Roche's Red Sox Look Back, Look Ahead: Lack Of Innings From Starters A Real Concern
BOSTON (CBS) -- As we enter the fourth week of the baseball season, here are three Red Sox thoughts from last week and three things to watch this week.
Three Things We Learned
1. It's easy to get all over the Red Sox starting rotation and, in many ways, it's well deserved. However, 19 games does not a season make. Most baseball GMs/personnel will tell you that it takes until Memorial Day weekend to get a true read on your team. So, this rotation has five weeks to get its act together.
What bothers me the most isn't the 5.75 ERA -- the worst in baseball -- but the lack of innings being pitched. Rick Porcello and Wade Miley were brought here for that very reason; to give the team innings. In two of his four starts, Miley hasn't made it out of the third inning for Boston.
The rotation needs to get into the 6th-7th-8th innings on a consistent basis or the bullpen will be shot by the end of May. It's time to dig in mentally and grind it out.
2. I like the fight in this group. Led by Dustin Pedroia, they seem to have a much better "battle mentality" than they did last year. Seeing Xander Bogaerts hit a big home run, watching guys run the bases hard and having hitters grind out at-bats are all good signs for the offense.
3. Brock Holt hit .327 before the All-Star break last season and just .219 after. He's off to an outrageous .457 start to 2015. I like the way John Farrell is using him; he doesn't need to play every day and he can play everywhere. However, if Mookie Betts continues to struggle, Holt may need to be your every day lead-off option.
Three Things To Watch
1. This week is a huge test for the pitching staff with the Blue Jays and Yankees coming to town. Again, they need to give the team innings. Boston's offense is good enough (especially at home) to be able to win games 5-4, 6-5, but they need help from the starters.
2. There is lots of talk about Koji Uehara these days, whether it be his lack of velocity, age, or him relying way too much on his splitter. This situation is worth watching and it will be interesting to watch how Farrell uses his closer this week, how Ryan Hanigan calls the game while he's in, and if Koji's velocity/location get better.
3. It's always fascinating to me how when the calendar turns from month-to-month, it affects some guys big-time. When April turns to May, some guys just take off because the cold weather starts to fade away. For some guys, it's a mental thing too. It can serve as a fresh start.
Mike Napoli caught a break with a foul pole home run to right this weekend in Baltimore, so maybe he gets hot with May around the corner. Pedroia, Betts, Sandoval, Ortiz, Craig could all use a fresh start as well.
Follow WBZ-TV's Dan Roche on Twitter @RochieWBZ.
