We've been here before. A year ago, in fact.
Waking up on Aug. 12 with the feeling that the Red Sox' best-laid plans have gone completely out the window, leaving all who care about watching them focused on things they never thought they would be forced to focus on. In 2019, it was living life with a team that had begun the month winning just four of its first 13 games while sitting 17 games out of first place and eight in back of the last Wild Card spot.
This time around, it has only been 17 games into the season, but it actually feels worse.
The Red Sox (6-11) have the worst record in the American League and are only better than the 3-13 Pirates. (You have to feel bad for Ben Cherington.)
They are coming off a demoralizing 8-2 loss to the Rays at Fenway Park that included a six-run sixth-inning that made Ron Roenicke's team look like a $200 million version of the Bad News Bears. It left the manager summing up the situation with, "We know if we play this way we’re not going to win many games." (For a complete box score, click here.)
The weird thing is that if you still had last year's roster a case could be made that the Red Sox were still feasibly one hot streak away from changing the narrative completely. But they don' have that roster. Instead, they were left Tuesday night trying to cling to a one-run lead with three relievers -- Austin Brice, Robert Stock and Dylan Covey -- who had a combined ERA of 6.89 in 2019.
So, all that said, this is what we have to look forward to ...
- Can Andrew Benintendi end up being the Andrew Benintendi the Red Sox desperately need? There were signs of life Tuesday, with the left fielder equalling his hit total for the entire season (2).
- Will Alex Verdugo emerge into a no-doubt-about-it everyday player?
- Can Mitch Moreland's knee hold up so that he can be that perfect complement for either Bobby Dalbec or Michael Chavis in 2021?
- Will Christian Vazquez be that guy who we write about being on the verge of All-Star status only to watch him rattle off three straight games of mediocrity, or can he actually be the star we were identifying him as during those games in New York?
- Can Jackie Bradley Jr. find one more hot streak to offer a big-time trade deadline chip on the way to making some serious money for himself?
- Will Rule 5 guy Jonathan Arauz be one of Chaim Bloom's greatest 2020 success stories? (He had two more hits Tuesday.)
- Will Martin Perez pitch just well enough to serve as a legitimate trade option for some contending team desperate for starting pitcher? At this point, he has shown enough to be identified in such a manner, giving up two runs over 5 2/3 innings against the Rays to lower his ERA to 3.38.
- Was Monday night just a flash of excellence from J.D. Martinez, or can he actually find himself at some point during this upside-down 2020 season? (He went 0-for-3 with a walk Tuesday.)