Cowboy Up?

by Gabe Souza
Editorial. Photos by AP News

Something’s missing.

Things are slightly awry in Beantown, and though things might be turning the corner, the bottom line is that Theo Epstein’s Red Sox are off to a stumbling fourth place start.

It’s been a confusing go so far for the Sox. One night the vaunted pitching and defense looks like it could win you a championship. John Lester has been nearly unhittable in his last seven starts, including the only Sox win over the Yankees a few weekends ago.

At other times, however, it’s been atrocious at best. Josh Beckett has an abysmal 7.29 ERA and supposed slick fielder Adrian Beltre is looking more like the reincarnation of Edgar Renteria – though he might finally be coming through.

These aren’t the Boston Red Sox that won the World Series just three years ago and they certainly aren’t the Idiots that broke the curse in 2004.

There’s a certain chemistry and fluidity among the teammates that just isn’t there – and the thing is, it doesn’t make sense. Everyone on the team is talented and capable of making Boston one of the best teams in the major leagues.

Going around the diamond, each of these guys has proven they can do it before. Jason Varitek is just expanding on one of the best catching careers in recent memory. But on the flipside, Victor Martinez, widely regarded as one of the best hitting catchers in the league, has been struggling mightily with just a .258 average.

There’s no concern at first or second. Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia are not only some of the best players in the league, but probably some of the best in Sox history. They’ve been holding up their end of the deal.

Marco Scutaro has been a solid addition at short, continuing on his slightly above average career play.

Then we get to third base. Adrian Beltre, the man with all-star potential and one great 2004 season. The man who was supposed to solve some of the Sox’ slugging dilemmas and provide defensive stability in wake of an aging Mike Lowell. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. While hitting a solid .327 at the plate, Beltre has struggled most where the Sox need him. He only has three home runs, and has committed seven errors – already reaching half of what he made last year as a Seattle Mariner.

Then we get to the outfield.

J.D. Drew, as much as it pains me to say it, has been, as usual, a solid player. He’s just coming off a stretch where he hit .472 in ten games, and has brought his average to just under .280 on the season with six home runs. No complaints here.

But then, we get to what appears to be the biggest part of the Sox’ problems. Injuries. Jacoby Ellsbury has been out for the better part of the past month with nagging rib issues and Mike Cameron is just getting back to the field after weeks on the disabled list.

There’s no doubt injuries have been one of the Sox’ biggest issues thus far. Ellsbury is the spark to the Red Sox already meager lineup, and while Scutaro has served admirably as a fill-in in the leadoff spot, he’s nothing compared to what the young speedster can provide.

But the Sox’ problems transcend just injuries. They go beyond an aging David Ortiz. They are rooted in the wrong balance.

Red Sox Nation, it’s time to let Theo own up to his mistakes.

There’s no doubting that the wonder-boy General Manager has done a great job with the team. He’s turned it completely around and brought it a couple of world championships. But folks, he got this one wrong. This team is so off-balance, so out-of-kilter, they make Al Davis look like he’s got his act together.

One day the team will play like champions, the next they play like the Pirates, a.k.a. losers. It’s hard to know from day-to-day which Red Sox team will show up. One day Darnell McDonald (who?) is in centerfield, the next it’s Bill Hall. One day Varitek is behind the plate, the next Martinez is there. One day Beltre is at third, the next it’s Lowell. One day Jeremy Hermida is in leftfield, the next Hall is there. It’s a rapidly out-of-control carousel of inconsistency.

And above all, there just isn’t the right balance of character guys and talent.

As we already established, this team has the talent to win. But they don’t have the attitude. They don’t have that intangible of winning. Sure, Pedroia and Youkilis give it their all every night, but there’s no Kevin Millar or Pedro Martinez or even, yes I’m going there, even a Manny being Manny character to get the guys going when they need it.

Theo didn’t find the right mix with this group. He found a bunch of individuals. He found a group of some of the most talented ballplayers. Above all, he found a group of guys who put their head down and play ball. It’s all well and good in its own respect.

But the hometown team needs something else. They need a spark. They need someone who, when the team is down by eight runs in ninth inning, is standing on the rail of the dugout with their cap on backwards yelling at his teammates to do the same. They need someone who plays enough pranks and does enough unconventional things in the clubhouse that he belongs in the movie Major League.

What’s the answer? Your guess is as good as mine. It’s not a spark they’re going to get by trading one of their best pitchers in Clay Buchholz for San Diego Padres’ slugger Adrian Gonzalez. It’s not a spark you can simply throw cash at. It’s something that must come from within.

Can they win without that spark? The short answer is yes. In the last 21 games, the Sox are 14-7. Daisuke Matsuzaka showed promising signs of life against a very talented Philly squad Saturday night, and Lackey, Lester and Buchholz are all shaking off the early season cobwebs. Beckett – once he recovers from the tweaked back – should be good to go for the season, and the offense has shown enough punch to win games as of late.

But that intangible is most important in the playoffs. It’s most important when it’s near freezing outside and your huddled together in the dugout with chattering teeth but you feel like your team is the one that’s going to win because all your teammates are screaming for their pitcher.

With the Sox in a 3-0 hole to the Yankees in the start of the 2004 American League Championship Series, most everyone had given up any hope of the Beantown sluggers pulling out a series victory.

But not Kevin Millar. Not the zany first baseman who was known for doing shots of Jack Daniels with Johnny Damon before the start of each game.

Before the start of Game four of that 2004 ALCS, Millar warned the Yankees.

He told them they better win that fourth game, because if they didn’t, the Sox wouldn’t lose again. It was a ballsy and cocky prediction. But guess what? He was right.

It was part Dave Roberts stolen base, part David Ortiz heroics and above all part cockiness and confidence that won the most famous League Championship Series in MLB history for Boston.

It will be that same little bit of spunk that could turn the Sox 2010 season around.