Roche On Toucher & Rich: Middlebrooks 'Certainly Special To Watch'
There has been a lot of negativity around the Red Sox as they try to battle for a winning record. After hitting .500 last week the Sox dropped five games in a row, but, Monday night they stopped the skid with a 11-5 win over the Kansas City Royals.
WBZ-TV's Dan Roche joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich to discuss some of the positive things to focus on with this Red Sox team, Kevin Youkilis and Adrian Gonzalez.
Read: Roche: Middlebrooks Showing Off Raw Power
The Sox called up Will Middlebrooks to play third base while Kevin Youkilis spends some time on the disabled list.
In Monday night's win Middlebrooks hit a three-run shot in the first inning and a two-run homer in the eighth. The night before in the 17-inning loss to the Baltimore Orioles he hit a grand slam.
Is Middlebrooks one of the positives that fans should focus on?
"I think you start with him," said Roche. "He's got a special swing and I don't know where he generates a lot of that power from, but it's certainly special to watch."
At some point the Sox will have a decision to make when Youkilis comes back from the DL. If Middlebrooks is still crushing the ball it's going to be hard justifying sitting him for the veteran Youkilis.
Could the Sox end up dealing Youkilis?
"I don't know and I don't think so because he's got the $12.5 million dollar salary and he basically can't stay healthy," said Roche. "That's the problem with Youk."
Not only are people down on the Sox as a team, they are also upset with slugger Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez has been slumping at the plate, and on Monday came out and promised his slugging will be over .500 and his on base percentage will be over .400 by the end of the season.
Some have read these comments and taken issue with him not predicting wins and talking about the team. Were there more to these comments?
"The beginning of that story says, 'I'd rather go zero for eight and win then go three for five and lose. All I really care about is winning,'' said Roche. "So he said the right thing there."
