For the first time this season, it's the Bloody Boston Red Sox.
They're probably feeling pretty good about themselves. They just wrapped up a homestand during which they took two of three from the best team in the National League (that's Philadelphia, for those of you who don't follow the Senior Circuit.) Even better, they then took two of three from the best team in all of baseball this season, their ancient foes from New York.
The Red Sox beat the Yankees 9-3 last night, and in the course of this beatdown, they stole nine bases, which is the most bases stolen by a Red Sox team since humans first crawled out of the primordial ooze, or whatever it was we did back in the day. (My memory fails me sometimes.) Jose Trevino was the unfortunate Yankees catcher, and Trevino had actually been doing a pretty decent job of catching enemy base stealers until last night. Unluckily for him, Marcus Stroman seems to have lost all interest in holding base runners. Six of the bases were stolen during Stroman's stint on the mound, which means enemy base runners are now 12 for 13 trying to steal when he's pitching. Last year, when he was a Cub, they went 17 for 18. Stroman used to be pretty good at holding runners. I wonder what happened. Maybe he's been away from Mark Buehrle too long.
Well, let's make some Data Tables! Everybody loves a small sample, so here's a small sample. It's the Blue Jays hitters during the month of June, a 15 game fragment representing less than 10% of the entire season.
Among other things, we see why it's challenging to put together a lineup sometimes. The five coldest hitters lately are the two catchers and three of the outfielders. As cold as they are, some of these guys still have to play, like it or not - as Casey Stengel once observed, if you don't have a catcher you have a lot of passed balls. And while Daulton Varsho is really good, he can't cover the entire outfield all by himself. So all you can do is hope that Springer isn't toast, and wait for Schneider to heat up again (Davis Schneider is the new Lourdes Gurriel, either as hot as the surface of the sun or as frigid as my cold, cold heart. Discuss.)
Well, in the interest of completeness, what have the pitchers been up to this month?
Well. I have long believed (and have often pronounced) that useful relief pitchers grow on trees. It's time for Ross Atkins to shake a few trees and see what falls out. He's done it before, and he needs to do it again. As we go to virtual press, it is not yet clear whether Yimi Garcia needs a few days off, a stint on the IL, or a date with a surgeon. But even if he's fine, Chad Green and Trevor Richards will still need all the help there is.
Matchups
Mon 17 June - Pivetta (3-4, 3.88) vs Kikuchi (4-5, 3.26)
Tue 18 June - Houck (7-5, 2.08) vs Bassitt (6-6, 3.56)
Wed 19 June - Bello (6-4, 5.00) vs Gausman (5-5, 4.08)
They're probably feeling pretty good about themselves. They just wrapped up a homestand during which they took two of three from the best team in the National League (that's Philadelphia, for those of you who don't follow the Senior Circuit.) Even better, they then took two of three from the best team in all of baseball this season, their ancient foes from New York.
The Red Sox beat the Yankees 9-3 last night, and in the course of this beatdown, they stole nine bases, which is the most bases stolen by a Red Sox team since humans first crawled out of the primordial ooze, or whatever it was we did back in the day. (My memory fails me sometimes.) Jose Trevino was the unfortunate Yankees catcher, and Trevino had actually been doing a pretty decent job of catching enemy base stealers until last night. Unluckily for him, Marcus Stroman seems to have lost all interest in holding base runners. Six of the bases were stolen during Stroman's stint on the mound, which means enemy base runners are now 12 for 13 trying to steal when he's pitching. Last year, when he was a Cub, they went 17 for 18. Stroman used to be pretty good at holding runners. I wonder what happened. Maybe he's been away from Mark Buehrle too long.
Well, let's make some Data Tables! Everybody loves a small sample, so here's a small sample. It's the Blue Jays hitters during the month of June, a 15 game fragment representing less than 10% of the entire season.
