ThereÂ’s always a surprise or three when a new baseball season begins. So seeing the Boston Red Sox stumble out of the gate isnÂ’t the craziest thing IÂ’ve ever seen.
Granted, this is a team that, with the signing of star free agents Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, was expected to dominate the American League East. This is also a team that many expected to go through the playoffs and get to their third World Series in eight years.
After a week and a half, though, Red Sox Nation would be happy just to see their team get back to .500.
The Sox started 0-6 before finally winning their home opener on Friday against the New York Yankees. They actually took two of the three games against the Bronx Bombers to get back to 2-7, but thereÂ’s still a lot of work to do before they challenge for the top spot in their division.
Seeing a couple of plays during losses last week in Cleveland indicates that Boston could use a refresher in baseball fundamentals.
On Wednesday, Boston trailed 3-2 and faced a bases-loaded situation in the sixth inning. Reliever Dan Wheeler, who just entered the game, induced an easy grounder to Kevin Youkilis, who tagged third base to get a force play and then threw home, where Jason Varitek merely tagged the plate instead of the runner. By getting the first out at third, however, the force play at the plate was no longer in effect. Cleveland went on to score four runs that inning and won the game 8-4.
Chaos continued in ThursdayÂ’s series finale. ClevelandÂ’s Asdrubal Cabrera laid down a perfect squeeze bunt in the eighth inning to drive in the gameÂ’s only run. To make things worse, Darnell McDonald ended the game with a bad baserunning blunder. On a deflected grounder, he made a wide turn at second base, slipped, and got caught trying to get back to the bag.
The SoxÂ’ Triple-A affiliate, the Pawtucket Red Sox, came to Buffalo this past weekend, and PawSox manager Arnie Beyeler feels that things will still get better in Beantown.
“I think (the rough start) surprised everybody, but that’s baseball,” Beyeler said. “They’ll get rolling. They’ve got too many good players.”
Â…Â…Â…It was a surreal moment Friday afternoon when Major League Baseball announced that Manny Ramirez was contacted about a matter involving the gameÂ’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs.
Within 30 minutes, Ramirez announced that he was retiring to avoid the mandatory 100-game suspension he would face for a repeat violation.
Ramirez wasn’t exactly off to a good start with the Tampa Bay Rays, getting just one hit in 17 at bats. His modest contract and optimism for a “new start” were supposed to help the Rays avoid a downfall after the club lost a wealth of valuable players during the offseason.
Tampa Bay started 1-6 with Ramirez on the roster, but that record had nothing do to with “Manny being Manny”. If anything, his abrupt retirement is just one more piece of ammunition in an already loaded weapon which the baseball writers will use to keep him out of the Hall of Fame.
His career, which included 555 home runs and a .312 batting average, would alone be enough for induction. But the cloud of suspicion which he cast upon himself, along with a constant repertoire of amusing but maddening antics, is enough for him to be considered one of the oddest characters the game has ever seen.
The St. Louis Cardinals are also off to a poor start, and their 2-6 record has to be partly blamed on closer Ryan Franklin.
Franklin, who converted 27 of 29 save opportunities last year (and 38 of 43 in 2009), blew three saves in his first four appearances.
He allowed a home run to San DiegoÂ’s Cameron Maybin on opening day and the Cards lost in extra innings. Last Friday, he got the first two outs against San Francisco, but then allowed a single and a walk before yielding a game-tying RBI single to Pablo Sandoval; St. Louis also lost that game in extras. Saturday, he allowed a two-run walkoff double to Miguel Tejada.
“Somebody’s got to come up with somebody that’s better on our club,” said Cards manager Tony LaRussa. “The fact is that right now (our) young guys aren’t better.”
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