Can we go back to playing the NL East? The offense once again held up its end of the bargain, and again the pitching failed to do the same.

You’d be forgiven for thinking the Red Sox’ season has been a disaster so far. It seems like three-quarters of our recaps have gone like this:

[Insert Starter’s Name] failed it to make it out of the [Early Inning]. And while [Hanley/Pedroia/Sandoval/Holt] had a good game at the dish, [The Rest of the Team] continues to struggle.

A six inning outing by a starter feels like a complete game. Other guys besides the four mentioned above have been productive at the plate, but not consistently. The starting pitching has been about as effective as a Level 5 Charmander using “Ember” on a Level 100 Blastoise.

The bullpen isn’t blameless either (for instance, Mujica balked twice tonight), but if the starters struggle, it makes the bullpen’s job a lot tougher. Just look at these numbers:

They’ve also had 6 different innings in which they’ve given up 5 or more runs, which is double the amount of any other team in the majors.

On the offensive side, guys they’re counting on being productive – and offsetting the pitching somewhat – have been struggling. Look at the offensive (double entendre!) stats, minus the four I mentioned above (numbers from before last night’s game):

PLAYER	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Bogaerts	65	18	1	1	1	9	7	12	0.277	0.347	0.369	0.716
Betts	78	17	3	0	2	10	9	15	0.218	0.303	0.333	0.637
Leon	19	4	0	0	0	2	3	2	0.211	0.318	0.211	0.529
Hanigan	45	9	1	0	1	5	8	11	0.200	0.345	0.289	0.634
Ortiz	65	13	2	0	4	8	11	17	0.200	0.312	0.415	0.727
Napoli	65	11	1	1	1	4	10	16	0.169	0.28	0.262	0.542
Nava	36	6	1	0	0	6	1	8	0.167	0.205	0.194	0.400
Victorino	35	5	1	0	0	2	6	7	0.143	0.302	0.171	0.474
Craig	33	4	0	0	0	1	2	8	0.121	0.194	0.121	0.316

That’s 6 position players at or below the Mendoza line, 4 of them everyday starters.

But if we take a step back, the Sox are in pretty good shape. They’re 11-10 and sit just 2 games back of the Yankees, who are unlikely to sit atop the division for an extended period of time. Ortiz, Napoli, Nava, and Victorino (if healthy) will improve. (I hope Craig does too, but it’s not a given. Dude might just need a change of scenery). The starters have shown flashes of being dominant, and Kelly looks close to putting it all together. I’m aware that inconsistency has defined the careers of Buchholz, Kelly, and Masterson thus far, but the talent is there. Miley and Porcello will come around and eat innings. In reality, Cherington will probably need to make a move for a starter before the season is out, or promote from within, but there are a lot of tantalizing options to choose from.

Offensive Highlights:

Sandoval was 4 for 5 with 2 doubles, and had his first hit of the year from the right side of the plate. Panda is hitting .500 with 3 doubles, 2 homers, 7 RBI, 4 walks, and 7 runs in his last 6 games. He should have a couple more doubles, but has already mastered the Monster in his own way, turning doubles into routine singles with regularity.

Hanley homered again, this time to the opposite field. He wrapped one around Pesky’s Pole for the 200th long ball of his career.

He’s now slashing .295/.345/.641 with 9 four-baggers and 20 RBI in April. C’est incroyable!

Mookie was 2 for 5 with a walk, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored, and once again showed proficiency when hitting with two strikes.

Papi was 2 for 3 with 2 RBI.

Ryan Hanigan was 1 for 4 and is still hitting just .204, but has been getting on base at a respectable .350 clip.

Checking out the team’s updated averages is much easier on the eyes.

Notes:

-Before the game the Red Sox recalled Jackie Bradley Jr. for outfield depth, with Victorino hurt and Nava and Craig struggling.

–Xander continues to be much improved at short.

-Mookie Betts can do anything

-Did I just talk myself into thinking the Red Sox actually won this game? I think so!

I’m gonna keep this short. I got hit in the hand by a pitch in a baseball game today so I’m typing with six fingers, and the Sox gave up 18 runs; I think brevity is best. The Sox have dropped two straight series, after winning or splitting their first four to start the year.

Once again, starting pitching was the issue. Wade Miley was the culprit this time. After giving up no hits and an unearned run in his first two innings, Wade would only get one out in the third, giving up a flurry of singles, with two walks and a double mixed in.

Boston	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Miley (L, 1-2)	2.1	5	7	6	2	0	0	8.62

A short outing meant that the bullpen again had to work extended innings. Not ideal for a team that’s in the midst of playing 13 games without a day off. The parade of Red Sox relievers that followed Miley didn’t fare much better than their starter:

Varvaro	1.2	2	2	2	1	0	0	3.72
Ross	1.0	3	1	1	0	1	0	5.87
Hembree	1.1	6	6	6	1	3	1	40.50
Breslow	0.2	3	2	1	0	1	0	0.77

Yeesh. The only Red Sox pitcher to appear without giving a run was Mujica, who pitched a scoreless 8th, when the score was 18-4 Orioles.

Offensive highlights:

Pedey was 3 for 4.

Panda reached base four times and hit his first home run as a member of the Red Sox.

Hanley went back-to-back with Sandoval, then went deep again in the 9th, giving him 8 homers and 17 RBIs so far in April. Both long balls came on the first pitch.

