[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by TroyF

Well, there aren't a hell of a lot of teams with a good 4/5 in their rotation. (Philly of course)

While everyone is talking about how horrible their pitching is, I think most are forgetting about the hitting. They've scored 2 runs or less 4 times in 11 games. They have scored over 5 runs in a game exactly one time this season. Compare that to a Yankee team who has scored over 5 runs in a game 5 times in 9 outings. The Yankees have scored 2 runs or less a whopping one time this year.

It's really the only thing that makes me think things will turn for the Red Sox. . . the fact that both the pitching and the hitting are so pathetic right now. I feel confident in thinking Ellsbury, Youkalis, Crawford, and Gonzales are going to hit vastly better than what they are hitting now. Not just a little better, but ridiculously better. The only guy in the lineup who is doing anything right now is Pedroia. He'll cool off a little, but the rest of the lineup is going to explode in the next few weeks. If they do, I think the top 3 are going to win a lot of their starts and they'll get enough out of 4/5 to make a run.

They have started off so horribly it might not matter, but there is no way this team isn't going to heat up fairly soon.

I think they've basically pissed away any margin for error that they had this season with this poor start. They have to play very very strong (what's the calculations... .600+ ball?) the rest of the way and not have any other 3+ game losing streaks in order to even have a chance of sneaking into the playoffs.

Not saying it can't be done, but their margin for error has gotten a whole hell of a lot smaller due to this poor start.