The Baseball Reporters Show Recap 7/19
Tony Massarotti discusses the good news and the bad news about the Red Sox 10 game west coast road trip. Also, he gives the Stat of the Day which should be troubling for Red Sox fans as they brace for these next few series away from Fenway.
Tony was worried about the Red Sox schedule following the All-Star break weeks ago. After losing 3 of 4 to the Texas Rangers at home this past weekend, the Sox are now on the road for 10 games on the west coast starting tonight with the Oakland Athletics. Tony gives the good news and the bad news.
Tony on the road trip, "The good news about this road trip is that the Red Sox play a 4 game series with the Mariners beginning on Thursday night in Seattle. During that series, they will face all but 1 Seattle starter, or at least based on how the Mariners rotation is arranged right now. The one guy they will miss? Felix Hernandez. Talk about that for a stroke of good fortune. Now I'm going to give you the bad news. At this rate, the trading deadline isn't going to matter. The Red Sox are 7 out in the loss column in the division and 4 out in the wildcard. Over the next 10 days, Tampa Bay and New York will each face 1 legitimate opponent. The Yankees get the Angels at the beginning of this week. Tampa gets Detroit at the beginning of next week. The Red Sox are going to be on the road the whole time so it's going to be tough to make up ground."
Tony thinks the Red Sox are using the injury situation as a cop out to not acquire any players before the trade deadline. In the Red Sox defense, Tony goes on to say that the payroll this year is at an all-time high.
Lastly, Tony Mazz gave out the Stat of the Day. It has to do with the Red Sox record on west coast road trips and it is certainly worrysome to this team as they prepare to play 10 games in 10 days on the west coast.
Tony's Stat of the Day, "This is part of the reason why I'm pessimistic about the Red Sox on this road trip. Against American League teams, so your conventional west coast trip, the Red Sox have not had a winning record on the road against American League West teams since 2004. They went 8-7 in that year. So tell me, given that history on the west coast, are you really that optimistic?"
