Give Us A Break

Sadly has been an appropriate sign lately.
(CEB II)

And so another half of another eventful season has gone by. The Sox currently sit on top of the AL East mountain at the arrival of the All-Star break, and every bit of effort has been necessary. Beantown's favorite team ends the unofficial first half of the season with a 54-34 record, capped with a 94 pitch, 7 K, 3 H shutout by team ace Josh Beckett, joining teammate Brad Penny in the 100 career victory club. So what has the season provided us thus far? A smoking hot 8-0 start against the Yanks, the apparent resurgence of Big Papi, a streak reaching up to over 500 sellouts at Fenway, and bringing in a league high 6 All-Stars to St. Louey is not too shabby. This group includes knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who has finally made it to the Midsummer Classic for the 1st time in 18 years with a league-leading 11 victories. But I'll be the 1st one to tell you that this break has come at just the right time. Don't get me wrong, a 6-4 home stand should be considered a success. However, the 10 game set, which featured the weak lineups of Seattle, Oakland, and Kansas City, was interesting to say the least. Part of the madness involves the once-dominant bullpen, which has gone through somewhat of an implosion in the last few weeks. Since the night of the infamous Baltimore Blowup (June 30), the Sox bullpen have tallied a "Natinals"-esque 6.95 ERA. Justin Masterson, one of the culprits of that late June night, has had a 18.00 ERA since entering that game. The lanky right hander's ERA has skyrocketed from a respectable 3.66 on June 27th to a burger joint figure of 4.99 in just 6 appearances. Takashi Saito has posted a whopping 8.11 ERA with a 2.72 WHIP since being a part of the blowup. Not exactly the numbers expected from a guy who is expected to be sold as a closer during this year's trading deadline. Even the once invincible Ramon Ramirez has gone into a little slump, with his ERA going up a half a run with only 4 appearances in the month of July (1.80-2.33). A bullpen, which was at one point in the season was a half a run better than the next team, has now become the biggest concern amongst the Nation. The 'pen to some extent has become a larger concern than the Sox offense, which has cornerstones Bay and Youkilis batting .224 and .231 respectively since the month of June. But despite all of this, the Sox are still on top of a division that contains the recently white-hot Yankees and the super pesky Rays, who are considered by many baseball pundits to be the team of the 2nd half. Here are a few Sox superlatives from a successful first half.

Sox 1st Half MVP - Josh Beckett
(espn.com)

Who says a pitcher can't be the MVP? If you had asked me in the beginning of June, my pick would have been Jason Bay by a landslide. However after seeing his slugging percentage go down over 100 points in the past month and a half, he is not exactly a runaway pick for me. Since his atrocious April, Beckett has tallied a 2.38 ERA while posting a 9-1 record. In June, he allowed only 6 ER the whole month, all coincidentally in one game against the Phillies. He has posted 11 quality starts out of the 13 he has started post-April. Most importantly, he has established himself as a dependable stopper with a 6-0 record after a Red Sox loss. I'm a huge believer in Beckett's performance in determining the team's overall success, similar to how the Phillies success schizophrenically follow the feats of J-Roll. In '07, I believed that he was the X factor if we were to go deep into October, and the results proved my conjecture correct. In an injury-hampered '08, we saw Beckett struggle throughout the season and in the playoffs, a domain where he normally dominates. If an injured Beckett didn't blow 3 leads in Game 2 of the ALCS last year, we might be talking a third championship in 5 years. Each dominating Beckett start makes me more confident that the Sox will be playing past my birthday this year (knockin' on cedar).

