Garrett Crochet pitched seven innings of near shutout baseball. Aside from two fastballs that the Braves managed to get on top of and hit over the monster, he was nearly flawless. His velocity was up. His command was excellent. He probably didn’t execute with two strikes as well as he would’ve liked to, but he was fantastic nonetheless.

Starting pitching was an issue last season. Crochet was brought in to help turn that weakness into a strength, and has, to an extent. Normally, if your starting pitcher throws seven innings of two-run baseball, you’ve got a pretty good chance at winning the game. Unfortunately, baseball is a team game. Fielding, hitting, and baserunning are also parts of the game, and the Red Sox didn’t do those either.

Defense was an issue last season as well. Despite Trevor Story’s return or the addition of Alex Bregman, it remains a weakness. Bregman booted a ball at third. Story airmailed a throw to first. Nick Sogard was out of position and failed to cover the bag. The errors didn’t come back to haunt them, but good baseball teams catch the ball and make outs. The Red Sox aren’t doing that.

On the bases, the Red Sox ran into three outs. Duran, Devers, and Sogard all got caught between first and second base. Devers’ blunder ended an inning with Duran standing on third base. It’s hard enough to score runs against Chris Sale; running into outs on the basepaths makes it that much more difficult. Once again, good teams don’t give away outs. The Red Sox are.

And of course, the bullpen. Greg Weissert did his job in the eighth after taking over for Garrett Crochet. Hat tip to Greg. After Weissert, Liam Hendriks walked a hitter, recorded two outs, and walked another hitter. Brennan Bernardino took over with a lefty up and promptly walked him. He then walked the next two batters he faced as well to plate two runs. Good teams don’t hand out free passes to the bottom of the order. The Red Sox did just that.

There’s talent on this team. I believe that they can be a good team. At the same time, I feel like I’m living in Groundhog Day. I watch the same team have the same problems every day for what feels like five years. Fortunately, in Groundhog Day, he does end the cycle by learning the true meaning of Christmas or something.

There’s always tomorrow. Go Sox.

One Stud

Garrett Crochet

He was awesome. More on his performance coming soon.

Three Duds

Brennan Bernardino

Walked three hitters in a row. Not good!

Liam Hendriks

Walked two hitters. Got two outs as well. Still not great!

The Boston Celtics, Except Jaylen Brown

I kinda knew the Celtics were going to lose tonight. After a very emotional game five, going back to New York and forcing a game seven felt like a stretch. Still, hit some shots, guys. Everybody not named Jaylen Brown missed everything. Oh well, at least the Red Sox are playing inspired baseball.