Red Sox Struggling Again

A few years ago my buddy and I were talking about baseball and him being a Cardinals fan talked about Dave Duncan and the wonders he worked as the pitching coach. I couldn't disagree with him, and actually lamented at the job that then Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell was doing. I totally take all of that back now.

The ERA for Red Sox starting pitchers so far this year are- Bard 4.38, Beckett 4.45, Lester 4.62, Doubront 5.19, Buchholz 8.69, and Cook at 20.25. This has to be more than just a coincidence. I could understand 1 or 2 guys having a high ERA at this point in the season. But for the entire staff to be over 4 is completely inexcusable. Considering how poorly the starting pitchers performed at the end of last season, one would think there would be special emphasis on getting off on the right foot this season. So far, this hasn't happened.

Jon Lester is a notorious slow starter, so I guess his poor ERA isn't all that surprising. But for the lowest ERA of a starting pitcher on the team to be 4.38 is just ridiculous. I realize that this is Bob McClure's first year as the Sox pitching coach, but he sure seems to be continuing what Curt Young went through in his one season in the same position last year. I also will fully admit that McClure isn't the one out there serving up meatballs to opposing hitters. But his job is to make sure the staff is well-prepared for competition. I just haven't seen that yet on a consistent basis. Granted it doesn't help that the Sox have only scored 11 runs in the past four games, but Red Sox pitching hasn't given up less than 4 runs in a week.

It would be unfair to place all of the blame on the Red Sox struggling pitching staff. However it's tough to win games when the starting staff has a combined ERA of 7.93 and the bullpen's combined ERA is 5.21. Again, I'm not saying Bob McClure should be the only under fire right now, the entire team is playing poorly. But McClure's methods obviously aren't working, and you can't win many games if your starting pitchers continue to give up almost 8 runs per game.

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