Too early to panic? Red Sox just want to go home after long, ugly road trip

PHOENIX — The Boston Red Sox have never looked more forward to a 2,295-mile, 4 ½-hour flight in their lives.

Finally, for the first time in months, they will be home, sleeping in their own beds. On top of that, the team is anxiously awaiting Tuesday's home opener at Fenway Park and the presentation of their World Series championship rings. 

They can be reminded that they once were a good baseball team. The best in all of baseball. Perhaps one day, this year’s version can be that good again.

But nowadays, as hard as it is to fathom, they have the most losses in the American League with a 3-8 record through Sunday and have been outscored by a major-league-worst 26 runs.

Considering the repulsiveness of the opening weeks– equalling the worst 10-game start in franchise history – the reception at Fenway Park may not be quite the warm, loving embrace they felt riding on those Duck Boats in their parade last fall.

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“I don’t think anybody has ever gotten their World Series rings and gotten booed,’’ Red Sox starter David Price said. “We just need to get back home and have all our fans remind us how good we are.”

If nothing else, they can re-introduce themselves, considering they’re almost unrecognizable with their horrid play. It has been so ugly that the Red Sox have had a lead for only seven innings this season, and have yet to take a single lead into the ninth inning.

Through Saturday, the starting rotation – being paid $88 million – had yielded a major-league worst 9.13 ERA, 16 home runs and .330 opponents' batting average.

Starter David Price produced the first RBI of his career Saturday, which is just two fewer than the combined total this season of third baseman Rafael Devers, center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. and shortstop Xander Bogaerts. Only two teams in baseball have committed more errors.

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“It’s frustrating,’’ Price said, “everybody in here is frustrated. We’ve been through a lot together, this group of guys together, for the last two or three years. So, we’ll be OK. I think everybody in here understands that.’’

Said Bradley Jr.: “We are a good team. Nobody here has forgotten that. I think it’s good that we experienced some adversity early like this. We got kicked in the teeth. Now, we got to fight back.’’

This is a group that hasn’t experienced adversity like this during their time together. They’ve won three consecutive division titles. And last year they had perhaps the greatest team in Red Sox history, winning 108 games during the season, and 119 overall, going 11-3 in the postseason.

“Last year was Disney World,’’ Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “This year is real baseball. We never took anything from granted last year, but there are a few things we need to get better. They are attacking us different than last year. It’s not like we were ambushed. It’s just that teams have made adjustments to us. We have to make adjustments, too.

“We learned a lot from this road trip, that’s for sure.’’

Still, there are ominous signs that are scaring the daylights out of Red Sox Nation.

Ace Chris Sale, who just signed a five-year, $145 million contract extension, doesn't look like the man who has started the last three All-Star Games. His fastball averaged 95.57 mph last season but through two starts in 2019, Sale's velocity has dropped off to 91.31. He has thrown 50 four-seam fastballs this season, and is yet to generate a single swing-and-miss.

Former Cy Young winner Rick Porcello, throwing more fastballs up in the zone that most scouts have ever seen him against Arizona, has given up 16 runs (11 earned) and 16 hits in just 7 ⅓ innings. Designated hitter J.D. Martinez is the only regular hitting higher than .270.

“Just because the name on the back of their jersey is prominent,’’ said Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Adam Jones, who tormented the Red Sox again during the weekend, “that doesn’t guarantee you anything. The roster says they’ll be good, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to play.’’

The Red Sox should have known all along this odyssey to open the season would lead to the wacky and the bizarre.

What other team would have a 2-year-old son poke their dad in the right eye on opening day, and eight days later, necessitate a 10-day injured list stint for infielder Brock Holt?

“It’s not funny,’’ Holt said, “but it is funny. He [Griffin] walks around and tells everyone he poked me in the eye. Being a dad, he got me.’’

