The Red Sox are Eric Liddell

The Red Sox are no longer the worst team in baseball. Today’s win against the Blue Jays (with Dice-K dealing and Lowrie continuing to go nuts at the plate) put the Red Sox at 5-10.

The Mets are 5-11 as are the Astros. So at least until tomorrow, the Sox are no longer at the bottom.

Now the metaphor that people like to say about the baseball season is “It is not a sprint, it is a marathon.” But ironically I think a sprint is illustrating the Red Sox season so far.

There is a great scene in Chariots of Fire, a film that sadly didn’t hold up as well as I had hoped. Eric Liddel, played the wonderful late Ian Charleson, is the favorite to win a track event between British and French runners. But on the first turn he falls and everyone, including his rival Harold Abrahams watching in the stands, is stunned. And the incredible Ian Holm mutters “Get up, lad! Get up!”

Liddell got up, the Vangelis music kicked in, and he starts running superfast. You know he was running superfast because it is all in slow motion.

He burst ahead of the other runners and won the race, collapsing in a heap.

That could very well be the Red Sox. Stumbling out of the gate. Looking lost. Even their rivals taking note. And then, composed, taking off at full speed.

Since falling to 2-10 with stupid 7-6 loss last Friday to Toronto, the Red Sox won their next three. They outscored Blue Jays in the three games by a combined score of 21-3.

They head off to Oakland and then to Anaheim and Baltimore. Going 5-4 in that stretch isn’t asking a lot.

Bit by bit they’ll catch up with the pack.

Cue up the Vangelis.

The Padres look like champs… against the Dodgers

If Giant fans are looking for any silver lining about this rancid night of baseball for them… they lost another low scoring game and the Padres took over first place because the Dodgers just… don’t… care… they can find comfort knowing that tomorrow night, the Padres reign of dominance ends.

You see for the past month or so, the Padres are incapable of putting together a winning streak, unless they are playing Los Angeles.

Don’t believe me?
On August 25th, the Padres beat the D’Backs to take a 6 1/2 game lead over the Giants. They had the best record in the National League and were in line to have home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Since then? They are 9-17… struggling to even qualify for the post season.
They went on their epic 10 game losing streak…
And along the way they lost series to:

The Phillies, The Diamondbacks, The Rockies, the Giants and the Cardinals.

They have won 2 series… one against Colorado and now two against the Dodgers.
They swept the Dodgers at the beginning of September and are on the verge of sweeping them again.

So keep this in mind: In games since August 25th against teams NOT called the Dodgers, the Padres record is a mind boggling 4-17.

Just imagine if the Dodgers actually gave a damn and tried. (I watched the game tonight and last night… LA is on autopilot. In the same stretch they are 8-17… essentially the Padres equivalent.)

The Padres have 1 more game against LA (an easy win for San Diego.)
Then they face a Reds team that has home field advantage in their sites, a Cubs team that is suddenly hot and then the showdown with the Giants to end the season.

I have a feeling they will end up nostalgic for the Dodgers games.

Offensive offense

Well, I already made the “Looks Like I Picked The Wrong Week To Quit…” joke from Airplane.

But I can honestly say right now the Giants need Willie Mays… NOW… at age 79…

He could easily hit 6th on this Giants team.

They’ve gone into Wrigley Field and scored a run.
One.

If Buster Posey’s flyball doesn’t clear the wall last night they would have been shut out two straight nights.

Want a scary stat?
In the Giants last 13 games they have scored 38 runs.
That’s just under 3 runs a game. Not good for a pennant contender.

Want some scarier numbers?

Those 38 runs INCLUDES the 7 run outburst on September 9th, the 6 run game on September 12th, the 10 run game on September 16th and the 9 run game on Sunday the 19th.

So 32 of the 38 runs were scored in those 4 games.

Ready for some scary division?

In 9 critical “can’t really afford to drop a game” stretch run games, the Giants scored a total of 6 runs.

Not per game.
All together.

This September they have lost 6 games where they have held the opposition to 3 runs or fewer.

Chew on that as they fall out of the playoff picture for at least a day and head to Colorado after tomorrow’s game.

Bumgarner is on the mound. Hopefully the Giants can have one of their fluke offensive outbursts.