Out of their depth

Let's face the facts- since the All-Star break, this Red Sox team has been pretty bad. Injuries to Wakefield, Varitek, Trot, Gonzalez, and maybe Manny (to say nothing of the minor debilitating bruises to Lowell, Loretta, Youkilis, Coco and Mirabelli) have exposed the Sox. Injuries to Wells, Foulke and Matt Clement has more than stretched the pitching staff, as has the ineffectiveness of Lester, Beckett, and Johnson. The result is that we've gotten a look at the full bloom of the Red Sox depth chart. Upon examination, it looks...pretty shallow.

Last night, in place of our opening-day lineup, we started guys like Wily Mo in left, Gabe Kapler in right, Mirabelli behind the plate, and Dustin Pedroia at short (appropriately enough). Pitching was Kyle Snyder. This isn't what we had envisioned for the season. As excited as I was to see Dustin Pedroia's MLB debut, this wasn't the lineup that the front office hoped would be contending in September and October.

And just as we've discovered a variety of different lineups and rotations, the Sox have continued their recent tradition of finding a variety of ways to lose games. Last night, with everyone else in contention losing (Yanks, Twins, White Sox), we had a chance to pick up some ground. Kyle Snyder actually gave the team a chance to win, going five innings (he was on a pitch count) and giving up three runs. The Sox came back in the seventh to tie it, only to lose it right away in the bottom of the inning- a run on two hits given up by a gentleman with the improbable name of Kason Gabbard. I think that was actually the name I gave a 7th-level dwarf warrior when I played Dungeons and Dragons in eighth grade. It's nice to see he's progressed since then.

So with Alex Gonzalez on the DL and Craig Hansen and Javier Lopez the Pitcher being optioned to Pawtucket, Gabbard, Bryan Corey, and Dustin get called up. And we as fans get to continue riding these painted ponies of depression, letting the spinning wheel of misery turn. The bright spot for me, at least, was that I got to see Dustin Pedroia play his first game. He went 1-3, hit the ball hard, didn't screw anything up at shortstop, and did not look overmatched. He looked like a major leaguer- an oddly short and young one, but a major leaguer nonetheless. He did strand five runners, but I'm sure that was deliberate, just so he could fit in with the rest of the team. If he had brought in those guys when the bases were loaded in the bottom of the second, we might have mistaken him for someone who played for a good team.