BOSTON — Now comes the hard part.
The Red Sox finished a 5-2 homestand on Thursday afternoon with a 4-3 loss to Kansas City. While a disappointing way to head on to the next portion of the schedule, the loss was a rarity in a run that has seen the club steamroll a slew of second-rate opponents.
Not to take a single thing away from Boston’s recent run of dominance, but five of its last seven opponents have been last-place teams. Three of those five bottom-feeders played the Red Sox in Fenway Park.
The road does get bumpier.
Although this weekend’s opponent, the Chicago White Sox, will enter the series below .500, it has owned Boston of late and is never short of quality arms. On paper, at a place where the Red Sox have dropped eight of their last 12, the hosts will have the edge in two of the three pitching matchups.
Then comes seven in a row at home, but none against the Sisters of the Poor. Cleveland, mired in a slump but still in the mix in the American League Central, comes to Fenway for four. The New York Yankees then arrive for three big games next weekend. After that, 15 out of 18 games will be on the road, capped by a four-game scorcher in Texas, where Boston has dropped 10 of its last 12.
If the Red Sox run through this patch the same way they just sliced through the soft portion of the slate, we will know that this team is indeed one of the finest in franchise history. And if it does, we will also be discussing some pretty gaudy numbers.
In the 18-5 stretch that included last-place teams Houston, Baltimore (twice), Seattle and Kansas City, Boston scored in double digits seven times. It batted .301 with 36 homers and an OPS a shade under .900. Entering Thursday, the club had its third-highest scoring average in a month since 1951, an otherworldly 6.91 mark.
However, four of the six opponents (Astros, Orioles, Royals and Toronto Blue Jays) own some of the worst team ERAs in all of baseball, Houston and Baltimore ranking 29th and 30th in that category. Another, Seattle, has a historically bad offense.
Again, the Red Sox deserve loads of credit for how they have played of late. They took care of teams they needed to take care of, and it allowed them to turn a 2 1/2-game deficit in the AL East into a three-game lead. We know for a fact that they are very, very good. But we may want to get through the next couple of weeks before determining just how good.
