After dropping two of three to the Orioles in Baltimore, the Red Sox now sit at 28-28 on the season. That record is fitting when you consider what kind of team Boston has been: One that takes care of business against the worst teams in the league, but struggles against the good ones.
The Red Sox are now 12-22 against teams that are .500 or better, and have won just two of their 11 series against those teams. Against under-.500 teams, the Sox are 16-6 and have won six of seven series.
Still, the case could be made that the Red Sox have overachieved to this point given how good their pitching has been and the slew of injuries to key offensive players like Trevor Story, Triston Casas and now Tyler O’Neill.
Appearing on The Greg Hill Show for “The Front Office Report” on Thursday, Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy wasn’t willing to let his team off the hook, though, disputing the notion that they’ve overachieved and saying that, if anything, they’ve actually under-performed. Listen to the full interview above.
“It's sort of been a tale of two seasons – really positive in in many ways, and then really negative in others. So, I don't think so,” Kennedy said. “I think it's a talented group, incredibly athletic, young. We've seen sort of the glimpse of how we're going to get back to the postseason with athletic play and young, homegrown guys that have come through our system and performances from a pitching staff that has just been sort of otherworldly.
“On the other hand, our bats have gone quiet at the wrong time, our defense has not been where it needs to be, and of course, we've suffered the loss of guys like Trevor and Triston and Tyler O'Neill now going down. So, that's not an excuse. It's on us to stay healthy. That's part of competing. We're right at the .500 mark here, 56 games or whatever it is into the season. Got 100-plus games to go. So, we need to get hot. We need to continue to pitch the way we have and start getting guys on base and scoring more runs. But I don't think we've over-performed. I think, if anything, we've under-performed just given the talent and the competitiveness in that clubhouse.”
That could be perceived as a criticism of manager Alex Cora. Perhaps realizing that, Kennedy immediately praised Cora and the rest of his coaching staff.
“Can't say enough about the staff, Alex Cora and Andrew Bailey and Jason Varitek and Andy Fox,” he said. “Everybody has kept everybody up. We've had a lot of blows. I mentioned the injuries that can really be debilitating, but there's been kind of a next man up attitude and guys have stepped up, so we turn the calendar here to June and it's time for us to get going.”
The Red Sox return home Thursday night to begin a four-game series against the Detroit Tigers, who are currently one game under .500 at 27-28.