OMG, the Red Sox have the same record as 2009?

The month of May is officially over for the Boston Red Sox and now with the first two months in the books, is it safe to say that fans were simply overreacting? 

Yes, Boston is still in fourth place in the AL East (one game behind Toronto). Obviously that's not ideal, but let's go over the numbers and facts.

After a horrendous 11-12 record in April, the Sox bounced back in May at 18-11 to give themselves a 29-23 overall record.

In 2009, the Bosox finished April at 14-8 after getting off to an awful 2-6 start. In May, they finished one game above .500 at 15-14. Now add those two monthly records up and what do you get? 

Boston was 29-22 this time last year.

Gasp!

How on Earth can this be correct?

But last year the Sox were tied for second with Toronto and only 1.5 games back of the Yankees? 

But, but this year we're 5.5 out of first?

What!?

How the month of May was salvaged in 2010?

In the last two weeks, the Red Sox have won against contending teams including the New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Rays, and Philadelphia Phillies. And during its last season, salvaged a four-game split with Kansas City at home.

The Rays have cooled off significantly in the last week. They are 4-6 in their last 10 games including being swept at home against the Red Sox and splitting a four-game series with the White Sox.

Perhaps Tampa Bay has finally come back down to Earth.

So there you have it Red Sox fans. I know it is hard to believe, but the numbers are there. How to answer why everyone has been a skeptic this season, well let's see:

Jacoby Ellsbury was on the disabled list and is now back on it, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Mike Cameron were also DL victims, and the newest is Josh Beckett who I was not surprised with since it was clear something was wrong every outing he pitched in April and the first week of May.

Other issues and messes:

The battle between Mike Lowell and David Ortiz, who should be the designated hitter? Now all of a sudden Papi is heating up, popping 10 homers in the month of May alone to give him 11 on the season. Now Lowell is the odd man out.

Another odd man out? Tim Wakefield. But with Beckett on the DL, he's been starting again.

Yes it's been a crazy two months and there are four more months to go so who knows what will be next and what will be the next thing that fans complain and criticize?

Red Sox weekly recap (Week 8)

Sunday May 23, 2010 - Saturday May 29, 2010

Weekly record: 5-2

Overall record: 28-23

AL East standing: 4th, 6.5 games behind Tampa Bay

Runs scored: 36

Opponents' runs scored: 23

Home runs: 8; Kevin Youkilis (2), David Ortiz (2), Adrian Beltre (2), Bill Hall, Victor Martinez

Team leader (HR): Youkilis (10), Ortiz (10)

Team leader (RBI): Beltre (34)

Games left: 111

Weeks left: 18.1

Week 8 in 2009

Batter-up with Bruno: The Sox swept the Rays? For real?

Red Sox 180? Not so fast

All of a sudden, the Boston Red Sox are contending with top notch teams. And all of a sudden this includes a sweepage over the best ball club in the majors (Tampa Bay Rays) and taking the last seven out of eight games against the New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins,  and the Philadelphia Phillies before this current home stand with the Kansas City Royals.

In April the Rays humiliated Boston on its home turf with a four-game sweep. The good news is somehow this didn't destroy the club as it won the next three series against the Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, and Toronto Blue Jays to conclude the month with a 11-12 record. 

But where the hell did this come from?

Playing well? Playing stellar defense? No flipping way.

Where was this defensive unit a month ago? During Daisuke Matsuzaka's near no-hitter one week ago today, there was so much leather flashing around on the diamond that instead of Baseball Tonight's 'Top 10 plays' it was 'Top Red Sox plays.'

Whoa wait though. No sooner do the Bosox start coming around and gelling together, do they drop the first two games to the Royals with Bill Hall made his major league pitching debut in game two. He had a 1-2-3 inning.

His career earned run average, 0.00.

Interesting how these things work.

However not all is good. Josh Beckett's rehabilitation just took a step backwards and Jacoby Ellsbury is back on the 15-day disabled list. On the bright side, Mike Cameron is back, hooray!

