Red Sox Must Gain Ground on Yankees in Four-Game Series
This is it; the Red Sox can’t make any more excuses. Yes the team is still battling injuries, but this is where their season turnaround must begin. Boston is getting set for a four-game series against their biggest rival, the New York Yankees for a four-game series at Yankee stadium.
The Red Sox were once on fire and right on the Yankees tails, recovering from an embarrassingly slow start. They were threatening to take the lead in the division when the team once again hit a slump heading into the All-Star break. The slump had a lot to do with injuries and some inconsistent play from the team’s top pitching aces and sluggers.
Heading into the weekend’s four-game series against the Yankees, the Red Sox still have some injuries, but are certainly a lot healthier than they have been for a while. Jacoby Ellsbury is back, Victor Martinez is back along with Mike Lowell who has played a reduced role with the team. Kevin Youkilis is finished for the season and Dustin Pedroia is still out, but the team has their full pitching rotation back with Jon Lester, John Lackey, Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz set to pitch to the Yankees.
The Red Sox simply cannot afford to let the Yankees run away from them and push the Red Sox further down in the standings of the tough AL East division. Four of five teams in the division are over .500 with the major’s worst Baltimore Orioles in the basement well under .500.
What’s amazing is unlike most years, the Red Sox and Yankees are not the only two competitive teams in the division. The Tampa Bay Rays are the hottest team in baseball right now and have overtaken the Yankees for the division lead. They are far from a comfortable lead though, meaning that while the Yankees and Red Sox are the frontrunners for the wild card now, both are still in the race for the division lead, with the Sox considerably further behind.
With the Red Sox many injuries, general manager Theo Epstein admitted he was disappointed that the team couldn’t land a prized acquisition at the trade deadline. The Red Sox are looking for an answer to turn their season around and gave some looks to Phillies second baseman Jayson Werth or bullpen ace Joakim Soria from the Royals.
It’s still amazing that the Red Sox are in any race with all the injuries the team has suffered. The Red Sox have proven year after year that they’re a resilient team and tough to put down.
This four-game series gives the Red Sox a chance to come back and begin a push towards the playoffs. The Yankees bats are struggling and the team has gotten some inconsistent pitching, mainly from A.J Burnett. This has lead to the Yankees losing their lead over the division to the Rays this past week.
The Red Sox have had their share of problems as well this year besides injury. David Ortiz seemed to be on the brink of being released in April as he was struggling to hit .200 and after Manager Terry Francona pinch hit for the clutch hitter twice in critical situations. Somehow he’s been able to keep his relationship with Ortiz intact while Ortiz resurrected his season, going on fire in May and is now the team’s leader in home runs. All the while Francona has managed as well as any manager can in Boston’s situation.
Third baseman Adrian Beltre has proven to be a star leading the team in batting average and being an all-around terrific player.
The Red Sox must use this series to gain ground on the Yankees. A split in the series wouldn’t be the end of the world, but anything less than taking three out of four from the Yankees would be a missed opportunity to gain some ground and rise back to the top. The Red Sox may not get another great chance like this and if they can’t get it done this weekend, it may be too late to save their season.
Tags: