I Watch the Red Sox So You Don't Have To | April 15th - April 18th vs. Twins

April 15th: Red Sox - 4, Twins - 8

Not a lot of positives to take away from this one. It started out bad when Alex Verdugo misplayed a fly ball, leading to a first inning run. It only got worse as Nick Pivetta couldn't find the strike zone at all, walking two men and lasting just two innings. For those of you keeping tabs on the schedule, this is the first game of seventeen days straight with games. It's fine though, no need to keep the bullpen well rested in the middle of a crazy schedule. Phillips Valdez, Ryan Brasier, and Austin Davis all worked clean innings, but Hirokazu Sawamura and Matt Barnes got into trouble, allowing four runs between the two of them. Davis was the biggest positive in this game for me, who looked MUCH better than his previous outing. The fastball in particular was much improved and is something to build on.

The bats were once again quiet for most of the game and the first inning was a disaster in particular, two strikeouts on just nine pitches, somebody has to jump on something eventually. Joe Ryan was spectacular, working efficiently and pounding the strike zone to get outs. 48% CSW on his slider is insane, not to mention six whiffs on his fastball. While Ryan was fantastic, outside of Rafael Devers the top of the lineup really didn't do anything today. I mean they struck out 13 times and didn't take a single walk. I'll keep saying it until it changes, but they really need to change the approach and start seeing some pitches, especially at the beginning of series. Xander Bogaerts has been in a rut since opening day when he went 3 for 5. J.D. Martinez struck out three times today, and the rest of the lineup wasn't much better. Hopefully the bats can get going at some point this series and inject some energy into Fenway, they'll need it to keep up with the likes of the Blue Jays and the Yankees.

Positives: Austin Davis looked good in a very low leverage spot, if that counts.

Negatives: Just about everything else.

April 16th: Red Sox - 4 , Twins - 0

I'll start out by saying while this was a great win with a stellar performance from the pitching staff, I think the Sox got a little lucky with Sonny Gray exiting the game in the second inning. The offense still hasn't totally clicked, but it got the job done today.

I loved what I saw from Tanner Houck today. It wasn't a complete performance and there were control issues at time, but he went to his secondaries more often and found success, getting through almost a full six innings. Looking back one start, he threw the slider and sinker 36% of the time vs. 14% in his first appearance this season. If Houck can develop another out pitch, it will go a long way in getting him deeper in games and take some stress off the bullpen.

Speaking of the bullpen, I missed the Matt Strahm inning due to dinner with my grandma (more on that later), but I did see a clip of him showing emotion after striking out Carlos Correa. I don't know that I expected it from Strahm, but I love seeing a reliever come in fired up and inject some energy into the team. Garrett Whitlock remains a machine, mowing down batters at a crazy efficient rate. He's firmly cemented himself as the number one option out of the pen in my opinion, although his current role leaves him unavailable for many games. Come playoff time, I wouldn't be surprised to see him start a game and go five innings. He's that dude.

The offense didn't get too much going today, but Alex Verdugo is seeing the ball great right now. He absolutely smoked a home run into center field, his third of the season. Bogaerts also got a hold of one and put it on the monster. Hopefully that can get him going and put some life into the offense. Trevor Story also squared one up for the first time in his short Red Sox career. He's swinging and missing too often, but I'm sure he'll find his timing after a very short spring training. They really only needed one run to get the job done today, but I'm still disappointed in the number of pitches they're seeing. I'd like to see them get deeper into counts and force teams to go deeper into the bullpen in the third and fourth games of series. Limiting the number of high leverage innings by blowing some teams out would also be good for the bullpen, and my heart.

Overall, it was a solid team win, featuring a shutout from the pitching staff and a chicken parm with Grandma. I'm fairly sure she thought the Twins were in yellow and the Sox were in blue, but I didn't bother to clarify.

Positives: Shutout. Tanner Houck showed more faith in the secondaries. Yellow jerseys are hot.

Negatives: I guess the lineup didn't do a ton. Can't complain about a shutout win too much though.

