Sox Push Win Streak to Five Games

The Red Sox trailed 3-0 to the Marlins after the first inning in Fenway Park on Thursday night, but led by a strong bullpen and offensive help from the Sox' minor league call-ups, they pulled out a 6-5 victory.

Daisuke Matsuzaka was off to his usual shaky start, allowing three runs in the first inning.  Luckily, he cleaned his act up and held the Marlins scoreless in the next four innings, until letting up one more and getting pulled in the sixth inning.  With a record barely over .500, a starter letting up four runs is welcomed at this point.

Down 3-0, the Sox struck back with Will Middlebrooks and Mike Aviles snagging RBIs in the fourth, then Middlebrooks doubled down with another in the fifth.  Just when you thought he was done, in the eighth, down 5-3 this time, Middlebrooks jacked a two-run bomb to tie the game.  Fellow early-season call-up Ryan Kalish then got aboard, and Daniel Nava stuck his hand into the cookie jar and plated Kalish on a single to center for the go-ahead run.  Alfredo Aceves came in a slammed the door again for his 18th save, now one more than ex-Sox Jonathan Papelbon in Philly.

The Sox have scored 39 runs over the five game win streak, and appear to be banging on all cylinders.  But can it last?  We're still waiting on injury updates from Jacoby Ellsbury, Carl Crawford, Ryan Sweeney, Josh Beckett, Scott Podsednik, Rich Hill and Andrew Bailey.  And even with Adrian Gonzalez severely under-performing, the Sox are finding offense from both ends of the line-up.  The back end of the bullpen is getting stronger by the day, and with the Sox scoring 15 runs like they did on Wednesday, that takes a tremendous amount of pressure off the arms.

Why the Sox Should Get Rid of Kevin Youkilis

Photo: The Slanch Report

Kevin Youkilis has only played in less than half of the Red Sox games this season.  He hasn't had more than 491 at-bats since the 2008 season.  With players like Will Middlebrooks making a huge splash already and (as much as I don't want to say it...) Nick Punto already on the bench, I think the Sox could do without Youk.

On Monday night, the Sox got themselves back to .500 baseball against the division-leading Baltimore Orioles, and on Tuesday, Youkilis is scheduled to come off the disabled list and rejoin the team at Camden Yards.  There's talk of Middlebrooks staying even with Youk back because of the injuries to Cody Ross and Ryan Sweeney (with Sweeney being the only one on the DL as of now), but here's why Middlebrooks staying shouldn't even be a question.

Two years ago, Jacoby Ellsbury went down with a rib injury, thanks to Adrian Beltre's clydesdale-like frame, and spent time away from the team in Arizona rehabbing for most of the season. Youkilis has had a few injuries over the past two seasons, and rather than focus on getting better, he has taken some of that time to blast Ellsbury for time the centerfielder spent away from the team.

Playing in the same about of games (18), the stats looks like this:

Youkilis:               14 H, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 14 R
Middlebrooks:   22 H, 5 HR, 16 RBI, 12 R

As for the argument that Middlebrooks isn't ready to be an everyday player?  Platoon him with Punto, problem solved.  Youkilis could help almost any team in the majors, and has decent trade value.  The Sox have a bunch of young players producing already this year, so if they could cash in on Youkilis for a few more, I'd say its now or never.

Ripley's Believe It Or Not: Sox Win Three in a Row

Its not whether you win or lose, its how you play the game, right?  Completely wrong.  The Red Sox have a $171 million payroll, so if they're not winning, no one's going to even watch them play the game.

Boston currently sits at 15-19, six and a half games behind the AL East leading Baltimore Orioles.  Now the O's are a completely different story here, so we'll put that on the back burner for now.  Let's start the the positives, though.

1.) The Sox are better than the Twins, Royals and Angels, Cubs, Rockies and Padres. What does that say?  Not much, but at least we have something to hang our hats on.

2.)  They're finally .500 at home.  Home field advantage has been non-existent for them this season, between the fans booing Bobby Valentine and Josh Beckett and leaving in the 5th inning when the Sox are getting crushed, there hasn't been a whole lot to cheer about.  During these past three games, however, fans have stayed put, singing Sweet Caroline louder than ever and getting rowdy right until Dirty Water.

3.)  The Farm boys.  Daniel Nava and Will Middlebrooks.  The two have come up and totally caught fire the past week, totaling 13 runs on 19 hits, including four home runs and 17 RBI, averaging over .450 at the dish.

I was going to start talking about the negatives, but I'll let this one stand alone for now.  Let's just let this post be positive and see how it's received.