Just when we thought we had the 2010 Boston Red Sox all figured out.

Dice-K, No no-no

So close, so close, but there wasn't a no-hitter tossed by Matsuzaka against the Phillies last Saturday. Marco Scutaro had no chance catching that blooper hit by Juan Castro in the eighth inning.

Wouldn't that have been something though? Dice-K throwing a no-hitter and without walking the bases loaded?

And the guy behind the plate calling the pitches, non-other than Jason Varitek who has caught four no-hitters. Tek would have had the most of all-time if all went according to plan.

Chances of this happening again though? 

Try slim to none.

Red Sox weekly recap (Week 7)

Sunday May 16, 2010 - Saturday May 23, 2010

Weekly record: 4-3

Overall record: 23-21

AL East standing: 4th, 8.5 behinds behind Tampa Bay

Runs scored: 32

Opponents runs scored: 31

Home runs: 9; Kevin Youkilis (3), David Ortiz (2), Victor Martinez (2), J.D. Drew, Adrian Beltre

Team leader (HR): Dustin Pedroia (8), Kevin Youkilis (8), David Ortiz (8)

Team leader (RBI): J.D. Drew (28)

Games left: 118

Weeks left: 19.1

Week 7 in 2009

Batter-up with Bruno: Red Sox 3rd priority in Boston

BoSox 3rd place ranking

I hate to admit it, but last week was an absolute blur to me if you were to ask me about the Boston Red Sox.

I know the Sox had a winning week going 5-2, but unfortunately it wasn't good enough to dig themselves out of fourth place in the American League East.

David Ortiz crushed two home runs Friday night against the Detroit Tigers and when I say crushed, I mean he literally destroyed both balls into the upper deck (thank you NESN SportsDesk highlights).

But besides that it was all about the Boston Bruins and Celtics.

With only one television in the sports department (yes that's right) we tuned in to either the Bruins or Celtics and even some cases the Canadiens/Penguins series. Of course playoff games automatically get top priority. But when it was all said and done the Bruins humiliated themselves with the worst collapse in team history and the Celtics overpowered past LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Pretty much the exact opposite of what fans were expecting.

Now the Sox move up a spot with the B's out of the picture. And as long as the C's keep up their winning ways, they'll rank No. 1 in Boston fans' books until mid-June.

But wait a sec? This isn't the first time this has happened with the Bruins, Celtics, and Red Sox all playing at the same time. Actually this has been a recurrence for the last three years, but why is it different this year?

The hype isn't there for the Red Sox, I hate to say and admit it. As I am writing this column, Boston is three outs away from dropping back to the .500 mark and here it is mid-May. It's been a long while since they have performed this poorly.

Will it change my views on the season? I'll still watch the games no matter how awful the team is playing because I am a Red Sox fan, not a bandwagoner. I'll still show the frustrations, the cheering, the superstitions, that won't change, but for some reason, it's still not the same.

Red Sox weekly recap (Week 6)

Sunday May 9, 2010 - Saturday May 15, 2010

Weekly record: 5-2

Overall record: 19-18

AL East standing: 4th, 6.5 behind Tampa Bay

Runs scored: 37

Opponents' runs scored: 22

Home runs: 7; David Ortiz (2), Bill Hall (2), Jeremy Hermida, Jason Varitek, Dustin Pedroia

Team leader (HR): Dustin Pedroia (8)

Team leader (RBI): Dustin Pedroia (25)

Games left: 125

Weeks left: 20.1

Week 6 in 2009

Congrats to the Curry College class of 2010!!!

Batter-up with Bruno: Theo Epstein screwed up

From Angels to Evil Empire

This is probably the worst thing that could have happened. After sweeping a four-game series from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for the first time since 1967, the New York Yankees had to come to town.

Now if this were 2009, Red Sox Nation would be saying, "hell yeah, bring it on!" But in 2010, not so much.

The Sox were finally above the .500 mark for not even 24-hours then it all came crashing down.

