues to falter, you can take him out back and shoot him. It'll be ok. 

The lineup worries me long term. Yes they're second or third in the league in runs...they've been fantastic so far. No knocks there. My only concern is how long the smoke and mirrors show can go on. Look at that lineup...Outside the catcher, which was going to be a platoon anyway, out of the remaining 8, there are three guys that you would have penciled in as starters at the end of last year. Pedroia, Gonzalez, and Papi. That's it. Yes, Aviles is a regular, but he won his job in the middle of spring training, if you want to count him, go ahead, but its on a technicality. 

That means you have 4-5 guys playing significant time due to injuries, who otherwise wouldn't have seen much time, or in some cases, wouldn't have even been in the majors. That's concerning long term. How long can these guys keep producing above expectations? How long can they do a reasonable job replacing Youk, Crawford, and Ellsbury? Right now, things look great...but I'm still knocking on wood and crossing my fingers and toes that they can keep this up. 

It's still very much a team of question marks until some of injured guys get back into the swing of the lineup. When you look at it that way, two games under .500 isn't so bad. Or at least that's what I tell myself, they're just treading water till these guys come back, so far, they haven't drowned.

Red Sox Fans Pulse Check: Break Up the Sox!

Another game, another win folks. 7-1 in their last eight games, up to .500 to close out April, and well on their way to helping Clay Buchholz fullfill his quest to be MLB's first 20 game winner with a 5.00 ERA or higher (3-1 on the year, 8.69 and rising!). 

It's frankly astounding. Day to day the outfield is made up of: Ryan Sweeney, who's flat out raking and is currently my main squeeze on the team, Cody Ross, absolutely winning my heart one bat flip at a time, and Darnell McDonald, who I don't really like...No offense Darnell, it's just that you can't hit the ball. 

And despite this Quad-A lineup they're throwing out there night after night, they're first in the MLB in runs. First! Papi is one of the two or three most feared batters in the AL again, Pedroia is doing his damn thing like always, and Mike Aviles? He's doing a poor-man's Nomar in '99 impression. They're flat out rolling. Remember, they scored 2 runs combined those last two games in Chicago, and they still maintained the league lead in runs scored. This is a team that's going to mash all season long.

So that brings us to pitching, which has pleasantly seemed to turn the corner this week (Buchholz excluded, though some of that blame goes to Bobby V...Really Bobby? You couldn't take him out after 6 last night and give the kid a confidence boost?). 

Felix Doubront has been a mini-revelation. Leading starters in k/9 and second in ERA to...Daniel Bard, who despite not having started since Single A ball has shown real promise in his starts this season and is leading the staff in ERA...but yea, why get 6-7 innings a start out of him when we could pitching one inning at a time maybe 3 games a week? Get real folks. This kid's got the stuff to be a starter and that's where he belongs until he fails his way out of the rotation. 

Even the bullpen looks...well they look better, which albeit wasn't difficult given their start, but still, it's a step in the right direction. Most importantly Aceves seems to have righted his ship in the past week...I mean, he's cut his ERA from 24.00 to 10.29, so that's something to be proud about. 

All in all it's been a positive week to be a Sox fan. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to call into WEEI about this Harpah kid down Washington...Tryin-a see if maybe the sox could trade crawford and lackey and cash for the kid.