Boston Red Sox: 8 Reasons Why Slow Start Can't Be Blamed on Bobby V

The Boston Red Sox appear poised in the early going of the 2012 season to play like they did during their historic September collapse that doomed their playoff hopes a season ago.

The Red Sox have struggled mightily to start the 2012 season, but those struggles can't be blamed on new manager Bobby Valentine.

Here are eight reasons why Valentine should not be in the same sentence as the term "hot seat" this early in the season.

1. It's Been Three Games!

Is it time to panic already in Boston? ESPN senior writer Buster Olney seems to think so. But the sample size is simply too small.

Playing on Opening Day against a stacked Detroit Tigers batting order, while trying to string together hits against last year's AL MVP Justin Verlander is no easy task. Verlander may end up winning 25 games or more this season with the lineup he has backing him up.

So is it time to worry after an 0-3 start to the season? Well, it depends who you ask, but blaming Valentine already is a foolish thing to do.

2. Detroit Tigers? How About the Motown Mashers

No team in Major League Baseball envied the Red Sox for having to play the Detroit Tigers in their opening series. The Tigers are stacked, plain and simple.

In the opening three-game set against the Red Sox, the Tigers showed exactly how dangerous they are with the bats.

Miguel Cabrera: three homers, eight RBI

Prince Fielder: two homers, three RBI

Alex Avila: two homers, five RBI

You're not going to win many games in a three-game set if you give up seven homers, baseball doesn't usually work that way.

Again, you can't blame Bobby V. The Tigers were just plain better than the Red Sox to start the season, and two out of the three games were won in walk-off fashion by Detroit, so it's not like the Red Sox weren't competing.

3. Loss of a Closer

Andrew Bailey was brought to the Red Sox to be the closer of the future with Jonathan Papelbon skipping town for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Unfortunately for Valentine and the Red Sox, Bailey underwent thumb surgery before the start of the 2012 season and may be out until the All-Star break.

Without a closer, Valentine was tested early.

Bailey's injury has already had a significant impact on the Red Sox early season misfortunes, which leads me to...

4. Bullpen Struggles

Out of three games to start the season, the Red Sox bullpen is on the hook for two losses.

Alfredo Aceves, who was named the Red Sox closer after the injury to Bailey, came into the game Sunday with a three-run lead in the ninth inning.

Austin Jackson led off the inning with a single. One on, no outs. Brennan Boesch followed suit with a single. Runners on first and second, no outs.

In stepped slugger Miguel Cabrera.

Aceves' first pitch fastball to the Tigers' third baseman was smashed into the left field bleachers, tying the game 10-10.

That was the end of Aceves' outing.

The bullpen struggles don't even end with Aceves. On Opening Day, after Ryan Sweeney tied the game at two apiece with a ringing triple off the wall, Mark Melancon came on to try and send the game to extra innings. Instead, Melancon got credit for the team's first loss.

As if the rough start wasn't bad enough for Melancon, as the Red Sox re-captured the lead Sunday 12-10 in the 11th inning, Melancon came in to close the door.

After a pair of singles, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly, Alex Avila walked into the batter's box with a runner on first and two men out. The score was 12-11.

After a great at bat, Avila hit a walk-off two-run homer, burying the Sox yet again.

After two games, Melancon is 0-2 with a 36.00 ERA.

5. Struggling Starting Pitchers

Jon Lester pitched great on Opening Day. Certainly good enough to get a win, but he was matched up against Justin Verlander, arguably the best pitcher in all of baseball.

Josh Beckett, on the other hand, had one of the worst starts of his career. For 4 2/3 innings, Beckett appeared to be pitching batting practice to the Tigers' lineup.

The new 3-4 bash brother tandem of Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder each launched two dingers against Beckett. The veteran right-hander allowed five total homers.

Perhaps Beckett's struggles were to be expected. Over the course of his stint in a Red Sox uniform, Beckett has almost religiously followed up a great year with a bad one. It's amazing to look at the consistency of his roller coaster numbers from year to year.

Yet Beckett wasn't the only Red Sox starter to struggle against the Tigers.

In just 4 innings pitched on Sunday, Clay Buchholz surrendered seven runs on eight hits.

Perhaps the Red Sox should have started Vicente Padilla, who in relief of Buchholz, tossed four shutout innings.

6. Struggling Hitters

You can't blame a coach if the team isn't hitting.

Through their first two games, the Red Sox lineup was only able to scrape across two runs. In fact, the Red Sox only scored in one inning of those first two games, tying the Opening Day contest at two in the ninth inning.

While some players, like Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz, have hit the ball well, others have struggled to get going.

Kevin Youkilis has started the season 0-for-8 at the plate with four strikeouts. His slow start led Valentine to bench him in the season finale against the Tigers on Sunday.

Additionally, Cody Ross is 1-for-9, Jarrod Saltalamacchia is 1-for-7 and Jacoby Ellsbury is 2-for-13.

7. Bobby V Is Making Good Adjustments

The lineup isn't scoring runs? Why not mix it up?

That's exactly what Bobby Valentine decided to do for Sunday's series finale against the Tigers. He benched Youkilis, who is off to a slow start, and put Nick Punto in the leadoff spot, bumping Ellsbury to the two spot.

Valentine also inserted Darnell McDonald and Kelly Shoppach from off the bench in hopes of finding a spark.

On Sunday, the mix up worked out very nicely for Valentine. The Red Sox finished with 12 runs on 18 hits before losing in dramatic fashion.

He made a move and it worked. Unfortunately for Valentine, his moves will be overshadowed by the Red Sox poor pitching performances.

8. Déjà Vu

How quickly we forget that the Boston Red Sox have been in a similar position before.

In fact, the Red Sox lost their first six games a season ago to start the 2011 season, and you know what? They were fine.

After an embarrassing month of April in 2011, the Red Sox got it together and even held the top spot in the AL East for a fair amount of the 2011 season.

The Red Sox certainly have to bounce back from a rough opening series, but they have been in worse situations.

I'm a firm believer in Bobby Valentine and the bottom line is that you can't write off a new manager after three games.

There will be chatter, rumors and frustration, but the Red Sox are simply too talented not to remain competitive this season.

Remain calm Red Sox Nation, we'll be okay.