The Boston Red Sox's opening series brought about a lot of frustration for such an early time in the calendar.
Getting upset about the results of baseball games when the calendar still says March doesn't usually bode well for one's psyche over the next six months. That said, there's no doubting that the Boston Red Sox's first series of the season was ripe for fan anguish.
A few preventable low moments kept the Red Sox from taking at least two out of three games, and the culprits have already begun taking heat from a famously restless fan base. Here were the three players taking the worst of the heat after Sunday's 3-2 series finale, and who all might continue to face jeers online and in person if their game doesn't turn around.The pressure of playing for the Red Sox, even on the road, is a lot harsher than that of the Milwaukee Brewers. And Durbin, who once played Division III college ball, might understandably have been putting extra pressure on himself to deliver in his first weekend in the uniform of one of baseball's signature franchises. Fortunately, 12 at-bats makes up about 2% of a baseball season, so Durbin has a long, long time to turn things around. But because Red Sox fans are Red Sox fans, there were already people ready to take his job away, though that would be a calamitous overreaction. Caleb Durbin is 0-12 with 5 strikeouts. He’s hit just 2 balls out of the infield on opening weekend for the Red Sox. Duran, on the other hand, has had as much time as any of the team's position players to learn the ups and downs of wearing a Red Sox uniform. And what he probably should have learned by now is that getting picked off first base by a right-handed pitcher can't happen in the eighth inning of a one-run game.Duran shouldn't have anyone calling for his full-on benching, but there are plenty of fans who have long wanted him traded, and that's not likely to slow down if he keeps having mental lapses on the bases.Weissert was one of those relief pitchers whose stats looked good at the end of last season, but every time you watched him pitch, it felt like disaster was lurking around the corner. In his first two outings this season, home runs have provided that disaster.Any reliever who can't hold a lead is going to draw the ire of the people rooting for a win, so Weissert taking the loss in game two and giving up key blows in both defeats is going to have him behind the eight ball in the court of public opinion for a while.Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Boston Red Sox On SI, please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@moreviewsmedia.com
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