Boston Red Sox

For Red Sox fans, there weren’t too many things to cheer about in the month of April.

The team got off to a horrendous start, plagued by a surprising lack of pitching and a not so surprising lack of offensive punch.

David Ortiz is once again showing himself to be “Big Pop-up” as opposed to “Big Papi,” and the offseason acquisitions of Marco Scutaro, Adrian Beltre, and Mike Cameron have provided minimal run production.

J.D. Drew hit a home run Sunday afternoon.

While I'd usually make some sort of snarky comment about how difficult it is to hit balls out of the park without the use of a human heart, that turn of events this time instead brought home the reality of how upside down this season has been so far in Boston.

J.D. Drew has been the Red Sox's most durable outfielder.

Boston Red Sox right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka , whom I consider to be trade bait for 20 cents on the dollar, made his season debut against the Baltimore Orioles and confirmed my harsh feelings towards him.

The outlook isn't brilliant for the Local 9 these days.

The Sox have weathered a first month of the season filled with injuries, ineffectiveness, and all other manner of "suckitude," and have surprisingly come out of it with an 11-12 record.

They have beaten up on the dregs of the AL—thank God for doormats—going 9-4 against the Royals, Jays, O's, and Rangers, while running up a less than impressive 2-8 record against the Rays, Yanks, and Twins. What's surprising is not that there have been issues, but what they are.

The Red Sox promoted 1B Lars Anderson to the Pawtucket Red Sox this afternoon.

Considered one of the better prospects in all of baseball entering the 2009 season, Anderson saw his stock slip dramatically after hitting only .233, with nine home runs and a dismal .328 OBP for Portland (Double-A) lasty year.

But he has come out on fire in 2010. He hit .355, with a 1.086 OPS, through the first 17 games of the year, including thanks to five doubles and five home runs. Thus, he earned the promotion.

The Boston Red Sox got another outstanding performance from their starting pitcher. Clay Buchholz pitched eight strong innings on Tuesday. Jon Lester followed with a masterpiece of his own on Wednesday night as the Red Sox defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 at Rogers Center.

The victory gives Boston a clean sweep over Toronto.

Lester certainly had his best performance of the season. The left handed southpaw pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing just one hit, walked two and struck out 11 while throwing a total of 119 pitches, 75 of them for strikes.

The Red Sox find themselves tied for third place in the AL East (10 - 11) as of April 28th.  And as April comes to a close, the Boston Red Sox season thus far seems to be summed up in three words: Feast or Famine.

In winning efforts, the Sox outscored opponents 72 to 54.  However, when tossing one into the loss column, the Sox are outscored 25-60, a dismal number.

The Boston Red Sox entered this season with one of, if not the best starting rotation in the major leagues.

The trio atop their pitching staff—Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and John Lackey—was, on paper, deemed one of the best in baseball, possibly only second to the New York Yankees' three-headed monster of CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Andy Pettitte.

But the three Red Sox aces have done little to deserve their reputation around the league, combining to go 3-3 with an abysmal 6.18 ERA in the early going, which is a big reason for Boston’s struggles.

Caption: Is Ibarra’s signing a signal that Victor Martinez’ days as the Red Sox backstop are numbered?

We were all thrilled when the Red Sox acquired Victor Martinez last summer. We had witnessed the decline of Jason Varitek’s offense and the various struggles of the never-ever-ready-for-prime-time collection of catching ‘prospects’ the organization has assembled in the minor leagues.

Martinez held promise as the franchise’s answer behind the plate for the foreseeable future. We felt content.

Curt Schilling, former Red Sox ace, current ESPNBoston analyst went on ESPN Radio’s “The Herd with Colin Cowheard” and blasted Yankees starter Javier Vazquez as somebody who can’t pitch in New York or the American League.

Schilling on Vazquez not being good enough for the AL: “I never ever thought the move to New York the first time was a good one [for Vazquez]. And I didn’t think this [move] was good as well,” Schilling said.