Inauspicious Start

I keep hoping that I’ll wake up, open the Sports Page, and learn that the month of April won’t count this year. MLB decided to let everyone start over. Which would be a good idea, since much of the month, for the RedSox at least, has resembled spring training. Out of nine games, we’ve had two good starts – Beckett’s opener, and Wakefield’s gem out in Oakland. The rest of the starters are still warming up. Except of course for Dice-K, who is now cooling down, or resting his fatigued shoulder, or who knows what. Wonder how happy the Sox will be with the WBC next time it rolls around? Nice for Dice to pitch his country to victory once again, but not so nice if that keeps him from being effective this year. And what’s going on with Lester, last year’s emerging ace? Now Beckett’s facing suspension, and will miss a start, so are we talking Buckholz? And can he rebound from his sophomore slump?

Maybe we could have gotten by in April, despite the absence of starting pitching, had we had any hitting to speak of. But last I looked, our one, two and three hitters were all batting under two hundred. That includes Papi, the lineup’s anchor for the past several years (#3), Pedroia, last year’s sparkplug, and MVP (#2), and Ellsbury, who has been slumping since the middle of last season (#1). Still, three of those losses were only one-run games, so there’s hope, assuming our starters can get past the first couple innings, and our hitters can get above .200.

Speaking of inauspicious starts, another thing about this lousy April is that it has really denied all of us the opportunity to take any enjoyment out of the Yankees’ troubles. Home opener for the new stadium yesterday; Sabathia on the mound; Sizemore grand slam; and the Indians, whose record is worse than the Sox, ruin Opening Day. But there’s not much pleasure in knowing that, unless the Sox can win a couple games in a row, and suggest that they’ll be competitive in 2009. The other night, I saw the box scores, and the Rays were running up double digits on the Yanks. Wang’s ERA is flirting with 30. See, that’s not really a good ERA, because pitchers try to keep that number down. Still, I don’t think the Sox managed a win that night, and it was cold comfort knowing the Yankees had been beaten by ten runs.

It could be worse. This morning I read that Doc Rivers had watched KG work out, and had then explained that he did not expect KG to play at all in the post-season. We’ve all been waiting, as the Celtics stumbled through the last third of the season, but still managed to hang onto second place in the east, for KG’s return. The holes in the defense would get plugged; the offense would get back in sync; and the Cs could renew their drive to repeat, albeit without home court advantage. They need to win in Cleveland, and then in LA, but with a healthy KG, an improved Rondo, and especially with Big Baby having stepped up with the chance to play more minutes, that didn’t seem impossible. Powe looks healthy again; Tony Allen and Stephon Marbury have the potential for instant offense off the bench; and Ray Allen might not miss a free throw in all the playoffs. But without KG – forget about it. Now way they beat either the Cavs or the Lakers.

And as long as we’re looking back on a bad April, let’s not overlook the wholesale defection of Flynn, Devo and PH2. I figure we could have survived Flynn’s departure, what with Jardine and Triche playing next year. But we’ll definitely miss Harris’ rebounds, especially with KO gone; and even more than that, we’ll miss Devo’s outside shooting. At season’s end, when Cuse played so well in the Big East and the first couple tournament rounds, Devo was shooting three balls at a fifty percent clip. The Oklahoma game was an indication of how badly the team needed outside shooting. Now Rautins will be back, but the outside threat was much more credible when we had two good shooters on the floor. So Jardine will play the point; Rautins will play the 2 guard (actually a better spot for him than small forward); AO will be in the middle; and Jackson and Wes Johnson will play forward. That’s not a bad lineup, but we won’t be deep. We’ll need Kris Joseph to play with more confidence; we’ll need Mookie Jones to play less selfishly; and we’ll need some help from one or two freshmen. If that happens, they’ll be good, even though they’ll miss the leadership and experience of the trio that departed. Dickie V won’t be picking this team to go to the Final Four.

So there you have it. April is supposed to be the time of renewal, a season of optimism. This year, however, it’s been a chilly spring.