BOSTON - John Farrell has gone to bat for his team more than anybody else.
The question is, how much longer can he do it? Farrell was understandably frustrated with Thursday's 8-4 loss to the Twins, and, as he did after a loss last weekend in Texas, showed that frustration after the game.
"It's lapse of concentration, that's the only thing I can explain right now," Farrell said of his veteran team's sloppy performance. "They're routine plays. Plays that guys have made throughout their careers consistently. That was not a display of it today."
Farrell wasn't about to stand up for Pablo Sandoval's miscues in the field -- and he certainly wasn't going to defend Hanley Ramirez forgetting how many outs there were on the basepaths (WATCH).
Regarding Sandoval, Farrell said there's nothing physical hampering him in the field or at the plate. The throw he made in the sixth inning just sailed high, and the throw that came his way in the ninth inning from Blake Swihart was "not a difficult short hop".
Over his last 19 games, Sandoval is hitting just .117 (7-for-60) with one home run and two RBI. He does not have a multihit game in that stretch.
Farrell was asked if he'd consider sitting Sandoval for multiple games like he did David Ortiz last week.
"Consider it? Yeah," Farrell said. "Nothing's been decided. At this point, everything is open for review and discussion."
But Sandoval has historically been a good third baseman. Ramirez has never been a left fielder, and still doesn't look like one through two months of the season. In the ninth inning with the Twins up 5-4, Ramirez took a bad route to a ball hit his way, and it fell over his head on the warning track, scoring another run (WATCH). It was just the latest of his miscues out there.
How much longer can Farrell tolerate it?
"Well, we've begun to more routinely and regularly (replace Ramirez for defensive purposes) late in the games (when the Red Sox are leading)," Farrell said. "But trying to get David [Ortiz] going, trying to get the middle of the order going, (the Sox need to leave Ortiz at DH, which leaves Ramirez stuck in left field). And that's a work in progress, we know, with Hanley."
But is Farrell satisfied with the work Ramirez is putting in on the field before games? He wouldn't say that he was.
"He typically, like all other outfielders, shags a group of BP," Farrell said. "It's a work in progress. We've got work to do. There's no denying that. There's no skirting around that. We've got to anticipate more and begin to expect more. There's been games such as yesterday where I thought Hanley got some good reads and breaks on some balls, and we're striving to gain some consistency."
One would think -- and hope -- that Ramirez would put in a little extra work in the outfield (maybe shag two groups of BP?) in order to get more comfortable out there. But it doesn't look or sound like that's the case right now.
Farrell did not speak to his team after Thursday's game, but it doesn't mean things won't be discussed at a later date. Farrell said he "absolutely" took this performance personally.
"That was a poor display of baseball today," Farrell said. "Those situations are addressed individually, it's addressed collectively, and we will continue to do so."