Red Sox Offense Erupting at Fenway: Touch ‘Em All

The cover has been torn off of the baseball, while driving down Lansdowne Street has been a broken window waiting to happen. The Boston Red Sox have been absolutely destroying the ball, particularly in their past seven game home stand.

The BoSox (24-14) went 6-1 during this home-stand with a 10-9 thriller over the Houston Astros.

Headlining the offense has been American League Player of the Week in Jackie Bradley Jr. The 5-foot-10 product from the University of South Carolina has been quite the treat to watch as he extended his hit streak to 21 on Sunday. David Ortiz looks like he’s still in his prime with a team-high ten home runs, and players like Travis Shaw, Dustin Pedroia, Xander Bogaerts, and Hanley Ramirez have made it easy for their pitching staff as the offense averaged 10.4 runs/per game in this 7-game home stand.

Jackie Baseball

Jackie Bradley Jr. has been on fire, as the 26-year-old Red Sox center fielder upped his MLB-leading hitting streak to 21 games on Sunday afternoon, going 1 for 5 with a line-drive single up the middle in a 10-9 victory over the Astros. “He spent a lot of time trying to close the holes that might have developed in his swing by the potential of hitting for more power,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said on Saturday, via ESPN. “Even though those power numbers are coming now, it’s not because of an all-or-nothing approach. He’s picking out some counts, he’s getting some pitches up, and he’s driving the baseball. That time spent and frequent access to the facility, and obviously with Vic, has proven to be valuable.”

JBJ is now hitting .331 on the season and is second on the team behind Ortiz in RBI’s (30). During the 21-game hit streak Bradley Jr. is batting .402, six homers, and 21 RBI’s and the record reflects well from it as the Red Sox are 16-5 through the 21 games. This showing is a real positive thing to see because 365 days ago JBJ was up and down in the minors as he was barely hitting his weight.

Bradley Jr. as an outfielder has always made an impact with his range and arm in the outfield, but with his bat finally being productive we might be witnessing a “5-tool” all-star in the making. All along I’ve always thought that JBJ has had the potential to be a gold-glove outfielder, but swinging the bat the way he is poses big problems for every team around the league.

Lineup Slugging as a Unit

Along with Bradley, the Red Sox offense has been out of this world, averaging 10.4 runs/game during the 7-game home stand, which is the 3rd best mark by any team on a home stand of 7+ games since 1900. The Sox got some vintage clutch swings from David Ortiz Saturday afternoon with a game tying triple in the 9th. Following that was an 11th inning Ortiz walk-off double just short of the 420 ft sign in center field off of Houston flame-thrower Michael Feliz to win 6-5. The double was Ortiz’s 600th of his historic career, and was Gatorade showered by his teammates concluding Saturday’s game.

This being Ortiz’s final season doesn’t seem like it should be, the 40-year old is batting .320, and has team-high’s in home runs (10) and RBI’s (33). The real question has been “why is he retiring?”, the guy can still play at a high level and with not playing a position has bought Big Papi’s legs a lot of time to rest and bring the best out of the 20 year veteran.

This offense has been so electrifying that 6 of the 9 everyday starters are hitting over .300 including Bradley Jr., Ortiz, Travis “Ding-Dong City” Shaw (.317), Bogaerts (.338), Hanley Ramirez (.319), and Pedroia (.300). The Red Sox now lead the league in hitting by 20 points (.298), and hits by 15 (406). It seems like every game, the first three innings generally consist of extra-base hits and runs for this club. At the same time, we are all wondering when is this hit parade going to end? When are we finally going to need someone to throw a 7-inning gem for the club to grab a win? With the talent and potential this lineup has their could be no end, which sports the Sox well if they plan on making a run toward October as it is still only May.

Starting Pitching Woes

Going into the 2016 campaign, we all thought that star David Price was going to be the ace of this pitching staff. So far, we have seen a knuckleballer in Steven Wright (2.36 ERA) take over that spot followed by big Rick Porcello (6-1 3.11 ERA) who we all saw last year have a real shaky 2015 season. Don’t be worried Sox Nation as no one should be worried about Price (5-1 6.00 ERA), as he has shown throughout his career why he is one of the best LHP’s this league has seen in quite sometime.

Also, within the next seven days you will see familiar names join the rotation in LHP Eduardo Rodriguez and flame-thrower RHP Joe Kelly. I didn’t even want to mention Clay Buchholz (2-3 6.11 ERA), as he has been nothing but a disappointment in these first 7 weeks of the season. I had high promise for Buchholz going into this season, hopefully he can figure it out and help be a key part in the back of the rotation.

Whats On Tap?

The Boston Red Sox were rained out Monday night in Kansas City, and will play three games in two days against the Royals starting Tuesday night at 8:10 ET. They will play a day-night double-header Wednesday to end the 3-game set, and will finally have a day off Thursday for the first time since May 2nd. They will host Manager Terry Francona and the Cleveland Indians this weekend in a three game series at Fenway Park. Notable Red Sox transactions include Sean O’Sullivan (1-0 7.94 ERA) designated for assignment after a second straight inconsistent start, INF Marco Hernandez was assigned to Boston from Pawtucket (AAA) to fill up the 25 man roster. Keep it locked here for continued Red Sox coverage.

Next: When Fenway Was Nearly Torn Down