I’d say I can’t believe I’m sitting down and writing essentially the exact same blog that I wrote exactly one week ago on June 19th but based on this 2019 Boston Red Sox team, I think I absolutely can believe it.
The Red Sox are most likely hopping on their flight to London as I type this as they’re set to face off against the New York Yankees for a two-game series beginning on Saturday. Boston played their final game of baseball on this side of the pond before that series begins and were looking to sweep the Chicago White Sox at home and hopefully have a happy six-and-a-half hour flight to London. Sike! None other than this fine Red Sox pitching staff refused to make things that easy for their team.
We should have known how the rest of the day was going to go when Chris Sale gave up three runs right off the bat in the first inning, putting his team in an early hole. Sale eventually settled down as the game went on and ended up going 6 full innings and Boston’s bats continued to heat up and gave the team 7 total runs to work with. That wasn’t enough, apparently. The Red Sox were trailing by two runs entering the bottom of the 8th when Mookie Betts drove in Eduardo Nunez when Chicago’s third baseman Jose Rondon made a little league-level stupid throw to home, bringing Boston within one. Xander Bogaerts (an All-Star in my heart, at the very least) saved the day, at that moment, with a 2-run single to give the Red Sox a 7-6 lead heading into the top of the 9th.
I know I’m not the only one who cringed when Alex Cora made the decision to bring Matt Barnes in to close this game out instead of Brandon Workman. Barnes has been given a pretty hefty workload thus far this season, pitching in 35 games already before the month of July has even begun. Heading into this game Barnes’ ERA for the month of June stood at 6.57 through 13 appearances and he had already pitched in last night’s game. He’s made it very clear this season that he’s unable to successfully throw in back-to-back games. This was a recipe for disaster. It turned out to be exactly that.
Barnes was throwing hard, harder than usual for the righty, which only leads to bad things when you tend to have control issues as it is. Barnes chose a terrible time to throw a total meatball right down the dick of none other than Jose Abreu (once-future Boston Red Sox, may I add) who has 18 home runs and 55 RBI on the year and has been a true threat at the plate since the day he entered the league. Barnes gave a freebie to the slugger who already had a man on base and launched one to the fucking sun, crushing it onto Landsdowne Street in the literal blink of an eye. Soul-crushing is the only way to put it.
Today marked Boston’s 16th blown save of the 2019 season:
Need I remind you, today is June 26th. I’ve seen enough. You’ve seen enough. Alex Cora and Dave Dombrowski have seen enough despite what they’ve fed to the media. We’ve all seen enough. This. Team. Needs. A. Closer. I don’t think it’s too late, but it sure feels like we’re creeping up to that point. How much longer is this going to go on? This has been happening consistently since April. It’s almost July. This bullpen needs depth. Arms like Matt Barnes need help. No, these randos from Pawtucket and Portland are not going to cut it, surprisingly! I’m not “calling for Cora and Dombrowski’s heads”. I trust them with every bone in my body. Regardless, it’s been three months of this same bullshit. I get it, the farm system is depleted and there’s still over a month until the trade deadline comes and teams probably aren’t going to budge for a few more weeks. At the same time, I don’t care. The closer-by-committee approach is blatantly unsustainable (and has been for three months) and I’m not sure how much longer this thin bullpen can take it before more injuries and/or meltdowns pile up. The team’s decision-makers know they need to make a move. It’s their job to pick up the phone and make a move; there’s no harm in trying, given what we’ve been forced to watch this season. Going on with this into July is far too high of a risk to take as the Red Sox are currently fighting for a Wild Card spot with a handful of other teams with similar records in the American League.
What stings the most about this particular blown save was the fact that Boston’s bats gave their pitching seven runs to work with. Their bats recorded a total of fifteen hits, Rafael Devers went 4-4, J.D. Martinez hit yet another opposite-field ding dong, they gave the team a lead in the 8th…that and more should have been plenty to seal up a series sweep. As we all know fair well by now, the Red Sox’ offense has been wildly inconsistent and sometimes nonexistent. This season, either the pitching has shown up and the bats are totally silent, or the bats have come to play and the pitching goes missing. It can’t continue to be like this. If momentum does its thing then Boston’s lineup is set to go on a hot streak. They need their pitching to back them up or else this team will be fighting for a Wild Card spot until the very end.
Boston fell to 9 games back from the Yankees for first place in the American League East and are one game back from the Cleveland Indians for the second Wild Card spot. The Red Sox play the Yankees this weekend. Without a closer. Not great! Again, I’m not calling for anyone’s head like some may think. I’ve seen numerous people essentially blow off the current state of the bullpen and claim that fans are overstating its issues. Yeah, no. I wish that was the case. I’m as much of a homer as the next guy and I get called out for this more often than I’d like to admit. Even I, the village Boston sports homer, will admit that this bullpen needs help. It needs depth, at the very least. Experienced depth, meaning no more minor league guys. They need to acquire an experienced arm, preferably a closer. They have to.
This team literally can’t stand pat come the trade deadline July 31st. Plus, Major League Baseball got rid of the August 31st waiver trade deadline, meaning July 31st is completely it. Yes, there’s a month-plus until then, but teams won’t start selling for another few weeks. The All-Star break will help, but for how long? A few days’ rest won’t take these guys into October. Something. Needs. To. Be. Done. I even gave our pal Dave Dombrowski a helping hand and pointed him towards three plausible trade options here. How sweet of me, huh?
Well, here’s to hoping that London treats our Sox well. I’d rather not witness my team have shitty bullpens on two separate continents, but it is what it is.
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