Red Sox first half review

Today the Red Sox finished out the first half of the Regular season by beating the the Royals 5-0. Josh Beckett pitched a complete game getting a share of the Wins lead, tied with teammate Tim Wakefield at 11 wins. With the Yankees loss today it puts the Red Sox in first place by 3 games, with a 54-34 record. Since it is the All-Star break I thought it would be a good time to have a season review of this season so far...

Line up in review:

At the beginning of the year there were many question that need to be answered about this line-up, and for the most part, lived up to expectations. Jason Bay leads the league in RBI with 72 and has proved that he can handle the pressure of Boston.

Dustin Pedroia has shown that his MVP season was no fluke. While he likely won't repeat as MVP, he goes into the All-Star Break with a .303 average, 105 hits and 65 runs, all leading the team.

Kevin Youkilis started the season on fire hitting 4o0 for a good part of April into May, before going on the DL. After coming of the DL , he struggled a bit, but he is still around 300 with 16 home runs and 53 RBI.

Nick Green was signed to minor league deal to possibly give this team some depth incase of injuries in the middle of the season, however, thanks to a good spring and an injury to Julio Lugo, Green made the team out of spring training and after Lowrie went down, even when Lugo returned, eventually became the starting short stop. Green has played good defense and has collected some clutch hits. With Lowrie coming of the DL soon he probably be losing some playing time but should be key of the bench in the second half

David Ortiz's first two months were down right horrible. There is no easy way to say it. Ortiz didn't get his first home run until May 20th and dropped to a season low of .185 on May 30th. But when June hit, a switch seemed to go off. He has 11 home runs since and raised his average to .222. Look from Big Papi to continue his good hitting in the second half.

Mike Lowell put to rest the notion that the hip injury that ended his season last year would hurt his performance this year. Lowell was hitting .282 with 10 home runs before going on the DL with hip discomfort. The injury isn't serious and is ready to come off the DL when the 2nd half starts.

Julio Lugo...............sucks.

Starting Rotation:

It has been a strange year for the Starting Rotation. The Red Sox have used 7 different pitchers and its been a topsy-turvy time for these guys. Josh Beckett started the season off with a bang by shutting down the hated Rays in the Season opener, but had an overall bad April. Beckett ended April with a 7.22 ERA after two horrible outings against rivals Yankees and Rays. After a couple of decent outings Beckett started to really settle and Since May 23rd, he has an ERA 1.72. Look for Beckett to be a candidate for the Cy Young award at the end of the year.

Jon Lester's season has been much like Beckett, except his struggles lasted into May. But once he got hot, he got hot. Lester took a perfect game into the seventh inning against the Rangers on June 6th and hasn't looked back. Since May 31st Lester has a 1.48 ERA.

Tim Wakefield has been the most consistent pitcher for the Red Sox this season. Wakefield made the All-Star team for the first time in his 18 year career, making him the second oldest player to make his first all-star game. Wakefield has been a major team player for the Red Sox for 15 years and its great to see him get some recognition finally.

Dice-K, What can I say about him. He has pretty much sucked it up this season. He pitched in the WBC and became the MVP of the preseason tournament, however it has cause him this season I believe. Hopefully he makes an appearance before the end of the season but I am not expecting anything from him this year.

Brad Penny was a signed as an insurance policy and has been a good addition to the rotation. With pretty much no expectation, he has given the Red Sox a stable arm after a slow start. He has kept the team in the games he has pitched in. If Clay Buchholz pitches well in his start next week and John Smoltz pitches like he can, I can see the Red Sox trading Penny if they can get a quality prospect or bench help.

Bullpen

Usually every year the Red Sox have one or two bullpen arms that they can depend on and are usually desperate for bullpen help during the trading deadline, but this year it has downright dominate. A few bumps in the road here and there (blowing a nine run lead Baltimore for one), but its been mostly great.

Jonathan Papelbon, the ace of the bullpen, hasn’t exactly been pitching like an ace this year, but is getting the job done. Papelbon seems to been getting himself into trouble, but magically getting out before the game is lost. I have a feeling that he has been holding back for the second half and expect him to be his old self for the rest of the season.

Ramon Ramirez has a diamond in the rough for the Red Sox this year, acquiring him from the Royals in the off season. He has been pretty much lights out all year. He hit a few bumps in the road lately, but overall has been great.

Manny Delcarmen has really come into his own this year. He was finally pitching the way I expected him to, until the past few weeks or so when he doesn’t seem to be able to get anyone out. Hopefully the five days off will allow him to rest his arm and recharge his batteries.

Justin Masterson has been both a starter and a reliever this year and hasn’t as well as he has in the past. I don’t know if it’s the league coming around to him or it’s the moving from bullpen to the rotation and back again, but he is quickly becoming the mop up guy. Hopefully he picks it up in the second half.
　
I am really excited about prospects of the second half year. The Red Sox have a 3 game lead over the Yankees and a 5 ½ lead over the Texas Rangers, who are in 2nd place in the Wild Card. Baring a 2006esque string of injuries this team is looking good for the playoffs and With Lester and Beckett leading the way should have a great shot at another World Series Championship.