Bret Boone has thoughts on pennant races, his brother
The Red Sox are the car doing circular donuts in the high school parking lot. Round and round and round. Smoke and noise rising up for everyone to take notice of. Yet, not going in any particular direction.
Monday night, those wheels kept on spinning.
For a bit, it appeared as though the Red Sox were going to break off and start heading down a defined road. The euphoria that came with sweeping the Yankees was pumped full of even more gas with Adam Duvall's first-inning, three-run homer in the Sox' series opener against the Astros. (With a Kevin Millar prediction to top off the good times.)
But then the circles started once again.
The uncomfortable image of James Paxton taking a turn for the worse while giving up six runs over four innings highlighted the Red Sox' sudden turn for the worse. It pushed the lefty's ERA to 9.82 in the three starts he has had four days of rest.
“Going [every fifth day] is something you have to do in baseball,” Paxton told reporters. “I was asked to do it this time around. It didn’t go great. But I’m sure it’s going to happen again, and I’ll get after it again out there.
Making matters worse was the latest round of defensive awfulness courtesy a some more uneasiness in the field from Rafael Devers, and a flat-out drop in right field by Alex Verdugo.
And then there was another reminder of how delicate this whole equation can be, with one of the straws-that-stirs-the-Red Sox-offense's-drink Justin Turner needing to sit out while Trevor Story continued his struggles, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts (now hitting .186 since his return).
By the end of the night, the adrenaline that was seemingly pushing the Red Sox to contention had completely drained out of their system.
The Red Sox' reality was back.
With the loss, and Seattle's seventh straight win, Alex Cora's club finds itself four games of the final Wild Card spot. And, to make matters worse, the meeting with the Astros (who currently do own one of the postseason berths) was the beginning of a stretch where the Sox will play a team over .500 in 28 of their next 38 games.
And while the Red Sox will finish off their stay in Houston with three more games before returning home to play the Dodgers, followed by another set with the Astros, the Mariners will be gifted a scheduling sweet spot. Seattle next four opponents - the White Sox, Royals, A's and Mets - are combined 137 games under .500.
The Red Sox' path back to those postgame beer showers seems simple: Forget about the Mariners and beat the Astros, a team it trails by 4 1/2 games but will play a bunch over the next week or so.
We can talk about what happened in the travesty that was the Toronto series, or all those miscues against sub-.500 teams, but this is where the rubber will truly be meeting the road.
Yes, thanks to these games against the Astros, we might finally be able to see the Red Sox break out of their never-ending circle of uncertainty and pick a path. Monday night, they started creeping down the wrong road.