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Road Trip from Hell

By Evan Brunell | March 27th, 2008

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The Red Sox are back in town after splitting the Japan Series with the Oakland Athletics and now move on to the second phase of their grueling 19-day road trip.

Imagine for a minute that you are sunning yourself in Florida, limbering up to go back to work. You are placed on a flight to Japan, stay there for a few days and go to work, then fly to Los Angeles where you suddenly have no need to work again. You then fly to Oakland where work rears its ugly head, then hop on a plane to Toronto for a few days, then to Boston, where Miguel Cabrera is waiting… all in the span of 19 days.

That’s one ugly road trip.

Here’s the full road trip, courtesy of Boston.com’s Extra Bases:

March 28: Red Sox at Dodgers, 10:40 p.m. (Exhibition) — No TV — Bartolo Colon
March 29: Red Sox at Dodgers, 10:10 p.m. (Exhibition at LA Coliseum) — on NESN — Tim Wakefield
March 30: Red Sox at Dodgers, 4:10 p.m. (Exhibition) — No TV — Clay Buchholz
April 1: Red Sox at Athletics, 10:05 p.m. (Regular season) — on NESN — Daisuke Matsuzaka
April 2: Red Sox at Athletics, 3:35 p.m. (Regular season) — on NESN — Jon Lester
April 4: Red Sox at Blue Jays, 7:15 p.m. (Regular season) — on NESN — Pitcher TBD
April 5: Red Sox at Blue Jays, 1:07 p.m. (Regular season) — on NESN — Pitcher TBD
April 6: Red Sox at Blue Jays, 1:07 p.m. (Regular season) — on NESN — Pitcher TBD
April 8: Red Sox vs. Tigers, 2:05 p.m. (Opening Day at Fenway) — on NESN — Pitcher TBD

Not only are they trying to adjust being in three time zones in less than a month (reportedly it takes the body about two weeks to adjust to the Japan/American time zone, so that will be working against them as well) but they have a heck of a hard schedule coming up starting with the Toronto series. It goes @Toronto, Detroit, New York, @Cleveland, @ New York, Texas, Los Angeles, @Tampa Bay, Toronto, Tampa Bay, @Detroit, then on May 9th we get a breather with @Minnesota and @ Baltimore, an off-day, then interleague begins by hosting the Milwaukee Brewers.

With the possible exception of Texas, that’s one tough beginning of the schedule. And the A’s didn’t look all that bad in Japan, either. Three time zones and this slate of opponents? My goodness.

If the Red Sox get off to a slow start, should we be concerned? What happens if it’s May and we’re three games above .500 and sit in third place three or more games behind the Yankees? Should we be concerned?

I say no. Terry Francona has already declared that the excuse of the Japan trip will not be used for any reason both in the past, present and future. Mike Mussina was widely chronicled to be upset about the trip in 2004, but the Yankees ended up winning the division, did they not? Did the jet lag just wait to catch up with them until the ninth inning of Game 4 of the ALCS? I bet that’s it.

Secondly, the schedule is very, very tough in the beginning… which means it will be less tough near the end. (I say less tough, not easier, because it’s still tough to win baseball games.)

For example, after the Brewers, we do not face a serious contender for over two weeks with the exception of Seattle, although they may trend back to their Pythagorean which would eliminate them as a contender (Kansas City, @Oakland, @Seattle, @Baltimore). Even after that slate, they play Tampa Bay, Seattle and Baltimore again before running into Cincinnat and then finally, an opponent to take extremely seriously in Philadelphia on June 16. After that, the rest of June is a cakewalk save for a Diamondbacks entrance, and even then, they should dominate the NL. (Saint Louis, Arizona, @Houston, @Tampa Bay.)

July gets harder (@Tampa Bay, @New York, Minnesota, Baltimore, @Los Angeles, @Seattle, New York, Los Angeles).

August should be enjoyable as we host Oakland, visit Kansas City and Chicago, then return to host Texas and Toronto. The rest of the month: @Baltimore, @Toronto, @New York, Chicago. September brings us Baltimore, @Texas, Tampa Bay, Toronto, @Tampa Bay, @Toronto, Cleveland, New York.

