Massarotti: Red Sox Need To Start Winning Close Games Regularly
BOSTON (CBS) - The truth, sadly, is that the modern baseball analysts place little emphasis on one- and two-run games. They view them as a crapshoot. They tell us that the better measure of a team's ability comes in overall run differential because five blowout wins demonstrate prowess. But five one-run losses? Well, that can just be bad luck.
Naturally, many of us disagree with this. And to the 2016 Boston Red Sox, we can only say this:
Figure it out.
And fast.
The Red Sox claimed a 3-2 win over the Seattle Mariners in extra-innings Thursday night, avoiding a second consecutive four-game series loss with a dramatic victory. We are all happy about that. But as the Red Sox delve deeper and deeper into this playoff race as we approach the middle of August, maybe we are all being reminded that there is a difference between winning a baseball game and winning baseball, the latter of which is fare, far more difficult.
Since defeating the Minnesota Twins on July 21, the Red Sox have played 14 baseball games. A stunning 12 of them have been decided by one or two runs. (The others were 6-2 and 5-2, which hardly qualify as runaways.) In those 14, the Red Sox are 5-9, which means they were 4-9 before escaping from Seattle with a split.
Make of this what you will: But entering Thursday night, in games decided by one or two runs, the Red Sox were 23-26, a .469 winning percentage that ranked 11th in the American League. The teams nearer the top? Baltimore (first), Texas (second), Detroit (fourth) and Cleveland (fifth). Of course, the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians are also sprinkled into that group, which brings us to the following conclusion.
In 2016, in the American League, you can play well in close games and not be a very good team.
But you can't be a very good team and play poorly in those games, either.
(By the way, the only teams worse than the Red Sox are Minnesota, Tampa Bay, the Los Angeles Angels and Seattle, none of whom are in playoff contention.)
So what are the Red Sox? We're about to find out. The Red Sox seem to pile on teams when they get off to fast starts, which makes them the baseball version of George Foreman – or Clubber Lang. (They're really one in the same.) But when teams can stretch them out a little, make the fight longer and take the Red Sox into the later rounds … well, they suddenly don't look so tough.
And in the major leagues, you can't get away with just being a puncher. You have to box, too.
One other thing: a year ago, when the Red Sox showed so much promise in August and September, there was an enormous asterisk: the games didn't mean anything. Now the Sox are again entering August and September, but the games, for many of them, mean more than they ever have. Mookie Betts has never really experienced this. Neither has Jackie Bradley. Ditto for Travis Shaw, Brock Holt, Steven Wright, Eduardo Rodriguez or Drew Pomeranz. The calendar dwindles. The pressure mounts. The games get tighter.
Fasten your seat belts, Boston. Only 55 regular season games remain in this 2016 baseball season.
And since it's been a while, we're all about to remember what it's like to be in a pennant race.
