For all the talk of beer, chicken and X-box, there's really only one reason some of the Red Sox are vacationing in Cabo this week: horrendous pitching. We've all heard of the staggering 7.00+ starter ERA in September, but it's really been a year-long issue for the pitching staff as a whole.The chart above clearly shows the Grand Canyon-sized disparity between the 2011 offense and pitching. The Red Sox ranked first in the majors in runs, on-base percentage and slugging percentage—second in team batting average. The Red Sox finished near the bottom of baseball in quality starts (28th) and team ERA (22nd). They were in the middle of the pack on WHIP (16th) and 9th in batting average against.
All in all, it can't be any clearer what the problem was. It wasn't so much a lack of team chemistry, it was more a lack of pitcher physics—that is, not propelling the ball in the right spots.