Scott Boras talks Alex Bregman
After the Red Sox's 5-1 loss to the Yankees, there was a common refrain. Turn the page. Come back and fix things tomorrow. Focus on the next pitch.
All fair. Too many times to count this season, this team has been able to flip the script and change the narrative within 24 hours.
But, in this case, the nothing-to-see, all-is-well mentality can't be leaned on quite like it could a few months or weeks, or days ago. With 14 regular season games to go, and the standings being what they are, there is a stark reality that being no-hit for six innings Luis Gil and this Friday night Fenway defeat should surface.
The Red Sox not only need to be better. They need to be close to the best version of themselves.
It is what it is when it comes to Alex Cora's team's current existence. No Roman Anthony. No Wilyer Abreu. No Marcelo Mayer. Romy Gonzalez and Rob Refsnyder are banged up. And players who had previously helped carry the offense last month - Ceddanne Rafaela and Nathaniel Lowe - are a combined 8-for-61 with 23 strikeouts in September.
And while they still don't run isolations for infielders or outfielders, there isn't a semblance of any one hitter who is offering to invite the rest of the team to get on his back for the stretch drive—something along the lines of what Anthony and Abreu represented at various times in August.
The Red Sox can still function offensively. They do have the sixth-best batting average in MLB, while living in the middle-of-the-pack for OPS and runs scored. With no current offensive alpha, the margin for error just seems much slimmer than the teams they are jockeying for position with.
Toronto? Vlad Guerrero Jr. has a 1.297 OPS this month, with teammate George Springer clocking in at 1.035 in the last 12 days. New York's Aaron Judge reminded everyone Friday night of what he still represents, hitting a 468-foot home run to boost his August OPS to 1.132. Seattle's Jorge Polanco (1.120), Houston's Yordan Alvarez (1.084) and the Rangers' Jake Burger (1.070) all have the kind of hot hands the Red Sox are starved for.
Friday night's starting pitcher, Lucas Giolito, came out after his 5 2/3-inning, two-run outing and said he had to be better and needed to find a way to keep pace with Gil's no-hit outing. That seems good in theory. But when power-ranking the problems in the series-opener, Giolito didn't crack the Top 10.
The loss was, in fact, the first time since Aug. 18 that a Red Sox starter has pitched more than 5 1/3 innings with the Sox coming out on the wrong end of the scoreboard.
Too many times to count this season, the Red Sox's offense has responded to such proclamations of desperation with more than a handful of runs. Maybe because of that dynamic, they deserve more of the benefit of the doubt.
But as the Red Sox head into their Saturday showdown with Max Fried, sitting 1 1/2 games behind the Yankees, just one game in front of the deadlocked Mariners and Astros, and three games away from not making the postseason altogether because of the surging Rangers (who own the tiebreaker over Boston), uneasiness is unavoidable.
Moral victory season is officially over. That was made abundantly clear Friday night.
"Ceddanne took the two walks. Alex (Bregman) walked and got the base hit,. So there's a few signs out there that tell me that some guys are going to get hot, but as a unit, we have to be better," Cora said.
"We were flat today, but doesn’t mean that’s going to continue tomorrow," Giolito said. “I think after today, kind of regroup and go and play the baseball that we know how to play tomorrow. Got (Brayan) Bello going. He’s been fantastic. So I look forward to watching him."