Inconsistency

Last year, whenever my baseball postings sounded a cautious note, G-Man would break my balls about chronic RedSox pessimism. And I really wasn't being pessimistic, just realistic. But in any event, this year, when the Sox were playing well in April, despite some injuries, and despite an awful schedule, I expressed a mere hint of optimism. What happened? A five game swoon. So then I shut up, at least for a while; April ended with Sox above .500, having salvaged the month; and then we began May with a hot streak, marred only by Papelbon's two fluky blown saves. So once again, an optimistic note was sounded, and once again the Sox stumbled, losing four in a row to end a truly weird road trip - one where they apparently outscored the opposition, and outperformed them in many statistical categories, but still came away dropping six of ten.

So here's my current assessment for this strange season - inconsistent. Inconsistent at the plate. At one time Sox were among the league leaders in many hitting categories, but as of today, nothing special. Remember that five game stretch where they scored a total of four runs? Or how about that awful Ortiz slump? Manny was hotter than fire in April, but has cooled down of late. Youk went on a tear recently, after starting slowly. Now the conventional wisdom is that the Sox have enough good bats in the lineup, so not everyone needs to be hot at any one time. And while that may make sense, the reality is that the Sox have had stretches where they collectively couldn't get hits, or worse, when they got hits, but not at the right times. Lots of guys left on base.

And also, inconsistent on the mound. Beckett is the perfect example. He started slowly, with a couple little nagging injuries, but seemed to be coming into form, especially after the Detroit win, with eight Ks and no walks. But then the other night, five earned runs in just over five innings. Same is true of Wake, Lester, and Buckholz;they've had games where they shut down the opposition, and have had games where they were shelled. Most consistent pitcher this year has been Dice-K, even though he has on occasion had trouble getting the ball over the plate. Still, his record, and especially his ERA, are way below last year.

And even inconsistent in the field, thinking mostly of Lugo, who was very steady at short last year, but who has already committed eleven errors. One of those errors led to one of Pap's blown saves.

Not surprisingly, the Sox record has reflected all that inconsistency. They've already had two losing streaks of five and four (the latter streak is still ongoing), and have been swept twice this year, once in Tampa, once in Toronto. The goal is to win each series, or if we're on the road, at least to play to a draw. But instead, we have this pattern where we play hot and cold, sweeping teams in Fenway, getting hot at home, and then losing on the road. So for now, I'm back to a cautious assessment of the season. Need to stay healthy; need to have consistency on the mound; and we need Papi to return to form. I think if Papi is hitting well, he can do so much damage all by himself, that we can then rely on someone, anyone, from the rest of the lineup to make a contribution on any given night. Really, if Lowell is healthy, with Ellsbury and Pedroia batting ahead of Papi, Manny, Lowell and Youk, we ought to be able to score a few runs.

The really goofy prospect for 2008 is that, with the AL East having become so good, while the Sox and Yankees keep an eye on each other's standings, the Rays or the Jays will take the AL East. Just this morning, I saw that the Yankees lost again to TB, and I calculated the distance between the two clubs in the loss column, but really, right now I should be worried about Tampa Bay, not NY. It will really be strange if we're all at Keen's , but no one was in the post-season. Will the steaks still taste as good? Well, maybe after a couple malts, they'll taste just fine. After all, as Manny says, it won't be the end of the world.