Boston Red Sox Hitting Remains Only Question Mark

The Boston Red Sox starting pitchers have shown their stuff in dramatic fashion in the last two times through the rotation.   Josh Beckett has shown terrific early signs of returning to form.  John Lackey has had two good consecutive starts and Daisuke Matsuzaka has pitched brilliantly in his last two starts.

In the first 10 games of the season, Red Sox starters went 2-5 with a 7.24 ERA.  In the last 11 games, the starters were 7-2 with an ERA slightly over 1.00.  The pitching was the driving force in the team climbing out of the big 2-10 hole it dug.  The Sox are now 10-11, and only three games behind the New York Yankees in the tough, competitive AL East.

So, what's going on with the Red Sox hitting?  The team managed to turn things around despite spotty hitting, thanks to the heroics of Jed Lowrie, who has been on fire at the plate.

Consider these stats—the Red Sox rank 17th overall in runs scored, 22nd overall in batting average, 9th overall in on-base percentage and 19th overall in slugging.

The Red Sox team batting average is .239, which is 11th out of 14 teams in the American League. Its team OPS is .712. 

Perhaps most striking—the Red Sox are hitting only .207, with a .595 OPS with runners in scoring position.

In addition, the Red Sox have looked more vulnerable at times when facing left-handed pitchers.  Some baseball observers predicted this problem and now, one can imagine it lingering all season.

It seems likely that Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford will hit at least decently over the course of the season.  David Ortiz is a bit less predictable, but certainly has potential to make a contribution. 

However, it's harder to predict if Jacoby Ellsbury, Jarrod Saltalamachia, Jason Varitek, JD Drew or Marco Scutaro will hit consistently at all.  In fact, these hitters seem more likely to struggle against quality pitching. 

The dynamics of this lineup could wind up putting enormous pressure on the top four hitters because the weaker hitters might not be able to make a difference in close games. 

Over a long summer, this formula usually fails—rather, the best teams have hitters throughout their lineup who can come up with a timely hit.  Remember the 2004 Red Sox with Bill Mueller batting 9th?  Look at the Yankees, who have Jorge Posada hitting seventh as the team's DH.  Right now, the Yanks' lineup appears considerably superior to the Red Sox.  

Of course, it's too early to tell how the hitting will be over time.  Lowrie's impact, for instance, has already been far greater than one imagined.  It seems likely Lowrie will see more playing time—no matter what—and perhaps he will become the starting shortstop.  Lowrie's success when hitting right-handed may influence this lineup more than anyone speculated.

We all know that a team needs pitching and hitting to win it all.  Think of how often the Yankees pull out close 5-4 games with clutch hits in the 8th or 9th innings.  The 2011 Red Sox will need that balance if they're to compete with the Yankees and emerge from the AL East.

Right now, only a few Red Sox players are hitting to their talent level.  Even Gonzalez, who looks good at the plate, is batting only .282 with one home run.  Youkilis is batting .222 and Drew is hitting .278 with only 5 RBI.  Ellsbury is hitting .219, Saltalamachia is hitting .186 and Crawford is hitting .171. Varitek is the low man,  hitting just .074.  Fortunately, Lowrie is hitting .431 with 12 RBI! 

Hopefully the hitting will come around, and if it does, the 2011 Red Sox will probably be in contention until the end of September and fare well in the playoffs.

It would be nice to see more positive signs soon from the hitters to match what we saw from the pitchers in their incredible recent run.