Can it get any worse?

Just over a week ago, I said the Boston Red Sox would be the World Series Champions. Wow, what a difference a week makes. Boston is now 0-6 and along with the Rays are one of only two winless teams remaining in baseball. Where have they gone wrong?

That has an easy answer…EVERYWHERE. Their big offseason acquisitions (Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford) have gone a combined 11 for 46 (.239), with 1 homerun, 6 runs driven in and scored 4 runs, and the sad part is, Adrian Gonzalez is hitting better than anyone else on the team as he is the only player on the team batting over .240. In the preseason there was talk of this loaded lineup with former MVP Dustin Pedroia, five-tool superstar Carl Crawford, the aforementioned power bat of Gonzalez, speed-demon Jacob Ellsbury, and the rest of the group scoring 1000+ runs. They might have trouble getting to 500 runs at their current pace as they’ve plated only six in the last four games, and three of those against an Indians team that allowed 24 runs in a three game set against the White Sox. The offense is not just bad right now, they rank 28^th in all of baseball in runs scored (16), 29^th in team batting average (.181), 28^th in On base percentage (.269), 29^th in Slugging (.275), 29^th in Total Bases (53), 29^th in Extra Base Hits (10), and have no sacrifices, flys or bunts. To put it bluntly, the offense has yet to hit or manufacture runs.

Ok, you cannot hit right now, what about the pitching? They don’t have that either right now. Jon Lester has lived up to expectation (3.65 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 2.25:1 strikeout to walk ratio), it’s the rest of the staff that has performed below expectations. Clay Buchholz, Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and John Lackey have been very bad, combining to give up 19 runs in 20 innings for a 8.55 ERA and have nearly as many walks as strikeouts 12:11. Thing do not get much better in the bullpen with a combined 7.88 ERA and two loss. In all, the Red Sox pitching staff is 30^th in ERA (7.13), 29^th in Quality Starts (1), 30^th in innings pitched (48, they’ve been so bad that no team has had to bat against them in the 9^th to lockup the game), 30^th in Slugging percentage against (.646, next worse is .519), and 30^th in Home Runs allowed (14).

To put this simple, Boston has been the worst team in baseball through the first week of the season. That is the beauty of baseball though, their 0-6 start accounts for 1/27^th of their season, it’s the equivalent of an NFL team getting beaten in their 1^st half of football in the first game of the season. It is a small sample size for a marathon of a season. Red Sox Nation is not happy, the Sox themselves are not happy, but the ship can be righted this weekend when they open Fenway for the season with the rival Yankees coming to down. I know that no team has started 0-6 and won the World Series, but keep in mind, no team had been down 0-3 in a playoff series and came back and won. Do not be surprised to see the Sox wake up and put a beating on the Yanks this weekend. I’m sticking with my guns, they are the most talented team in baseball, it is only a matter of time before we see it on the field.

Baseball is here, at last

The first pitch of the 2011 MLB Season will be thrown in a little over three hours; at least that is the plan. Rain and 40 degree weather are forecasted in Washington and New York and threaten to delay the start of the season and even further north Boston has the threat of a snow covered field, luckily they play in Texas on Friday. Opening Day is supposed to mark the beginning of spring with sun and enjoyable temperatures, not rain and winter-type highs.

But baseball does bring something more than the promise of better weather, it brings a renewed sense of hope for 30 clubs in 27 cities for millions of fans, but it also mimics the optimism for America as a whole. America has been at war, been through recessions and depressions, seen economic highs, and the free thinking of the sixties and the one constant has always been baseball (sorry if I’m “borrowing” from Field of Dreams, but it is true). Now, baseball is recovering from the black eye that is the steroid era and most of the players affiliated or under suspicion are at the back end of their careers or have already faded away and a new crop of young stars are making headlines for the right reason. The defending World Series Champion New York Giants were a rag tag group of overachievers led by the youthful pitching of Tim Lincecum (26), Brian Wilson (28), Matt Cain (26), and Jonathan Sanchez (28). This team of journeyman and inexperienced youth accomplished something that did not happen in the 15 years with Barry Bonds as the face of the franchise.

With the changing of the guard, is there a team that could come out of nowhere to win the World Series? Look no further than 15 miles East where the Athletics have built a team with a good young rotation, a dominant closer, and an underestimated lineup with some power thanks to the additions of Hideki Matsui and Josh Willingham. Or a little more obvious is in the Giants’ division, the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies are coming off of back to back winning seasons and have been in the playoffs 2 or the last 4 seasons and have a scary good lineup and the kind of arms that can win you a series or two in October.

Enough of the questions, here is what I know, the Phillies scare me, too many injuries early, too many questions in the bullpen, and too many of their big hitters had down years last season, is this just an exception or is it due to age catching up with Rollins, Utley, and Howard? They are the team to beat in the NL on paper, but I just do not see it happening. In the American League, it’s the Red Sox, pure and simple. They have the best offense in baseball, a deep rotation, and while they do have some questions at the back end of the bullpen but I just think they can more than make up for that shortcoming. What is my World Series prediction? Boston taking on the aforementioned Rockies. For my full predictions, just look below.

MLB Playoffs

Divisional Series

Boston over Texas*

Oakland over Detroit

Colorado over Philadelphia*

Atlanta over Milwaukee

League Championship Series

Boston over Oakland

Colorado over Atlanta

World Series

Boston over Colorado

*-Wild Card Winner