Sox Talk

The Red Sox have reached the real halfway point of the season. Through 81 games they are 49-32. Pretty much exactly where I thought they would be considering all the injuries they've been through. Papi, Beckett, Dice-K, and Lowell have all been down at some point this year. One word that describes this baseball season for the Sox is depth. So many guys have come up and contributed. Masterson, Colon, Lowrie, Moss, and Hansen have been surprises. Now I'll give a old fashion analysis position by position of this team.


Catcher- I don't care what Varitek hits. No one handles a pitching staff like Tek. We all saw how valuable he was in 2006 when he got hurt and the Sox just collapsed. He is a streaky hitter and he always goes through slumps but he always ends ups hitting around his career numbers of .265/20/82/.348 OBP. Kevin Cash has been a surprise. Hes been handling Wake well and anything you get with his bat is a plus.


First Base- Youk's been as sold as he has ever been. He always gets off to hot starts and then cools off a bit but hes still getting on base at a high rate (.374) and hitting well (.303). I thinks its safe to say that we will see him at the All Star Game this year. Sean Casey has been a valuable bat off the bench and is a solid backup to Youk when he needs a day off.


Second Base- Dustin Pedroia is another player who should be getting into the All Star Game and probably as the starter for the American League. Pedroia has been great all year and he is the perfect guy to be hitting behind Jacoby because he never strikes out and is extremely patient.

Shortstop- If you are just looking at numbers for Lugo, .274 avg/366 OBP/.347 slug, then you would think that Lugo has been fine. But sometimes the numbers lie. And in this case they do. That .274 average is a soft .274 in my opinion. We are halfway through the year and Lugo has 1 home run and 18 RBI. Hes projected to have 39 RBI this year. His career average is 61 RBI. I don't know if he can turn it around but I hope so.

Third Base- I didn't expect Lowell to have a super year like he did last year but hes coming damn close. 11 homers, .287 avg, and 41 RBI is fine by me at this point of the season. He keeps coming up with clutch hits like he did the other night against the D'backs.

DH- For Papi to be out as long as he has and we are still leading the division, I'll take that any day. We should be even better when he comes back and start to pull away from the pesky Rays.

Outfield- Manny's being Manny. Jacoby has had his struggles but when hes on base he causes chaos. Coco has been key and has contributed with Papi going down. JD Drew has been the offensive MVP and has carried this team since Papi went down. Its been unbelievable to watch. Hopefully he continues it when Papi gets back because he is not going to be hitting 3rd and his hot streak came when he started hitting in front of Manny. The 3 hole belongs to David Ortiz.


Starters- Beckett has just been a little off all year but in his last start he showed that he was back. Lester has been great all year. Hes been very consistent all year and hes leading the team in innings pitched. Hes made huge strides and if the playoffs started today, he would the number 2 guy. Dice-K has been good until his last start but I'm willing to give him a pass on that. He still has outing where he'll drive you insane but as long as he gets the win I'll live. Wake has been doing what hes done for the past 10 years. Masterson has stepped up huge giving us quality starts and wins.


Bullpen-If there is one real weakness on this team, its the bullpen. Pap has a couple of fluke blown saves and I'm not worried about him at all. Okie has struggled big time. He needs to turn it around somehow, some way. Delcarmen has rebounded after a rough beginning to the year. I have like what Hansen and Aardsma has brought to the table. Power right handers out the pen. Aardsma has come on strong as of late. I'm we will make some deal at the deadline for some bull pen help.