It’s a bit of wisdom that can be applied to many teams in many sports. However, as it pertains to the Red Sox, a closer look at those opponents tells another story, especially at home.
With Saturday’s rain-soaked 14-3 drubbing at the hands of the New York Yankees, the Sox fell to just 1-8 now against winning teams (the Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, specifically) at Fenway Park, and 8-2 against those with losing records. And as one-sided and embarrassing as many of the losses have been, every win has been an absolute grind, several of them needing a break or two to come to fruition.
The Sox are little more than a road bump for the Yankees and Rays, who have combined to outscore Boston by a shocking 64-29 margin at Fenway. When hosting the likes of Baltimore, Los Angeles and Texas, they are the little engine that could, a spunky bunch filled with walk-off wins and the occasional good start from one of the arms that was supposed to carry this club.
The Red Sox are not used to being classified as spunky. It is certainly not a description used much over the years at Fenway, where they have often beaten teams into submission.
“I don’t think that’s something that we’re happy about,” designated hitter Mike Lowell said when asked about the results against the division elites. “We haven’t played well. Take away [the sweep of] Toronto, we haven’t played well in our division at all. The results are easy, we see where we are in the standings and that basically tells a story.”
Indeed, with just a 5 1/2-game lead over Baltimore, Boston is now closer to last place than it is to the front-running Rays, who are ahead of the Sox by 7 1/2, eight in the loss column. Throw in the fact that the Orioles have won seven of 12 and swept Boston last weekend, and the unthinkable scenario of the Red Sox falling into last place in the coming month is not out of the realm of possibility.
If that sounds as far-fetched as an available ticket at Fenway Park, consider the upcoming schedule.
After the finale with the Yankees on Sunday, Boston hosts Toronto, which entered Saturday at 18-13. It then travels to 17-13 Detroit before a visit to New York, a two-game set at home with the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins and a road trip to Philadelphia and Tampa Bay.
That is seven straight series against teams with winning records as of Saturday, including three division leaders. If recent trends continue, the Sox won’t win a series until they host Kansas City over Memorial Day weekend. Hard to imagine such a scenario, but if it becomes reality, it’s also hard to imagine Boston being even remotely in the mix for a postseason spot.
This is all worst-case scenario, but now 31 games into the season the Sox have yet to provide a solid streak against good teams. Saturday’s disastrous effort in the rain — which saw the Yankees hammer out 17 hits against six Boston pitchers, including outfielder Jonathan Van Every — may have been the low point of the year.
“They kicked our butts,” catcher Victor Martinez said of New York before turning his attention to the struggles at home as a whole. “Both teams in the same division and we haven’t really played that well against them and they’ve been playing really good against us and that’s what happens.”
Such a simple statement, yet one which speaks volumes. Bill Parcells would be proud.