What should we take away from this?

We’re in the hardest part of our schedule. Right now.

Think about that for a second. The hardest part of our schedule is occurring right now and will be over by the first week of May. After that, the schedule isn’t very imposing at all (until the final two series, which may not matter at all). That bodes well.

Let’s keep our patience as we watch the Red Sox hop three countries in a 19-day span. They’re doing this trip when everyone is fresh and ready for the season to start. I’d rather start the season on a tough schedule to get the mentality in place and juices flowing and then beat up on everyone else, wouldn’t you?.

What do you think? Should we be happy that the season starts off so rough and then tapers off?

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 8:01 am and is filed under Evan Brunell. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

14 Responses to “Road Trip from Hell”

Troy says:

March 27th, 2008 at 12:25 pm

Wow. I’m tired just reading that. Yes I will take this
hard part of the Schedule now.
Bucky says:

March 27th, 2008 at 12:37 pm

The poor Red Sox. I hope they are 8 games out by the first of June and fail to make the playoffs.

Red Sox fans are the most obnoxous in baseball. They are even worse than Yankee fans.

Give it a rest. Suck it up I hope the players get paid enough to account for the travel. An extra $40K for the trip?. Jet lag? How about West Coast teams like Seattle having to travel back and forth to Cleveland last year to make up for the snowed-out games. Didn’t see much pity for them.

Play ball!
Sean O says:

March 27th, 2008 at 1:59 pm

God I love Yankees trolls. Welcome, Bucky. When there are thousands dying in Iraq and Darfur and countless other places around the world, we’re honored you decided to make your opinions heard on a site meant for people who won’t care anyway.

Keep up the good work.
bob mac says:

March 27th, 2008 at 5:52 pm

Hey,look at the bright side,you have ready made excuses all ready to go.
Sam says:

March 27th, 2008 at 6:46 pm

I have a quick question … according to your pitching schedule here … next time we play the A’s (Opening Day in America) Dice-K and Lester are the starters again … now is it just me or is it a little wierd to pitch the same two guys against the same team so soon? I guess otherwise it messes up the rotation or wutever and it probably isn’t a big deal … Im just a little curious

Either way yeah … scheduling sucks for us this first month … but if we can survive it things should even out and give us a chance to get in a groove and thrive
Sam says:

March 27th, 2008 at 7:12 pm

@ bob mac (and the troll):

Our bad schedule shouldn’t be used as an “excuse” … if we lose it’s because we didn’t play our best … when we play our best we are THE best … we’re still the WS champs remember ;)

At the same time a rough schedule (especially road schedule) makes it a whole lot harder to play your best consistently … so if we get out of the gate slowly it is probably partly because of the schedule … it definently makes it harder … but IMO it definently shouldn’t be used as an “excuse” or a way to write off a bad record … not with this team
TALL THRILL says:

March 27th, 2008 at 7:40 pm

As for jet lag, I have heard that you adjust about 1 hr a day. Which seems about right from my experience. I doubt the sox were able to get on Japan time anyway, so hopefully it will only take as much time as they were in Japan.

As for the strength of schedule breakdown, it isn’t that easy to call. You never know when a team will be playing its best baseball. With injuries and the way the pitching lines up. I mean wouldn’t it have been nice to play all 19 vs. the Yankees in the first three months of last year when they had all their pitching issues. The schedule looks tough, but there are some good things about it too. Like I would rather play the tigers while Curtis Granderson is on the 15-day disabled list.
TALL THRILL says:

March 27th, 2008 at 7:47 pm

sorry, only 18 vs. the yanks last year right?
TALL THRILL says:

March 27th, 2008 at 7:54 pm

very funny picture at

http://mvn.com/mlb-rays/2008/03/27/i-guess-this-is-the-chemistry-folks-are-talking-about/
Sam says:

March 27th, 2008 at 8:19 pm

lol tall thrill … nice link … the captions added are priceless … Papelbon certainly loves being in front of the cameras
Gerry says:

March 27th, 2008 at 10:52 pm

If the Sox come out of this schedule near the top of the standings, they will have it made. The difficulty of this schedule makes me very happy for our system wide depth.

