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The Boston Red Sox's offense is in the grips of a major funk in the American League Championship Series, which leads to one of two possible conclusions: Either it's time to shave the beards, or resurrect the video from that 20-4 laugher over Detroit in early September for some inspiration.
Here we are, four games into the series, and Boston's lineup doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to the group that led the majors with 853 runs scored and a .795 OPS during the regular season. How offense-challenged are the Sox right now? They scored three runs and struck out 10 times Wednesday night, and it seemed like an offensive extravaganza.
The Sox did manage to accumulate 12 hits (four by leadoff man Jacoby Ellsbury) and produce baserunners galore in a 7-3 loss to the Tigers. But they went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base as the Tigers evened the series at two wins each. On a positive note, the Red Sox were a portrait in civility and good sportsmanship. David Ortiz, whose monumental grand slam at Fenway Park last weekend remains his only hit in 15 at-bats in the series, spent most of his postgame media scrum raving about Detroit's rotation and the challenges it presents.
With good reason. The Red Sox are hitting .186 as a team in the series. Detroit's four starters -- Anibal Sanchez, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and Doug Fister -- are a combined 2-1 with a 1.00 ERA, with 42 strikeouts and 14 hits allowed in 27 innings. If they were this good during the regular season, the Baseball Writers Association might have to find a way to divide the Cy Young Award into quadrants.
"The way they've been pitching, they're taking things to another level," Ortiz said. "The scouting reports have something to do with it, but the scouting report doesn't pitch out there. Those guys still have to execute, and they're executing perfectly fine."