J.D. Drew ranks near the bottom of big league outfielders in nearly every major offensive category. (AP)

At a time when Josh Reddick has been giving evidence of a maturing approach at the plate, J.D. Drew has been unable to make any kind of offensive impact for the Red Sox. His game-ending punchout on Tuesday night — a check swing on a 95 mph fastball against Padres closer Heath Bell – placed a punctuation mark on a season-long drought.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona maintains that he still expects that Drew will go on one of his annual hot streaks in which he proves capable of hitting home runs in bunches. Yet while that possibility certainly looms, it is also fair to ask whether Drew is simply in a state of career decline at age 35. Certainly, his standing among his peers suggests as much.

For years, Drew’s numbers have suggested a player who is subject to an unfair degree of criticism. This year, however, statistics offer him no quarter.

There are 68 outfielders in the majors who have had at least 200 plate appearances. Of those, Drew ranks in the bottom 20 percent in nearly every offensive category.

Drew’s nine extra-base hits are tied for 64th – just one ahead of notorious batter’s box lightweight Juan Pierre. His .230 average is 61st; his .328 slugging percentage is 63rd; his .660 OPS is 57th. Though his .332 OBP ranks in the middle of the pack, his 19 runs (in a lineup that leads the majors in scoring) are second to last and his 18 RBIs are 57th.

Moreover, there are other telling aspects that speak to a decline in his other tools. He has become a more conservative baserunner as his speed has diminished, as he’s taken an extra base (first to third on a single; first to home on a double; second to home on a single) just 17 percent of the time, less than half the 38 percent clip at which he did so last year.

In fact, 2011 marks the third straight year of decline in the rate at which he’s taken an extra base. That trend points to the toll taken by the game on his legs at age 35. Read the rest of this entry »

It is getting ridiculous.

There was a time this year when the Red Sox offense was failing to fire on all cylinders. In fact, through the first five weeks of the season, the Sox ranked in the bottom half of the American League in runs scored, and were left to rely on the pitching staff to carry them to victories.

No longer. Sox starter Jon Lester was overpowering on Sunday, but really, he could have been terrible and it wouldn’t have mattered in his team’s 14-1 victory. The Red Sox continued an offensive surge that has established them as the best lineup in the majors. In 10 games in the month of June, the Sox are now averaging an unbelievable 8.7 runs per game.

The team has scored at least eight runs in 15 contests this year, most in the majors. Put another way: Through 65 games, the Sox have scored at least eight runs in almost a quarter of their contests. Their record in such games is 15-0.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE RED SOX

–David Ortiz continued to to deliver damage from the middle of the lineup, eviscerating a Kyle Drabek fastball for  a three-run homer to right-center and run-scoring double to left-center against left-handed reliever Luis Perez. He is now slugging .624 for the season; in his career, he’s only had one season in which he’s had a higher slugging percentage, having punched in at a .636 mark in a 2006 campaign that saw the slugger hit 54 homers. He’s hit 11 of his 17 homers this season on the road.

–Jon Lester turned in an outing that was both dominant and efficient, allowing just one run on two hits while striking out eight batters. He needed just 102 pitches to navigate through eight innings of work. He is now 9-2 on the year, and his ERA dropped a quarter of a point to 3.73.

The left-hander was perfect through the first 3 2/3 innings before giving up a solo homer to Jays slugger Jose Bautista, and the left-hander walked just one hitter, marking the second straight start and third in four outings in which he’s allowed just one free pass. The two hits he allowed also represented a season-low.

Lester had terrific command of a 93-95 mph fastball on the outer half of the plate against right-handers (save for one mislocated heater that Bautista hit out to straightaway center field), and he also featured a devastating cutter that resulted in five swings and misses.

–Adrian Gonzalez went 2-for-4 with a homer while driving in a pair of runs. He extended his streak of consecutive games with at least one run batted in to nine, all Sox wins. It is the second longest streak of games with an RBI that the Sox won, behind only a 10-game stretch by Dwight Evans in Sept. 1989.

Gonzalez has now driven in 60 runs in the Sox’ first 65 games, a pace that would yield 150 RBIs in the year. That has only been done three times in Red Sox history, and not since 1949, when both Ted Williams and Vern Stephens plated that many runners.

–Kevin Youkilis went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer, double, 4 RBI and two walks. He matched a career-high by reaching base five times in a game.

–Dustin Pedroia clubbed an early two-run homer and reached base twice on walks. He now has reached base at least three times in a career-best four straight games, reaching base 14 times in 22 plate appearances during that stretch (.636 OBP). In nine games this month, he has a .522 OBP; he has raised his 2011 OBP by 37 points (from .341 to .378) during the run.

–Jarrod Saltalamacchia went 3-for-4 to improve his average to .400 in the month of June.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE RED SOX

–J.D. Drew went 0-for-5 while matching a career-high with four strikeouts. He was the only member of the Sox lineup not to have a hit. His average for the season has fallen to .227, while his OPS is at a lowly .667.

