Warming Up in May

After yesterday’s split in Detroit, Boston’s record for the month of May, with two games to go, is 19-8. They’re now seven games above .500, not quite on the pace they need to maintain, in order to assure a spot in the post-season, but not in bad shape considering the awful start they had in April. In fact, for the past couple days, they’ve been on top of the Al East, although the standings are less important right now than their overall record. Better to be playing well, and not worrying about where the Yankees and the Rays stand.

May’s turnaround was sparked, in large part, by a dramatic improvement at the plate. I can recall early in the season, when half of Boston’s line-up was batting under .200. Now they have four players right at or above .300. For a while in May they were carried by Adrian Gonzalez, who already has 30 RBIs for the month, and whose average has been among the league leaders much of the season. But now most of the lineup is producing hits, and knocking in runs. Ortiz has had a better start this year than any time since he injured his wrist. Nice to see that pinch hit home run yesterday that won the first game of their double-header. Ellsbury and Pedroia are getting on base, allowing the middle of the order a better chance to knock in runs. And pretty much everyone top to bottom in the lineup has been contributing.

But the most dramatic improvement has come from Carl Crawford, who started the season miserably, making everyone wonder if he wasn’t an even more expensive version of J.D. Drew. But as the weather improved, so did Crawford’s average. He ended up batting .311 for the month, so far. Then he started with the walk-off hits, at least three that I can remember. And this past week he exploded on the latest road trip, with back to back four hit games, and lots of extra base hits. Tito has him hitting sixth right now, and perhaps it’s also easier for Crawford not to deal with the higher expectations of batting lead-off or in the number two slot. Plus, with the way everyone else is hitting, six give him more chances to drive in runs.

I like too that they played well on the road this last week. Too often in the past Boston has played well in Fenway, but poorly away from home. It’s a good sign when they can win on the road, especially against decent teams. Cleveland had the best record in all of baseball before the Sox took two of three. (It could have been a sweep, if not for a mini-meltdown by Bard.) And the Tigers were playing above .500.

The bullpen is still suspect. Jencks is rehabbing at Pawtucket, and I’d like to think he was so lousy this year because of his injury. But I’m not holding my breath. The rest of the relievers --Pap, Bard, Albers -- have looked great at times, but really have been pretty inconsistent overall. If Dice and Lackey can come back into the rotation, then maybe Wake and Aceves can fill in for long relief when it’s needed. Although those two are doing great right now as starters, so maybe it’s better not to make any changes right this minute.

It’s a long season. There are four more months of baseball, and a million things can happen between now and the end of September. But I’m glad to see them playing well; and it’s certainly better to see them atop the division, than hanging out in the cellar. Let’s hope the winning ways continue back at Fenway this coming week. Go Sox.