Someone smarter than myself once said there is one set of numbers that matters in baseball. 54 - 54 - 54. No this isn't going to be a rant like Jim Carey’s movie 27. Just bare with me for a few moments. The set of three 54’s and how they fit into an MLB season is a simple one. No need to get out your Casio or Texas instruments calculators. Everyone Wins 54 games, everyone loses 54 games. It's what you do with the other 54 games that determines your season. Welp seems like the Sox are willing to flip a coin on those other 54 games. But let's digress. Last season the Sox finished in last place in the AL East . 54 wins 54 losses but only won 24 of the coveted other 54 games finishing (78 - 84). How much fun was that boys and girls ? yea so much i lost 23 lbs. over the season and it wasn't due to my heavy workout schedule.
Right now as of this key stroke the Red Sox rank 5th in all of MLB in team hitting. They place 25th in team pitching, god how pathetic. But here’s the team punch in the gut: The Red Sox sit 26th in MLB in defensive runs saved. Why? Because they are stupid. Out of the 30 teams in MLB only the San Francisco Giants have committed more errors (45) than the Red Sox (39) to quote the great Dean Vernon Wormer
“ Fat Drunk and Stupid is no way to go through life son.”
The one thing you have control over in baseball is your defense. That's it. Well defense and hustle so two things. And unless your name is Manny Ramirez you can't get away with not hitting all three. Not in my world anyway. Those 39 errors I spoke about above don't even include bone headed little league home runs like we all witnessed yesterday against the Rays. Alex Cora spoke to reporters after the game about it.
54-54 and 54 . The Sox are 59 games into this season and sit in last place in the division. One game above .500 after dropping two of the first three games of this four game set to the division leading Rays. The Sox need to win today. They need to get baseball sober and need to shed some fat if they want to give themselves a chance at the back end of the 54’s in 2023.
As always you can follow / give me grief on Twitter @Tmurph207