The dog days of August slam down upon every team in Major League Baseball. To some, it's an opportunity to show your mettle. Others succumb to the grind. The Red Sox have not dipped that far as of yet, but they are certainly showing some strain.
After setting a franchise record with 20 wins in July, Boston is 8-8 in August after dropping the finale of a three-game set against the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday. The Sox, who have lost four of their last five, managed only three hits in each game of the series, the first time that has happened to a franchise known for having prolific offenses since 1974. It's the first time fans at Fenway Park have ever witnessed such futility.
"Three hits and whatever, one run, three runs scored in this series [actually five], that's not going to get it done," said Dustin Pedroia, who was 1-for-10 in the series. "We need to figure it out for ourselves."
Boston led the majors in virtually every major offensive category in July, averaging 6.58 runs per game, the team's highest mark for that month since 1946. The team is averaging just 3.94 runs in August, batting .253 as a team. It has not scored a run without the benefit of a home run in a span of 31 innings.
One of those home runs was Jacoby Ellsbury's three-run shot on the opener of a day-night doubleheader Tuesday, the catalyst in a 3-1 win. Thank God for that.
"Fortunately, Ells hit the home run the first game, otherwise it would've been a worse series," manager Terry Francona said after David Price became the latest to dispatch of a suddenly slumping offense on Wednesday.
Price, James Shields and Jeff Niemann combined to allow five runs on nine hits in 25 innings during the series. They struck out 22 and walked just five. On Wednesday, only one player reached third base, that being Ellsbury, who led off the sixth with a triple but was later caught in a rundown after Price snagged a comebacker.
There's a reason Ellsbury keeps popping up here. He's one of the few healthy players in the lineup.
David Ortiz may miss up to a week with right heel bursitis. Marco Scutaro's missed the last three games with a sore back. Kevin Youkilis continues to hobble, admirably so, through games, likely due to his recent back woes. Francona admitted prior to Wednesday's game that Adrian Gonzalez's sore neck is sapping him of his power.
While Ortiz and Scutaro watched, Youkilis and Gonzalez combined to go 1-for-15 in the series. As a whole, it seems as if the rigors of a brutal portion of the schedule are really beginning to take its toll.
"We're a little beat up," Francona said. "We've got some backs that are acting up and flared up. We went through a three-game stretch in about 24 hours where we didn't do a lot offensively."
The swoon really began to set in during last week's road trip. After taking the first two in Minnesota, Boston dropped the finale of that series and lost two of three in Seattle. Then came three games played in just under 27 hours against the Rays, two of them of the losing variety, before a trip to Kansas City to begin an eight-game road trip.
If fatigue isn't already a factor, it could be in time.
"It's a grind," said Carl Crawford, who has produced four straight 0-for-3 efforts. "That's the way the schedule is and we just have to play the way the schedule is. Not think about it. Tonight we get to get our rest and hopefully we can come back and get on track.
"I wouldn't say we're tired, don't want to make excuses like that, but it's definitely been a tough stretch for us. August is always a tough month."
When the month began, Boston held a two-game lead in the American League East and was 11 games up on Tampa Bay in the loss column. The Yankees are now in first and the Rays cling to hope, having moved to within eight games of the sliding Sox, against whom they still have seven games.
Boston has dropped two straight series for the first time since it lost three in a row at the end of June. That all came before a sweep in Houston, which kicked off the most fruitful month in franchise history.
Sure seems like a long time ago, doesn't it? For a team now licking its wounds and facing eight games in the heat, it is.