Personally, I was livid seeing the Yankees next on the schedule. Boston finally found its groove against an even weaker club, then gets absolutely slaughtered Friday (10-3) and Saturday (14-3) by the second best ball club in the major leagues right now, with the Tampa Bay Rays being the best (crazy huh?). 

Maybe tonight Jon Lester can salvage the final game of the series, then hopefully pick up where the team left off against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Theo Epstein screwed up big time

A show of hands, who was ridiculously excited with all of the signings from the 2009 offseason?

I was excited about the acquisition of John Lackey, which literally came out of nowhere, but everyone else? This might go down as the worst offseason ever for Epstein.

I complained about the signing of Marco Scutaro right here on this blog and then like an idiot said that this Red Sox team was scary even without Adrian Gonzalez after Epstein signed Mike Cameron.

Let me be the first to apologize for that second post, but I still stand my ground with Scutaro.

The bullpen? An absolute joke. And of course Jacoby Ellsbury on the disabled list is not helping out the cause. Cameron is also on the DL.

Here is your active outfield: 

• J.D. Drew
• Jeremy Hermida
• Darnell McDonald
• Jonathan Van Every

That says it all.

Epstein signed junk all to one-year deals except for Scutaro and Lackey. Junk.

Beckett we have a problem

So after Josh Beckett gets a four-year $68 million contract extension, you'd think he'd perform up to those expectations right?

Wrong.

Beckett is 1-1 with a 7.46 ERA and has allowed 52 hits (including five home runs) in 41 innings pitched and 16 walks.

His last outing against the Yankees?

Line: 5 1/3 IP, 9 runs, 9 hits, 1 HR, 3 BB, 8 SO.

When will he turn it around? He needs to soon or else, well, it could be a very long season in Boston.

Red Sox weekly recap (Week 5)

Sunday, May 2, 2010 - Saturday, May 8, 2010

Weekly record: 4-3

Overall record: 15-16

AL East standing: 4th, 7.5 games behind Tampa Bay

Runs scored: 43

Opponents' runs scored: 43

Home runs: 11; Adrian Beltre (2), Victor Martinez (2), Jason Varitek, Kevin Youkilis, Bill Hall, J.D. Drew, Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, Darnell McDonald

Team leader (HR): Dustin Pedroia (7)

Team leader: (RBI): Dustin Pedroia (21)

Games left: 131

Weeks left: 21.1

Week 5 in 2009

*HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!*

(John) Lackey not lacking against former team; Nomar honored

It was a near perfect night at Fenway Park, despite some lowlife loser calling in a bomb threat before the gates opened.

Nomar Garciaparra was honored respectively on 5-5-10 known as Cinco de Mayo, but dubbed Cinco de Nomar, John Lackey had arguable the best outing in a Red Sox uniform against his old ball club, and Boston went onto win 3-1 over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Lackey allowed only two hits in seven inning pitched, one run, two walks, and four strikeouts.

David Ortiz and Adrian Beltre both went yard to provide the offense as well as Dustin Pedroia with a run batted in.

Tomorrow night the Sox shoot for a four-game sweep as Daisuke Matsuzaka takes his second stab coming back to the Majors.

Maybe this time Tim Wakefield won't have to bail him out.

During the pre-game ceremony, Nomar was presented with two commemorative Fenway Park seats with No. 5 and No. 6 painted on, with No. 6 representing Johnny Pesky, and a Red Sox watch.

I truly do not believe this will be the past time we'll be honoring Nomar at Fenway Park.

The next you'll see him is when they retire his No. 5. Just wait and see.

Jon Lester proves 'ace' case w/another dominant performance

For his second straight outing, Jon Lester has been masterful.

The southpaw pitched eight full innings and allowed five hits, one run, and had five strikeouts as the Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 5-1 at Fenway Park.

Perhaps this is the start of a regular thing for him after being rocked his previous four outings.

It was pitchers' duel between Lester and Ervin Santana until the bottom of the eighth with the score deadlocked 1-1, when the Red Sox bats finally came alive when the Angels bullpen took over.

