Seven and Counting

Well, things sure have gone south in a big way! With today's loss to the Jays, the Sox have now dropped seven in a row, and are only slightly ahead of the Rays in avoiding the cellar. A short week ago, they were a half game out of first in the AL East. It's no one thing that seems to be hurting them. The pitching hasn't been good, for the most part, and when it has, no hits, at least timely ones with men on base, have come. And speaking of hitting, a  number of team members averages have plummeted, while others still haven't started hitting yet. Papi was playing like this was the World Series a week ago in the Twins series, and now he's dropped to .275 from over .300.  Pierzynski has been deep in a major slump, something now like 4 for 40, or somewhere in that neighborhood. Vic has dropped from over .300 to .253 after today's abortion, and so on and so on. As for pitching, Lester, who up to today was pitching far better than his record showed, gave up ten hits, a pair of freebies and seven (not a typo) runs in 6 2/3, and got only 3 K's, which for him is a disaster. The streak is now more than twice as long as the worst losing streak of last year, and is the worst steak since the Hose lost their final eight games in 2012. You remember 2012--well, maybe you've deliberately built a mental wall against ever remembering that Valentine tainted year, but trust me, it wasn't pretty. Which is the way that this short season so far is beginning to look.
On the plus side, as the rest of the Div hasn't done overwhelmingly well, the Sox are still well within reach of the other teams, but they can't let this go on for too long. Drew finally signed a contract, having given up getting paid NOTHING for his free agency try, and Holt is not only holding above .300, he's actually climbing. PREDICTION: streak goes to 10 (hello Billy Jurges) and then the team turns it around. If they don't....