Sox Slipping into Baseball-Coma

BY GABE SOUZA
EDITORIAL. PHOTOS BY AP NEWS.

It may not be time to reach for the Pepto Bismol just yet, but queasy feelings of indigestion about the Boston Red Sox season should be settling in right about now.

Watching the bullpen’s abysmal performance against the Seattle Mariners this past weekend, an unwieldy case of heartburn took hold and I have worries it may not lift for the rest of the year.

The Sox have five days before the trade deadline. ESPNBoston’s Gordon Edes is reporting Manny Delcarmen and Ramon Ramirez could be potential bait in an attempt to land Toronto lefty Scott Downs.

Recent struggles by “the other” Japanese pitcher, Hideki Okajima, have made the Sox bullpen anything but a sure bid. The eighth and ninth innings are locks with young fireballer Daniel Bard and fearless veteran knucklehead Jonathan Papelbon taking the reins. Journeyman Scott Atchinson has actually provided steady relief with a 3.79 ERA through 21 games. But past that, who else is there?

Ramon Ramirez has a 4.69 ERA, Manny Delcarmen stands at an even 5.00 and Okajima is, well, anything but okey-dokey at a whopping 5.81. Beyond those, the bullpen is filled with hardly recognizable names: Scott Schoeneweis, Dustin Richardson et all.

If they do land Scott Downs (4-3, 2.41 ERA, 46 games), it will give them four reliable arms in relief, just enough to squeak by. Maybe.

Unfortunately for the Sox, the bad chili they ate for defense is coming back to bite them.

Eric Patterson epitomized this with a mistake more commonly found on the fields of nine-year old Little Leaguers than in the MLB. Jon Lester was cruising to his second career no-hitter. 


The lefty’s stuff was dynamic; no one could touch him. He was about to end a 1-2-3 fifth inning with little drama. Then, Patterson did baseball’s number one no-no. The thing we all learn not to do by the time we can walk: he dropped the ball.

A few pitches later, a swing from the M’s Michael Saunders gave Seattle a 2-1 lead and started the slide. A slide that, if the Sox aren’t careful, could continue uninterrupted until the Sox are too far back to make a dent in the already sizeable deficit. 


They currently sit five games back from Tampa and a whopping eight back from New York.

Listen: it's time to get real.


The above and beyond performances from Daniel Nava and Darnell McDonald have slowed. (Nava was designated for assignment the other day, so his magic is finished for now). It was only a matter of time before reality caught up with the Sox.

With the losses of Victor Martinez, Dustin Pedroia, Jason Varitek and countless others, it will be some time before the Sox are back at full strength. That time may take too long.

Clay Bucholz struggled his first start back, but expect both him and Josh Beckett to rebound.

Jacoby Ellsbury on the other hand, his issues have become like ex-Cavalier Bron Bron’s elbow: much ado about nothing. Each time I turn on the TV I feel as though I’m watching some drama-laden, pathetic-excuse-for-television-Lindsay-Lohan-saga when poor Tom Caron, Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo are relegated to wonder about what the next issue with this wounded animal will be. 


All the while, Boston's missing-in-action center-fielder finally made his first start in the Gulf Coast League today. Key word there: first.

Don’t get me wrong. Broken ribs suck. A lot. Hell, if I had them, I’d be out for a long time. But, he is getting paid quite handsomely to play baseball. Bottom line, best case scenario it’ll be at least three weeks before Ellsbury can make a useful contribution to the big league club. A lot can happen in three weeks. That’s roughly 20 games and a date sometime in the middle of August.

Will Theo make a deal at the deadline? Absolutely. That’s just what he does. (See Victor Martinez, Eric Gagne, Orlando Cabrera, etc.) Successful or not, he’ll make a deal.

Jayson Werth has already been shot down by multiple sources. In the end I see them pulling a deal for Downs in exchange for, say, a prospect, a Delcarmen or Ramirez, and depending on how desperate Theo is, maybe even a Jed Lowrie.

Yes, it will help. But will it be enough?

I sure hope so. All I know is that while watching these Boston Red Sox, I feel a lot less like I’m watching the Sox of 2004 and 2007. Instead, I feel more like I’m watching the Sox of the late 1990s. All the heart of Brian Daubach, Jose Offerman, John Valentin, Mike Stanley and Nomar Garciaparra, but not quite enough on-field performance to get the job done.

Pass the Alka-Seltzer please.