Boston.com / Sports / Baseball / Red Sox / This week's grade: C-

Red Sox weekly report card

By Boston.com Staff, 8/10/2004

Overall:

The Red Sox should be better than this. If you're a $130 million ballclub, you should manage more than a 3-3 record against the Devil Rays and Tigers. It's that simple. We keep waiting for the Sox to reel off a winning streak of more than two games, and it just never comes. The only thing consistent about this team is that it's consistently disappointing. The Sox are in a dogfight for the AL wild card, and they're going to need weeks better than the last one if they hope to grab the league's final playoff spot. Grade: C-
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Hitting:

With Nomar Garciaparra in Chicago and Manny Ramirez on the shelf with an illness for most of the week, the Red Sox offense was without much punch. Take away Sunday's 11-run outburst in Detroit, and Boston scored a total of 17 runs in its five other games in the last week. And only once in those five games did the Sox plate more than four runs. Kevin Youkilis and Bill Mueller provided the highlights for the week, driving in a combined 14 runs. David Ortiz also drove in five, and Jason Varitek and Kevin Millar each hit near .400 with a combined six RBIs. So what's the problem? New guys Dave Roberts, Doug Mientkiewicz and Orlando Cabrera combined to go 13 for 51 (.254) with 2 RBIs. In all, the team hit .291 for the week, yet that didn't translate into runs, at least partly because of some terrible baserunning decisions. Grade: C-

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Fielding:

The Sox made only two errors in the last week, but one of them was very costly. Kevin Youkilis booted a potential double-play ball to third (though in his defense it took a tough bounce) against the Devil Rays on Wednesday, and the next batter hit what proved to be a game-winning grand slam. Youki's blunder aside, Sox fielders had a great six-game stretch, with newbies Cabrera and Mientkiewicz each providing some fine leather work. Grade: B

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Starting pitchers:

The Sox starting staff had a tough time with the sixth- and 11th-ranked offensive teams in the American League this week, posting a combined 5.53 ERA. Tim Wakefield was hit hardest -- setting a new record by surrendering six homers to the Tigers on Sunday -- and Schilling was handed the first home loss of his Red Sox career Monday. Pedro Martinez was spectacular Friday, fanning 11 and giving up just one run in seven innings. Other than Pedro, though, no Sox starter had an ERA below 5.14 for the week. Grade: C-

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Bullpen:

After starting off the week getting a much-needed breather with a Curt Schilling complete game in Tampa, the bullpen couldn't help the Sox get a win the next night. Mike Timlin's perfect inning came a little too late after Bronson Arroyo was left in to serve up a seventh-inning grand slam in what should have been a sweep in Tampa. In the opener in Detroit, Terry Adams and newly acquired Mike Myers held the line with the Tigers, but the fourth run off Derek Lowe in the sixth was decisive. After a strong outing by Pedro Martinez on Saturday, both Timlin and Keith Foulke were shaky in holding the lead, each giving up an earned run in an inning of work. Timlin got shelled in the Comerica Park series finale, giving up two runs, while Foulke bounced back to earn a save with a scoreless ninth. Ramiro Mendoza continues to impress, working a solid 1 2/3 innings on Sunday to preserve Tim Wakefield's shaky win. And the embattled reliever pitched a perfect ninth at Fenway last night after Timlin and Alan Embree each gave up a run after the Schilling shellacking. Grade: C

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Coaching:

Credit goes to Terry Francona for starting Dave Roberts in the leadoff spot in his debut as a starter with the Sox in Tampa. Unfortunately, Roberts went 0-for-5, and Tito's week spiraled downhill from there. In yet another horrendous pitching move, Francona left in a cooked Bronson Arroyo (who had already thrown more than 100 pitches) with the bases loaded and nobody out in the seventh inning last Wednesday. He served up a inevitable grand slam that cost the Sox a win at the Trop. Francona's gaffe was overshadowed a bit by third base coach Dale Sveum, who ran Dave Roberts into a critical out with none out in the ninth inning of the 5-4 loss. Sveum also got a runner thrown out at the plate the very next night. Additionally, the Sox gave up their American League-leading 75th unearned run of the season in Tampa, an ominous stat where Francona must share the blame. Saturday night in Detroit, after not seeing his name in the lineup for the first time in two weeks, Kevin Millar openly berated his manager and his lineup choices. His reward? Millar got penciled back into the lineup after his good friend Manny Ramirez caught the flu at the last minute. And Millar was back in Sunday, too. And Monday. By all appearances, it looks to us that the manager has lost control of this team. Grade: F

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