Quarter of season shows Red Sox flaws

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The Boston Red Sox have basically completed one-quarter of the season. They have Thursday off as an opportunity to lick their wounds and assess their M*A*S*H issues after a disappointing 4-6 trip through Detroit, Minnesota and Baltimore that finished with four losses in a row and five in the last six games. They will open interleague play Friday night of their schedule when Milwaukee visits Fenway Park for a three-game set. Check around the baseball world and experts still consider the Red Sox to be the class of the American League and a good bet to make it back to the World Series with a chance to claim back-to-back World Championships, even if they are a half-game behind surprising Tampa Bay Rays in the A.L. East. But no team is perfect. The Red Sox aren't going to waltz to the pennant just by showing up and throwing their gloves on the field. This interlude in the schedule provides an opportunity to discuss some concerns facing the Red Sox at the quarter-pole:-- HIDEKI OKAJIMAThe left-hander's earned-run average is a sparkling 0.93. He has permitted only two earned runs in 19 1/3 innings. So what's to worry about here? Well, manager Terry Francona might want to stop bringing him into games with runners on base, because Okajima has been a bust in those situations. Wednesday in Baltimore, Okajima entered the game with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh inning and the Red Sox ahead, 3-2. Two pitches later, Boston was trailing, 6-3. Jay Payton clubbed that second pitch for a grand slam. An aberration, you say? Hardly. Okajima has inherited 14 baserunners this year, and 11 have scored. He has inherited three bases-loaded situations, and eight of those nine baserunners have crossed the plate. Those numbers are in stark contrast to other, much more efficient outings when he is brought in to start an inning, such as last weekend in Minnesota, where he needed only 15 pitches to retire all six batters he faced in one game, and 12 to work a one-two-three inning the next night. Coincidence? "I don't really know the numbers. It's hard to put stock in them," said catcher Jason Varitek. "I do know we've had to bring him in a lot in the seventh inning." Indeed, the ideal situation for Boston is to bring in Okajima to start the eighth inning with a lead, have him pitch his one inning and then turn the ball over to closer Jonathan Papelbon. But the reason Okajima has had to come into the game earlier, on a more frequent basis, is the next cause for concern.-- THE "BRIDGE''Otherwise known as the seventh inning, generally the transitional inning from the starter to the two-man closing team of Okajima and Papelbon. There is trouble here. Mike Timlin can't be counted on to provide the bridge. Manny Delcarmen was supposed to be the guy, but his stock has slipped because of his inconsistency. So the Sox seem to be giving Craig Hansen the opportunity to prove he can perform the role. On the 10-game trip, Delcarmen pitched only twice. Hansen, the former first-round pick who had great numbers at Class AAA Pawtucket, escaped a roster bullet when Julian Tavarez was designated for assignment and was used four times on the trip. The results were mixed, but the lasting impression was the final game Wednesday. Hansen faced two batters with two outs in the seventh and didn't retire either one (a hit and a walk), leaving the bases full for Okajima, who was unable to clean up the mess. Is it time to give David Aardsma a shot in the role? The right-hander has been unscored upon in his last seven outings, totaling 7-2/3 innings.-- OFFENSEGetting base hits has not been a problem. Getting productive hits and stringing them together for big innings has been, at least on the latter part of the trip. Take the last three losses. In each game, the Red Sox had a 3-0 lead. In the first two of those games, Boston had its 3-0 lead in the first inning, before the opposition even batted. Francona likes to talk about spreading the game out, expanding the lead. That didn't happen. The first night the Sox had a 3-0 first-inning lead, but never scored again. They had 12 hits, but went just 3 for 16 with runners on base after the first inning. The second night, they scored only one more run. They had nine hits, but were 2 for 12 with runners on after the first. Then Wednesday, the 3-0 sixth-inning lead melted into a 6-3 loss. Again Boston was 2 for 12 with runners on base for the game. It's just a small sample, but the Red Sox seem to be in a rut right now. "It seems like when we hit well we don't pitch, and when we pitch well we don't hit," said Varitek. Maybe this is all nitpicking. It was just one road trip. Even Papelbon blew a couple of saves on the journey. It happens. He's still one of the most dominant closers in the game and hardly a concern. But injuries are mounting. J.D. Drew (hyperextended left wrist), Julio Lugo (concussion) and Coco Crisp (migraine-like symptoms) could be on the shelf for a while. Manny Ramirez's hamstring could become an issue at any time. Josh Beckett hasn't been his ace-like self. Daisuke Matsuzaka hasn't found a consistent groove yet. The point is, the Red Sox are better than most teams, and the likelihood is they will make it to the postseason. But it isn't going to be easy. They have their flaws. Anyone expecting the rest of the season to be a cakewalk is going to be disappointed.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)