Boston, MA – Is a major shakeup coming to Fenway Park? “We have underperformed, no doubt,” a frustrated Jimy Williams told reporters following a 7-3 loss to the Texas Rangers on Wednesday, “and this has got end. The players, coaches, fans, everyone is extremely frustrated with out performance so far.” Williams is right as a source within the front office confirms that Rick Honeycutt and Al Leiter have showed their frustration by joining Tim Naehring for a trade.
Williams' and the Red Sox haven't been basking in the sun shine of winning
“You watch the games, you know how hard it is for this team to win the starting pitchers can’t keep us competitive,” Williams continued to say as he motioned towards the clubhouse that housed American Leagues 12th worst ERA by starting pitchers. Leiter’s trade demand seems surprising due to the fact that he is one of the main contributors to that poor ERA among starting pitchers. It is also obvious to most analysts in Boston that the starting pitchers is the key reason the Red Sox have fallen to 11 games back in AL East.
The bullpen has continued to shine for the Red Sox and Williams points out that “if it weren’t for the outstanding pitching by our bullpen we would be even worst than we are.” He is also quick to respond to criticism that he doesn’t rely on the bullpen more to alleviate poor starts by saying “I know you guys look at those great ERA’s and think they should pitch more but the fact of the matter is that they are successful because we put them in situations to succeed. Bringing in Yorky [Yorkis Perez], [Tim] Ryan, or Timmy [Davis] when the starter has already given up 5 doesn’t make much sense”
The offense has continued to get on base and hit the ball well, but in an effort to generate more runs the lineup has been shuffled a bit. Burks drops from third to fifth and the bottom of the lineup has been changed to adapt to Cordova’s unfortunate foot injury. To fill his spot in the lineup the Red Sox called up 25 year old Doug Glanville, who hit an outstanding .317/.403/.483, who will hit ninth for the Fenway Nine.
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