BOS Vs WAS Series Recap: Bello Returns
The Boston Red Sox have won a series for what feels like the first time in months. While much of Boston was focused on the Bruins, Celtics, and celebrating their mothers, the Red Sox quietly righted the ship against a remarkably average Washington Nationals team. While I would like to be able to shout “THE RED SOX ARE BACK!” from the rooftops, I would be making an absolute fool of myself if I did. The truth is, the Red Sox should win a series like this with relative ease. However, after the Sox dropped game one in such a pathetic fashion, I was far more worried about this baseball team. Let’s break down some of the details of this series…
DEFENSE:
Positives:
While Garrett Cooper was charged with an error at first base, it should not have been scored that way. Victor Robles ran into his glove. I am no Garrett Cooper apologist, but I won’t be upset with him here.
While Connor Wong was charged with a throwing error in the terrible first game of the series, he made up for it on Mother’s Day, when he reminded the Nationals why you should not test his arm.
Time for my weekly Ceddanne Rafaela agenda pushing… We all know how good Rafaela is. His versatility is unmatched on this baseball team.
Negatives:
WHY IS DAVID HAMILTON STILL HERE? The guy cannot field a ground ball to save his life, even at second base. It is nothing short of lunacy that he received any kind of award for his defensive play in the minor leagues.
I understand wanting to give Vaughn Grissom a rest day, but I’d like to see the team do a little better than David Hamilton at 2nd. With Romy Gonzalez back on the roster, the team should call Enmanuel Valdez back up.
STARTING PITCHING:
Positives:
Brayan Bello is back! While I don’t expect him to be an ace, he undoubtedly will give this team far more than Josh Winckowski as a starting pitcher.
Cooper Criswell is looking like the steal of a century. He isn’t Randy Johnson. He’s not even Tanner Houck for that matter… But the bottom line is, he has given this team an opportunity to win games that they would have no business winning otherwise.
Brayan Bello is a sight for sore eyes. Cutting out another ‘bullpen day’ will help this team in a number of ways.
Negatives:
Tanner Houck got through seven innings, allowing three runs. While this wasn’t his best performance, he absolutely still gave the team a chance to win the game. The Red Sox offense continues the pathetic trend of not providing run support for it’s pitching staff.
THE PEN:
Positives:
Clean series for Brennan Bernardino, who pitched two and a third innings in the three game set. He is one of the most trusted relievers in this bullpen for good reason.
Chris Martin was clean and efficient. He took the eighth inning in both games, and made short work of setting up Kenley Jansen with a lead on both occasions.
Cam Booser was brilliant on Mother’s Day. He got through a clean inning throwing only SEVEN pitches, all of which were in the strike zone.
Easily the most impressive outing of Cam Booser’s big league career thus far.
Negatives:
Kenley Jansen conceded the bullpen’s only two runs of the series. However, I won’t destroy him for this, since he looked good in the two following wins when his performance was far more important.
Zack Kelly needs to cut down on the walks, but I give him credit for escaping his own mess unscathed.
Justin Slaten is seemingly having some problems locating pitches. I’m not going to freak out, but he’s not headed in the right direction. Obviously water will find its level, but I hope that Slaten can revert back to the sharpness he showed in April.
Kenley Jansen struggled in game one of the series, but delivered clean 9th innings in both the Red Sox wins.
AT THE PLATE:
Positives:
Rafael Devers failed to deliver in a big spot again in the first game, but came through when the team needed him in the middle game. Delivering the game winning RBIs for the Red Sox was something Devers needed from a personal perspective, given his recent struggles.
I perfectly predicted the Wilyer Abreu home run in the middle game. A degenerate gambler friend texted our group chat asking “who homers today?”, to which I responded with one word… “Wilyer”.
Of course, my friend didn’t listen to me and instead bet on O’Neill and McGuire. He soon regretted his decision.
Garrett Cooper finally began producing on offense for this team. His game on Mother’s Day in particular stands out as being his best performance in a Red Sox uniform so far.
Romy Gonzalez is a huge upgrade on guys like Zack Short and David Hamilton.
Vaughn Grissom didn’t reach base out of the DH spot in the middle game, but recorded a couple of hits in the series.
Rob Refsnyder is so important to this baseball team. This was another great series for him.
Ceddanne Rafaela knocked in the game tying and go-ahead runs on Mother’s Day. I will always defend this guy, so seeing him actually deliver at the plate with consistency over the last couple of weeks has been awesome.
Jarren Duran remains a productive offensive threat for this baseball team. He is so fun to watch.
Negatives:
Tyler O’Neill is in a terrible slump. If there is a man on first, Tyler O’Neill is almost a guarantee to ground into a double play.
The series was a mixed bag for the catchers. Wong had a good performance at the plate in the game one loss, but both Wong and McGuire reached base only once in the following two games.
A hit-less series for Dominic Smith. I question how long he can remain with the Red Sox if he keeps this up.
The Red Sox are set to square off against the rays SEVEN times in the next ten days, and it’s safe to say that we are going to learn a lot more about the fate and future of the American League East in short order. I am going to keep my fingers crossed that the Red Sox can ride this momentum through the Tampa series. They are going to need to win the season series over the Rays if they would like to be a part of the Wild Card conversation through the summer. In order for me to buy in on this team as a contender, I’m going to need to see a lot more from the Sox than we saw in this series.
