The Sox have to hit

The Globe’s Nick Cafardo was right on last week in his column entitled “This anemic offense could use a little iron.” Losing to the Cubs on Friday was very discouraging, though they did win the next two games. Stats don’t tell the story unless you dig a little bit

As of Saturday, the Sox were third in the majors in runs, hits and average and led in doubles, a number no doubt helped by the Green Monster. But in certain areas, the offense is not doing the job. Team speed is one of them. Boston was 30th in baseball in both stolen bases and triples.They also led the majors in fly-ball outs, which seems to show a shortness of power. Another telling stat is an average of 7.48 runners left on base per game at home. Fenway is traditionally where the Red Sox can clear the bases, but it just isn’t happening.

Injuries, of course, have been crippling. Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford won’t be back for a while- that is two thirds of their starting outfield. One fine replacement, Cody Ross, is also sidelined indefinitely with a broken foot. Subs like Scott Posednik and Ryan Sweeney have helped, but neither will carry the team over the long haul. The same can probably be said about Will Middlebrooks, Daniel Nava, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia, though all three are having fine years.

Two of the biggest disappointments so far have been Adrian Gonzales and Dustin Pedroia. As of Friday, Pedroia was at .275 with only 5 homers and 25 rbi’s. Worse still, he had only 3 stolen bases-three times in his career he has topped the 20 mark, including 26 in 2011. He too has been injured, and with Ellsbury also out, the Sox are too often station-to-station in baserunning. Another underachiever has been Gonzales at .267 with 5 homers and 35 rbi’s. How many times have we seen Gonzo get meaningless hits in out-of-reach games, then fail to produce when the contest is close?

At present, no hitter is carrying the team. Big Papi has tried, but he can’t do it alone. Cafardo mentioned several trade possibliites, but I don’t want to see good prospects suddenly gone for questionable replacements, I’d like to see them at least make a run for the wild card, but Sox fans might have to be content with a transitional season.