Abraham On Toucher & Rich: Red Sox Back On Track And Trending Upward
BOSTON (CBS) - Despite nearly getting no-hit Friday night in Texas by Yu Darvish, the Red Sox still managed to take two out of three from the Rangers -- the team's third straight series in a row they've won.
It's also the fourth series out of five the Sox have taken, and Sunday's 5-2 win after a strong start from John Lackey moved the team to above .500 at 19-18.
Things are looking up for the Red Sox right about now, and The Boston Globe's Peter Abraham joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich show Monday morning to weigh in.
"The [Red Sox] are two games out of first place in the A.L. East and a lot of things are going right for them right now. By having [Will] Middlebrooks and [Shane] Victorino back the offense has been pretty solid.
"They're one of three teams in the league that have only used five starters. Even though there have been issues with [Clay] Buchholz and [Felix] Doubront, just the fact they've been able to keep a healthy group together has helped their bullpen and helped their rotation.
"They're trending upwards right now in a division that has a lot of problems," said Abraham.
Credit first baseman Mike Napoli as well, says Abraham, for turning things around, who has now reached base in 31 straight games. He's still striking out a lot, but he's limited them to the point where he's now getting walked more.
Abraham thinks "the-sky-is-falling" rhetoric surrounding the Red Sox in April was premature, and the lack of heavy hitters in the division is a reason why they're still in this thing.
"As the Red Sox were going through their growing pains in April it wasn't like there was a Red Sox of last year, a team that started 18-8, was really good and kind of jumped out ahead of everybody.
"They've been fortunate in that sense because when they looked up and straightened things out they're only two games out. It's not like they had some giant hill they had to climb -- they've been in contention the whole time," said Abraham.
Listen below for the full discussion, including Pedroia in the leadoff spot and much more:
Abraham: Red Sox Back On Track And Trending Upward
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