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Sox Struggles Sparked By Suspect Pitching

Published on April 22, 2012, by in MLB, Red Sox.

Clay Buchholz walking off the mound after surrendering an early home run to Eric Chavez on Friday against the Yankees.  During the Sox’ five-game losing streak, the entire pitching staff (especially the bullpen) have been inconsistent and given the team little chance to win games.

Through 14 games of the 2012 MLB season, the Boston Red Sox are 4-10.  Not bad, but awfully similar to the 2-10 start the team stumbled out to last year.  And with new manager Bobby Valentine at the helm, Sox fans don’t seem to be too willing to support a poor season from this team.  Especially after he called out the notoriously hard-working Kevin Youkilis for not working hard enough; Valentine has received boos since when going to the mound to make pitching changes at Fenway.  Since those comments, the team has not won a game, and even Bobby Vee admitted that he and his players have “hit rock bottom.”  Fans, as well as Valentine, want this to be turned around as soon as possible; the question is, do the players have the work ethic to get it figured out and pull themselves together?

Personally, I think they do.  It’s too early on in the season, in my eyes, to worry about the Sox collapsing already; we’re not even 20 games into the regular season yet.  Valentine still has time to bring his guys together and get them to bond.  I may not have much prior knowledge on the managing abilities of Bobby Vee, but I feel as if he can turn this team around.  I’m not sure why, but ever since his hard-nosed personality made its way into this locker room I decided that I would support the move until it proved completely idiotic.  I’m not saying that it’s quite time to make a change up top, but I think some shaking up needs to occur. 

Maybe it needs to be in the line-up; or, better yet, the bullpen.  Wherever it’s done, shaking things up would serve to motivate players stepping in to new, different roles.  There’s no reason that doing so couldn’t have a positive outcome.  After all, it’s happened in the past: remember the Nomar trade?  They don’t need to make a trade, as it is not that late in the season, but they could certainly use a line-up adjustment.  If this tailspin were to continue in the coming months, a trade occurring would be much more likely; but for know, it seems rather unlikely to happen.  Whatever the team ultimately decides to do, I hope it turns this team into a winner; if not, we’ll have to wait until the fall to see a good Boston team play again.

-Ryan Hartley

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