New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox: Sox Leave Wins on the Basepaths

"Achilles' heel": An Achilles’ heel is a deadly weakness in spite of overall strength, that can actually or potentially lead to downfall. - Wikipedia 

Twenty-Six: The number of men left on base in the two games the Red Sox just dropped at home to their arch-rival, the New York Yankees. They hit .210 with runners in scoring position in those two games as well. 

The Boston Red Sox just might be the best team in the American League this year. In the preseason, when everyone seems to know everything, the Red Sox had already made the World Series. They just had to beat Philadelphia to claim the rings. Then the season began 2-10 and all of a sudden the Red Sox were the baseball version of the Miami Heat. Except they were in last place. 

The baseball season continued and the Red Sox team that so many had in the World Series back in February and March started to resemble the team many had envisioned.  

Josh Beckett embarked on a Cy Young-quality season. Jon Lester was also dominant more often than not. Closer Jonathan Papelbon is making a case for the Red Sox to throw down big money to retain him this offseason. 

Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez are all in the midst of fantastic offensive seasons as is Red Sox fan favorite David Ortiz, who had gone through a number of injury- and slump-plagued seasons.

Now it's September and the Red Sox are sitting a half-game up on the New York Yankees. The Red Sox have the requisite late-season injuries that seem to befall nearly every team in baseball.

Third baseman Kevin Youklis has missed most of August. Pitcher Clay Buchholz has also been on the shelf for over a month with a back problem. His return this season is still questionable although things seem to be a bit more optimistic than they were a few weeks ago.

JD Drew has yielded his starting right field post to prospect Josh Reddick. Whether or not he reclaims that starting position upon his return from a back injury is going to be an interesting September storyline. 

The one thing that the Red Sox really need, though? They need to figure out a way to not leave so many men on base. This season, when the Red Sox have lost games, more often than not it's been because of men left on base. The offensive talent on the Red Sox prevents most pitchers from shutting the team down. The Red Sox work counts, hit to the opposite field and don't swing at many bad pitches. 

This offensive strategy, married to a lineup with a lot of pure hitting talent, has yielded great results. The Red Sox lead all of baseball in batting average, hits and OPS ( on-base percentage + slugging percentage).

They don't lead baseball in runs scored, though. Yes, the Red Sox are a close second in runs scored to the very Yankees team that just took two of three from them but given that the Sox lead in the aforementioned offensive statistics they really should be leading in runs scored as well. 

Yet the Red Sox do go through games such as Tuesday's when in spite of everything seemingly working offensively the runs just don't score. The Red Sox left 16 runners on base on Tuesday. They were 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position. It doesn't happen that often but the losses that the Red Sox have incurred this season generally coincide with leaving men on base.

Boston has been shut out nine times this season, and the names of the pitchers who were on the mound for those nights would suggest that it takes some pretty decent credentials to shut the Sox down: Verlander, Price, Shields, Lee, Wilson and Brian Anderson are all very good pitchers.

This season will likely come down to a tight postseason series. That series may very well be against the Yankees. While it's true that CC Sabathia pitched much better against the Red Sox this past Tuesday then he had in previous matchups, it was by no definition a great performance. The Red Sox's inability to bring runners home was the reason behind the eventual loss.

Injuries and umpiring seem to be things that fans love to harp on. Last night's contest ended on a close called third strike against Adrian Gonzalez in the bottom of the ninth. To act surprised that a veteran reliever would get such a call seems somewhat naive.

It's worth mentioning that in the bottom of the eighth with Pedroia on second and two outs, Carl Crawford worked a 2-2 count against reliever David Robertson. Crawford fouled off a number of pitches but would eventually swing at what would have been a sure ball three and lofted a lazy shallow fly ball to left field. That is an example of a good player swinging at a bad pitch and having it cost his team. It's those types of circumstances that may prove Boston's undoing.