Red Sox Road Ahead: Week 3

(Patrick will be previewing the week ahead for the Red Sox each and every week- start your week off right and read everything you need to know for the games ahead.)

Note: stats are accurate as of Monday evening and game times are EST

Rapid Recap

Boston Red Sox
4-9
4th in AL East (6 GB)

Could things get any worse?

You may say yes but I am not going to say that the Sox can sink below the lowly Orioles. As I said last week, I expected difficulty with the Rays (yesterday they finished a complete sweep of the Sox at Fenway) but I didn’t expect the Twins to take two out of three from the Sox. I underestimated two things: the emotional power of the Target Field opener and Carl Pavano.

Did I just say I underestimated Carl Pavano? I expect the Sox to beat up on Kevin Slowey; it’s not out of the ordinary to have Fransisco Liriano shut out the Sox over 7 innings; but Carl Pavano keeping the Sox to just two runs? Do I really credit Pavano for mastering his way over the Sox?

Don't ask me about Big Papi... (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

His line wasn’t dominating but it kept the Sox bats at bay, bats that are hitting a paltry .220 the past seven days, 25th in the Major Leagues. Only five Red Sox batters are hitting above .280 in the past 14 days, with Kevin Youkilis (.184 avg) and Victor Martinez  (.227 avg) among the noted players hitting below that level. When your 3-4 hitters are slumping so will the offense.

And don’t get me started on Big Papi.

Outside of Beckett (who’s gem of a start on Friday was spoiled by the bullpen), everyone has been hit around. Lester and Lackey are the latest to get lit up.

Right now the Red Sox are struggling to generate runs and as we can see, the pitching can only go so far at times.

Schedule and Opponents

Red Sox games available over the radio on the WEEI Red Sox Radio Network and on NESN in the New England television market (unless noted).

Tuesday, April 20 vs Rangers 7:10 PM

Wednesday, April 21 vs Rangers 7:10 PM (also on MLB network)

Thursday, April 22 vs Rangers 7:10 PM

Friday, April 23 vs Orioles 7:10 PM

Saturday, April 24 vs Orioles 7:10 PM

Sunday, April 25 vs Orioles 1:35 PM

For those on the road:

Texas TV: FSSW HD

Baltimore TV: MASN HD

Pitching Match-Ups

Tuesday, April 20

Rangers: Colby Lewis, RHP (2-0, 2.19)

Who’s Colby Lewis? You probably don’t remember him from last year because this time last season he was playing for the Hiroshima Carp and signed a contract with the Rangers this past January. What little we can gleam from him is that he usually sticks with a fastball in the low 90′s and throws in a slider, curve, and change-up on occasion. He doesn’t sound like- and certainly isn’t, a dominating pitcher and often has control issues.

However, in his last two starts he’s fanned 13 and only allowed three runs. He’s also walked eight so if the Red Sox can take advantage of those free passes there could be a chance.

Red Sox: Tim Wakefield, RHP (0-1, 5.11)

Wakefield is about as unpredictable as the knuckleball he throws. He’ll either throw a great game or implode for six runs. The latter happened last week against the Twins.

Wednesday, April 21

Rangers: Matt Harrison, LHP (0-1, 1.38)

Harrison has gone through some bad luck in his first two starts, failing to get a win despite allowing only two earned runs. He’s a contact pitcher with declining skills across the board. He has a deep variety of fastballs and rarely goes to his breaking ball. His spotted past that has been plagued with injuries has made him hard to get a handle on. Can he continue his hot streak?

Red Sox: Josh Beckett, RHP (1-0, 3.86)

Like I hinted at earlier, Beckett is actually off to a good start and has been improving with each game- question for him is will the rest of the external factors fall into place?

Thursday, April 22

Rangers: C.J. Wilson, LHP (0-1, 2.08)

We'll see how real C.J. is as a starter on Thursday (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

The former closer looked great in his first start against Toronto (7 IP, 9 K), however a bout of food poisoning kept him off the mound until this past Friday where he played against the Yankees and gave up five runs in a rain-shortened game. It’s still too early to see if his skills as a closer can fully translate to a starting role but as a closer, he had a great K/9 rate and incurred a lot of ground balls but walked a little too many batters for than you’d like.

