NS Creative Design | Great pitching beats great hitting?

April 5, 2011, By Nathan Sumner

Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester gives up a leadoff home run to Texas Ranger Ian Kinsler on Opening Day, April 1. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

You bet it does. I bumped into a Texas Ranger fan at my local coffee shop today who smiled and promptly told me, "Hey, we beat up your Red Sox over the weekend!" They sure did, outscoring the Bosox 26-11 in their sweep of Boston. To make matters worse for the Red Sox, those New York Yankees are out of the gate fast with a 3-1 record. Even the much-improved Baltimore Orioles are 4-0, leading the American League East. Who are these impostors and what have they done with the Boston Red Sox?

The numbers don't lie. The Sox have been outhit and outpitched to start the 2011 campaign. So far, the Bosox are ranked 25th in total offense, with a meager .200 batting average (29th) and an on-base percentage of .609 (26th). Although Adrian Gonzalez has not disappointed with a team-leading .385 batting average, Carl Crawford has started slow, going 2-11 in the opening series against Texas for an anemic .182 batting average, 114 points below his career average, causing Manager Terry Francona to drop him to the 7th spot in the batting order on Sunday. J.D. Drew, Mike Cameron, and Marco Scutaro are hit-less on the season.

The pitching story isn't any better. The staff ranks 27th in the league. Starters Jon Lester, John Lackey, and Clay Buckholz gave up 18 of the 26 runs over the weekend, including 9 home runs. Ranger hitters didn't miss much tallying 34 hits and 26 runs against Boston pitching. Lester failed to strike out a batter in his season-opening start. This is a guy with a World Series victory and a no-hitter to his credit! Now, none of us expected the pitching to be this bad, and it should improve. But one has to wonder that Josh Beckett is the 4th best starter on this team. If this team is to get better, Beckett has to improve on his 6-6 record from last year and return to his 2007 form. He's a proven winner (especially of the big game) and will need Lester and Buckholz to pick up the slack.

Most experts pick the Sox to win the American League East and many pick them to win the World Series. Sure, this team looks great on paper, but you don't win championships on paper. Is it time to panic? Of course not, but we need to see improvement fast. Josh Beckett will try to put an end to the early season slump when he takes the mound tonight against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. Stay tuned.

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