The Red Sox completed the first half of their season today, so we’ll take a look at the Sox second quarter report card. (If anyone wants to see the analysis of their first quarter grades, follow this link.)
Starting Pitching: 2nd Quarter Grade: A (First Quarter Grade: A-)
The Sox starting pitching over the last 40 games has been more consistent than from the first quarter. Jon Lester continues to impress and has really stepped up and emerged with the absence of Daisuke Matsuzaka as a solid number two pitcher in this rotation. Lester is leading the Sox in ERA and innings pitched and is 4-1 with a 2.22 ERA in this second quarter, while his command (only three walks in his last 27.2 innings pitched) has become impeccable. Tim Wakefield and Josh Beckett are both pitching much better than they did at the beginning of the season. Coming into tonight Wakefield has an ERA of 3.00 and 27 strikeouts in his last 36 innings pitched (5 starts) while Beckett is 3-1 since the quarter mark and has vaulted himself among the league leader in strikeouts (89 on the season). The Sox got an extremely pleasant surprise when Bartolo Colon replaced the injured Clay Buchholz and gave the Sox some valuable starts. Until the start against the Phillies where he injured himself swinging the bat, Colon was 2-1 with a 3.41 ERA in 5 starts. And as an even better surprise, Justin Masterson continued to pitch so well that the Sox had to leave him in the rotation. Although he had only pitched a dozen games above single-A baseball this year, Masterson is 4-1 with a 3.00 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 6 starts covering 36 innings. He has gone at least six innings in all but one of his starts, where he went five.
Cumulative (all 81 games): A-
Among starting pitching staffs in the A.L., the Sox rank second in the A.L. in strikeouts and in fewest hits allowed and are fifth in ERA and innings pitched. Once Matsuzaka settles down, the numbers will only get better.
Relief Pitching: 2nd Quarter Grade: B (First Quarter Grade: C)
The Sox relievers have definitely shown improvement since the first quarter, which was abysmal, and for the most part it has been due to some of the younger arms in the bullpen stepping up. Manny Delcarmen has a sparkling 1.02 ERA over his 17 appearances in this second quarter with 16 strikeouts and it lowered his season ERA from 6.14 at the beginning of the quarter down to 3.48. Joining him is Craig Hansen, who has given up runs in only two of his last 11 appearances. David Aardsma has continued his season long success; in fact, his ERA is almost exactly the same at the end of each of the first two quarters. He also leads all of the relievers in innings pitched. However, Hideki Okajima has really been struggling of late, and the numbers are disturbing: over his last nine appearances, 0-2 record with a 10.13 with 16 hits and five walks in only eight innings of work this June. Jonathan Papelbon is still racking up the saves, although he has blown two in his last five chances. He is second among A.L. relievers in strikeouts. Mike Timlin went on the disabled list, and although he was replaced by a rookie, Chris Smith, he was a source of much of the damage in the bullpen, giving up 10 runs in 14.1 innings pitched since the first quarter mark.
Cumulative: C+
The only reason why late game leads seem more dependable in the hands of the bullpen is because the starters are going deep into games, so the bullpen only needs to survive one or two innings until Papelbon takes over. Delcarmen seems like he can be the set-up man as Terry Francona has said that he will not be changing Aardsma’s role from multi-inning and comfortably-ahead relief, but the Sox may still be looking for that eighth inning guy.
Offense: 2nd Quarter Grade: A- (First Quarter Grade: A)
The Sox are still getting good production from their lineup. Since the first quarter break, the Sox are first in on-base percentage, stolen bases, walks, and are second (to the Rangers in most of these categories) in batting average, slugging percentage, total bases, doubles and RBIs. The only reason the Sox did not get an “A” was due to David Ortiz going on the disabled list and Manny Ramirez being injured. However, the man most responsible for keeping the Sox offense afloat and the runs coming in even though their big guns are out is J.D. Drew. Drew is simply on fire in the month of June (although slumping recently) and is the runaway player of the month for June. Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis both went through slumps during this quarter, but both have put together hot streaks to raise their batting averages. Probably the most surprising aspect of this quarter’s offense was their ability to drive the ball and hit balls out of the park. Youkilis, Drew and Mike Lowell have all put together good power numbers, which keeps the Sox team number high despite Ortiz’s absence. Jacoby Ellsbury has been slumping recently, but he is always close to a multi-hit game and a few stolen bases. Jason Varitek is in a terrible slump and has severely hurt his average. The Sox have not been producing very well in the late innings recently, as demonstrated by Sunday’s 13 inning contest in which they had several extra inning opportunities to take control of the game but could not.
Cumulative: A
The offense is once again one of the strong suits of the Red Sox and they really have no holes in their lineup.
Defense: 2nd Quarter Grade: B (First Quarter Grade: B+)
The defense has been a little shaky, but it is still mostly due to one man, Julio Lugo. We were joking at the beginning of the season that Lugo would finish the year with more errors than RBIs. Well, no one is joking now, as we are half way through the season and that prediction could still be true. Lugo has 16 errors, and only 18 RBIs. The outfield defense has been excellent, with Ellsbury and Coco Crisp laying out for some spectacular play. Drew has played very good defense, and made a spectacular throw in extra innings to keep Sunday’s game tied. Youkilis made his first error at first base in over two years, but still seems poised for back-to-back Gold Gloves. Kevin Cash has three passed balls than any other catcher in baseball, but considering he is catching the knuckleball, we forgive him.
Cumulative: B+
As long as Lugo continues to rack up the errors and lead the majors, this team cannot have a higher grade.
Bench: 2nd Quarter Grade: B+ (First Quarter Grade: A)
The bench has continued to contribute whenever called upon. Sean Casey is leading the attack and he is batting .381 over the last 30 days. However, some of the other bit players are struggling. Since the first quarter mark, Alex Cora is batting only .200, but has played excellent late inning defense in the place of the iron-handed Lugo. Cash is batting a miniscule .080 since the first quarter mark, and proved that his hot start to the season was indeed a fluke. Brandon Moss has been valuable for the Sox recently, getting action in the outfield with injuries to Ramirez and suspensions to Crisp, and getting his first playing time at first base with Youkilis’ recent shiner.
Cumulative: A-
The Sox have one of the best benches in baseball, and their depth extends beyond the few non-starters in Boston. In the first quarter, Jed Lowrie was an excellent addition, and now Casey has shown that he is still a very good hitter and can fill in at anytime.
There is the Red Sox report card with exactly half of the season gone. Let me know what you guys think.
Keep the Faith.