April 17th: Red Sox - 8 , Twins - 1

Great win on Sunday afternoon to get over .500 and into second place in the division. The race for the AL East is going to be a war, but no team has really established themselves as a runaway favorite yet, although most expect the Blue Jays to pull away at some point. Personally, I think they're overrated but I'm also biased.

I didn't see too much of Michael Wacha's start due to Easter festivities, but I like to see that he threw his changeup 30% of the time. Based on his stat line today and still getting pulled in the fifth, they probably won't be letting him go through the lineup more than twice any time soon this season. He can eat some innings and keep offenses quiet, but he won't be carrying the rotation. That's fine though, he wasn't brought in to be an ace, he's filled role well thus far.

The offense came through with some situational hitting in the sixth, followed by an explosion in the eighth. I've said it one hundred times by now and it's only the second week of the season, but they still need to see more pitches. Maybe they know Bailey Ober isn't going through the lineup too many times regardless, but against a better pitcher they've got to work counts and get starters out of the game. Xander Bogaerts was the offensive standout with a three for four game that hopefully gets him off the snide and injects some life into the offense. Trevor Story also seems to have dialed in with a one for four day where the hit, ironically, came on his softest hit ball of the day.

Not much to say about the bullpen here either, Strahm pitched for the second day in a row, they're leaning on him often so far. Braiser got himself into some trouble but worked through it nicely, Jake Diekman appears to be the high leverage guy out of the pen outside of Whitlock when he's available, and Austin Davis looked solid, albeit in a very low leverage situation again. Another solid win, go out tomorrow on Marathon Monday, get another win and all of a sudden that's a streak.

Positives: Stress free W.

Negatives: Still not working counts, hard to complain about the offense in a nine run game.

April 18th: Red Sox - 8 , Twins - 3

My first game back at Fenway this season wasn't the best outcome, but it was a nearly perfect day to watch some baseball and cheer for some marathon runners. Shoutout to everyone who ran the Boston Marathon, you picked a great time to not watch Red Sox baseball. Before I jump in, enjoy this photo of the lovely area outside Fenway. When I win the lottery, I'll be opening up a sausage stand right about here, be sure to come say hi and grab a very reasonable priced sausage.

Much like many peoples' personal bests for a marathon on Monday, I am a broken record. Why on earth do the Red Sox swing at everything? Dylan Bundy, who is not good, got through close to six innings on just 71 pitches. The timely hitting wasn't there today and that probably contributes to my rage, but I just want somebody to work a ten pitch at-bat.

Okay, looking at it closer, the Sox had ten "hard hit balls" against Bundy, so maybe they just got BABIP'd to death today and it's nothing to worry about. They're still striking out more than I'd like, and Travis Shaw has got to go. Give me Triston Casas as soon as "he's ready" (read: they're done manipulating his service time), he's the future anyways.

Rich Hill didn't have it today, which isn't the end of the world. It's hard to expect consistent great outings from a 42 year old, anything they get out of him is a bonus. Kutter Crawford was the real issue today; I have high hopes for the kid but he's got to reign in the control if he wants to contribute at the major league level. I wouldn't be surprised to see him take some time in Worcester when Josh Taylor is available off the IL. I was 600 away feet in the center field bleachers getting a nice burn on my forehead so it's tough to say for sure, but I felt like Crawford was around the zone, he just wasn't getting the swings and misses to negate that many pitches outside the strike zone.

Not too much more to say about that one. The Sox came back late and got some traffic on the bases but it was too little too late regardless. The new "Truly Terrace" area looks great and the "521 Overlook" standing room looks like a great place to watch a game, although it's very far away. I did not try any of the new concessions, and I did not win the 50/50 raffle.

Positives: Hitting the ball hard.

Negatives: Not hitting the ball hard to the right places.

What's Next?

A three game set with Toronto. Finally some night time baseball at Fenway after what felt like ten day games in a row. Time to see where we stack up against the divisions' "best" team.