Yawkey Talk! Boston Red Sox Report: Ep. 1


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Time: 12:00 am
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And the Youkah hits the ball WICKED FAH!  It’s ovah the MONSTAH and on to Landsdowne Street!  Chowdah and Beeah for all!  Man, I do miss catching a game at Fenway Park.  I haven’t been there in about five years or so.  But just because I’m currently living in the desert in Phoenix, Arizona, that doesn’t mean that I’m not the same die-hard Red Sox fan that I grew up as.  Maybe even more so today than ever.  Distance can test a relationship, but I can honestly say that even though I’m covering the Diamondbacks for Heroes Media Group Sports, they will never replace my team.  Which is why I have created the newest article for HMG Sports, called Yawkey Talk!

For those of you not familiar with Fenway Park, Yawkey Way is the main street for the main entrances to Fenway Park.  It’s where the majority of the vendors are, and it’s where the shops are to buy Red Sox gear.  It’s also my very first memory of the ballpark itself.  I remember walking up to Fenway Park as a kid and as we approached the ball park, I remember looking up and seeing the sign “Yawkey Way.”  Now, I’ve often forgot the address to my own house, but I’ll never forget about Yawkey Way.

Yawkey Talk is going to be a series of articles that follow the 2017 Boston Red Sox throughout the season, detailing the ups and downs of the Red Sox, hopefully on their way to their 4th MLB title this century.  Please keep in mind that even though I work for Heroes Media Group Sports, the opinions of the Red Sox and their opponents (especially the Spankees) are my own.

With that being said, lets dig into this young season for the 2017 Boston Red Sox!

To kick off this first episode of Yawkey Talk, let’s mention again that we are only 19 games into the Red Sox season.  Currently, I’m waiting for the Red Sox/Yankees series to start, which will happen eventually if it ever stops raining in New England.

So the Red Sox are sitting at 11-7, currently third in the AL East.  They are .5 games behind the 2nd place Yankees, and 2 games behind the Orioles.  Their longest winning streak so far this season has been 4 games where they took the last three games of a four game series from Tampa Bay at home, and then won the first game up in Toronto from April 15th-19th.

The biggest headline came in the last series down in Baltimore when Manny Machado intentionally spiked Dustin Pedroia with a slide into 2nd, causing Pedroia to miss the next game.  Machado was targeted with a high fastball in the 6th inning of the next game by Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes.

Personally, I like to see it when a team sticks up for their player with a little payback.  I also like seeing fights in Major League Baseball.  One of my favorites came in 2004 when A-Rod didn’t like getting hit and had a few words for then Red Sox Captain Jason Varitek.  Varitek politely responded to A-Rod’s “let’s go” with a catcher’s mitt facial.  This set off the Red Sox and began their climb to the post season, and eventually history.

I’m not saying that the Orioles/Red Sox is anything like the Yankees/Red Sox, but I pay more attention when the Sox play the pinstripes than I probably do for any other team.  But this situation between Baltimore and Boston is definitely not over.

Now, even though the Red Sox are sitting at a respectable 11-7, and 3rd place in the East, they are in the middle of the pack for the Majors when it comes to scoring runs.  Actually, they are 18th in Runs Scored.  They are also dead last in Home Runs with 11.  However, they are 1st in the league in batting average at .278.  Which is from the fact that they are 3rd in Hits with 182, trailing the most potent offense in the league, the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Despite the lack of offense, the Red Sox pitching staff seems to be holding it down, even without ace starter David Price.  The Red Sox are currently ranked 7th in team ERA at .357.  A big part in that is their big offseason acquisition, Chris Sale.  Sale has gone 1-1 so far on the young season, with a 0.91 ERA, and 42K’s (both 1st among starters).

David Price did throw a 45-pitch simulation yesterday.  He threw 3-15 pitch simulated innings with a normal rest in between innings.  He could be returning to the rotation soon barring any setbacks.

On the offensive side, there are three players that stand out to me.  Andrew Benintendi leads the Red Sox in Hits (24) and Batting Average (.347).  Another surprise is Big Papi’s replacement over at 1st Base, Mitch Moreland.  Moreland is 2nd in Hits on the Red Sox with 23, and is 3rd in team batting average (.315).  He also leads the Majors with 11 doubles.

There are a couple series that I’m very interested in seeing during the next few weeks.  The first one is obviously the Yankees/Red Sox.  I hate the Yankees so much, I don’t even want to lose an April game to them.  Next, is the following series against the Cubs where Terry Francona gets to play his current championship team against his former championship team.  And finally, the Orioles are in Boston to end the Red Sox current home stand.  Look for fists to fly during that one as I don’t think any team is over the Pedroia/Machado incident.  That should be fun to watch.

That’s the first episode of Yawkey Talk!  Stay tuned toward the end of May for the next edition where we will hopefully be talking about the emergence of David Price off of his injury, and the appearance of power from the Red Sox offense, particularly from the leader in home runs from the Sox, Sandoval.

Jeff Demers

Heroes Media Group Sports

 

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