This team is depressing
As much as I want to be positive about this team, it’s very hard to do so. Each time AGonz completes an AB, I’m thinking that I’m about to see the top of the order again. Unfortunately, there are always two surprise chumps batting after him these days.
The bullpen acceptable, but Francona does not seem to know how to manage it. Any game in which the Sox have the lead, he will go to Delcarmen in the 7th (if needed), then Timlin for the 8th, then Papelbon for the 9th. Sometimes, as with today, he’ll bring in Timlin or Pap early. There are a couple problems with this. First, it means that if any of those 3 have a bad day, they’re going to negatively impact the team. If any are having a good day, they’re still only going to get 1 IP and give way to someone else who may or may not be good this day. Worst of all, Timlin is not better than Delcarmen right now, and bringing him in to bail out Delcarmen makes no sense.
The back end of the rotation, which you’d think would be the worst part of the team, is actually the least of our concerns these days. Johnson’s looked good in his past 2 starts and Wells looked pretty good in his last one (in which he got singled to death on some well-placed grounders). Beckett should pitch so well as these two.
For the first time, I’m starting to think that this team might not make the playoffs, something that I considered nearly impossible a couple weeks ago. It’ll be disappointing, of course, if they don’t get the division, but they are always a huge underdog for that. What would be far worse is for them not to get the Wild Card, for which they should be the perennial favorite.
Maybe I just need a visit from good ol’ Mr. Sunshine.
Darren
Posted: August 06, 2006 at 05:41 PM |
103 comment(s)
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Schilling's outing last night, not so much... Obviously we want starters to go 7+ and to pitch well. He'd thrown 89 pitches through 7 IP, so it wasn't unreasonable to send him back out there for the 8th, but he defied expectations and imploded nonetheless. Let's call it a fluke and move on.
The next three starts are Johnson (not likely to go deep into the game), Lester (same), and Beckett (depends on which Beckett shows up), and the pen is generally rested thanks to the last two games. If some of those three can step up, keep their pitch counts low, let their league-leading defense do most of the work, and stay out there through 7+ innings, we should see some quality coming through those bullpen doors again.
Having said that, FWIW I'm not about to give full credit to Wells for tonight. He deserves a great deal of credit anyway, what with both his curve and his change working well. But part of the credit goes to Baltimore, and we don't get to play them every day.
Against a struggling pitcher, with a bullpen weakened by heavy use in the past few days, they put the first or second pitch into play 18 times.
0 for 9 putting the first pitch into play. 3 for 9 on the second pitch (2 doubles, I think).
I have nothing against first pitch swinging, if it's the pitch you're looking for. But if you asked the Yankees how they'd want the Sox bats to approach the game, that would be it.
Harrumph.
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