Red Sox offense is in good shape. The local nine is second in runs scored and OPS. The lineup has been legit even with Jeremy Hermida (649 OPS) and Darnell McDonald (746 OPS) getting 246 of the 1920 Red Sox at-bats or 12.8%. The other seven regulars are collectively performing as expected. When Mike Cameron and Jacoby Ellsbury take plate appearances from Hermida and McDonald, the Olde Towne Team should put up more crooked numbers.
On the pitching front, walks have been the issue. The health and return to form from Josh Beckett will reduce the number of free passes. If he replaces Tim Wakefield, the club will benefit even more since Wake’s style dictates not giving into hitters.
After his last start and comments, Daisuke Matsuzaka could finally be seeing the light in challenging hitters, which would seemingly reduce his base on balls.
“You need to battle when you’re not feeling your best” and “You need to pound the strike zone” were fairly familiar refrains during the conversation, which was mediated by translator Masa Hoshino.
He goes on to say…
“I was thinking during my previous outing that if I’m going to give up all of those walks, I might as well let them hit,” said Matsuzaka through Hoshino. “Considering what happened in my last outing, I wanted to be aggressive about getting strikes out there tonight.”
We shall see if Matsuzaka can continue to pound the strike zone or does he fall back into his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde routine.
The other walk machine on the Red Sox staff is John Lackey who has given 32 free passes in only 67.1 innings. By comparison, he only yielded 47 base on balls in 176.1 innings on the West Coast last year. Lackey is also striking out fewer hitters per nine. Clearly, something is wrong. Is Lackey just in a slump? Is the former All-Star hurt? Is it mechanically? Is it personal? He and the Red Sox staff need to fix whatever the problem ASAP.
Overall, things are looking up for the Red Sox despite Lackey. The eventual return of Beckett and Ellsbury will be a plus. Matsuzaka finally seeing the strike throwing light could be the turning point of his career. Now, we have some reasons to be optimist.