(Michael MacDonald September 23, 2009)
Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett picked up his 16th win of the season tonight against the Kansas City Royals. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
With tonight’s 9-2 win over the Kansas City Royals in KC, the Red Sox are at 90 wins for the season, the third straight year that they’ve had at least 90 victories and seventh of the last 8 years. It is the 27th time in team history that they’ve achieved that plateau.
Also with tonight’s win, Boston needs any combination of 5 Red Sox wins or Texas Rangers losses to clinch a spot in the post-season. As of this writing, the Rangers were in a shoot-out with the Anaheim Angels.
The Red Sox have a final game in KC tomorrow. A win would give the Sox a split of the four-game series and would bring Boston back to .500 on the road at 39-39. The team then travels to the Bronx for the final road series of the year.
If the Sox sweep that series, they will close to within 3 games of the Yanks. However, with 11 games remaining the Sox have only a slim chance of catching the Yankees who lead the division by 6 games. The Yankees clinch the division title with any combination of 5 wins or Red Sox losses.
Following the Yankees series, the Red Sox return home for their final 2 series with a 3-game set against Toronto followed by a 4-game season ending series against the Cleveland Indians.
The State of Red Sox Nation
What have we learned about the state of the Boston Red Sox?
- Kansas City has played the Sox tough all year. A tip of the hat to a last-place team that isn’t mailing it in, that has won 12 of their last 16 games, and that battled back from a 9-2 deficit Monday night.
- Paul Byrd was shelled for 5-runs early in Tuesday’s game though he did settle down. The Sox lost that game 5-1. I’ve been maintaining for weeks that I thought Byrd has the Wrong Stuff. I was actually encouraged to see him recover and toss a few decent innings.
- The Sox bullpen was lit up in a frustrating 12-9 loss Monday night following a 9-2 lead early. Manny Delcarmen does have the Right Stuff but has misplaced it. Delcarmen coughed up 4 runs and blew a late-inning lead Monday night. His September ERA is over 21. Manager Terry Francona continues to express a belief in Delcarmen’s skills but the Red Sox simply can’t risk his use in the post-season if he doesn’t right whatever is ailing him soon.
-Clay Buckholz (who pitches in the series finale against the Royals tomorrow night) has matured and developed into a fine pitcher. John Lester (who opens Friday night in New York) is a future Cy Young winner. Josh Beckett gave up 12 hits tonight over 6 innings but battled through a lot of scrapes to somehow hold the runs down to 2.
-Daisuke Matsuzaka has made two quality starts since returning to the team. A restored Dice-K would be bad news for post-season foes.
Manny Who?
Dustin Pedroia (left) and Victor Martinez celebrate at homeplate after scoring on a Jason Bay single in the 5th inning of tonight's game against the Royals.
-In the “Manny Who?” department, Jason Bay keeps improving. Along with his 36 home runs and .549 slugging percentage, Bay is 2nd in the league with 115 RBIs. Even more encouraging is Victor Martinez who is in the midst of a 22-game hitting streak (best in his career) and is 5th in the AL with 101 RBIs.
-David Ortiz hit his 25th home run tonight with 88 RBIs. While his average still hovers in the .230s, who would have thought last May and June that the Sox slugger could possibly pile up so many homers and runs-batted-in?
The Red Sox look to be in good shape for the playoffs. Francona and GM Theo Epstein have made good moves to solidify the pitching staff. When Martinez is catching, the Red Sox lineup is loaded from positions 1 through 9.
The series this weekend against the Yankees should go a long way in predicting how the post-season will go.
