What To Make Of The Boston Red Sox?

by Nick Valeri, FN Youth Board

Back during my April school vacation, I called this team ‘The Boston Embarrassment’ based on how this group of players were very relaxed, and were not motivated to ride the Duck Boats around the city of Boston once again. That opinion has changed. It is not the whole team, but the starting pitching that should be labeled an embarrassment.

Labeling the whole team that way is not fair at this point, because everyone aside from the starting five has done their job at the plate and on the field. The problem has simply come down to who starts the game—most notably Lester and Beckett. According to Comcast SportsNet, in 36 games this year started by Beckett and Lester, the Red Sox are 13-23. That record of wins and losses is coming from your aces (!!!). That is not supposed to happen with a payroll like ours. I was in attendance yesterday for the Lester-Massacre, and the disappointment in hearing (and participating in) the rain of boos as he walked off the mound is indescribable. I got a text from my friend telling me that NESN was showing Pedroia getting into Lester’s face about how bad he was pitching, and it just shows you that it’s not just us that is upset about the pitching; it’s also the players that are trying to back him up.

As a fan, it's hard to just completely give up faith in this team. Earlier this week, we were talking about how scary a 1-2 punch Ellsbury and Crawford are, and how Cody Ross made you ask “Can we believe again?” with his walk off magic. Now, after what we saw from Lester, we feel like we just returned to the famous Bobby V. “Rock Bottom” as we sit below .500 at the bottom of the AL East. So will this team do something come July 31st? Or will we still be asking ourselves “What is wrong with us?” Because to me, I’m getting very sick of asking that question, I would like to see some fun and excitement and wins, as many of you do, too.