Of course, July also starts with the loss of a player. The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo stopped by SportsDesk on the first of the month and filled us in on Manny Delcarmen. He will become the 12th Red Sox player to head to the DL this season. Twelve players and a total of 14 stints on the DL — including two apiece for Daisuke Matsuzaka and Jacoby Ellsbury. Those are some pretty ridiculous numbers, especially considering that it is, in this case, only July. How much more can one team tolerate?
As the cliche goes, you can’t know where you’re going unless you know where you’ve been. We know, as counted above, the Sox have been through injuries, but it’s how they’ve come through them that really tells the story. They are a well within the race in the AL East; at this juncture, the team sits a game and half behind the one located a couple hours south down I-95. Boston has had contributions from anyone and everyone. Much has been said, written, and discussed about Darnell McDonald and Daniel Nava, and rightly so. Both guys walked onto a team and have made the most of an opportunity. Adrian Beltre has caught fire. Clay Buchholz has brought it. This team could have sulked through a stretch of hurt that would have any team shaking their collective heads. Instead, the Sox have come together.
Maybe the most lasting image of this first half of the season will be the one from Fenway on Wednesday. It encompasses the attitude the Red Sox have taken toward the injuries — and the hurt itself. Pregame, there was Dustin Pedroia taking grounders on his knees. He has a fractured bone in his foot and he is intent on finding his way to the field. That’s hunger. That’s resilience. That is exactly the attitude this Red Sox team has embodied.
Keep remembering where they’ve come from — and July on through October should be fun to watch.
