Former manager gives insight to bench-clearing brawls
Justin Turner has been around long enough to understand the ebbs and flows of a Major League Baseball season. Such disasters as what happened over the weekend at Fenway Park - a Blue Jays series sweep punctuated by a 13-1 debacle Sunday - can be pushed further into the rearview mirror with just a few wins on the other side of things.
"Go home. Rest. Then show up tomorrow ready to work," Turner said after the most recent loss to the Blue Jays. (For a complete recap of Sunday's game, click here.) "It’s obviously not ideal. Not the results we wanted coming into this weekend. But I promise you there’s going to be a baseball game tomorrow."
True.
But there is a reality that no matter what this upcoming series against the Royals presents can't - and shouldn't - be ignored. The team's choice to slow-play the Red Sox' introduction to August was an undeniable miss.
This wasn't post-Trade Deadline 2021, where they could wait until Aug. 13 for the likes of Kyle Schwarber to arrive. By the time that date rolled around the Red Sox' Deadline strategy had resulted in not a single at-bat from Schwarber. And the two relievers reeled in on Aug. 1, Hansel Robles and Austin Davis? They had pitched a combined 8 1/3 innings while giving up 10 total runs (5 each), with the team going a combined 0-9 in games one or the other or both had appeared.
During that 11-game stretch to begin August leading up to the debut of Schwarber, the Red Sox went 3-8, dropping from 1 1/2 games out of first-place to five back while going from three in front of Oakland in the Wild Card to trailing by two games.
Still, the Red Sox were in decent enough of a shape where they could weather the storm, still sitting 15 games over .500 before Schwarber proceeded to help right the ship with a 9-5 mark over the next two weeks.
Those were the days. Times have certainly changed.
Unlike two years ago, we knew this was going to be more of a race against time for the Red Sox - and many contending teams in MLB. Chaim Bloom, Alex Cora and Co. have officially stumbled out of the blocks.
This wasn't necessarily about a clubhouse wanting more (although it did). Or a simple rough patch. Everyone could see the landscape of what was coming in this first week of August ... except for the Red Sox.
The hope and the prayer that relying on the somewhat successful chicken-wire strategy of piecing games together with a smattering of starters and a bunch of relievers was going to hold up when the rubber met the road for this stretch going into and coming out of September has officially fallen flat at the worst time.
Over the three games against the Blue Jays the Red Sox easily led MLB with 20 innings from their relievers, a group that also led all of baseball by giving up 21 runs on 32 hits while walking 14. The team that they played? Their bullpen had to pitch just 7 2/3 innings, allowing just one run.
At a time where the Red Sox had little room for error, they were struck with weeks' worth at the worst possible time.
Yes, as has been well-publicized, they will be getting guys back. Trevor Story seems to be targeting a Thursday return. Chris Sale might reappear the day after that. And Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock figure to be close behind those two.
But, thanks to the hole dug over the weekend, the situation all of the above might be walking into isn't what was anticipated. They are five games out of the final Wild Card spot, now with teams (the Mariners and Yankees) in between them and a postseason position.
Four days ago, it was one game back in the loss column, with both New York and Seattle chasing them.
What's done is done, but what the Red Sox have to realize because of their early-August miscue is that this is desperation time. Yes, the series against the Royals and Tigers may very well be make-or-break. That's the type of suddenly tenuous cliff we're talking about.
As Turner said, they will play a baseball game Monday night. It would behoove them to win that baseball game.