When the Red Sox lost 3-0 to Texas on Thursday night, the Sox fell to 6-10 on the year and 2-5 on their current ten-game homestand. The Sox are off to their worst 16-game start since the 1996 team was 3-13. Here is an amazingly bad Red Sox stat. Their catchers have combined to throw out one runner all year in 37 attempts. That is not wrong, I checked it three times.

Victor Martinez has thrown out just 1 of 26 base stealers and Jason Varitek is 0 for 11. (Matt Wieters has thrown out 5 of 12 trying to steal, by the way, the third best percentage in the AL). But can the O's even take advantage of that this weekend? First, they'll need to get someone on base vs. Jon Lester tonight. Secondly, they are last in the AL with just three steals all year in six tries. A team that can't run vs. a team that can't stop the running game. It will be interesting to track that stat this weekend. Like the O's, the Sox aren't hitting much. They have plated 65 runs in 16 games. They are 0-7 when scoring three runs or less. There are more poor Boston stats. Red Sox starting pitchers are 3-6, 5.63 on the season. It seems the O's are running into a team tonight playing almost as poorly as they are. Almost. The O's have two wins all year and Boston won twice in the Texas series. The O's have injures and Boston this week put Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron on the DL. As bad as the O's start has been, should they shock all of us and sweep the Sox this weekend, they would move to within one game of the 4th-place Sox. Yes, I know the O's went 2-16 last year vs. Boston. Boston's fans must feel this is the weekend their club reverses its poor start and beats a familiar whipping boy. Will the O's be up for the challenge?