The Red Sox are off to an atrocious start and much of the ridicule they’re enduring is based on the expectations and bluster than accompanied their terrific off-season in which they spent tons of money on quality players to fill their holes. Suggesting that any team is a rival for the 1927 Yankees is foundation for disaster.
I had a class in college called “stress management” (don’t ask) and a friend of mine got an F+ on one of his essays.
It’s hard to dress up an “F”; it’s hard to dress up 0-6.
But is it worthy of the widespread panic that’s taken hold?
It doesn’t take much effort to put the Red Sox current woes into context; nor does it require much work to contain the terror permeating Red Sox Nation.
Look at the current numbers of the Red Sox—link.
They haven’t hit (.181 average; 4 homers; .543 OPS); and neither the starters nor the bullpen (apart from Jon Lester) have done their jobs.
Factor in the hot start the Rangers have gotten off to and that the Red Sox were schooled in fundamentals by the Indians and you get 0-6.
The press coverage, frustrated comments from the players and the desperation evident in the supposed “best” manager in baseball hasn’t helped.
Media vultures are circling and referencing won-lost record and clubs that have gotten off to an 0-6 start as basis for doom and gloom. Maudlin player comments bordering on self-pity and searching for answers are printed in the papers and on the websites; Terry Francona had no business batting Carl Crawford seventh in the third game of the season.
There’s no denying any of the above factors.
But here’s reality.
For all the talk of teams that have started off so poorly at 0-6 and the two that made the playoffs—the 1995 Cincinnati Reds and 1974 Pirates—you have to look at the other teams and whether or not they were any good.
Here’s the list of teams that have started off 0-6—link.
Almost all bad teams with limited expectations before, during and after the season. Pick a few of the teams in recent memory. The 1992 Royals? The 2002 Tigers? The 2003 Tigers? The 1988 Orioles? The 1997 Cardinals? The 1997 Cubs?
These were bad teams with little talent and little hope.
Can that be said for these Red Sox?
Is that lineup is going to continue hitting under .200? Dustin Pedroia is hitting .204; Crawford .174; Kevin Youkilis .105!
Do you truly believe that this ineptitude for such established, battle-tested players is a season-long possibility? That their bullpen and starting rotation will be so shaky?
Of course not. They have too much talent to keep playing like this. But it’s a convenient story. Combined with the overwhelming expectations, the Red Sox home opener (against the Yankees!) this afternoon, it’s natural for there to be lunacy expanding to crisis proportions.
It’s not a crisis.
It’s a bad start. No more, no less.
Talent will right the ship.
It always does.
****
Paul Lebowitz’s 2011 Baseball Guide is available and will be useful for your fantasy leagues all season long. It’s not a “preview”; it’s a guide.
I published a full excerpt of my book here.
It’s available now. Click here to get it in paperback or E-Book on I-Universe or on Amazon or BN. It’s also available via E-book on Borders.com.
It’s also out on Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook.
If anyone would like to purchase an autographed copy, leave a comment; Email me; contact me on Facebook or Twitter. We’ll hash out the details.
I’ve started a Facebook fan page if you’d like to check it out.
For a sport so obsessed with statistics, I’m always dumbfounded by how fundamentally terribly most sportswriters understand statistics. Statistics are supposed to be about expanding the information we have on a topic by giving a perhaps underappreciated angle on some phenomenon, then analyzing the phenomenon under the light of the maximum amount of the most informative information you have.
What in fact often occurs is that other, often times more relevant information is shunted aside for some relatively unhelpful, obscure statistic. Non-baseball fans immediately recognize how silly this is when they mock sportswriters for pointing out that a hitter is hitting .333 in day games in domes facing left handed pitchers when the team is wearing its alternate road jersey.
The Red Sox 0-6 start is mostly meaningless. It does perhaps blunt expectations for the team ,by maybe 4 games, so instead of thinking they’ll win 103 games, maybe they just win 97. In focusing on the 0-6 start writers are lazily focusing on one stat with extremely limited informational value. And worse than that, equivocating this team with extraordinarily different teams. We know a lot more about the Red Sox than their 0-6 record, and everything else we know points them to being very, very good.
that was supposed to say “maybe win just 99 games”
I have to be honest and say that I’m experiencing a bit of Schadenfreude as a result of the Red Sox’s woes. However, it is foolish for anyone to be dancing on their graves or predicting that they’re going to miss the playoffs.
The 2011 Red Sox are a really good team. One of the all-time greatest? I’m not so sure; that remains to be seen. But it’s ridiculous to think that these guys aren’t going to figure it out. They’re just too good. Every team has losing streaks during the season; it’s unfortunate for the Sox that their’s started on Opening Day. The Yankees will eventually have one, too, and I’ll have to grin and bear it (and will need comforting).
Chill out, Red Sox Nation.
“”The 2011 Red Sox are a really good team. One of the all-time greatest? I’m not so sure”"
This is the pathological mindset that plagues Sox fans.
There is no such thing as pronouncing a team really good in Your head. We have results for reality. Those results are they just got destroyed by a team that was completely dismantled, best hitter injured, and scored 0 to 1 run a game. They scored 16 runs.
Not sure they’re not the greatest team of all time?????
Oh, everyone else is quite sure. The Sox are a media creation. The Yanks have been in 7 WS in 15 years and won 5. The sox—2
Now heres the reality–if you add more than 70 years to the sox sample size the number is still 2.
You guys somehow think your special but Toronto trumps you. There is some kind of deusion you’re all under. The boasting is mental institution worthy. Why not just accept you place, cheer your team(not bash others), and have fun?