Red Sox: Clay Buchholz, RHP (1-1, 1.80)

The ERA looks fine and dandy but in the past 10 innings he has given up seven runs. In his first start he gave up seven hits and only struck out one, in his next start he struck out seven but walked four. Am I surprised to see Clay this erratic?

Friday, April 23

Orioles: Jeremy Guthrie, RHP (0-2, 3.15)

So far he’s had three starts and has looked “just ok”. He’s gone 6-7 innings and hasn’t walked too many batters but he’s a contact pitcher and that always gives batters a chance to smack one in for a hit. The numbers say his rising fly ball percentage has resulted in more home runs allowed. Will the Sox be able to hit him deep this Friday?

Red Sox: Jon Lester, LHP (0-2, 8.44)

Lester still hasn’t sorted himself out after giving up seven hits and seven runs to the Rays. However, his career splits have him down as a slow starter, so we’ll have to continue to be patient as he continues to work things out

Saturday, April 24

Orioles: Brian Matusz, LHP (2-0, 4.34)

The young lefty is a big pitching prospect for Baltimore and has thrown 23 strikeouts in his first three games (two of which were against the Rays.) However he’s given up an increasing amount of hits with each start and has still shown that while he is talented, he’s still young.

Red Sox: John Lackey, RHP (1-1, 5.63)

Yesterday Lackey could only last 3.1 innings and gave up nine hits and eight runs against the Rays. However, he is a career 8-3 with a  3.16 ERA against Baltimore, perhaps he can bounce back with a little of the Orioles elixir.

Sunday, April 25

Orioles: Brad Bergensen, RHP (0-1, 11.74)

Where did that ERA come from? Well in two starts he’s given up 13 runs in 7.2 innings. You do the math. The 24 year old is only pitching in his second year and skills looked soft last year. Expect another contact pitcher that’ll try and induce a lot of ground balls.

Red Sox:Tim Wakefield, RHP (0-1, 5.11)

Opponents In-Depth

Texas Rangers

Enjoying the playing time Joaquin- Ian won't be gone forever. (Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)

5-7
4th in the AL West (3 GB)

Probable Line-Up

Julio Borbon, CF
Michael Young, 3B
Josh Hamilton, LF
Vladimir Guerrero, DH
Nelson Cruz, RF
Chris Davis, 1B
Joaquin Arias, 2B
Taylor Teagarden, C
Elvis Andrus, SS

The Rangers just got swept by the Yankees and took two out of three from the Cleveland Indians prior to that.

Who’s Hot

With all-star Ian Kinsler on the DL, Joaquin Arias has made the most of his playing time hitting .406- however hasn’t shown any power as of yet. Nelson Cruz in the past 14 days has hit .317 with 7 HR and 15 RBI.

Who’s Not

Julio Borbon is off to a very slow start and in the past week has only hit .133. Vladimir Guerrero is cooling off from his hot start with a .182 week and no HR.

The Bullpen

Neftali Feliz is one of the hottest arms in the game right now and is currently in the closer spot given up by Frank Francisco who has recovered somewhat in the set-up role.

Baltimore Orioles

How can you not love Ty's last name? (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

2-11
5th in the AL East (8 GB)

Probable Line-Up

Adam Jones, CF
Nick Markakis, RF
Matt Wieters, C
Miguel Tejada, 3B
Luke Scott, DH
Nolan Reimold, LF
Ty Wigginton, 3B
Garrett Atkins, 1B
Julio Lugo, 2B

The Orioles are currently on the West coast where they lost two out of tree to the Athletics. They will play Seattle for three before coming back east to Boston.

Injuries

Brian Roberts (Abdominal), Felix Pie (Shoulder), and Mike Gonzalez (Shoulder) are all on the D/L. Miguel Tejada is battling a hip and is currently day-to-day.

Who’s Hot

With all these injuries, utilityman Ty Wigginton has had a chance to shine- in the past seven days he’s hit 4 HRs and a nice .348 average.

Who’s Not

In the same time frame, Matt Wieters is only hitting .130 with all his hits being singles.

The Bullpen

Jim Johnson is currently holding down the closer role and is pretty unchallenged because they have nobody else. You might remember former Red Sox Cla Meredith in the set-up role.

My Outlook

I see a bounce back week for the Sox, if they can’t pull at least one win from the Rangers, at least they can beat up on the birds. I say they go 4-3 to end the week.

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