Things have turned in a hurry.
Up until the late hours of the evening Saturday, the planning was in place for the Yankees Elimination Party (copyright, Eddie Andelman) with the second-wind Red Sox ready to take on all comers atop the American League.
Flash forward to late Sunday night, about 26 hours later.
"I think we need to continue to play hard like we are in first place," said Christian Vazquez after the Red Sox' 9-1 loss to the Yankees Sunday night. "We need to act more like we’re in first place. That’s the key for us. We need to be more cocky, like we’re in a good place. And we’re not acting like that. That’s what I see right now."
That was quick.
The optimism that was blanketing the Red Sox thanks to Friday night's win at Yankee Stadium, the call-up of Jarren Duran and what was thought to be the logical maneuver of introducing Christian Arroyo to first base had left the building.
In its place was the reality that the Red Sox sit just 1/2 game in front of the Rays having lost their last three series while living with a 2-6 record since that first game in Anaheim.
There was more.
The cliff that the Red Sox were hoping Martin Perez could avoid has made an appearance, with the lefty once again failing to reach the fifth inning. This time the outing came in the form of four innings, making five starts since June 8 where he hasn't managed five frames. And, making matters worse, was the fact this downturn came against perhaps one of the weakest lineups ever carted out by the Yankees.
With the presence of Tanner Houck -- who starts Wednesday in Buffalo -- and Chris Sale's impending return, the idea that the Red Sox would be leaning on this version of Perez in the starting rotation down the stretch seems tenuous.
Time is running out. Decisions have to be made. Optimism will only go so far.
"I think we’re OK," Perez said. When we started the season, we lost three games and then after that we won nine in a row. We’re OK. We’re going to get together again. I think we’re OK. We’re good. We’re one of the best teams in the big leagues."
Maybe. But this was the latest reminder that this is still a fixer-upper-type situation. As we said before, the Red Sox are a flawed team that has managed to navigate a palatable path.
But the images emanating from Yankee Stadium Sunday allowed for a bit louder alarm than most nights. The Perez outing. The continued lack of hitting (they have scored more than four runs just twice in the last 10 games). And now they have potentially one of the most demoralizing injuries of the season, the strained hamstring suffered by Arroyo while trying to play his new position.
— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) July 19, 2021
"It's frustrating, because it seems like he's in a groove, swinging the bat well, and then this happens," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora of Arroyo's injury. "We don't like our guys to get hurt. This is one of the things too, and (head trainer) Brad (Pearson) always talks about it, it's not only in his case, when you're not playing that much and all of a sudden you start playing a lot and you start getting on base at a high rate and you're running the bases more than usual, stuff like this happens. We try to avoid it, we put them in running programs when they're not playing every day just to avoid stuff like this. But it's too bad that it happens.
"We'll keep working. We'll keep trying to improve. That's something that actually makes a lot of sense. You go from not playing to all of a sudden playing 10 days in a row or eight out of 10 and your body's not used to it. I'm not saying this is the case for Christian, but overall, that's one of the things we've been studying, and talking about it, and we'll try to get it right, I guess. That's what I'm trying to say. Hopefully we'll keep working and keep getting better."
Getting better ... It is suddenly a priority that is slapping the Red Sox perhaps more than any other time this season.
