When teams approach the trade deadline they are forced to compare themselves with others in order to see how they stack up, and thus where they might need help. It took the lowly Seattle Mariners to hammer home one point for the Red Sox — the Boston bullpen needs help, and needs it fast.
The Mariners’ corps of relievers severely outpitched the Red Sox’ in a split four-game series that saw Boston give up six runs in the eighth inning and five in the ninth, all against an offense that is historically bad.
The coup de grace in the disastrous effort came Sunday when Hideki Okajima was the central figure in Seattle’s go-ahead three-run rally in the eighth inning of a 4-2 triumph over the sinking Sox.
The inning saw Okajima give up two bunt singles, both of which he helped play into a hit, as the first six Mariners batters reached, turning a quality Daisuke Matsuzaka effort into an afterthought.
When the dust settled, three Boston relievers had combined to give up three runs on seven hits in just two innings. Moments later, Seattle closer David Aardsma, a former Red Sox reliever that the club could probably use right about now, came on to retire the side in order in the top of the ninth to end four scoreless innings by the Mariners’ pen, which has actually struggled much of the year until it got to face the suddenly dormant Boston attack.
That’s a story for another day.
By the time the Sox sauntered off Safeco Field for the last leg of their 10-game West Coast road trip, they had an unsatisfying split that could be boiled down to the work of the two bullpens. It was all there in the numbers:
Boston Seattle
IP: 10 2/3 16 1/3
H: 13 7
ER: 6 3
BB: 7 3
ERA: 5.06 1.65
WHIP: 1.88 0.55
Certainly, Okajima was not alone in the mess.
Manny Delcarmen gave up four runs without retiring a batter in the opener, an effort which spoiled what appeared to be an easy win for starter John Lackey. Delcarmen also hit a batter with the bases loaded in the collapse on Saturday night.
Jonathan Papelbon had his fourth blown save of the season on Thursday. He needed 30 pitches just to clean up Delcarmen’s mess, walking two and giving up one hit in the process.
Even the scoreless streak of Daniel Bard came to an end at 15 2/3 innings. Bard has been fantastic, but it figures his run of dominance would end amid a miserable weekend for his pen-pals.
It’s not as if this series offered up any revelations — Boston has been rumored to be after several relievers on the trade market as its bullpen ERA remains one of the worst in the American League.
After Okajima’s meltdown it stood at 4.44, 12th in the AL. Many of the issues lie in a shaky bridge to the back end.
Okajima has a 5.81 ERA and an unsightly WHIP of 1.97. If Delcarmen’s struggles (29.45 ERA since June 24) do not cease, there will continue to be difficulties getting the ball to Bard and Papelbon.
Toronto lefty Scott Downs, who would immediately eat up most of Okajima’s innings, is a hot commodity at the moment. His teammate, Kevin Gregg, is another target on a market for relievers that one talent evaluator recently said was "terrible."
Seems as if that would be a pretty apt description for what we saw from the Boston bullpen in Seattle, which simply does not stack up to the competition.
