Take 2 Roundup: Games of Sat, 12/29/07

[bernieh]

[size=24:8b3e2551ca][b:8b3e2551ca]EVERYBODY, HURST[/b:8b3e2551ca][/size:8b3e2551ca]
[size=18:8b3e2551ca]Bruce Hurst Goes the Distance, But Can the Red Sox?[/size:8b3e2551ca]

<img src="http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/images/baseball/stratomatic/1986/story_photos/bruce_hurst_1_150x212.jpg" align="left" border="1" width="150" height="212" style="margin-right: 10px;" /> Boston's Bruce Hurst went the full 9 innings in the Red Sox's [url=http://www.sportingnews.com/baseball/1986/scores/boxscore.php?id=613]8-3 pummeling of the Twins[/url] on Saturday night. The win, combined with losses by the Indians and the Orioles, have pulled Boston out of the AL East cellar for the time being, at 11.5 games behind the division-leading Blue Jays.

With young star Roger Clemens having the breakout year he's having (7-3, 2.34), how are the Red Sox so severely underperforming preseason expectations? You can't blame Wade Boggs (.359/.440/.518), or Bill Buckner (.278-9-29), or even Dwight Evans (.247/.381/.482). But catcher Rich Gedman (.200/.253/.324), DH Don Baylor (.228/.313/.389), centerfielder Tony Armas (.213/.301/.284), and especially young shortstop Rey Quinones (.164/.258/.259) are all stinking up the joint, which has simply been baffling rookie manager Curt Schilling.

As far as the pitching goes, you can point to the bullpen. It's been a mighty disaster; only Mike Trujillo (2.93 ERA, 1.07 WHIP) has been dependable. Calvin Schiraldi has been especially terrible (6.49, 1.59).

Is there still time to right the ship? It's still only about 25% of the way through the season, but with the way the Blue Jays, Tigers and Yankees have been playing, it's a long shot to make the playoffs. I guess for Boston fans, there's always football...

[i:8b3e2551ca]photo: SN Archives[/i:8b3e2551ca]

[djmacb]

Any chance you could fix the links on this page so that we could access more than ads and "We're sorry. You have reached this page in error." ?