Fenway is not for Everyone

Yesterday, Willie Harris, playing centerfield for the Braves, went six for six, and knocked in six runs besides. For the season, he’s batting over .330, not at all bad for a leadoff hitter. But only last summer, he was playing back-up outfield for the Sox, and batting a meager .156. Clearly, there was little interest in having him stay in Boston; who really needs a speedy leadoff hitter who can never get on base?

Playing with Harris this summer is Edgar Renteria, who’s also batting over .330, and who has already knocked in 50 runs this year. Renteria didn’t have a terrible year at the plate when he was in Boston (It was 2005, and Renteria had replaced Orlando Cabrera, for reasons that still escape me.), but his batting average with Atlanta is sixty points higher than it was in Boston. And more significantly, he has had only 8 errors through about 100 games, far fewer than the 30 he committed in 2005, when he led the league in that dubious statistic.

I also read that Rudy Seanez, who seemed to offer up more meatballs than any other Boston reliever of recent memory, is having a pretty good year in Los Angeles. He’s 6-1, with an ERA in the mid threes. Even accounting for the switch to the National League, where the pitchers always have better numbers, this is far better than his performance of a year ago.

So what’s the point exactly? When we say that Theo looks like an accidental genius, because sometimes he hits the mark, and sometimes is way off, maybe it’s not Theo that makes the mistake, maybe some guys just don’t do well in the spotlight that inevitably follows them around in Boston. The park is packed every night; all of New England seems to hang on the team’s fortunes; and papers aren’t shy about discussing poor performance, underachievement, whatever. Maybe it’s more relaxed in Atlanta, and Renteria doesn’t feel the same pressure he did in Fenway. And maybe Seanez just needs a bigger park to pitch in. So then that means the front office has to find guys that not only have good numbers, but who can perform well in front of the full house, day in day out. Or maybe baseball is less predictable than we think, a little like the weather. One can predict the outcome some of the time, but not always.

On the positive side, we took three of four from the White Sox; Manny’s bat seems to have come alive; and maybe, just maybe, we can shake the doldrums that have been plaguing the team for the past seven weeks. Lester is coming back; Gabbard is stepping up; and guys seem once again to be hitting. Let’s see how things go in Cleveland.