The weekly article series where we examine the two players who deserve to strut their stuff for the Boston Red Sox. This week — Hanley Ramirez and Rick Porcello.
Now to fully understand what the Red Sox Strut is, it means to have reason to walk with a confident, proud air around you. Some people mistake it for vanity, arrogance, or being pompous. This incorrect assumption is not what we mean. The Strut is about knowing that your deeds showed off your amazing skills to the baseball-loving public.
The Red Sox entered September in the midst of a full-fledged pennant race, but had another up-and-down week. They went 4-3 in the last seven games behind some shaky pitching performances and some hit-or-miss offense. They did manage to score 44 runs total which is 6.3 runs per game, but when you consider that they scored 27 of those runs in just two games while beating up on the horrible Oakland A’s, you get a better idea of the Jekyll and Hyde offense that is getting very frustrating to watch for Red Sox fans.
They’ll need to be better with a huge series in Toronto against the first place Blue Jays on the horizon. But first, let’s take a look at two of the best performers of the last week for Boston.
OFFENSE: Hanley Ramirez
The Red Sox have had issues getting runs on the board against the Rays, and it was more of the same on Tuesday. They only managed three in a loss, but managed to get an 8-6 victory on Wednesday. After the off day, they went to the west coast and put the hurt on Oakland for two games before a huge let-down in the final game of the series in which they were shut out. They didn’t exactly get back on track in San Diego on Labor Day either when they managed just one run.
This is not the offense that we’ve seen earlier this season. Jackie Bradley Jr., Xander Bogaerts, and Travis Shaw have all started to struggle a bit, or have at least plateaued as we enter the final month of the season. We all know that David Ortiz and Mookie Betts have done their best to carry the team as of late.
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There are a couple other performers who made an impact last week. Dustin Pedroia has done a great job at the lead-off spot and has embraced setting the table for the big guns of the Sox lineup. He went 12-for-30 which is an average of .400. He didn’t have any RBI, but did score five runs. Pedroia doesn’t look to be slowing down, is completely healthy and is looking to lead this team to the playoffs.
There was one player that made an even bigger impact than the Laser Show last week though. That is of course the man known simply as Hanley. He had one less at-bat than Pedey and had eleven hits, meaning that his average was .379. He had a hit in all but one game, but that’s not the only thing that gives Hanley the nod to Strut this week.
Ramirez also drove in eleven runs and clobbered three homeruns, including a huge grand slam in the victory over the Rays on Wednesday. That grand slam gave the Sox the lead at the time and lifted them out of the gutter in order to get some momentum before heading out on the road (extra Strut points for this wicked bat flip too!).
His defense has been more than adequate over the course of the whole season, and he made some big plays last week in the field. With Pablo Sandoval out of the picture, Hanley has been a model player both on the field and in the clubhouse. This week, he gets to Strut for the second time this season.
PITCHER: Rick Porcello
Aug 22, 2016; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello (22) looks on from the dugout during the fifth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
It wasn’t a great week for Red Sox pitching. In his second start since his DL stint, Steven Wright left after four innings after letting up four runs on seven hits against Tampa Bay. The news got worse just days later when Wright discussed his continued shoulder discomfort with the media. He will now get a second opinion with a specialist in California according to the Boston Herald’s Evan Drellich. There is speculation that Wright could be done for the year which would be a shame. It looks like Clay Buchholz will get yet another chance to prove he can get it done as a starter.
Drew Pomeranz has been much better as of late. He had two starts in the last week and looked fairly solid in each, but he’s not exactly blowing the doors off the place. He still can’t manage to pitch much more than five or six innings which is difficult on a team that has such a weak bullpen. Still, Pomeranz is an important addition to this rotation for the stretch run.
In an absolute heartbreaker of a game, the Red Sox lost 1-0 to Oakland on Sunday after Craig Kimbrel blew yet another game. The real shame was that Eduardo Rodriguez pitched incredibly well – so well that he came very close to Strutting this week despite the team losing. He took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and added five strikeouts.
It goes without saying that no one in the bullpen deserves the honors to Strut this week with the aforementioned Kimbrel struggling at time, and then Matt Barnes, Clay Buchholz, and Fernando Abad all having their own issues at times. Buchholz of course also got a chance to start in place of the injured Wright and took advantage of the opportunity giving up just one run in 6.2 innings.
An eye should also be kept on Joe Kelly. He has been given a few opportunities to take control of a role in the pen, but it looks like he may have finally figured something out last week. He gave Boston two scoreless inning on different occasions and had a total of four strikeouts.
So, the Strut came down to the two best starters on the team again – David Price and Rick Porcello. Each had very solid outings in Oakland. In fact both went seven innings, gave up four hits and two runs. Price had seven strikeouts to Porcello’s two. But Price also walked three batters. Porcello’s strikeout-to-walk ration has been incredible this season. That fact compiled with his nineteenth win, his reliability all season, and the way he goes about his work on the mound gives him the rights to Strut once again this week.
Porcello has been a model of consistency all season. I liken him to the Dustin Pedroia of the pitching staff. He continues to get the job done and could have his number called should Boston need to win one game in wildcard scenario.
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