Bobby Valentine Proclaims Red Sox Will ‘Turn It Around,’ Start a Hot Streak

NEW YORK — Bobby Valentine still believes in Boston's playoff chances. At this point, that's all he can cling onto.

While the Red Sox continue slipping out of contention — dropping eight of their last 10 games — Valentine is preaching patience amid the 49-51 record. The Red Sox skipper said he's noticing reason for optimism.

"Well I've seen Adrian [Gonzalez] and Dustin [Pedroia] really hitting their stride," Valentine said. "We went 80 games without them really hitting their stride. They're feeling good. I see David [Ortiz] coming back. I see [Jacoby] Ellsbury and Carl [Crawford] in the lineup and I see our bullpen pretty well stabilized and our starting staff feeling pretty good about themselves."

"The young guys that we have playing are now more established then they were earlier. Daniel [Nava], I think, is a more established player. Will [Middlebrooks] is a much more established player than he was earlier. [Jarrod Saltalamacchia] now has 20 home runs. Kelly [Shoppach] is working really well with [pitchers]. This is a team that's come along pretty well. I don't see things going backward."

All year long, the Red Sox have failed to build on the momentum. The team's longest winning streak this season has been six games, a sequence that lasted from April 23 to April 28 against the Twins and White Sox.

The second-best streak was five games, when the Red Sox pounded the Indians and Mariners from May 11 to May 15. Despite feasting on select teams, Boston has failed to pounce against the league's elite.

After Friday's 10-3 loss to the Yankees, Valentine expressed confidence in his team's ability to spearhead a sizzling streak.

"We’ll turn it around," Valentine said. "We'll get on a good streak. We haven’t had our good streak yet. That’s the good news. A little nice streak."

But Valentine better hope time doesn't run out before then.

Have a question for Didier Morais? Send it to him via Twitter at @DidierMorais or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.