This isn't the Red Sox year

Alright, so it's basically over at this point -- and we're gonna pin it all on Chris Owings.

Actually, no, giving Owings all of the blame would be absurd, but it goes to show how the Red Sox season is going that this even has to be mentioned.

Following Sunday's loss to the Los Angeles Angels, the Boston Red Sox trailed by 17 games in the AL East standings and were 7.5 behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the wildcard race. In other words, it looks like a playoff appearance probably is not in the book -- and the team has a lot of problems...

So Andrew Cashner has been demoted to the bullpen--even though he shouldn't be pitching at all again this season for the Red Sox. Rick Porcello still has a spot in the rotation even though he shouldn't. Michael Chavis has struggled for most of the season if you exclude the first 15 games of the year where he was hot.

But let's not forget Alex Cora batted Chris Owings leadoff against the Angels.
The dude came up from Triple-A Pawtucket, and that's fine. But he was hitting extremely poorly against left-handed pitchers and was playing on no sleep -- and Cora decides to bat him leadoff. Then, Owings went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. Truly amazing.

At this point, why not give some young guys a shot to thrive in the big leagues? Calling up Bobby Dalbec would make things more interesting. When Steve Pearce gets back, he should not be in the mix (no point). Let's see how Sam Travis can handle first base. What's Tzu-Wei Lin up to these days? And what about Marco Hernandez, who is a solid MLB hitter?

The Sox might as well call this one a lost cause and hold auditions for 2019. Interested to see what some young guys can do...