Darnell McDonald offers insight into the challenges of scouting two-sport stars. (AP)

Judging whether or not a young man has enough potential for a future in Major League Baseball is hard enough. Judging whether or not he has the desire to pursue it and dealing with his family and agents takes it to a whole other level.

That’s what amateur scouts and big league executives get paid to judge this week as they deal with thousands of high school and college-age athletes and their representatives. The challenge of understanding a player’s makeup is viewed as almost as important — sometimes more important — than scrutinizing his tools on the field.

“It’s a huge factor. I remember when I first started in the draft room in San Diego in 1998, I was shocked how much of the conversation was about makeup and personality and a player’s background, talking about what his parents did for a living, if his parents were still together, what his guidance counselor thought, what this kid did off the field,” Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said. “It was at least 50 percent of the conversation and it still is.

“You have to think about, you’re drafting a high school kid and you’re making him a professional. He’s never been away from home before. So, you’re dealing with homesickness, and you’re dealing with how disciplined and independent an individual this person is, and whether he can survive off the field to put himself in a position to let his baseball ability manifest. You’re projecting a 17-year-old kid from a small town in the middle of nowhere and how he’s going to be 10 years later when he’s 27, pitching in a pennant race at Fenway Park with 40,000 people looking at him. You really have to figure out what makes a kid tick.”

That challenge is significant enough in its own right. It becomes even greater when it comes to the question of multisport stars who have scholarship offers to pursue a path in other sports.

The Sox have made such multisport talents a staple of their recent drafts. In 2006, they signed Ryan Kalish away from a football commitment at the University of Virginia. In 2007, one of their top prospects, Will Middlebrooks, passed on a two-sport scholarship at Texas A&M to begin his career with the Sox. In 2008, Casey Kelly walked away from the opportunity to quarterback at the University of Tennessee to sign with Boston. The following year, powerful running back Brandon Jacobs passed on a chance to play football at Auburn to start his pro career. And in 2010, the team signed Kendrick Perkins away from a football scholarship at Texas A&M to begin the long process of honing his baseball skills as a minor leaguer.

There is a concern about giving a player money to pull him away from a second sport only to have him second-guess the decision when he finds life in the minor leagues challenging. Read the rest of this entry »

J.D. Drew has struggled mightily in the early going, but in a 14-inning marathon, none of that matters. Following a Carl Crawford double and an intentional walk to Jed Lowrie, the Red Sox rightfielder stroked a single to right-center to give the Red Sox a 9-8 win over the Athletics.

But before those heroics, the wheels had come flying off.

The Red Sox entered the ninth inning in possession of what appeared to be an airtight 7-3 lead. Closer Jonathan Papelbon was called upon to shut the door in a non-save situation that seemed to offer little drama.

Yet Papelbon proved flat, and an uncharacteristic error by Dustin Pedroia coupled with a hotly disputed strike zone led to a wild five-run rally.

Papelbon permitted a flared single and then issued a walk to Daric Barton (possessor of a .215 average and .602 OPS), with a couple of the pitches seemingly just missing the strike zone. But Papelbon bounced back, punching out Landon Powell for the first out and then getting what appeared to be a tailor-made double play against Coco Crisp.

But a bounder to the Sox’ most sure-handed defender, Pedroia, uncharacteristically went under the glove and through the legs of the second baseman. Instead of a game-ending twin-killing, the A’s had plated their first run with chaos soon to follow. Cliff Pennington followed with an RBI double to left on a 1-2 fastball; catcher Jason Varitek, distressed that an 0-2 splitter just off the plate had been called a ball, got ejected for arguing balls and strikes with home plate ump Tony Randazzo; Papelbon was ejected as well soon after when he muttered something to Randazzo’s disliking while marching back to the mound. At that point, the damage had already been done. The Sox closer had allowed a two-run, game-tying single to Conor Jackson to tie it at 7-7. The four-run blown lead was the largest by Boston this season.

In the 11th, Alfredo Aceves gave up a go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly to leftfield by Ryan Sweeney. Jacoby Ellsbury retied the game with a ground-rule double to score Jarrod Saltalamacchia in the bottom of the frame.

The blown lead meant that Josh Beckett had another solid start wasted. Beckett gave up three runs in six-plus innings against the Athletics, sending his ERA “soaring” to 2.01 (from 1.80). Even so, he turned in his ninth quality start (in 12 outings), and has now allowed more than three runs in just one start this year.

The right-hander allowed four hits in his six innings, walking three and striking out four. He mixed his pitches thoroughly, and showed terrific movement all over and around the strike zone.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE RED SOX

–Beckett now has nine quality starts in his 12 outings this year, nearly matching his 10 quality starts in 21 turns in the rotation in 2010.

