Filed under: Boston Red Sox
If Beckett’s performance last night didn’t set of alarms to the Red Sox Nation that our pitching is hurting then nothing will. To say that our combined starters and bullpen are struggling is an understatement. Last night’s Canadian Home Run Derby by the Blue Jays at the expense of Josh Beckett brought us from orange to red on the Uh-Oh-o-meter.
This past week has been a pitching disaster and with each consecutive game it seems that our team ERA is swelling up larger than Jason Kidd’s son’s head. Clement’s line drive to the leg last week seemed to rekindle scarring memories of last years head-shot catastrophe and now it might take a hundred more sessions with Dr. Feinstein before the night terrors subside again.
Wakefield has been mediocre and has yet to really show that he is capable of repeating his 16 win season last year. Schilling has been solid atop the rotation but certainly not dominant in his last few appearances, equalizing his red hot start. Well’s career might well be over after an O’Henry-esque line-drive up the middle ironically drilled his recently healed surgically repaired knee, sending him to the Disabled List for his second time in as many months. Abe Alvarez hasn’t inspired confidence from anybody and Lenny DiNardo’s constant smile is the only thing keeping people from knowing that he cries himself to sleep.
Out most reliable set-up man and the guy we have had to rely on all too heavily, Mr. Mike Timlin has hit the 15 day Disabled List with a strained shoulder, something NESN play-by-play man Don Orsillo labeled a “fatigued arm” which seems more like something elderly men get after their first prescription of Viagra. Tavarez and Seanez are as inconsistent as a bipolar Danny Ainge and David Riske has made people wish he were back on the DL. Manny Delcarmen couldn’t seem to record an out if his sanity depended on it, and although he has been much improved in the last two outings, he is not nearly the prodigy we believed him to be in spring training. Foulke has been our only other set-up man even close to being called “consistent”, which leaves the rookie Papelbon as the only light in an otherwise dim bullpen. Seeing as our starters have imploded recently and our set-up men are non-existent, it will have to be our bats that allow us to see Papelbon in the ninth.
Red Sox Nation essentially woke up this morning at pitching rock bottom. Like some alcoholic holding a pounding head and hoping that the events of last night didn’t actually happen. Tomorrow is June 1st, 2006 and for Red Sox pitchers it doesn’t get any worse than this. At least we hope. Because if it there’s any more damage there will be quite a few people who aren’t as excited that school’s out for the summer.
The Red Sox will start Mike Pauley from AA Portland tonight to try to prevent a sweep from division rival Toronto. If her survives this task he’ll have the privilege to pitch against the Yankees in next weeks series. Don’t keep your fingers crossed folks. It’s the Red Sox folks. The chance of a legit fifth starter magically appearing out of Double A is about as likely as John Henry getting a tan.
Am I turning into a pessimist? Will I be tossing empty Budweiser cans at the Sox tonight screaming obscenities at Terry Francona and the Front Office like Old Uncle Hal? I hope not. However the recent pitching collapse has made me question the supposed shift from a hitting oriented team to a pitching and defensive team. Was the Red Sox brass really committed to a change of style in one off-season? Most of the moves said so. However why would they then deal Arroyo for Pena, a person who didn’t have a defensive bone in his body? Regardless of the future payoffs of that deal, its looking awfully regrettable right now. Hindsight is obviously 20/20 but had they stuck with the plan our decrepit pitching might not be in the crisis mode that it is in. And although Pena has struck the ball very well, his wrist injury will now keep him from doing so again for the next 6-8 weeks.
Is this panic time? Of course not. It’s June 1st tomorrow. And despite our pitching problems we have managed to stay a game over .500 with a 5-4 record over the last nine games and are tied for first in the AL East. But we have a tough few series ahead with games against Detroit, New York, and Texas, who are all in first place of their respective divisions. So this might be a good chance for these Sox to prove that their pitching isn’t in as much trouble as we think they are. We can only hope.
theaveragefan@bostonprosports.com
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