Best Moment of the Half - Jacoby steals home against Yanks.
(cdn.bleacherreport.com)

Picking this was more difficult than you think, for there were many marvelous moments in an season that's 88 games young. There was Wake's near no-no, the 500th consecutive sellout at Fenway, and the late comeback against the O's 10 days back. There was even that astonishing comeback off Rivera on April 24th. But in that same series, Jacoby Ellsbury used his flash to stymie the arch rival in a "Did Janet Jackson just....?" moment. Like in the most infamous wardrobe malfunction ever in Super Bowl XXXVIII, the steal just came out of nowhere. You looked up just in time to catch the moment, but still questioned if it really happened. Now it seems now as if everyone is stealing home from B.J. Upton to Jayson Werth. Not only was it the punctuation mark in the first Yanks-Sox series of the season, but it has been the most symbolic moment of the Yanks-Sox season series, portraying the dominance of one rival over another in the first set of contests. The steal also proves that the Sox can beat you in many more ways in the post Manny era, still making the offense a force to be reckoned with.

Biggest Surprise - Nick Green
(cache.boston.com)

Who would have known that our starting shortstop this year would be a guy who was in the Yankees minor league system last year? Who would have known that he would be a solid contributor even after a shaky 1st two months on the field? Green has been doing everything asked of him and more for the Sox this year. From making the key plays at short to the walk-offs around Pesky's Pole, Green has only made the shortstop dilemma in Boston more intriguing. Sure this isn't Nomar at his prime, but he has been more of a MacGyver, exceeding expectations with his abilities while Lowrie and Lugo have been battling the injury bug for the majority of '09. He's displaying way more value lately than his $550,000 salary, which makes it more likely that the organization may be willing to eat the contract of a Mr. Lugo. I expect him to play a larger role in the second half of the season as he becomes even more acclimated.

Biggest Disappointment - Daisuke Matsuzaka
(espn.com)

What hasn't been said about his sub par season? I mean, I basically wrote him off to Pawtucket almost a month ago. Dice-K is currently on the DL for the second time this year with a bout of "shoulder fatigue" (I guess the Tigers already took the anxiety disorder route), though I believe his troubles are far deeper than a highly speculated injury. Matsuzaka, who was previously thought to be part of the best 1-2-3 starting punch in baseball, has posted an ERA of a beer league softball pitcher (8.23), accompanied with an eye-popping 2.20 WHIP. The rotten cherry on top is the 4 1/3 innings per start that he has averaged when he has pitched. Now, he is basically going through Spring Training-like routines, which many argued he should have gone through 5 months earlier. In a way, you can't blame him for the WBC debacle, considering he is the most iconic player in a country highly dedicated to the notion of honor and duty. But nobody expected that he would fall this far under expectations. If Smoltz continues to turn it around like he has, don't be surprised if Dice-K doesn't make another trip to the bump in 2009.

Looking to the Future
(jayszone93.files.wordpress.com)

The Sox have their work cut out for them, with two hungry division rivals on their tails. Out of the Big 3 in the AL East, the Sox have the least home games remaining on the schedule while from September to the end of the season, they have 32 games in 34 days. Immediately after the break, Clay Buchholz brings his 2.11 ERA from Triple A to the Rog for his first major league start in the Obama administration. Even though he likely won't be there for too long, this will be the first test to whether Buchholz can not only atone for a abysmal '08, but also prove whether the depth of the Sox pitching staff remains enviable. All eyes will be on Mike Lowell, as he recovers from his surgically repaired, numb as a door knob hip and whether he can be productive and healthy the rest of the way. The return of Lowrie will also be examined closely considering Nick Green has been steady at short as of late. The Sox could use another bat (preferably left-handed, 1st baseman, or both), however other than Halladay watch, the rumors have been nothing more than wishful thinking in this year's trading deadline action. As air tight as everything has been, I still remain loyal to the predictions I made in the beginning of the season. In the end, I believe the bullpen situation will straighten out, the offense will click as one, and the front office will make that right move that will boost the team for the final stretch. The Sox have had their share of struggles this year, but with their depth and resilience this year, I see no reason why they don't end the year not only as the winners of the Eastern division, but emerge as the class of the American League.

Bonus: Red Sox - Royals Montage

"The Boys Are Back In Town" - Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak, 1976



R.I.P. to the Human Highlight Reel
Arturo Gatti (April 15, 1972 - June 11, 2009)
(image3.examiner.com)