Same Old Wakefield, Same Bad Luck

"The ball is carrying real well today." Those ominous words were uttered by Don Orsillo in the early portions of today's game between the Red Sox and the Twins. Normally, the Red Sox are the heavy hitting team that benefits from having the ball carry an extra 10-20 feet, just not when Tim Wakefield is on the mound.

Wakefield is notorious for allowing home runs; its what makes watching his starts so pressure filled, any pitch he throws can end up in the bleachers, no matter how well the knuckleball is dancing that day. At Target Field, where the Red Sox have been so very nice to their hosts, a day in which the ball carried an extra couple of feet every at-bat was not a good day.

Wakefield was able to get the first five batters out in 16 pitches, but the knuckleballer, who seems to luck out of roughly eight wins a year (including his first start of this season) had the same old luck he has always had, in other words, bad luck.

With two down in the second inning and breezing through the Twins line-up, Wakefield faced notorious Red Sox killer Jim Thome. Thome ripped a line drive into the shift, but the ball deflected off of shortstop Marco Scutaro's (who was playing to the right of the second base bag) glove and into center for a single. Two more two-outs singles later and the Sox were down 1-0.

With the Sox still down 1-0 in the fifth, Wakefield allowed a lead-off double and the next batter Denard Span blooped a ball down the left field line that was about a half foot from going foul, but dropped in fair territory for an RBI double.

The sixth inning did not fair much better as Adrian Beltre committed his first error of the year and the wheels started to fall off for Wakefield and the Red sox. A single here, a double there, and Wakefield was pulled after six runs, five earned (four if you expect players to not throw the ball around like little-leaguers) in 5 1/3 innings.

Despite the defensive woes and bad luck for Wakefield (the knuckleball was dancing all day, but the Minnesota bats were consistently able to drop the bat heads on Mr. Rawlings), it would not have mattered. The Red Sox were defenseless against Francisco Liriano's aresenal of fastballs, changeups and sliders.

Liriano was able to get out of a jam in the top of the first inning when he had runners on second and third with one out, but got Kevin Youkilis to swing on top of a slider down and in, and got Adrian Beltre to ground out to third. Liriano went seven scoreless innings, striking out eight and only needing 96 pitches to do so; the 96 pitches is the easiest marker of the Red Sox inability to make the embattled left-hander work.

For the Red Sox and Tim Wakefield it was another missed opportunity, and another example of a team that simply did not show up to play, a troubling consistent storyline early in the 2010 season.

"It's a Jump...To Conclusions Mat"

It's Early, but... They Kinda Suck

Red Sox Red Sox Red Sox.

The Red Sox and their players have one of the greatest fanbases in all of professional sports (I'm looking at you Manchester United). With that distinction comes a rabid fanbase and media scrutiny unlike anything most players have ever seen; John Lackey, after one start and six shut-out inning, might just be the greatest free-agent acquisition ever.

The fanbase knows how to overreact, and why not with the second highest pay-roll in the major leagues; the fans expect a great show when they tune into NESN for away games and an even greater show when they go to Fenway and sit in the ever-increasing pricey seats.

However, the Sox are off to unspectacular 3-4 start; losing two of three to the Yankees, at home, then taking two out of three at Kansas City (big whoop, except for the lone win came off of Zach Greinke), and just yesterday lost the Twins' home-opener (a true home opener as it was the first professional baseball game played at Target Fiend).

Like every year the starting lineup has some new faces (Marco Scutaro, Mike Cameron, even Victor Martinez is technically new) and old faces (David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis), but for some reason this team has come out of the blocks in unspectacular fashion. It could be a simple case of, "they haven't meshed yet" or "it's early, no time to overreact," and while that may be the case, it's how they have lost some of the early games that is cause for concern.

The Red Sox lost a game in which John Lackey went six shut-out innings, but the bullpen blew it in the eight and eventually the tenth, only scoring one run in those ten innings. They lost a great start by Tim Wakefield when the bullpen blew it in the eight, this time only scoring four runs. Then, just yesterday, they lost to Carl Pavano and the Twins 5-2 when the bats never really did get going; one of their two runs was on a warning track drive by Big Papi which bounced off the heal of left-fielder Delmon Young's glove.

The main concern for Red Sox fans coming into the season was "how are the bats going to hold up." Now I know you cannot expect 9 runs a game, but it's more than that; the Red Sox have no energy coming into the games and it seems that there is something missing from the entire team, with the exception of Papi (who despite the atrocious start, 3-22 with 11 Ks, is still playing with passion; see, eighth career ejection), Youk, Pedey, and when he plays, Jason Varitek.

It is not that the new players do not yet understand how to mesh with the veteran Red Sox, its that they don't understand when you play for the Red Sox, you are expected to bring the intensity everyday. Red Sox fans can take losing (see, the 1900s), but what they cannot take is players that do not come prepared with energy everyday; the fans cannot take players thinking the Red Sox are like every other average, run of the mill baseball team because Red Sox fans, in the 2000s, have come to expect anything but average from their players.