–Kevin Youkilis may be emerging from a brief skid. Prior to Friday, he was hitting .143 with a .361 OPS, just one extra-base hit (a double) and no walks over a nine-game stretch. But in Friday’s victory over the Athletics, he went 2-for-3 with a double and walk, and on Saturday he was 2-for-5 with a pair of both doubles and walks. Read the rest of this entry »

Peter Gammons

Hall of Fame baseball reporter Peter Gammons talked to Mut & Merloni Friday morning about the Red Sox and the state of baseball. To hear the interview, go the Mut & Merloni audio on demand page.

Gammons called Daisuke Matsuzaka’s injury “a very strange situation.”

“If I were really cynical I would say he just made up his mind, he’s going to get his elbow cleared out, and then he’ll come back in 2013 in Japan,” Gammons said. He also said there have been communication issues and discrepancies.

“The findings in California from the doctors there, the findings in Boston, they haven’t gotten together on this yet,” Gammons said. “He had put it out in Japan that he was going to have Tommy John surgery before he even got to Los Angeles. I find it very odd. Whatever it is, it’s going to be very difficult to reconcile all this.”

Gammons said he didn’t think Matsuzaka would ever pitch for the Red Sox again.

“The player’s made up his mind he’s going to have Tommy John surgery,” Gammons said. “And if that’s the case, it’s a minimum of 15 months, so what are we talking about, August? He’s not coming back August to September next year. He’s going to go to Japan, his contract’s up at the end of next year, he can go back to Japan.”

Following are more highlights from the interview.

On Matsuzaka’s legacy:

He did help get them the World Series and pitched well in Game 3 of the World Series in Colorado. There was a time when I think he certainly brought in revenue in terms of a fascination figure. I think at times he was a pretty good pitcher, his first two years. But in the end, in terms of a six-year deal, they got about one-third of it out of him. He never performed as well as the expectations surrounding him.

I don’t think he really made a great effort to adjust to this culture. I think that was one of the problems, the communication and the adjustment to the culture, which he didn’t really go in for. One of his agents said to me, he just, he doesn’t trust people. It’s very hard to build up a relationship with a franchise if a guy doesn’t trust them.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jerry Remy

NESN Red Sox analyst Jerry Remy called in to the Dennis & Callahan show Friday morning to talk baseball and a little hockey. To hear the interview, go to the Dennis & Callahan audio on demand page.

Remy said that Daisuke Matsuzaka’s decision to have Tommy John surgery probably means Red Sox fans have seen the last of the Japanese starter, whose time with the Red Sox he called “a mixed bag.”

“It’s always been a bumpy road,” Remy said. “Communication-wise, pitching-wise, it’s just been a bumpy road all the way through. I think that once he’s gone for a couple of years, nobody will remember Daisuke.”

Remy said that Matsuzaka’s biggest problem has always been his unwillingness to change his training and between-starts regimens to fit the MLB pitching schedule.

“He had his own set way of doing things, and that’s what he had done his whole career over in Japan, and that’s what he probably expected to do here,” Remy said. “But it’s a different game. Over in Japan, he was pitching what, once a week? That’s not the case here. They tried and tried and tried to change the way he did things, and he was stubborn about it.”

Remy said that the loss of Rich Hill might impact the Red Sox far more than Matsuzaka.

“That’s a terrible blow to the Red Sox, because this kid was pitching great baseball for the Red Sox, and he was the only left-hander they had had out of the bullpen,” Remy said.

Read the rest of this entry »

The first two months of 2011 haven’t been the best for J.D. Drew, which is why Red Sox manager Terry Francona decided to give his right fielder the day off on Wednesday.

“He’s just been kind of scuffling a little bit,” Francona said before Wednesday’s matinee.

Josh Reddick started in place of Drew, who entered Wednesday batting just .228 with three homers and 10 RBIs in the final year of his five-year, $70 million contract.

“Maybe Red will give us a little, sometimes day game after a night game you’re looking for some energy, maybe Red will bump into one,” Francona said of Reddick. “He’s been playing pretty well, maybe just will give us a little boost.”

As for Drew, he is just 3-for-19 in his last nine games, giving Francona a reason to sit his starting right fielder.

“I think we keep waiting for that,” Francona said, referring to Drew’s usual mid-season hot streak. “J.D. has kind of a track record of grabbing on to that one month and really kind of almost put us on his back, and certainly you always wait for that, and he hasn’t gotten to that point yet. no he’s taken good swings for sure at times, but he hasn’t strung em together like he’s capable of.”

When the Red Sox do see the Drew they’re accustomed to, he’ll be spraying the ball all over the field. Right now, not so much for the 35-year-old veteran.

“You’ve seen him probably a lot lately taking that cutter, slider away and kind of rolling over to second and first probably more than we’re used to,” Francona said. “He’s trying to, he’s trying to stay back and drive it, he’s just getting out ahead of it and the bat head’s coming with it with his hands he’s getting that weak groundball with a popup.” Read the rest of this entry »