Brock Holt! reached base in all five of his plate appearances, singling twice and drawing 3 walks. He’s now hitting a cool .457. Maybe he should get most of the starts in right while Victorino and Castillo are on the mend. Just a thought.

Notes:

-After a game like this you’re really happy to have another one scheduled for the next night.

-As if me blogging an 18-7 loss while typing like a 70 year old writing an email to his granddaughter wasn’t bad enough, the Celtics were also eliminated from the playoffs today, getting swept by the Cavs. This team never quit, and played its hardest to the last whistle (both clichés, but both very true). They were down 16 late in the 4th, but scratched and clawed their way back to trail by only 6 with the ball, with less than a minute remaining. In the end, the deficit was just too big to overcome. That’s what happens when you shoot 13% from three.

-JR Smith knocked my boy Jae Crowder out of the game with a vicious cheap shot while the two were jockeying for rebound position. Not only did Jae go down from the punch, but he also landed awkwardly, twisting his knee, leaving him unable to continue. Crowder was arguably the Celtics’ best player in this series. Adam Silver should suspend Smith for the rest of the playoffs, but he’s on LeBron’s team so he’ll probably just get a slap on the wrist.

-In hindsight, I didn’t keep this as short as I would have liked.

You know that thing that people do on the Internet sometimes where they make a list of what things are good and what things are bad instead of having the journalistic integrity to actually write properly? WELL HERE’S ANOTHER ONE.

Good: Justin Masterson pitched seven innings and gave up three earned runs (that’s a quality start!), becoming the 4th Red Sox starter to go at least 7 innings deep. Buchholz, Porcello, and Kelly have each done it once as well. Our poor bullpen.

Bad: He’d only thrown 90 pitches when Farrell elected to replace him with Matt Barnes in the 8th inning, showing a couple things: 1. Masterson was working very quickly, more because his pitches weren’t missing bats than any particular dominance on his part and 2. A little bit of a lack of confidence by Farrell in letting Masterson’s pitch count get up into the triple digits (he hasn’t made it past 95 pitches yet in 2015).

Bad: Before yesterday’s game, Shane Victorino was put on the 15-day Disabled List with the same hamstring strain that plagued him throughout 2014.

Good: Matt Barnes was called up from Pawtucket and pitched two solid (okay, the 8th was a little dicey) innings. Okay, that’s not that good, but for Sox fans itching to see Rusney Castillo in action, Victorino to the DL can only be good news, especially with Daniel Nava and Allen Craig both struggling. Though Castillo has been hurt himself, only playing three games in Pawtucket (last seen on April 11th), he’s supposed to be back soon, and who knows? He could be up in the majors soon depending on Victorino’s duration of absence.

Bad: Through 18 games, Mookie Betts is batting .203, has an on-base percentage of .291, and has a .319 slugging percentage. Through 18 games in 2014, Jackie Bradley Jr. was contributing .220/.329/.280. I’m not sure what I’m saying here, and the advanced stats say that Mookie’s stuff is gonna get better (he currently has a .218 batting average on balls in play)…but still.

Bad: Okay, time to get to the actual baseball game that happened yesterday. Masterson giving up back-to-back doubles to start the game, giving the Orioles a 2-0 lead going into the 2nd inning = bad.

Good: Could Mike Napoli have finally got used to dreaming again? He went 3-4 yesterday, including a two-run home run off the right field foul pole to knock in Hanley Ramirez (4 pitch leadoff walk) six pitches into the 2nd inning to tie the game at 2.

Bad: Masterson allowed runners to get to third in both the 2nd and 3rd innings.

Good: He got out of both jams, including a two-out, men on 2nd and 3rd strikeout (looking) of Travis Snider to get out of the third.

Good: Allen Craig actually came through on the offensive side, sending one through the left side with Hanley Ramirez on second, which might’ve scored a run in different circumstances…

Bad: …but it didn’t. Hanley looks very slow, doesn’t he? If he was waved around, I have to say it looks like a bad decision by 3rd base coach Brian Butterfield. Not even close. Then again, I can’t actually see if Butterfield waved him in, and Hanley’s been known to ignore Butterfield.

Ramirez said he made up his mind to try to score when he reached second base.

“I saw how deep [Kiermaier] was playing,” he said. “I anticipate everything. They were playing way back, and that’s when I decided to go.”

Bad: An absolute meatball, a breaking ball left at the top of the zone that Masterson served up to Jimmy Paredes for a solo shot to take the lead in the 6th.

Good: After a leadoff walk and two consecutive miscues by the Orioles that ended up being labeled as “infield singles,” the Red Sox had the bases loaded with 1 out in the top of the 9th, down by one. Pablo, on a 1-2 count, grounded a pretty easy double play ball to Manny Machado, who stepped on third and promptly threw it away at first, allowing Dustin Pedroia to score and tie the game.

Bad: Brock Holt is now the only Red Sox player batting over .300. He is also the only one over .400.

Good: Xander Bogaerts, the closest to batting .300, hit a lead-taking home run in the top of the 10th on a fastball down the heart of the plate on Brad Brach’s first pitch of the night.

Koji time, right?

Bad: Yes, but no. Koji came in in the bottom of the 10th and gave up this leadoff “triple” to Adam Jones on what should’ve been either a conservative single or a play that Allen Craig should’ve been able to make on the dive. But instead, he offers up one of the worst executed dives I’ve seen in a good while. Jones would score on a sacrifice fly by Davis, the next batter.

Bad: This. Koji, you gotta stop doing this.

Conceivably the worst meatball of the night in a game full of them.