Split G GS PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BAVG OBP SLG OPS GDP HBP BAbip
Clement 12 5 21 20 5 8 4 0 1 4 1 0 1 1 .400 .429 .750 1.179 0 0 .389
Barger 2 2 8 7 1 3 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 2 .429 .500 .429 .929 0 0 .600
Varsho 15 14 51 47 9 13 5 2 1 5 2 1 3 12 .277 .333 .532 .865 1 1 .353
Horwitz 8 7 31 27 3 9 1 0 0 3 0 0 4 5 .333 .419 .370 .790 0 0 .409
Guerrero 15 14 60 55 7 15 2 0 2 5 1 0 5 9 .273 .333 .418 .752 1 0 .296
Turner 11 9 39 34 4 9 2 0 0 1 0 0 4 7 .265 .359 .324 .683 3 1 .333
Kiner-Falefa 15 15 55 51 2 14 1 0 0 10 0 1 2 6 .275 .302 .294 .596 2 0 .311
Bichette 13 13 52 49 3 10 4 0 0 3 0 0 3 10 .204 .250 .286 .536 1 0 .256
Kirk 8 6 23 18 1 2 0 0 1 3 0 0 2 3 .111 .217 .278 .495 0 1 .063
Schneider 15 12 53 48 5 8 1 0 1 4 0 0 4 11 .167 .226 .250 .476 0 0 .189
Jansen 11 9 42 35 3 5 2 0 0 3 0 0 5 3 .143 .262 .200 .462 0 1 .152
Springer 14 14 53 48 7 7 0 0 1 3 1 0 5 11 .146 .226 .208 .435 3 0 .167
Kiermaier 12 7 20 19 1 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 8 .105 .105 .263 .369 0 0 .100
Among other things, we see why it's challenging to put together a lineup sometimes. The five coldest hitters lately are the two catchers and three of the outfielders. As cold as they are, some of these guys still have to play, like it or not - as Casey Stengel once observed, if you don't have a catcher you have a lot of passed balls. And while Daulton Varsho is really good, he can't cover the entire outfield all by himself. So all you can do is hope that Springer isn't toast, and wait for Schneider to heat up again (Davis Schneider is the new Lourdes Gurriel, either as hot as the surface of the sun or as frigid as my cold, cold heart. Discuss.)
So let's talk about Bo.
I am hopeful that these last few days off nursing his sore calf will allow Bichette a chance to reset and remember just who he is and how he succeeds. He's Bo Bichette. He's not a thinking man's hitter. He's not a guy who goes up to the plate with a plan. He's a hacker and a battler. Those basic skills are still there. He remains one of the team's best hitters when he's behind in the count, or when he has two strikes against him. In those situations, a hitter doesn't have the luxury of a plan - all he can do is battle. Bichette is struggling this year when he's ahead in the count, and that makes me think his problem is in his approach. It's as if in those situations he's thinking that now he's certain to get something worth swinging at and in that case he had better swing at it. Which isn't working very well for him. It was the great philosopher Yogi Berra who once asked "How can I think and hit at the same time?" I think Bichette is one of the same tribe. So stop thinking, Bo. It's not who you are, and it only hurts the ball club. See ball, hit ball. That's who you are, that's what you have to do.
You may recall that the worst stretch of Bichette's career (before this current season) came back in July and August 2022. You may recall that he came out of it and had one of the hottest stretches of his career. He even said at the time that he had to learn to embrace who he was, to acknowledge that he wasn't a guy who worked the count and looked for a pitch. It would be nice if he was, and self-improvement is always a worthy goal, but a man's got to know his limitations.
Well, in the interest of completeness, what have the pitchers been up to this month?
Split W L ERA G GS SV IP H R ER HR BB SO BF WHIP
Bassitt 1 0 2.00 3 3 0 18 17 4 4 0 7 19 80 1.33
Francis 1 0 3.18 3 1 0 11.1 12 4 4 2 1 7 47 1.15
Kikuchi 2 1 3.31 3 3 0 16.1 16 7 6 2 6 15 69 1.35
Gausman 1 2 3.92 3 3 0 20.2 19 9 9 4 2 19 82 1.02
Berrios 1 1 4.58 3 3 0 17.2 19 9 9 4 4 7 73 1.30
Green 0 1 1.59 6 0 0 5.2 2 1 1 1 2 5 20 0.71
Richards 0 0 2.35 6 2 0 7.2 4 2 2 0 2 8 29 0.78
Little 0 0 2.45 6 0 0 7.1 7 2 2 1 1 5 29 1.09
Pearson 0 0 4.26 7 0 1 6.1 6 3 3 2 2 9 27 1.26
Cabrera 0 1 6.23 4 0 1 4.1 2 4 3 0 1 1 15 0.69
Garcia 2 0 7.50 6 0 3 6 7 5 5 2 0 11 26 1.17
Mayza 0 0 7.71 4 0 0 2.1 5 2 2 1 1 1 13 2.57
Pop 0 1 9.00 8 0 0 6 4 6 6 1 4 5 25 1.33
Well. I have long believed (and have often pronounced) that useful relief pitchers grow on trees. It's time for Ross Atkins to shake a few trees and see what falls out. He's done it before, and he needs to do it again. As we go to virtual press, it is not yet clear whether Yimi Garcia needs a few days off, a stint on the IL, or a date with a surgeon. But even if he's fine, Chad Green and Trevor Richards will still need all the help there is.
Matchups
Mon 17 June - Pivetta (3-4, 3.88) vs Kikuchi (4-5, 3.26)
Tue 18 June - Houck (7-5, 2.08) vs Bassitt (6-6, 3.56)
Wed 19 June - Bello (6-4, 5.00) vs Gausman (5-5, 4.08)
