Barry Bonds came and went and the while he did take Tim Wakefield deep, it was the Red Sox who got the last laugh with three straight wins. The Red Sox couldn’t make it four in a row as they lost to the Braves yesterday but what they’ve accomplished is a match of the Yankees. So despite the Yankees taking care of Mets, the Yankees are still right back where they started, eight games back.
And that’s without David Ortiz even finding his power stroke yet, not that he’s not helping out in other ways. He’s right behind Mike Lowell with eleven homeruns but he’s hitting .332 and he’s getting on base. He has almost as many doubles as he had all of last year and his OPS is right where it was last year. His 40/47 strikeout to walk ratio is just awesome and you know the homeruns are going to come.
Curt Schilling has been kind of a question mark. He hasn’t been horrible, but he’s also not the shutdown pitcher (at least game in and game out) that he’s been in the past. His WHIP, ERA and batting average against are all up from last year and his strikeouts are down. That doesn’t make him a bad pitcher though and you have to wonder how well the Red Sox will do once Schilling finds his groove.
Julio Lugo continues his struggles. He’s now closer to the Mendoza line and his .574 OPS is simply pathetic. This is a guy who just by playing like he should, could make a nice impact on the team. And his WARP sits at zero so you’ve basically gotten replacement level quality so far, which isn’t acceptable.
The Red Sox have two more against the Braves and then three against a tough Padres team so this is going to be a tough week. Tonight it’ll be Josh Beckett against Tim Hudson in a nice pitching match up.
