I Watch the Red Sox So You Don't Have To | April 25th - April 28th @ Blue Jays

April 25th: Red Sox - 2, Blue Jays - 6

Alex Cora has a knack for pulling the right strings at the right time and piecing together wins. Will Venables has a knack for pulling the wrong strings and the wrong time and piecing together losses. It happened on Sunday against Tampa, when he brought in Phillips Valdez and Ryan Brasier ahead of Tanner Houck, and it happened again today when he made the move to bring in Tyler Danish instead of one of the other arms he had at his disposal. Look, in hindsight, it's easy to see he should have done something else. He said they didn't plan to go to Hansel Robles unless they had a lead, and they were trying to induce a double play off the back of Danish's sinker. Who knows if they keep the game tied and can get another run across if they make other moves; it's impossible to say what happens. It is, however, easy to wonder how things would have gone if Alex Cora was at the helm. For the sake of my personal sanity, I'll choose to believe we win one, if not both of the past two games.

This game absolutely flew by. The Blue Jays did their best Red Sox impression and swung at everything and anything. The Red Sox were the Red Sox and made quick work of themselves consistently. The entire game was over in two hours and sixteen minutes; baseball would be a lot more popular if that was always the case.

Nathan Eovaldi was much better today, getting through seven innings on just 72 pitches. None of his individual pitches jumped out as dominant today, but the mix together worked nicely. The fastball averaged 97.1 mph, above his season average, the slider and curveball each generated three whiffs. He did give up a few more home runs, but I'm still willing to write those off as a fluke. Nate should be just fine going forward and can hopefully anchor the rotation.

I don't even know what to say about the lineup at this point. It just hasn't been good. Someone needs to preach patience at the plate, getting a pitch they want, and driving it. Until then, teams will keep pounding the strike zone and getting weak contact. It's not a problem if an elite pitcher is challenging them with fastballs in the zone, it is a problem if they're letting someone nibble on the edges and giving up easy outs for nine straight innings.

Oh, and Tyler Danish gave up a grand slam to Bo Bichette in the eighth inning, immediately after the Red Sox had tied the game. I don't want to harp on Venables too much, but why it made sense to bring in a career journeyman to face the heart of the Blue Jays order is beyond me. Tough way to lose that game.

Positives: It was a very fast loss.

Negatives: Still only scored two runs. Danish was stale.

April 26th: Red Sox - 5, Blue Jays - 6

Y'all see that Celtics game on Monday night? That was pretty sick, right? Swept the Nets, on to the Eastern Conference semifinals. Truly the only sporting event with a Boston team that mattered this week.

Part of me actually wishes the Celtics had lost on Monday, so they had more games this week and I didn't have to torture myself watching Red Sox baseball. Remember when I said Will Venables knows how to pull all the wrong strings? I realized on Tuesday night that his guitar or banjo or whatever he's playing is actually missing a string. Listen, a lot of the blame goes to Jake Diekman for allowing two doubles and a home run, there's no way around that. He's supposed to be a high leverage guy out of the pen who can get big outs and he quite frankly didn't do that. I don't think Diekman was the wrong decision either, but only because of the ammo Venables had. If Tanner Houck was vaccinated, he starts on Thursday and Garrett Whitlock is available to close this game. I like to talk about my favorite team in a light, entertaining way, but I truly hope Houck feels bad about this loss. It was his "personal choice" to skip an entire series, after all.

The offense came through for five runs today. For a team that has frustrated me to the brink of insanity over the past couple of days, I weirdly have confidence that the offense will put it together. Kevin Gausman is nasty, and they still managed to put together some good at-bats against him. That splitter is seriously unfair, especially when you can get ahead in the count as he does. Christian Arroyo in particular had a ten-pitch at-bat where he fouled off good pitches before finally hitting a fly ball to the warning track. It wasn't a home run and it didn't help score any runs, but it's all about the process. The season is 162 games long, eventually, the ball will fall the right way.

