Before the Red Sox suffered a damaging series loss at Tampa Bay over the weekend, we analyzed three keys to their success.
They failed to complete a couple of the tasks and success was hard to come by. There was plenty more to take from a lost weekend at The Trop.
No Offense, But …
In the two games the Red Sox played with Dustin Pedroia in the lineup at the beginning of their previous homestand, they scored a total of 13 runs. Since Pedroia left they've scored a total of 35 runs in 10 games, an average of just 3.5.
In fact, Boston's attack has produced three runs or less eight times in its last 14 games, including four straight. It had seven runs in the three games in St. Petersburg.
The Sox have made a killing over the years in Camden Yards, where they will spend their next three games. It would be nice to see a few more crooked numbers on the board.
On Second Thought
The middle game of the set was filled with questionable decisions by both the coaching staff and the players, and nearly every one of them seemed to backfire on the Red Sox.
There was Clay Buchholz being instructed by the bench to throw over to keep Carlos Pena close, and tossing the ball down the line for a two-base error. There was J.D. Drew's decision to catch a foul pop deep into the Tampa Bay bullpen, a play which enabled Pena to score a tying run. And there was Buchholz left out to start the eighth instead of Daniel Bard, serving up a game-tying solo homer to B.J. Upton.
Bard was eventually used but it was in a tie game in the ninth. After retiring the side in just 10 pitches, he was told to give way to Scott Atchison, who gave up a game-winning home run to the only man he faced in the bottom of the 10th.
It's not often a team as veteran-laden and cerebral as the Red Sox can be questioned, but Saturday night presented several opportunities to do so.
No Finishing Touch
It is becoming increasingly rare for the Red Sox to carry momentum from one series to the next, one city to the next.
After dropping a 5-3 decision Sunday night Boston had lost the last game of a series five times in the last six sets. While the Sox are 54-30 over the first two games of a series this year they are just 20-27 in the next two.
Once again the flight to the next stop will be a quiet one.
