The Sox, as expected, came out of their slump against the ever-lowly Royals. Two factors are encouraging. One is the fact that they outscored the Royals 21-14 with 9 of the KC runs coming in one game. This was done without the presence of all-stars David Ortiz, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Kevin Youkilis. The other is the re-emergence of John Lester and Josh Beckett to their place as the two top starters.
Ten of the next thirteen games, however will be against the Rangers and Yankees. Texas has surprised a few people this year by continuing their 2010 success. Their current record is 74-54, only a couple of games behind the Sox and Yanks. The Bosox have a score to settle with Texas; they have now lost all four games they have played this year and also did poorly in 09 and 10. Hopefully, the rotation of Beckett, Lester, John Lackey, and Erik Bedard (who got no support Monday night) can quiet the likes of Josh Hamilton and Michael Young, but it won’t be easy. Andrew Miller seems in limbo right now, but he did well in his last start.
The fifth starter is a problem right now. After a good stretch, Tim Wakefield seems to be wearing down. He is winless in 5 starts since July 24. Though every Red Sox fan will love to see
Wake get his 200th, at age 44 he could simply be tiring, despite relying on the knuckler. Perhaps it’s time to put Alfredo Aceves back in the rotation, at least for a while. Aceves’ numbers are tremendous; for example, he has surrenered only 6 homers this year compared to Wakefield’s 19.
The Rangers will be a tough team in the postseason; a good stretch might enable the Sox to miss them.
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