Let's Get it Together!!!

The Boston Red Sox came into the season with expectations of being a powerhouse in the AL East. So far, they find themselves at the bottom of the standings. The Red Sox are a sad 12-15 and 5 games behind the first place Yankees. The Sox have been one of the most inconsistent teams in baseball and haven't been able to put a good run together so far this season. In their last 10 games the Red Sox are 6-4 but all four losses coming to a horrible Mariners team and a not so good Baltimore Orioles team. Over thoes ten games the Red sox pitchers have given up an average of 2.6 runs per game. The real Red Sox problem has been the offense. They have an inablity to drive in runs when people are in scoring postition, the catching situation hurting the offense, and no power numbers.

This season the Boston Red Sox have had a hard time hitting when runners are in scoring position. The Sox are 8th in the league in On Base Percentage but are hitting just .212 when runners are in scoring position(RSP). This is will lead to a lot of losses. Only Adrian Gonzalez is batting above .300 with RSP. The Red Sox are 20th in the league in runs scored with 110 and thats exactly what their record shows. Part of the reason the Red Sox are having so much bad luck with scoring is the inconsistent play of Carl Crawford. Crawford was going to be the guy who was at the top of the lineup with speed and power but so far he has been at the bottom of the lineup due to his horrible hitting and very slow start to the season. If the Red Sox are going to score they are going to need Crawford to step up and start hitting and getting on base. If he can start hitting the entire lineup gets balanced out and the Sox will look forward to scoring more runs.

Second, the Boston Red Sox have a serious issue at the catching position. Jason Varitek and Jarrad Saltalamacchia are a combined 15 for 90 at the plate with 0 home runs, 7 Rbi, and 3 runs scored. The Red Sox are getting basicly nothing out of their two catchers at the plate. This has created a huge hole in the Red Sox lineup that is in need of some fixing. Jarrad was expected to hit near .250 and have some power but so far he has show he isn't going to give you that. The Red Sox have three options on how to deal with the issue. They could stick it out with the guys they have and hope it turns around, they could sign a new catcher, or they could trade for a catcher. For right now they are most likely going to wait and see if the catchers they have now can turn it around but if they keep struggleing look for the Sox to be on the look for a solid hitting catcher.

Last, the Sox don't have as much power as they thought they would have at the beginning of the season. The Red Sox are 20th in the league with 22 home runs. With a lineup like the Red Sox they need their big guys hitting the ball out of the park much more. With players like Adrian Gonzalez, David Ortiz, Keven Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia the Red Sox really need extra base hits to score runs. Right now the Sox have a total of 75 extra base hits and are only averaging 2.7 extra base hits a game. With the way the lineup is made the Sox are going to need to see a big increase in power from the big bats in this lineup because without the power they won't score nearly as many runs.

The Boston Red Sox are only 27 games into the season and have a lot of time to get out of the hole they have made for themselves. The offense should heat up but they need to start soon if they want to catch the Yankees or even make the playoffs. The last week and a half have look more promising as the Red Sox have a winning record but they will need much more if they want to turn the entire season around.