Sox Beat: Life without Nixon, Varitek is a struggle

August 17, 2006 | Union Leader | By Alex Speier

 

Boston – The Yankees never missed a beat after losing lineup mainstays Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui. The Red Sox cannot say the same in the absence of longtime stalwarts Trot Nixon and Jason Varitek.

Since Matsui went down on May 11, the Yankees (who owned a 19-13 record and .594 winning percentage at the time) entered yesterday having gone 51-33 (.607). Somehow, even after losing Sheffield on May 29, the team owned a 41-26 (.612) mark.

Without the two New York stars, the Yankees have stayed afloat on the strength of larger contributions from the rest of their players. Derek Jeter is enjoying one of the finest years of his storied career, batting .343 with a .418 OBP, while tablesetter Johnny Damon has been brilliant in his maiden campaign in the Bronx. Damon has already swatted 17 homers, and is almost certain to exceed his personal high of 20 set in 2004.

The Sox, conversely, have watched their lead in the American League East evaporate since the loss of their fifth and seventh hitters. The team owned a 63-41 (.606) record on July 31, but entered last night with a 5-9 (.357) mark since losing Varitek in that contest. Few, if any, Sox players have stepped up their performance since their longest-tenured position players went down.

“We haven’t played well,” pronounced Curt Schilling. “We go into Tampa Bay and Kansas City (for a six-game roadtrip). That’s not a roadtrip where a first-place team doesn’t win five. We were a first-place team, and we haven’t been playing like one.”

Though both right fielder Wily Mo Pena and catcher Doug Mirabelli have offered power spikes in place of the players for whom they are filling in, the team still concedes that its lineup lacks balance. While both fill-ins are capable of hitting the ball out of the park, the team’s “keep the line moving” philosophy of stacking the lineup with hitters who get on base has suffered.

Team catchers have a .283 OBP this month, while the right fielders have gotten at base at a .310 clip. Those results have emboldened opposing pitchers, who have held the Sox to just four runs per game in their nine defeats this month.

“With Tek and Trot, it changes the makeup of games. There’s definitely a respect factor that comes along with those two guys,” noted Mirabelli. “I think opposing pitchers will definitely feel more confident facing us than they would those guys. That confidence makes them better. Those two guys put a little bit more fear in opposing pitchers, which causes mistakes, I think, more often than with us.”

Right-handers, in particular, have become more successful attacking the Sox lineup. Whereas the switch-hitting Varitek and left-handed Nixon both stung opposing righties, their absence means that the Sox primarily operate with a lineup in which every hitter (Manny Ramirez, Kevin Youkilis, Mike Lowell, Wily Mo Pena, Javier Lopez or Mirabelli and Alex Gonzalez) after David Ortiz is a righty.

The vulnerability is evident. Whereas the team owned a .289 average, .367 OBP and .466 slugging against righties prior to this month, those totals have dropped to .266, .337 and .459 in August.

“The one thing we’ve shown right now is that we’re very right-handed dominant,” said manager Terry Francona. “Saying that, Wily Mo’s done a great job, Dougie’s starting to hit with some production. So has Javy. I don’t think that’s been the problem.”

Then what has? Given the wide-ranging problems — poor performances against righties, blown leads by the bullpen, short outings from starters and fielding blunders — there is a temptation to suggest that the absence of the three longest-tenured veterans (Nixon, Varitek and Tim Wakefield) of the club has unsettled the team, particularly given the ensemble of newcomers who are attending their first rodeo in Boston.

“I think pressure in Boston is a lot worse than in most other places,” noted Mirabelli. “Those guys have carried so much of the load for this team. Now maybe the load falls to other guys who aren’t used to carrying that pressure. (The mainstays) understand it a little bit better than maybe guys who haven’t had to do it as much.”