The Baseball Reporters Show Recap 6/28
Today on The Baseball Reporters Show, Tony Massarotti talks about the Red Sox injuries that are mounting. When will it stop? Also, Tony previews the upcoming series with the Tampa Bay Rays, which has huge AL East implications.
In the last 5 weeks, the Red Sox record is 22-11. For the Rays during that span, they've gone 12-19. To start off the season, the Rays were on a historic pace that the deficit seemed too large to overcome. Now, the Sox are 1 game up on Tampa and will play a 2 game series with the Rays tomorrow night at Fenway.
What worries Tony Massarotti is the injuries that are mounting for this team. He worries that the Sox could hit a wall and give back ground to the Rays.
Tony on the Red Sox injuries, "11 games to go before the break. And with all these injuries mounting, I'm just a little fearful that the Red Sox could hit the wall here a little bit and do damage to a lot of the good that they have done over the last several weeks. And they really have played themselves right back into the thick of this thing. And good for them, they've done it despite injuries, and they've done it with some unlikely contributors. But for all the injuries they've already had some to key people, most notably Mike Cameron, Josh Beckett, and Jacoby Ellsbury. Now you have to add other people to that list: Dustin Pedroia, Victor Martinez potentially, and maybe even Clay Buchholz. When does it stop? And you don't want to start giving ground back to the Rays whom you play 5 times in the next week".
But it's not just the injuries that's got Tony Mazz worried. It's also the Rays. The Rays are a desperate team right now. Tony worries about playing desperate teams because right now, the Rays are a desperate club with a lot to lose. Tampa can't afford to lay down against the Red Sox and Tony thinks the Sox will see the Rays very best.
Tony Mazz on the state of the Tampa Bay Rays, "Tampa is clearly a frustrated team. The Rays look like they're becoming unraveled a little bit. It's a young team and they don't seem to handle success too well there. They have a bunch of guys on that team that seem to play big in big games and fall asleep the rest of the time. Upton is one of them. Matt Garza is another one. And that speaks to a level of immaturity and unprofessionalism. The problem with all of that concerning the Rays at the moment is that they're desperate. So you have a desperate team coming in here tomorrow night in the midst of a crisis playing a Red Sox team that is really banged up. That all worries me a little bit because I think the Red Sox are going to get Tampa's best the next 2 nights".
John Lackey will get the start tomorrow night and he will face opposite James Shields. Game starts at 7:10 p.m. ET.