What other World Series championship team do you know at had to employ an infielder to pitch in their ninth game of the season? The last time he pitched was 20 years ago in Little League. Yes, that was Eduardo Nunez on the mound trying to save the Red Sox bullpen in the eighth inning of their 15-8 loss to the Diamondbacks. It was the first time a Red Sox position player pitched in an inter-league game in 15 years.

“Hopefully,’’ Cora said, “we never have to do that again.’’

And what other team would be on the road two months to open a season? The Red Sox opened spring training on Feb. 12 in Fort Myers, Fla., traveled 1,865 miles to Phoenix to play two exhibition games against the Chicago Cubs, another 1,111 miles to open the season in Seattle, 685 miles to Oakland to play the Athletics, 650 miles to Phoenix to play the Diamondbacks, and now 2,295 miles Sunday night to finally return to Boston.

If you’re counting, that’s 6,606 miles in 15 days.

It’s the longest road trip to open a season in franchise history.

“It feels like we’ve been on the road forever," Red Sox reliever Heath Hembree said.

Said Bradley Jr.: “I love playing in warm weather, but I don’t even care what the weather is in Boston. I just want to get home.’’

Certainly, the ruthless schedule, without a single off-day since opening day, would provide ample opportunity to make excuses for their awful performance. To thet Red Sox’s credit, no one is complaining.

If nothing else, they got their worst trip out of the way, with only one eight-game west coast trip remaining, which includes two off-days. They are home 16 of the next 21 games. And, hey, their hated rivals, the New York Yankees, are only .500.

The Red Sox may stink right now, but sorry, Cora says, he’s not blaming the travel.

“It hasn’t been easy, but at the same time,’’ Cora says, “we don’t make any excuses. This is the big leagues. We don’t travel in middle seats. We don’t stay in motels. The way they treat us in the clubhouse is five stars.’’

A World Series hangover, perhaps?

Uh, no.

“I don’t believe in hangovers,” Cora said. "The only hangover is when you go out drinking and the next day you’ve got a headache. We’ve all been there.”

Well, considering their start, losing their first three series to three teams whose payroll are each at least $100 million lower than the Red Sox, and have had their first four-game losing streak in two years, who can blame Red Sox Nation for having throbbing migraines these days?

“If I’m a Red Sox fan, or a person in the media,’’ Holt said, “I’m probably going to be panicking, too. We go from a 17-2 start last year to the way we started this year. It’s not pretty.

“Hopefully, when we get our World Series rings, we can look around and say, “Hey man, it’s the same group of guys. We know we’re a good team. Once we get going, we’ll be fine. It can only go up from here, right?’’

Said Sale: “Will you please tell people we’ve played zero home games. It’s obviously not the way we wanted to start, but there’s nothing we can do about it now.’’

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If the Red Sox had a do-over, perhaps they wouldn’t have rested their starters as long as they did this spring. The Red Sox wanted to compensate for the postseason, and kept their starters grounded until late in the spring.

Who knows for sure if the result would have been any different, but in their first two times through the rotation, their five starters have yielded 54 runs (47 earned), 65 hits, 16 homers, 26 walks, 39 strikeouts in 46 ⅓ innings. That computes to a 9.13 ERA – nearly seven runs higher a game than they produced during their 17-2 start last season.

“Without looking at the stats,’’ Cora said, “we kept the ball in the ballpark last year. We’ve got a bunch of guys in there that they can throw the ball. We know that. We know we’re going to pitch. We just have to figure out somehow, someway. As soon as we start pitching, we’ll be fine.

“Same thing we did things last year, we’re going to do it again. I keep telling the guys, we’re talented. We’re going to play good baseball.

“You’ve just got to stay calm.’’

Go ahead, you try telling that to their fans who have watched the Red Sox already lose more games than they did all of last April when they were 21-7.

“It’s just one of things you live with,’’ reigning AL MVP Mookie Betts said. “We’re human. Things happen. But we know we’re better than this.

“We’ve got a whole lot of games left to go out there and prove it.’’

Yes, and still 81 games played at home, too.

Follow Nightengale on Twitter: @Bnightengale