For now, the Red Sox are in a skid, and something needs to get them out of it. I'm hoping Alex Cora's return to the bench is the kick in the ass they need to right the ship and start climbing their way back towards the top of the standings. I've said it 100 times already, the regular season is going to be a war, especially in the AL East. Every win counts.

Positives: Pivetta's velocity came back up. It wasn't the best start, but he battled and did what he could.

Negatives: Another blown lead.

April 27th: Red Sox - 7, Blue Jays - 1

Alex Cora is a wizard. No two ways around it, he has access to some sort of sorcery to win baseball games. It's probably because of the past few games, but this felt a lot closer than the scoreline showed. If Will Venables was still the acting manager and put John Schreiber in the game in the eighth inning to face Vladimir Guerrero Jr; Schreiber likely never records an out, gets sent down to the minor leagues, never sees the majors again, and is selling insurance within a year. I don't understand how Cora does it, so like other things I don't understand, I'll assume it's magic. Wifi? Magic. Airplanes? Magic. How people successfully use chopsticks? Magic.

Michael Wacha is also magic. He has been absolutely lights out so far this season. It was mostly fastball, changeup, and curveball today for Wacha, but it was all about the changeup. Eight swings and misses on 26 pitches is an excellent performance. He also got through the lineup two and a half times for the first time this season, a huge step for him. If Wacha can consistently get through five-plus innings, it will take a lot of stress off the bullpen and make holding leads that much easier.

Speaking of the bullpen, Alex Cora did more Alex Cora things by putting Jake Diekman back in the game after he imploded last night. Diekman had some control issues but didn't allow any runs and kept the lead where it was. Hirokazu Sawamura came in for a huge out, and he did it while rocking a badass ponytail that needs to stay for the entire season. Cora probably gave him that fashion advice too. Is hair considered "fashion"? Who knows?

Overall, the approach from the lineup was better today, drawing two walks and collecting thirteen hits. The swings were more controlled, nobody was trying to hit a grand slam with the bases empty. Hopefully, the bats will be able to put together more hits tomorrow behind Garrett Whitlock and split the series with the Jays.

Positives: Alex Cora is back. Losing streak snapped. Winning streak starts today.

Negatives: J.D. left with an injury again. Hopefully, that isn't lingering all season

April 28th: Red Sox - 0, Blue Jays - 1

"Buzzard's luck" is how Dennis Eckersley described this one. I don't know how someone can generalize the luck of a species of bird, but I'm inclined to agree with Eck here. A one-nothing loss is incredibly painful, especially when the one run is unearned, but I'll try to remain positive and look at the bright side.

The bullpen was once again, surprisingly good. Garrett Whitlock only made it through three innings; he spent the day grinding through at-bats and putting out fires. As I mentioned, the only run he surrendered was unearned after Christian Arroyo booted a ground ball, and then that little meatball Alejandro Kirk singled in a run on a slider that was outside the zone. The bullpen combined to get through the next five innings without giving up a run and only giving up a few base runners. Hansel Robels strikeout to end the 8th inning was particularly nasty, getting Santiago Espinal to punch out on a fastball up in the zone. The pieces are there to manufacture wins, the offense just needs to do its job.

Speaking of the offense, they didn't score a single run today. That doesn't mean everything was negative. Alex Verdugo and Kiké Hernandez each battled through ten pitch at-bats against Alek Manoah, who's been an absolute stud this season. Christian Vazquez hit a ball to the warning track - leaping catch. Arroyo hit a ball on the screws with a chance to tie the game - right at the shortstop. Bobby Dalbec just plain stinks though. Nothing positive to say about him. If the Red Sox were birds, they'd be buzzards. Except for Rafael Devers, he's a penguin or some other adorable bird.

Nothing else to say about that very frustrating loss. Plenty of season left to play. It's all about the process, and there are reasons to believe the tides will turn for this club. On to Baltimore.

Positives: On to Baltimore.

Negatives: We didn't score any runs. You need those to win games.

What's Next?

It's the Orioles. No write-up for this series, I'll be away and likely not watching the games. But for the love of god just sweep the Orioles and salvage this road trip. I'm begging you.