The Red Sox have entered full-blown panic mode after getting swept by the lowly Orioles.
A story in the Boston Herald describes a locker room divided between the players that were part of the two World Series titles and the ones brought in this offseason.
“There’s no accountability,” fumed one clubhouse source, according to the paper.
The players new to the Red Sox in 2010 are Adrian Beltre, John Lackey, Marco Scutaro, Jeremy Hermida, Mike Cameron, Bill Hall and Scott Schoeneweis.
The Herald’s John Tomase writes, “A clear divide is opening between the veterans of the team’s World Series and playoff runs and the new players who were acquired to bolster the club this winter. Marco Scutaro seems like the only truly assimilated player of the bunch. It’s not hard to read between the lines.”
Like this one.
“A lot of guys that have been here, we’re not used to this,” Pedroia said. “We’ll grind it out, but we’ve got to find a way to start winning some games.”
The Red Sox are seven games behind the AL East-leading Rays and five behind the second-place Yankees. Their problems go beyond the clubhouse.
Leadoff man Jacoby Ellsbury would not put a timetable on his return from broken ribs. David Ortiz is off to another dreadful start with a .159 average. Victor Martinez has not been much better with a .233 average to go along with one home run and four RBIs. Beltre is hitting .330, but has yet to hit a home run for his new team. And the problems in the lineup pale into comparison to the ones Boston is dealing with on the mound.
The team’s three supposed aces — Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Lackey — have a combined 4.77 ERA. Daisuke Matsuzaka came off the disabled list to allow six runs in 4 2/3 in his 2010 debut against the Orioles on Saturday. (And you thought the Yankees had problems with Javier Vazquez.)
GM Theo Epstein, who blasted the team last week, was at it again on Sunday.
“Things haven’t really changed,” Epstein told the Herald. “We talked about this last week. We’re still playing bad baseball. Unintelligent, undisciplined, uninspired baseball. It’s got to change.
“It either changes itself or we have to do something to change it.”