After David Ortiz grounded into his second double-play, this time with the bases loaded and no one out, Adrian Beltre walked, and Jeremy Hermida delivered with a wall ball three-run double.

That's back-to-back game for the Sox where their starters have met and exceeded expectations. Now the question is can John Lackey make it three straight over his former team?

Much needed wake up call

How's 17 runs?

Was that enough for you Theo Epstein?

The Boston Red Sox took out all of its anger and frustration out on the visiting Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Monday night, 17-8, after a miserable three-game sweep to the Baltimore Orioles.

It was a 17-4 ball game heading into the top of the ninth inning as Sox starter Clay Buchholz gave up all four runs in 5 1/3 innings pitched while walking three and striking out two. Scott Schoeneweis got roughed up a bit allowing four runs (all earned) on four hits and also had two walks. 

Kevin Youkilis, Bill Hall, Adrian Beltre, and Dustin Pedroia all homered. Pedroia with his team leading seventh and Beltre and Hall with their first of the season.

Hopefully the Red Sox saved their bats for the rest of the series.

With the win Boston is now 12-14 and 6.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East. This time last year it was 15-9 in second place and only one game back of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Will the month of May equal to winning ways? Lets hope so for everyone's sake.

Red Sox weekly recap (Week 4)

Sunday, April 25, 2010 - Saturday, May 1, 2010

Weekly record: 3-3

Overall record: 11-13

AL East standing: 4th, 6.0 games behind Tampa Bay

Runs scored: 36

Opponents' runs scored: 37

Home runs: 7; J.D. Drew (2), David Ortiz (2), Dustin Pedroia, Jonathan Van Every, Kevin Youkilis (Note: All HRs hit in last two games)

Team leader (HR): Dustin Pedroia (6)

Team leader (RBI): Dustin Pedroia (18)

Games left: 138

Weeks left: 22.1

Week 4 in 2009

Batter-up with Bruno: Retire Nomar's No. 5 Boston

Retire Nomar's No. 5

Friday the Boston Red Sox announced that they are going to honor Nomar Garciaparra on Wednesday (5/5/10) at Fenway Park in a pre-game ceremony when they host the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

What that exactly means, well maybe he'll receive a plaque or his jersey encased in glass or something, but the proper thing the club should do is formally retire Garciaparra's No. 5.

Lets face it. Wasn't it just strange when Rocco Baldelli wore No. 5 in his brief time with the Sox last season?

It just seemed, wrong, and almost disrespectful. Baldelli was the first player to wear the number since the trade in 2004.

So please Boston, it's a no-brainer. Retire Nomar's number. Some may argue it's too early and others may argue it's plain ridiculous, but if the Red Sox can retire Carlton Fisks' No. 27 there's no reason whatsoever Nomar's No. 5 shouldn't be.

Red Sox 2nd most hated?

According to the most lamest study ever incorporated, apparently the Boston Red Sox are the second most hated team in Major League Baseball.

And no, I'm not saying this because I'm a Red Sox fan.

The Wall Street Journal had an article last Wednesday after the New York Yankees visited the White House to be recognized for its 27th World Series Championship. The headline reads: "Are the Yankees Truly the Most-Despised Ballclub?" 

Surprisingly they ranked fifth on this "scale" concocted by an Internet algorithm built my the Nielsen Company, which anaylses that people feel about certain things and in this case, Major League Baseball teams.

And the most hated ballclub? You'd never guess.

The Cleveland Indians? 

What?

I thought Cleveland was suppose to rock? I didn't know anyone even cared about them, hate wise.

Here's the rest of the Top 10 breakdown:

1. Cleveland Indians
2. Boston Red Sox
3. Cincinnati Reds
4. Houston Astros
5. New York Yankees
6. Washington Nationals
7. Chicago White Sox
8. Baltimore Orioles
9. New York Mets
10. Los Angeles Dodgers

Here's my question. Where the hell are the Tampa Bay Rays? The fans alone should have their own separate category. I mean come on, the Washington Nationals? Really? 

Please.