The long September slumber continues for the Red Sox as they fall to the Rangers deep in the heart of Texas on Wednesday night. The second straight loss to Texas was Boston’s seventh of the month, one in which the sleepy Sox are playing .500 ball.
There are ten games remaining in the season, and Boston still holds a comfortable lead over the teams chasing them for a Wild Card spot. At this point, however, it feels like everyone is simply waiting for the calendar to flip to October.
As far as the game goes, there isn’t an awful lot to talk about, very much like the entire month.
Willson Contreras got the Sox off to a quick start with a two-run tank to left-center field in the first, but that hit accounted for two-thirds of the runs and one-third of the hits the team collected in total against MacKenzie Gore, Nate Eovaldi, and some other guy thrown in there.
The most concerning part of the game was the performance of Jake Bennett. Again.
He completed only 4.2 innings while allowing eight hits and three runs. Yes, he struck out seven Rangers, but everyone strikes out the Rangers, to the tune of 1,299 times this year.
Right behind the Bennett showing in the land of concern was Erik Miller’s three-run, one-walk, two-hit performance in the seventh inning. Miller entered the game with the score tied 3-3, but by the time he was done, Chad Tracy looked like he had just watched his home burn to the ground.
Yes, it is only one game, but it is the second consecutive game in which Miller has relinquished a run and the third in his last six.
If Boston is going to have any chance against the Yankees in the Wild Card round, pitchers like Miller, around whom Breslow and Tracy have developed their entire bullpen plan, must come through.
Not One Bennett More
We saw it coming!
Bennett has slowly but surely been showing signs of the extended innings and workload, and after Wednesday, I hope we have seen the end.
Bennett was in consideration to start a playoff game just a few weeks ago, and now it would probably be in Boston’s best interest to shut him down. He has not looked the same over his last few outings, and the possible reward of pushing him into the bullpen for the playoffs does not outweigh the risk of getting him hurt for the coming campaigns.
We’ve gotten enough out of Jake Bennett this season. Maybe it’s time to stop adding bricks to the wall.
Once More, For Old Times’ Sake
Yeah, the Sox lost, but how great was it to watch Nasty Nate dominate out of the bullpen one last time!
Eovaldi’s four shutout innings of one-hit relief brought back all the feels from that magical 2018 run. If only for one brief moment, Nate was able to give the Red Sox front office one last glimpse of what they could have had if they had just been willing to open up their wallets a few years ago.
The whistle of the fastball wasn’t quite there, but the visage of that confident warrior standing astride the rubber and staring down his opponent certainly was. And for just a few brief moments, it was easy to harken back to what October baseball can really feel like.
Hold.....Hold.....Hold
A September to Forget is almost over, but with ten games remaining, it might be time for the Red Sox to start revving up their engines in preparation for the Yankees.
As unattractive as it has been, the “put your feet up and watch the rest of the American League stink” approach has been a success. Important position players have been able to rest, and if Contreras’s homer on Wednesday is any indication, it has worked. The pitching staff has gotten some rest, and the bullpen hasn’t been overtaxed.
It is now incumbent upon Breslow and Tracy to determine the correct time to take off the parking brake and let it loose.
If they wait too long, there is a very real chance that the complacency that has become the new normal for the Red Sox might roll over into the playoffs. And as we have seen, this team struggles to beat good competition and good pitching even when they are firing on all cylinders.
I would hate to see what could happen if they went in hungover.
Image Courtesy of https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/rangers/article/texas-rangers-nathan-eovaldi-seattle-mariners-22360508.php