Slumping Red Sox Head West To Take on Angels

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Slumping Red Sox Head West To Take on Angels

It’s not been much of a season for the Boston Red Sox thus far in 2011. Off to a horrendous start, the Red Sox were 5-10 after Monday’s Patriot Day win over Toronto—and that record is after a three game winning streak. They’ll look to try to make up more ground in the tough AL East as they make the long trip to Anaheim to take on the Los Angeles Angels. The Angels have been one of the hottest teams in the Major Leagues over the past week and have pulled into a tie with the Texas Rangers atop the AL West.

The Red Sox haven’t been doing anything particularly well in the early part of the season. Their pitching has been especially brutal and as of Tuesday they ranked dead last in the Majors in team ERA with a 5.96 mark. Their offensive numbers were helped by a 9 run outburst against Toronto on Monday, but prior to that game they’d been averaging just 3.76 runs per contest. Obviously when you’re giving up on average two more runs than you score you’re not going to win a lot of baseball games.

The LA Angels, meanwhile, have been getting great pitching—they entered the week with a 2.68 team ERA good for second place in the Major Leagues. After a mediocre first few games to start the 2011 campaign the Halos have caught fire, using an 8-2 run to boost the team to the top of the AL West standings. They’re also taking care of business at the plate and rank in the top 10 in MLB standings for team batting average.

Boston will send Josh Beckett to the mound on Thursday night and he’s been one of the few bright spots in the Red Sox starting rotation. After a substandard 2010 season the veteran Texan has posted a 2-1 record with a tidy 1.80 ERA in his first three starts of the season. Los Angeles will counter with rookie Tyler Chatwood, a native of nearby Fontana, California (NASCAR fans will note that that’s the site of the California Speedway). Chatwood has been very solid considering his inexperience, posting a 1-1 record with a decent 3.75 ERA.

Ultimately, we’re going to stay away from the Red Sox until they show a consistent improvement in form. This is particularly true on the road, where they’ve yet to win a game heading into this series going 0-6 away from Fenway Park. We should get a good value price on the home team due to Beckett’s ‘bigger name’ relative to Angels starter Chatwood but we look for Los Angeles to keep the Red Sox ‘oh-fer’ on the road with a victory here.