To say that this past week of baseball has been a rollercoaster would be the understatement of the year. And I’m not talking about Pablo Sandoval pitching a perfect inning for the Giants, because I can’t even begin to wrap my head around that.
Yesterday, I realized that the no-hit was only one week ago, and my jaw actually dropped. It goes to show how fickle the game is; in one week, the Red Sox went from 17-2 to 20-7. And with the way they’re playing, it’s been a bitter pill to take.
This weekend, they almost got swept by Tampa Bay. The same Tampa Bay that they’ve been decimating for most of the month of April over 3 separate series. They won the series finale, 4-3, but only after first losing 4-3 and 12-6 yesterday and Friday.
So the Red Sox finally picked up their 20th win of the season and became the first team to do so. JD Martinez went 4-4, and Sandy Leon had a tie-breaking RBI single. Porcello pitched a marvelous game, save for one bad pitch to Denard Span. Craig Kimbrel held on to the Sox one-run lead in his longest outing so far, picking up a win and improving to a .77 ERA.
Last week, I wrote that I was concerned. And despite this win, I’m still very concerned. Compare their series against the Orioles and Angels to these last three series against Oakland, Toronto, and Tampa Bay, and it’s easy to see why. From sweeping Baltimore and Anaheim to narrowly avoiding being swept themselves. From sweeping and out-scoring Anaheim 27-3 to being outscored by Tampa, 19-13 and losing 2/3. Sure, Tampa is on a surprising hot streak right now, but we’ve seen Boston destroy them so many times already in April. The pendulum is swinging very hard in both directions, but the stakes are only going to get higher; this team needs to be more consistent.
It would be one thing if the Red Sox had started the season badly or even average. But this team has shown us that they are capable of the most ridiculous kinds of winning, and now we just want more. Alex Cora better keep reminding them to “be humble [and] stay hungry.” Red Sox Nation is starving.
Photo: Red Sox Twitter
