BOS Vs MIN Series Recap: Moral Victory In Minnesota?
The Boston Red Sox dropped two of three games in Minnesota this weekend. While normally this would be an unwanted result from a series, I have some positive takeaways.
Coming into this series, the Twins were the hottest team in baseball, riding the mystical power of a rotten summer sausage. Beyond a vacuum sealed tube of rancid Italian meat, the Twins bats were on fire. With no offensive production through the first two games, it is no surprise that the Red Sox lost the series early on. It is however, impressive that the Red Sox defeated the Twins in the third game, given that the ace of their staff, Joe Ryan, was on the mound.
Now, let’s go into some of the ups and downs of the series…
DEFENSE:
Positives:
Zack Short provides some serious defensive versatility, stepping in to play a good third base on a rest day for Rafael Devers.
Garrett Cooper made a couple really nice picks at first base. Hopefully his bat can start to catch up with his defense.
He’s no Bobby Dalbec defensively, but it is good to see that the swap isn’t much of a defensive downgrade.
Ceddanne Rafaela’s versatility continues to be priceless.
Jarren Duran is really growing into a good defensive centerfielder.
Negatives:
Please keep David Hamilton off of my television.
I never thought I’d say this, but Vaughn Grissom might actually be a defensive downgrade from Enmanuel Valdez.
Reese McGuire is hard to watch defensively.
Connor Wong is a far superior defensive catcher, but even he had a couple bad moments in this series.
STARTING PITCHING:
Positives:
As the sample size for Tanner Houck grows, I continue to be more and more impressed. He is the true ace of the staff.
Despite not having his best stuff, Houck put together a nice outing, allowing one run. (Ignore ESPN, who have apparently tried to charge Houck with Reese McGuire’s throwing error.).
Cooper Criswell gave the Red Sox a chance to win, pulling off a magical rescue with the bases loaded and nobody out.
Criswell has been crucial to keeping this team afloat while the Sox rotation recovers from injuries to Whitlock, Pivetta, and Bello.
Negatives:
Brennan Bernardino gave up a rare run as an opener, but it’s hard for me to really be upset about it.
THE PEN:
Positives:
Despite a couple of walks, Zack Kelly showed why he belongs in this bullpen, allowing no earned runs over one and two thirds innings.
Chase Anderson got through two innings, allowing only two baserunners.
Greg Weissert got through two scoreless innings in the middle game of the series.
He has grown my trust a lot more than I was expecting.
Kenley Jansen proved that he still exists, pitching for the first time in what felt like two weeks. He looked good pretty decent. Hopefully he doesn’t disappear again.
Negatives:
I have no faith in Naoyuki Uwasawa after his appearance in game one. He was completely pathetic in this game, loading the bases and earning a PITCH CLOCK violation to walk in a run. There are no excuses for a performance like this.
Uwasawa will have to get through a lot of clean innings before I can begin to trust him again.
Justin Slaten had a rare bad appearance in game two, allowing a run on three hits.
His control seemed off in this game, skipping a couple of balls past Connor Wong.
Cam Booser gave up a bomb to Max Kepler, but otherwise did his job.
AT THE PLATE:
Positives:
The bats finally started to swing in game three of the series, finally showing some real power.
This was a good series for Ceddanne Rafaela, who managed to get a hit in each game of the series. As Rafaela’s #1 fan, its great to see his average climb. Hopefully he can continue on this trajectory.
Devers also had a good series, despite blowing a chance to win the series for the Red Sox in game two of the series with the bases loaded.
Wilyer Abreu (aside from game one) had a solid series. At this point, I expect nothing less from Abreu.
Reese McGuire put together some good at bats in game three, including (by some miracle) stealing third.
Vaughn Grissom has finally arrived, providing a real bat at second base. His RBI double in game three could have easily left the ballpark.
Jarren Duran has his ups and downs, but remains a spark plug for this offense. He truly is the X Factor of this baseball team at the plate and on the bases.
Negatives:
The bats completely died out in games one. In game two, the bats died out whenever there was a scoring chance.
Garrett Cooper has been a complete disaster at the plate. He has honestly been a downgrade from Bobby Dalbec in everyway.
Dominic Smith has been superior at the plate compared to Garrett Cooper, but Masa Yoshida should step back into the DH role as soon as he is able to.
Zack Short is completely useless at the plate, even more so than Rafaela ever was. I am interested to see how long he can stay on the big league roster.
Overall, it is clear that there are a lot of issues with this Red Sox team, but I have to commend their effort and commitment to producing results. Alex Cora has done a remarkable job with this team. I can only hope that he can come to an agreement on an extension with Breslow and ownership.
