Boston Red Sox: Yankees sweep has Sox gasping for new life

After spending the majority of the season at the top of the AL East, the Boston Red Sox have been in a free-fall in the month of August, going 5-10 and dropping to third place in the division after getting swept by the New York Yankees in the Bronx.

There’s plenty of blame to go around, but the two that stick out the most is the combination of the Red Sox offense and bullpen having their worst stretches of the season so far.

Forget about the low leverage and middle relievers for a second. Let’s just look at Garrett Whitlock, Adam Ottavino, and Matt Barnes. Those are your 7th, 8th, and 9th inning guys. The guys you count on to lock a win up. In the month of August, they have combined for a 6.88 ERA and a 1.753 WHIP, with a 1-4 record. Not great.

Boston Red Sox need to show they belong in the playoff race

It’s been a tough schedule with the majority of the games recently coming against talented divisional opponents.

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But if the Red Sox expect to make a run in October, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Yankees would be the least of their worries. If this is how the team is performing against fairly average rosters, they have no business in a series against the Houston Astros or the Chicago White Sox, or whatever juggernaut comes out of the National League this year.

There isn’t a single arm in the bullpen that can be counted on in a high leverage situation right now, and with a rotation that has the potential to be great, but certainly has an element of unpredictability, the Boston Red Sox need the bats to bail them out. When you get all but shut down by Andrew Heaney in a must win game, whose ERA prior to facing the Red Sox was 5.78, it’s not a good look.

The fact of the matter is that the Red Sox out-performed their expectations early on, and a new expectation has been set. That expectation is not to tread water in late August and it’s not to continue on with this Jekyll and Hyde act on both sides of the ball.

Come October, there is no reason or excuse for this Red Sox team to be on the outside looking in.

The Boston Red Sox get a reprieve for the next few series, facing three of the bottom teams in the American League. This is a clear opportunity to get the bats and the arms going again before heading into a September that includes matchups against Tampa Bay and New York.

The Sox desperately need to right this ship in the next nine games or the season could be put to bed.