Keller @ Large: What's Wrong With The Red Sox?

BOSTON (CBS) - The Red Sox have the night off tonight before they take on one of the few teams in the majors worse than them, the Cubs.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

And frankly, it's a relief to have a night without having to watch them stumble through what's looking more and more like a lost season of futility.

What's wrong with the Sox?

Obviously, injuries are a big part of it.

We lost our closer before the season even started, our best all-around player early on when Jacoby Ellsbury went down, and Cody Ross was hitting well before he got hurt.

We're still waiting on Carl Crawford to return – sort of.

Still, most of our key players have been available, and we still stink.

Why?

Thanks to the wonder of the Internet, it's easy enough to hop online and check the stats, and here are a few that tell the story.

As Red Sox teams always do, we continue to score lots of runs, ranking third in the majors in runs per game, not that far off last year's major-league-leading pace.

But we're not hitting for power the way we used to, ranking only 10th in homers.

We don't manufacture base-runners well, standing 22nd in walks, well behind last year's pace when we were second only to the Yankees.

And we are the Green Line at rush hour when it comes to moving around the bases, dead last in stolen bases, and next to last in attempted steals.

That may improve when Ellsbury comes back, but don't expect much out of Crawford. He was 39th in the league in steals last year, with only 18.

And we're sacrificing runners along at a mediocre pace, only 17th in the majors, even as we're 12th in runners left in scoring position.

Ugh.

And the manager?

Don't ask.

Men's Journal magazine surveyed a hundred major league players, and they ranked Bobby Valentine the second least-respected manager in the game, trailing only Ozzie Guillen, Fidel Castro's number one fan.

Did I mention we're fifth in the majors in errors per game?

Yes, it's a good thing the Sox are off tonight. I bet I'm not the only fan who needs a break from all the fun we're having.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.