Where's the Spark?
I'm not sure I can put my finger on when it happened but the Red Sox have completely lost their fire. There just don't seem to be capable of coming back late in games. The only recent exception was Friday night when the Sox plated 5 in the 8th only to give up 4 in the bottom of the 8th and 1 in the 9th to lose it.
Where is David Ortiz? What gives? Where is Manny Ramirez when it counts? I'm not claiming originality with this idea as I think the Boston Globe recently made reference to the success of Ortiz and Ramirez when it is "late and close" in a game. Late and close is when the game is in the 7th inning or later and your team is ahead by one, tied or the winning run is on deck, at the plate or on base.
2007:
Ortiz: .269/.367/.385. How HRs? 0. None. Zip.
Manny: .157/.283/.294 with 2 HRs.
2006:
Ortiz: .314/.443/.756 with 11 HRs.
Manny: .262/.459/.525 with 4 HRs.
Career:
Ortiz: .295/.386/.595 with 40 HRs in 665 plate appearances.
Manny: .274/.409/.486 with 48 HRs in 935 plate appearances.
Now Manny has never performed up to his career averages in "Late and Close," but Ortiz has. So what's up with these guys? Ortiz has been a total disaster when he is needed most. His 2006 was the essence of perfection when it counted most, but 2007 has been the polar opposite.
We can't put the blame entirely on Ortiz. Scoring runs early in the game is important too. The worst part about the Red Sox is watching them get runners on only to seem the stranded at a rate I cannot remember. It makes me think about 2004 when the Red Sox were scuffling along and in late July, the infamous ARod vs. Varitek brawl took place. That lit a fire under their collective arse. One that carried them to the World Series.
That leaves us with the question of what it will take to shake them out of this coma. A brawl, a trade (not much hope of that), a major benching action? Your guess is as good as mine. If the clubhouse chemistry is as good as we've heard, these guys should be able to figure it out. Terry Francona and Theo Epstein better know what they have in these guys or else they might lounge there way out of the AL East lead.
