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As David Ortiz finished his discussion with the media yesterday, a few minutes of chatter on his way out the door before today’s day off, the slugger added a tag line that hasn’t been heard around the clubhouse in recent months (and can’t be reprinted here). He called out the suggestion to the reporters that surrounded him, accompanied by a giant grin, and headed off
When the hell are baseball fans going to realize that April just doesn't, f'ing matter? The only time April ever matters for anything is (a) if someone suffers a catastrophic injury or (b) someone starts a 40-game hit streak or something. That's it.
I'll take it one step further.
Papi's amazing .363, 10 HR, 27 RBI month of May... that doesn't matter much either, other than to let us all know that he's not finished.
That, of course, is supremely important around these parts. It's imperative to have Papi back and, to borrow from Dustin Pedroia, putting on a laser show.
But we've still got June, July, August and September to get through. When it's all over, he'll have about 600 at-bats. He's only had 136 so far. So we've only seen a little more than 20% of this story.
My point? Be friggin' patient. With Papi... with Lester (1-2, 4.71 era in March/April, 5-0, 1.84 era in May)... with everyone. Baseball is a LOOOOOOONG season. People will get hot, go through slumps, and then get hot again.
We'll judge in September and October... when it matters. Until then, Papi will invite doubters to plant their lips around his May stats and suck on the fact that he never went anywhere. And neither did the Red Sox.
Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
In 2008 and 2009, Jon Lester emerged as one of the best pitchers in baseball. In 2010, however, he is reaching pinnacles that he never achieved in those two dominating years.
On Sunday, even though he was, in the words of manager Terry Francona, “sluggish,” Lester figured out a way to dominate a Royals club that has become a personal highlight reel. Against the franchise whom he no-hit in 2008 and tossed eight shutout innings of one-run ball in 2006, the left-hander logged seven innings and permitted just a single run on four hits in his club’s 8-1 victory.
In the process, the 26-year-old ran his career record against Kansas City to 4-1 with a 1.22 ERA, the second-lowest ERA of any pitcher (min. 5 starts) against the Royals behind Chad Ogea. More impressively, it ran his season record to 6-2 and his 2010 ERA to 2.97.
It marks the first time since his rookie season of 2006 that Lester has had a sub-3.00 ERA in a season. Clearly, he is enjoying status as one of the dominant young pitchers in the game. He is currently on one of the most impressive runs of his young career, as he is 6-0 with a 1.43 ERA in his last eight starts, including a 5-0 run in the month of May that established a new high for most wins in a single turn of the calendar.
WEEI- Lester reaching new heights
David Ortiz isn't the only Sox player scorching. Lester didn't make it easy on himself in the beginning but he persevered and then put it on cruise control for the W. Granted it was against the Royals but considering how the season has been going thus far, we'll take what we can get. Back to Lester, he is making a strong case that he's not only the ace of the staff, but also one of the best left handed pitchers in the bigs today. Watching him make that leap, even after the personal battles he has gone through, has been remarkable and entertaining.
On Page 2, Mike Lowell heading to the Angels?
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images
Continue reading "Your Morning Dump...Where Lester takes Beckett's place" »
Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them
here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite
as satisfying as a good morning dump.
It felt like a game after a very good road trip where the Red Sox took care of some of baseball’s best clubs. It felt like the old letdown game, where the offense lacked oomph after the team got into town at 4:35 a.m. yesterday. It felt like one of those bad Daisuke Matsuzaka games where he walked the ballpark — eight in all — as he suffered a letdown after pitching an eight-inning one-hitter in Philadelphia.
It felt like — and it was — all of those things.
“We’re sitting on the edge of our seats with the seat belt on,’’ manager Terry Francona said, describing Matsuzaka’s night. “He wiggles out of one inning and came pretty close the next inning. It’s a hard way to pitch successfully.’’
“He didn’t have great command with his fastball tonight, but he was powerful again, which I think is a good sign,’’ said catcher Jason Varitek.
Globe - Royals walk all over Matsuzaka
Matsuzaka walked 8 batters last night in only 4.2 innings pitched. Teaming up with Varitek again, and pitching against the Royals, I expected another great outing. What we got was, as the Globe described, the classic "letdown" game.
Dice-K appears to only be effective with every other start. Out of his past 5 outings, in 3 of those starts he's lasted 5.1, 4.2, 4.2 innings while giving up a combined 15 runs. In the two starts sandwiched between those games, he's pitched a total of 15 innings, giving up 1 run with 4 hits. Shockingly, he did only give up 2 hits against the Royals in those 4.2 innings, but when you're busy walking 8 batters, they didn't really need to worry about swinging their bats.
After the game Dice-K said that he's been experiencing "lower body soreness" since hit outing against the Phillies, which may have had an impact on his performance. Perhaps we need to have an awkward, uncomfortable talk with Mrs. Matsuzaka, asking her to ease-up?
You can't win them all, but with the Sox coming home after winning 8 of their last 9, and clawing their way back up the East, it would've been nice to put another notch in the win column.
On Page 2, Jacoby's not doing so well.
Continue reading "Your Morning Dump... Where Dice-K Did His Best Crossing Guard Impression" »
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Royals (19-28, 4th in AL Central) @ Red Sox (27-21, 3rd in AL East)
Time for the Sox to keep rolling and the Royals are in town for 4 games so it is a perfect time to keep the sweeps going. The Sox are riding a 5 game winning streak (longest in MLB) and coming off a convincing sweep of the best team in the majors. Boston's next 4 opponents (KC, OAK, BAL, and CLE) are a combined 75-111 so the near future looks bright for the Red Sox.
Probable Pitchers:
Thursday (7:10) - Brian Bannister, RHP (3-3, 4.73) vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP (3-1, 5.76)
Friday (7:10) - Kyle Davies, RHP (3-3, 4.53) vs. Tim Wakefield, RHP (1-2, 4.44)
Saturday (7:10) - Zack Greinke, RHP (1-5, 3.57) vs Clay Buchholz, RHP (6-3, 3.07)
Sunday (1:35) - Gil Meche, RHP (0-4, 6.66) vs. Jon Lester, LHP (5-2, 3.15)
Who will go off: Lets begin with Adrian Beltre and David Ortiz. These guys are on a hot streak and they should keep it up against a sub-par pitching staff. Beltre has hit Bannister well in the past with a .455 avg. (5/11). Ortiz has creamed Gil Meche in his career with 4 homers and a .360 average (9/25). Marco Scutaro has hit Davies and Greinke well in the past so lets say there is a chance he may go off.
Who needs to be stopped: Jose Guillien and Alberto Callaspo are having a great offensive season in KC. Guillien has 11 homers and 32 RBI, and Callaspo is batting .304 with 7 homers and 31 RBI. Shut down the meat of their offense and the Sox will win this series.
The Sox will lose if...Their great pitching reverts to the state they were at two weeks ago. Every pitcher on this staff has shown great stuff over the past week and it must thrive against the Royals.
Miscellany: Zack Greinke is not the Cy Young pitcher of a year ago and the KC pitching staff has nothing to brag about. Greinke is tied for 13th, or 29th as MLB.com likes to rank it, in hits allowed among major league pitchers and Gil Meche has allowed the most walks in the majors. On the other hand, KC does not strike out a lot at the plate(2nd in MLB for fewest K's, 252). Jon Lester (T-2nd in MLB with 72K's) along with others have to raise that amount and sit these guys down.
Prediction: The Sox are rolling but have had a little trouble with KC in the past...Boston wins 3 of 4
