The same goes for 2008, and in 2007, when they won it all, the Sox never won six straight. You get the point. While it might just seem as if this team is finally coming together and living up to expectations, the streak should not be taken for granted.
That's just one thought related to your local crew. Here are nine more, your weekly edition of the Red Sox Lineup:
1. It will be an interesting scene when the Chicago Cubs come to town for three games this weekend. Unfortunately, the series lacks some luster. The Cubs are limping along and in fifth place in the National League Central, perhaps on their way to a third straight losing season, although it is still early. Also, interleague play has lost its intrigue over the years. It's just part of the schedule now.
Still, the fact that the Cubbies haven't played in Fenway Park since 1918 means something. It's interesting to note that tickets for the series are going for hundreds of dollars over face value in some areas, while the last game the two played here had thousands of empty seats (only 15,238 showed up at Fenway). And that was a World Series clincher, no less. The last that Boston fans would see in (say it with me) 86 years.
Another interesting note on the last time the two teams played at all. It was in 2005, and after the Cubs took the first two games of the three-game set at Wrigley Field, Tim Wakefield threw a gem in the finale to allow the Red Sox to avoid the sweep. Wakefield, of course, also goes in the finale of this series. On that day in '05, he was backed by Kevin Youkilis, who had three hits, including his only home run with the big club that year.
Chicago was one-half game out of the wild card race prior to that game. Including that loss, the Cubs went 46-56 the rest of the way and finished 10 games out of a playoff spot.
2. On the subject of interleague play, the bulk of which occurs in June, it's a time when Boston usually makes hay. Only two teams, the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox, own more wins since interleague began in 1997. Since 2003, no team in baseball has a better interleague record than the Red Sox, and since 2005, the winning percentage is an extraordinary .694 (75-33).
Consider that last year's team was just eight games above .500 against the AL and eight games above .500 against the NL. If not for those 16 meetings with the senior circuit, Boston might've been buried long before September.
3. Both leagues head into their annual meetings with some incredible parity. Four of the six divisions had separations between first and last of six games or less, entering Thursday's play. By contrast, all six divisions had six games or more of separation between their top and bottom teams on this date last year.
This is just another byproduct of the phenomenal rise of pitching. Every team has an arm or two or three that they can rely on for quality starts, and several more out of bullpens that are performing rather well league-wide. When you are in tight games on a regular basis, you're bound to win a few, even if your roster top to bottom is not on par with your opponents. The same goes the other way. This could help to generate some of the best playoff races, both divisional and in the wild card, in history. It will also make predicting the playoffs next to impossible.
4. Speaking of bullpens and their effectiveness, that is hard to apply to Boston, for two reasons. One, the club's relief corps ranks rather low in several statistical categories. The bullpen's ERA is 4.52, 25th in the majors. Opponents are hitting .252, which ranks 22nd.
Two, Red Sox relievers have had many of their innings go in the books as mop-up or long relief duty, which skews the numbers a bit. If someone like Scott Atchison gives up three runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings, as he did in relief of John Lackey on May 5, it will raise that ERA and opponents' batting average and many other numbers you do not want to see raised. However, Atchison was praised for the work he did in sparing the bullpen on a day it needed to be spared (the 13-inning loss to the Angels ended at 2:45 a.m. the night/morning before).
Alfredo Aceves did the same the next day, and Wakefield has been called upon to eat up those innings on multiple occasions. Now, Aceves will be making his first start of the year on Saturday and Wakefield his third of the year the following night. It just goes to show that while some of the bullpen numbers have been a but ugly, it has served the team well during a time riddled with rain delays, postponements and injuries and ineffectiveness to a pair of starters.
5. Speaking of rain, there were many on hand Wednesday that figured the Red Sox would do everything they could to get that game in, and they did with just a 26-minute rain delay. Sure, having Clay Buchholz opposing Phil Coke was one reason it was so important to try to play. The other lied in the fact that the team had momentum, despite having Tuesday night's game rained out.
While it is important to maintain momentum, if you can, a rainout here and there over the next two weeks would not necessarily hurt. Boston is in the early stages of 20 games in 20 days (that became 19 games in 20 days after Tuesday) and a few washouts could allow them to skip over Aceves and/or Wakefield, as well as get rest for the bullpen, which as we mentioned has been taxed (only 10 teams in the majors have used their relievers more). The more you can line up Buchholz, Josh Beckett and Jon Lester and not have to worry about the other two spots, the better.
Of course, those games do need to be made up at some point. However, the rotation may be healthy by then.
6. We provided this update on Adrian Gonzalez's remarkable month a few days ago. After a rainout Tuesday and an 0-for-3 effort Wednesday, he is suddenly off course just a tad. Still, he is on pace for 14.5 home runs if he plays out the entire month of May. Rounding up, that's 15 and a new team record for one month. Rounding down, it still produces a team mark for the month of May. Jim Rice's 13 in May 1978 still stand.
Gonzalez is still on pace for 40 RBIs in May, which would make him just the third player in franchise history to reach that mark in one month. Ted Williams, who did it twice, owns the team mark at 41, accomplished in May 1942.
7. Do you remember where you were three years ago Thursday night? You might if I remind you what happened at Fenway Park. Less than two years removed from a cancer diagnosis and just a handful of months removed from winning the World Series clincher, Lester threw the 20th no-hitter in history on May 19, 2008. It was the first no-no by a Red Sox lefty since Mel Parnell in 1956.
Interestingly enough, the 130 pitches that Lester threw that night surfaced in discussions Wednesday at the park. Buchholz threw 127, which was the highest total by a Boston hurler since Lester's magical night.
8. While we remember that historic night, we keep an eye on another run at history, this one not so memorable. The Red Sox have failed to score in double digits for 52 straight games dating back to last season. The streak is now tied for the 19th-longest in team history, and it is the longest since 1993. The club record is 89, "accomplished" between the 1969 and 1970 teams.
9. One quick minor league note for you. Brent Dlugach, whose surname pronunciation was the subject of much debate in Fort Myers this spring, has returned to action at Triple-A Pawtucket. Why do we mention that? Well, Dlugach won some hearts when he went through a brutal stretch during spring training.
On Feb. 26, standing in as one of four hitters in a simulated game against Bobby Jenks, Dlugach drilled Jenks' very first offering. Jenks responded by drilling Dlugach with the very next pitch. Two days later, Dlugach had two errors and grounded into two double plays in the first four innings alone of a game against Minnesota.
The very next day, again against Minnesota, he suffered a dislocated right shoulder while making a sensational diving catch in foul ground. Two days later, on his 28th birthday, he appeared in the clubhouse in a sling, looking about as beat up as a guy can on March 3.
Nice to see Dlugach all the way back, and looking good. He is 5-for-14 (.357) with three runs scored since returning.
