Boston Red Sox: Chris Sale is officially a train wreck in 2019

In losing to the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox saw the emotions of a frustrated Chris Sale hit rock bottom in another disastrous outing.

Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale is officially a train wreck on and off the mound.

As easy as it to blame Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski for the team’s current seven-game losing streak, the players on the field are the real reason the 2019 team is underachieving, that includes Sale.

In all, Dombrowki’s decision to stand pat when the team had obvious needs is a head scratcher, but in his defense, this is a loaded team with top of the league talent who should have their act together by now.

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While most of the team is the scapegoat at this point, no player epitomizes the team’s up and down season more than Chris Sale.

In a year in which he signed a big-time extension, life on the mound gets more frustrating as the season goes on. It is not just his 5-11 record following a 9-2 loss in the first game of a double-header sweep to the New York Yankees, it’s his body language and his language after games that tells the tale of a man frustrated with no answers.

Sure, he says the right things, but the struggles on the mound continues. In Saturday’s loss, Sale was injected from the game after going at home-plate umpire Mike Estabrook for some suspect calls in the strike zone. Those calls or lack thereof compounded the eight runs on nine hits Sale surrendered in just 3 2/3 innings.

The blame game

As a team that has now fallen 12 ½ games behind the dreaded Yankees in the AL East, it is easy to visibly blame Estabrook. However, it is really Sale and the team’s overall self-blame that is fueling the outbursts. Sale is the ace and should be the stopper when the team is going through losing streaks. If they can’t get it from him, then do the 2019 Boston Red Sox really have a chance?

While Red Sox manager Alex Cora refuses to put the emphasis on any one player for the recent collapse of the team, it starts with Chris Sale. If he can figure things out and can get his act together consistently through the rest of August and through September, perhaps this team will see the field come October.

But, he has to figure it out before this train officially goes off the track and he knows it.

"“I think if you look at how my games are going, it’s just pitches that are left out over the plate,” Sale said, as transcribed by MLB.com. “It seems like guys are now hitting the mistakes. In previous years if you make a few mistakes, you might get away with a couple. Honestly, I haven’t been good, but I haven’t been lucky at all either. Just seems like every mistake I make gets capitalized on by the other side.”"

Is it really a lack of luck or is the team just complacent after winning the World Series in 2018?

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While they can’t do anything about the luck part, they can certainly start playing with a sense of urgency. Sometimes that’s the only thing that can turn luck around in the game of baseball. As far as Chris Sale goes, it takes a little more than luck to post a 4.68 ERA. That’s more about getting your behind kicked on the mound.

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