Sunday, April 19, 2009

Offense on the Offensive: Sox - Rays 4/19

Small ball lives? Perhaps I was wrong when I said “Ozzie ball” should be redefined. Maybe this year will mean the return of grindyness. I was confused to see Lillibridge play two days in a row, and even more confused to see Betemit on the roster instead of Fields. Alas, here it was. A game full of youngsters. And the result? A dominant 12-2 win over the Rays. Yes, the same Rays that made the Sox rue the day Tropicana Field was erected. The same Rays that made Ozzie go on a rant so terrifying, Harold Baines spoke 3 words! Well, maybe not that terrifying. Regardless, the Sox dominated.

Thought Gavin Floyd couldn’t keep the Rays hitless, (Which is really hurting my fantasy baseball team. To be honest, when it comes to stats, he hasn’t helped me much at all this year.) he held them to just two runs. In other ‘good pitching’ news, D.J. Carrasco didn’t blow the game, and looks like he might not have a completely awful year.

More worrisome is Alexei Ramirez. The Cuban Missile had the day off, and for good reason. Hitting .125 isn’t something to be proud of when even the likes of Anderson are hitting .273. He says he’s been watching videos from last year, trying to make adjustments. What I wonder is if it’s just the cold (before he took over for an injured Juan Uribe last year, he was hitting shy of the .200 mark), just him needing to get back in the groove, or if something has changed. We can let that question simmer for awhile, and in the meantime look at someone who is not slumping.

Take Carlos Quentin. He hit his 7th home run of the season. Joe Cowley twitter-ed: “It took Quentin 25 games last season to reach seven homers. He's done it in 12 games this year.” Or Jermaine Dye. He may be old, but he’s hitting .370 with 4 home runs. Closely behind is the Kaptain, hitting at .341 with 3 homers. All the “big boppers” wouldn’t do much if it wasn’t for all these fellas getting on base. Heck, even though he picked up no RBIs, Brian Anderson got on base 3 out of 5 times. And in case you were wondering, he is hitting .273.

So, there you have it. The good, and the bad. Now, my only hope is that Chris Getz starts doing some solid hitting (hey, he’s not doing to badly so far, just nothing to be too proud of) and that whoever is in center field brings something to the plate- er… table.

1 comment:

Striker said...

With Dotel, Thome and Dye all in the last years of their contracts, who do you keep around? I can't imagine this team without Thome and Dye, though Dye shows he has more left. Beckham, Allen, Viciedo and Danks can't play in the minors for ever.