Barring injuries before May 1, shouldn’t it be about that time some bright lights start moving up like Buckholz, Colon, Ellsbury, Lowrie, Hansen, etc.(this list is much longer), to rest tired arms and position players for the long haul?
TALL THRILL says:

March 28th, 2008 at 4:27 am

yo gerry,
i don’t know what you mean by, “if the Sox come out of this schedule near the top of the standings, they will have it made.” if we are in first after 1 month i still won’t be able to sit back and relax for 5 months and think about resting everyone. if by “the schedule” you mean 162 games, well… i feel will probably feel pretty good about our pitching if we make the playoffs.
but if by “the schedule” you mean one month in the books, i’m probably thinking… 135 more games. and i’m guessing that its gonna come down to the final week in September anyway. lets get there, and its not like 4 games vs. cleavland and then 3 vs. the yankees won’t feel tougher than the first month anyway.
Gerry says:

March 28th, 2008 at 11:02 pm

Hi Tall,
I meant, within the context of Evan’s article, the tough first 5 - 6 weeks through May 9, against enhanced pennant contenders like Detroit, Cleveland, Yankees, etc. I haven’t found another team facing such an early gauntlet on the road. The extended 2007 season, brief 2008 S.T., making early decisions re: the 40 and 25 man rosters, plus the trip to Tokyo, all contribute to making the early season through May 9 more of a challenge than it would be under “normal” circumstances.

The 2007 Sox won first place, and stayed there, in mid-April, holding on through September. This year could be different.

I suspect they will come out strong and stay in contention from the start. But, come May 9, if the Sox need to fight their way back into contention, it will be a long haul, despite the softer schedule. In either case, if they wear down or get beat up during this pressure packed early season (see Drew, Becket, Timlin, Crisp, Lugo), the depth of this team insures it will still contend.
Gerry says:

March 31st, 2008 at 12:54 am

Hi Evan,
Here is a thread related to the Road Trip from Hell. So far, In Tokyo, we barely split the Oakland series, and lost 2 of 3 to the Dodgers in L.A.

We now begin the American part of this road trip with our beat up pitching, and we must rely on our pitching:
1. Becket hurting.
2. Lester taking a beating.
3. Buckholz taking a beating.
4. Papelbon not being Papelbon.
5. Snyder’s head being called for because, after a decent 2008 and mostly good S.T., he exhibited the same control problems of Buckholz, Lester, Breslow, Pap, etc.
6. Timlin is hurting.
7. Schilling may be out for the year.
8. Breslow will be facing us in a Tribe uniform.
9. Aardsma, with such an upside, has been inconsistent.
The good news is that Daisuke, Wakefield, Tavarez, Corey, Lopez, MDC and Oki appear ready to open the season and resume this trip; while Colon could be ready by 5/9, and this new pitcher from Japan sounds awfully good as a free agent. It’s not all bad, but we may not be able to pitch ourselves through this hell-month. So, how do we look on the field?

On the field, while our D looks great, we are wimping out offensively:
1. Papi is slumping.
2. Drew is hurting.
3. Crisp is recovering.
4. Lugo is recovering.
5. Ellsbury ran into the wall.
6. Kielty is heading to AAA or elsewhere and, like Breslow, he isn’t involved in a trade with Coco.
7. Not much pop from the big guys.
8. Not much OBP from the little guys.
9. Our best hitters in S.T. were Moss, Carter and, fortunately, J.D. Drew, Manny, Youk and, surprise, surprise, Tek.
10. The Red Sox of Lowrie, Anderson, Place, Cora, Cash, Thurston and Youk (and Corey’s D) looked pretty good Saturday.

Do we dare make any predictions about how this great team with a long 2007, foreshortened S.T., difficult travel schedule, multiple minor injuries, pitching and hitting issues, is prepared to perform, starting Tuesday, over the next 4 weeks? Blanton vs. Daisuke. Harden vs. Lester. Anything can happen, and there is no doubt they will pull it together. The question is, when will they have the time and energy and wits to get their feet back under them?