SEATTLE (AP) -Boston manager Terry Francona is having trouble grasping why the Red Sox have been so dreadful on the road recently.
“It’s a little perplexing,” the Red Sox manager said of his defending World Series champions entering a series opener at Seattle Monday night having lost 10 times in their last 12 road games to fall out of first place in the AL East.
And a little historical. Since 1954, no other Red Sox team within 1 1/2 games of first place through 100 dates has had as low a road winning percentage as this one. After losing all three weekend games to the Angels in Anaheim, Calif., Boston entered Monday 21-32 (.396) away from Fenway Park, 11th in the American League.
It is an AL-best 36-11 (.766) at home – where the Red Sox will be Friday to begin a nine-game stand against New York, Los Angeles and Oakland.
“Hopefully, next week we’ll be sitting at home and you guys will all be saying, ‘Damn, you guys are so good ,” Francona said. “Then the stories will be, hopefully, ‘They’ve turned the corner.’
“It’s the just the damnedest game to figure out.”
What isn’t surprising to Francona is the rise of the New York Yankees in the standings.
The Yankees entered Monday with a seven-game home winning streak that has them back in the division race, behind surprising leader Tampa Bay. New York was a season-high eight games over .500 entering Monday.
“I think it’s not realistic that they wouldn’t (rebound),” Francona said, adding he still thinks Toronto will go on a run soon, too.
“Injuries play a factor in everybody’s record. Did you really think (the Yankees) were going to be a .500 team?”
Boston’s road woes are not because of totally hostile environments. Throngs of roaring Red Sox fans turn out in each AL city – they were again clamoring for autographs and pictures during batting practice Monday. Boston was leading the major leagues in average road attendance (38,519 per game – 5,000 per game more than the Yankees).
And Francona said slugger David Ortiz being out of the lineup since May 31 because of wrist injury hasn’t been the primary reason, either. The manager said Ortiz, now rehabilitating with Double-A Portland for three games – is swinging well and remains on track to return Friday for the three-games series against the Yankees.
He said it goes beyond the slumps of leadoff batter Jacoby Ellsbury – 1-for-13 on the road trip entering Monday, .212 in his last 28 games – and catcher Jason Varitek. The gritty Varitek was batting .114 over 26 games, but Red Sox fans can forget Francona hitting for him.
“I won’t hit for him. We need him. I believe in him. I will always believe in him. When times are tough, you don’t waver from that,” Francona said. “There’s a reason he’s got the captain thing there (on his uniform). That’s a big deal.
“If we want to get where we ultimately want to get, the faith in him will bear itself out.”
Francona sees two reasons why his team has been miserable while wearing road grays: lack of clutch hitting and an inconsistent bullpen.
Boston was leading the AL in on-base percentage on the road (.336). It was third with 229 runs on the road largely because of its league-leading 62 home runs away from Fenway. But two-out hits have been rare.
And the bullpen has changed from last season in one key respect: Hideki Okajima is hittable.
In 2007, his first season in the United States, the 32-year-old left-hander had a 2.22 ERA in 66 games, a Boston record for appearances by a first-year player. More telling was that only four of 28 inherited runners scored off him (14.3 percent).
This season, Okajima’s ERA was 2.82 in 39 games – but 12 of 17 (a dreadful 70.6 percent) inherited runners had scored against him.
The last eight times Boston’s starters had gone at least seven innings, often a key to winning, the Red Sox were just 4-4.
“I keep feeling like our bullpen can be a strength of ours, but we’re late in July and we’re still inconsistent,” Francona said. “It’s probably been the hardest thing for me … And I feel it.”
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