Red Sox Diaries

Amazing as it is, one-fourth of the baseball season is already over. Boston ended it on a high note after a sweep of Toronto in which just about everything went right: David Ortiz broke his long home run drought, all three starters turned in excellent performances, Jacoby Ellsbury extended his hitting streak to 16 games and Kevin Youkilis returned to the lineup. The Red Sox are now 25-16, a mere half-game behind the Blue Jays for the AL East lead.

It's been a bizarre year to this point, with the poor play early on, 11-game winning streak that came right afterward and prolonged slump by Big Papi, among other things. Let's take a closer look at what has happened during Boston's first 41 games:

-- Against everyone that's not the Yankees, the Sox are 20-16; likewise, New York is 24-12 against teams other than Boston. The first half of the season is usually when the Red Sox capitalize against their most hated rival, but it has been particularly extreme so far this year. Now that New York has Alex Rodriguez back (even though A-Rod isn't currently hitting well, Mark Teixeira has tearing the cover off the ball) and Daisuke Matsuzaka (6.35 ERA in six career starts against the Bronx Bombers) is returning to Boston's rotation, expect the season series to get tighter. Still, it's better to be 5-0 at this point than 0-5.

-- So far, all but one of Boston's regular starters (Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Justin Masterson, Tim Wakefield, Brad Penny) has an FIP that's lower than his ERA. Their FIPs aren't particularly good, either, but that means that they've been fairly unlucky so far and suggests that better starts are around the corner. Hopefully Lester's latest effort is a signal of that. But the fact of the matter is, the rotation has been a huge disappointment -- entering Wednesday's game, the Red Sox were tied with the Orioles for the worst starters' ERA in the AL. Matsuzaka makes his first start in about a month against the New York Mets on Friday, likely bumping Masterson back to the bullpen. This gives Boston three pitchers who would find a spot in any other starting rotation in baseball: Masterson, Clay Buchholz (1.60 ERA in Triple-A) and Michael Bowden (0.86 ERA in Triple-A). Plus, Smoltz is (supposedly) coming back sometime next month and pitched well in his first rehab appearance in Single-A Greenville. So if Penny and Matsuzaka can't get the job done, there is no reason to keep trotting them out there every fifth day.

--The bullpen has been absolutely lights-out. Jonathan Papelbon, Manny Delcarmen and offseason acquisition Ramon Ramirez all boast sub-1.00 ERAs. In fact, the top five relievers (Papelbon, Delcarmen, Ramirez, Takashi Saito and Hideki Okajima) have a combined ERA of 1.71. That's pretty impressive. Four of the five are on pace to set their career high in innings pitched, but that shouldn't be a concern as long as the starters work deeper into games more often, like everyone expects them to. If they don't manager Terry Francona is going to have a lot of dead arms in September. Though Daniel Bard has looked strong in his first four outings, too.

--Speaking of the bullpen, there's something weird going on with Papelbon. From becoming the full-time closer in 2006 through last season, Papelbon walked just 36 batters in 196 regular season innings. He had his best year yet in 2008 in terms of his control, issuing just one free pass per nine innings. This year, he has 10 walks in 19 innings of work -- meaning his walk rate has almost tripled from his first three seasons anchoring the back end of the bullpen. I don't really know what effect that is having, especially because his ERA is miniscule. But it's something to keep an eye on as the season progresses.

--David Ortiz is on pace to hit four home runs, Youkilis missed more than a week with an injury, shortstop Jed Lowrie is out indefinitely, yet the lineup has still managed to be productive. The Sox rank fifth in the MLB in runs scored and second in OPS. Not bad under the circumstances. Youkilis picked up right where he left off after returning to the cleanup spot and is batting .400, Jason Bay is slugging .657 (and not suspended, unlike a certain someone who he was traded for) and Jason Varitek, of all people, has shown surprising pop and is on track to set a career-high in home runs. Reigning AL MVP Dustin Pedroia is proving that last season wasn't a fluke and already has six games with three or more hits.

--While Big Papi was riding the pine in Seattle, J.D. Drew woke up a little bit: he went 5-for-12 with one homer, two RBIs and three walks. This kind of performance is not uncommon for Drew when Ortiz is out of the lineup. Since signing with the Red Sox before the 2007 season, Drew has hit a pedestrian .272 and gone yard just 36 times -- one for every 26.5 at bats. That doesn't exactly justify his mammoth contract that pays him $14 million per year. But with Big Papi on the bench, Drew bats .288 with an OBP of .420, also hitting 16 long balls and driving in 43 runs. His home run rate of one per 13.7 at bats is almost half of his normal one. Its a mystery why Drew comes to life in those situations--maybe he's motivated because he usually hits third when Big Papi doesn't play. But he needs to channel that hitter a lot more often.

--This doesn't directly impact the big league club, but Lars Anderson needs to get his act together. In 41 games at Double-A Portland a year ago, the top prospect hit .316 with an OPS of .963. This season in Portland, Anderson is batting .229 with an OPS below .700. His struggles were so bad that Boston opted to have 30-year-old Jeff Bailey (who has also been floundering) provide depth at first base and start while Big Papi was sitting out. There's no evidence to suggest that this is anything other than a slightly prolonged slump for Anderson. Hopefully none will arise.

All right, there are seven early-season observations -- one for each time Varitek has gone deep so far. By the All-Star Break, we should be able to make some significant conclusions. But for now, enjoy the start of interleague play this weekend against the New York Mets.

--Danny Daly (ddaly06)