The Red Sox had a 1-5 record this past week.

Uh oh. 

Culminating in a game with despicable umpiring where manager Bobby Valentine got tossed, this was a shitty week by all means. However, we lost to two pretty damn good teams – the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Nationals – but now we’re six games out of the American League East and looking more and more like a joke of a squad amongst giants in our strong division. 

Do us fans just keep saying to ourselves “We just need to get Jacoby (Ellsbury) and Carl (Crawford) back, then we’ll be good,” or do we stop giving this mediocre team a sellout crowd to cheer them on and demand major moves from the front office? The answer surely isn’t definitive, considering the Sox are only 2 games under .500, far away from the worst teams in the MLB.

I’m stumped, personally. Here are this week’s player awards. 

Best Hitter:  After being a critic of him last week, shortstop Mike Aviles has earned his way back into the good graces of myself and other Red Sox fans by starting to hit the ball again with a lot less strikeouts than last week. 

Best Pitcher: Clay Buckholz – you need to learn a thing or two about the beauty of consistency, bro. After pitching like a minor-leaguer over the last month you’ve FINALLY shown us a hint of the potential that we KNEW was still within you by throwing that gem of a shutout against a potent O’s offense.  

Biggest Surprise: Scott Podsednik is doing a hell of a job as an outfielder. He went 4-11 filling in for whomever he’s filling in for in our depleted outfield. 

Biggest Disappointment: Up until Sunday’s beastly performance, Big Papi David Ortiz was looking a little fatigued. Maybe it’s time for Bobby V to give the big fella a little rest. After all, he is 36 years old. 

Unsung Hero: Give me Daniel Nava on my ball club ANY DAY. This kid comes out to play to better his career by bettering the team he plays for because he fought so hard to get this far. 

Injuries: Japanese Superman Daisuke Matsuzaka is back, and he fanned eight in his outing against the Orioles but also gave up four runs in only five innings. This guy is useless. He and his five-inning outings royally wear out and fuck up our bullpen rotation. We need to tell this guy to screw off at the end of the year when we finish paying off his mammoth contract. 

Bum Of The Week: I hate to go back to the Bobby Valentine hate, but buddy, you need to light a fire under these guys asses. Remember, this is the chicken & beer squad – they don’t amp themselves up. 

Coming Up: Three at the Miami Marlins followed by three at the Chicago Cubs with a travel day in between. It will be interesting to see how the Sox do in interleague play away from home against two fairly subpar National League teams.