Pitching And Defense, Huh?

(courtesy of ESPN.com)

Get a look at that, would ya?  Just another masterful exhibition of lockdown pitching and Gold Glove-caliber defense from the Sawx last night.  Even aftah Papelbawn blew anothah save, they wuh still able to scratch out a win thanks to Pehdroiah.  Whaht a fahckin' game-uh that Pehdroiah is!  He is the fahckin' hahht and soul of this fahckin' team.  He is tha Tawm Brady of Red Sawx Nation.

In all seriousness, I can't believe people (and by people, I mean everybody at ESPN) are getting excited about the Sox crawling back into contention in the AL East.  It's a fucking joke.  After all their moves that were supposedly committed to making them better defensively and on the mound, they have had to win games this year with their offense.  This team would be nowhere right now without Youkilis and Adrian Beltre, and maybe a little of Big Sloppi mixed in.  And call me crazy, but I don't see Ortiz or Beltre keeping this up all year long.  And yeah, Pedroia had a big game last night, but that doesn't change the fact that he came into the game hitting .280 with 36 RBIs, which is nothing to write home about.

The bottom line is, Boston's pitching and defense absolutely sucks.  Scutaro and Beltre are both on pace for 20-30 errors apiece, neither Martinez nor Varitek can stop a bad pitch or throw anybody out on the basepaths, and their outfield defense has been pedestrian at best.  Their rotation is Lester and Buchholz and nothing else, and there's nobody in their bullpen worth a shit except Daniel Bard, who the Yankees happen to own.

So go ahead, Fraud Sox Nation.  Bring out your pink hats and green jerseys.  Get all jazzed up about leading baseball in runs scored right now.  Don't pay any attention to the fact that some of these guys are going to start trending downward as the season continues to play out.  Pitching and defense is what wins in the playoffs and you ain't got it.  So enjoy your little run now and then come back and talk to me in late August-early September when you're 9 games out and looking up at Tampa in the Wild Card race.