The Beat Farmers

Game 51 - Red Sox

Red Sox 4, Indians 2
Record: 36-15

This is beginning to get ridiculous. Papi's out three days? Who cares, and frankly, who even notices. Lugo can't hit his way out of a paper bag? Whatever. We have to start Wily Mo Pena in left? Talk to me when I need to worry. J.D. Drew's making Trot Nixon look like a viable option in right? Yawn. Papelbon's not available? Is Okajima? Yes? Back to sleep. Coco Crisp is hitting worse than Count Chocula? That's a horrible joke, and don't you realize that this team leads the AL East by 11.5 games? Josh Beckett missed 2 weeks? Yeah, but he came back to strike out 7 in 7 innings, and would've gone scoreless if not for Drew's misadventures in the right-field corner. The Sox are winning, and winning a lot, without firing on all offensive cylinders.

Luck's a big part of baseball, and the Sox have had their share thus far, especially in terms of injuries. That said, they're winning games based on the tried and true formula of good starting pitching, fundamentally sound defense, a solid bullpen, and extreme patience at the plate. They are not, importantly, relying on mashing the ball all over the yard - that hasn't really started to happen in any consistent manner if you discount the Kevin Youkilis Experience. The things they're doing are all sustainable, at least at some level. Will they play .705 ball for the rest of the season? History says that 114 wins is pretty unlikely, so I'm gonna say no. Can they play .600 ball over the last 111 games to wind up with 101 wins? Sure looks like it.

I'm eagerly awaiting Whit's recounting of last night's Mets win over old "friend" Armando Benitez and his San Francisco Giants. It'd be hard to top the sheer ignominy of Benitez' predictable failure. I'd be remiss in not noting that I'm also awaiting Whit's recaps of the 3 or 4 games that preceded last night's. I was traveling hundreds of miles this week - I await my colleague's excuse.

50-game recap to come, though I suspect it'll be largely predictable. Hard to find much to complain about thus far.