“We’ve got to start playing good,” Pedroia said. “You’ve got to hit the ball good, you’ve got to play good defense, you’ve got to pitch good. If we don’t start doing that, we’re not going to be good. We aren’t going to be a playoff team, I can tell you that. We’ve got teams that want to [beat us badly], so we’ve got to come out and play better.” - Dustin Pedroia, via WEEI.com
Well, the man's no poet laureate, but he has a point. While the rest of the team was falling all over themselves to ignore and excuse the recent performance of the Red Sox, Dustin Pedroia, as usual, was not one to keep his mouth shut.
Hopefully the feisty second baseman is saying as much - and vehemently - in the clubhouse, and his input will help to turn the team around. Because the other guys are right: it's only April, and records often look funny this time of year... But it's not the wins and losses that concern me, it's the way in which they're occurring.
Pedey can see all this. These Red Sox are not playing like playoff contenders - the Twins, Yankees, and Rays have played like contenders thus far. Hopefully things will straighten out, because this isn't a question of talent, but one of execution. As Pedroia says, "We've got to come out and play better."
One thing's for sure; the Red Sox defense really needs to step it up. All eight errors that the Sox have made this year have been commited by players new to the team, including 3 from Scutaro. This can't continue.
ReplyDeleteI think the strength of their competition has something to do with it. Except for three games against the Royals, which the Red Sox won two of three from, every team they've faced so far is probably a playoff contender.
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