Mookie Betts Shoulders Blame For Early Slump, Calls Play ‘Unacceptable’
The Boston Red Sox aren’t very good right now, and Mookie Betts thinks he’s a big part of the problem.
The defending World Series champions fell to 6-11 on the young season Monday with a loss to the lowly Baltimore Orioles, settling for a series split with the team against whom Boston won 16 of 19 games a year ago.
Betts, the reigning American League MVP, has yet to show anything resembling his 2018 form. He turned in a listless 0-for-3 performance Monday with a strikeout, dropping his batting average to .222 on the season. Betts has just three home runs and seven RBIs while striking out 13 times in 17 games.
To say it’s a far cry from last year’s performance would be an understatement, and Betts is at least acknowledging his play needs to be better.
Mookie Betts: “What I’m doing right now is unacceptable.”
— Jason Mastrodonato (@JMastrodonato) April 15, 2019
Mookie Betts: "It's tough having so much success last year and not really having any right now."
— Christopher Smith (@SmittyOnMLB) April 15, 2019
Of course, the Red Sox’s struggles are from Betts’ fault alone. In fact, the Red Sox have lost both of his three-hit games this season — by a combined 15 runs. When Betts homers, the Red Sox are 0-3.
It’s hard to put too much blame on Betts, but a turnaround for the Red Sox likely will be sparked by a turnaround from their superstar right fielder.
