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Well, that was quick.
One week ago the sports world was asking “what’s wrong with the Yankees?” Theories abounded that Mike Mussina’s arm was shot, Derek Jeter was having elbow problems and A. Rod couldn’t handle the spotlight of the Big Apple.
The Yanks had just been swept by the Red Sox and fell 5 ½ back of their rivals. The Bronx Bombers were on pace for their first losing April in more than a decade.
The city was in a frenzied state.
Everybody had an opinion on what rash action George Steinbrenner was going to take. Was he going to publicly scold Torre (after he repeated promises this off-season that he would not do so), fire Cashman or try to grab a marquee pitcher? Nobody knew anything except this: the Yanks were in trouble.
Fast forward to today, where just one week later, the Yankees have won six-straight games and sit atop the American League East tied with the Boston Red Sox.
So much for that theory.
The two teams share identical 15-11 records, but are moving in drastically different directions.
The Sox are in the midst of a dreadful five-game losing streak. And while a five-game losing streak always tends to be bad, this one is even worse than it appears.
Boston hasn’t been able to hit with men in scoring position (twice on Monday they had the bases loaded with only one out and couldn’t score a run), Bill Mueller looks more like Engelberg from The Bad News Bears then the reigning American League batting champion, Pedro Martinez mouthed off to the press about his contract and then proceeded to get shelled in Texas (note to Pedro: complaining about making $17 million a year doesn’t endear you to the fans) and Derek Lowe’s sinker just isn’t sinking.
And in one of those karmic retribution things that my crystal-collecting hippie friend used to tell me about, the Sox seem to be paying for their good fortune of last year.
Except for Pedro’s obligatory stint on the DL in the early summer, the Red Sox managed to get through last season injury free. This year Nomar and Trot Nixon have started the year on the DL. And while Nixon is supposed to receive a rehab assignment soon, no timetable has been set for Nomar’s return.
This season the Sox also seem to be losing a lot of games that last season they found ways to win. For instance, tonight the Sox were down 7-2 in the top of the 9th. After a Gable Kapler single scored Brian Daubach, Johnny Damon launched a three-run homer that cut the score to 7-6. Mark Bellhorn followed with a single, and David Ortiz came to the plate with Manny Ramirez on-deck.
Last year D.O. would have hit a towering double that would have scored Bellhorn and the Sox would have tied the game. It happened in the playoffs against the A’s, in the regular season vs. the Angels and countless other times throughout the year. But in this season, Ortiz hit a groundball that got the lead runner and should have been a double play, and Manny Ramirez struck out swinging on a weak fastball from Cleveland closer Rafael Bentancourt to end the game.
In 2003 the Red Sox won games they had no business winning. This year, they are losing those games, and in bad ways. They scored one run against the Indians on Monday night and left 21 men on base. Four hits against R.A. Dickey the night before. They could only muster four hits against R.A. Dickey? That’s like an NBA team scoring under 80 points when playing the Mavericks.
The Sox are hitting .218 with runners in scoring position, .222 in late-game situations, and an abysmal .179 with the bases loaded. That’s bad… Derek Jeter bad.
A year after breaking the 1927 Yankees Major League record for team slugging percentage, the Sox are slugging 20% less this year as a team.
Even in their wins this year, the Red Sox still aren't hitting the ball that well. Without Nomar and Trot on the field, there are huge holes in the batting order.
Last year the Sox lineup was so stacked that Jason Varitek hit 16 of his 25 homeruns from the #9 spot. This year, Tek has been batting 5th or 6th and has no protection behind him, thanks to Nomar and Trot’s injuries. Pokey Reese and Cesar Crespo are fine players to have as late-inning defensive replacements, but they shouldn’t be responsible for driving in the heart of the lineup.
Even so, the season is very young. And the Sox problems are small and easily fixable. Get Nomar and Nixon healthy, and the hits and runs will follow. Set a solid rotation and D. Lowe will find his groove. All these rainouts and doubleheaders and odd travel times haven’t helped the team either. Once things settle down, the Red Sox will be fine.
There are still 137 games to be played this year and it’s much too early to panic.
But why should Yankee fans have all the fun?