Ted's Army: The Voice of Red Sox fans

Source: Lowrie, Weiland headed to Houston for Melancon

Melancon is a 26-year old right-handed relief pitcher who recorded 20 saves for the Astros last season. He's a former Yankee who was included in the deal for Lance Berkman.

Here's a brief scouting report:

Melancon, who turns 27 next March, rode his dinger-limiting repertoire of curveballs, changeups and fastballs with heavy movement to 20 saves in 25 chances, with a 2.78 ERA, a 7.99 K/9 and a 3.15 BB/.9 this past season. The righty doesn't generate quite as many swings and misses as the prototypical closer and so is a little more at the mercy of the BABIP gods.

Here's hoping he can handle the big market pressure.

Update: The ProJo's Brian MacPherson has more info on Melancon and the deal.

Your Morning Dump...where the starting pitching is a mess

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.

 John Lackey went just 4 1/3 innings, giving up eight runs on 11 hits and two walks with three strikeouts and a wild pitch. He threw 105 pitches, 75 for strikes. Despite a six-run lead after three innings, Lackey did not stay in the game long enough to qualify for a win. 
 
With the outing, his ERA went from 6.19 to 6.49, while the ERA of Sox starting pitchers’ in September went from 6.38 to 6.87. It was the 13th time in 19 games this month a Sox starting pitcher has gone just five innings or less.
 
“I thought he actually had pretty good stuff,” said manager Terry Francona. “I thought he threw a lot of strikes. Had trouble putting hitters away. Pitch count was very high and just got to the point where [it was] hard to leave him in. We needed to stop the runs now. At that point we were up by 11-8 . . . it’s hard to leave him in. And I wanted to because I didn’t want to get into our bullpen that early.”
 
Contrary to what his manager said, Lackey did not think he had pretty good stuff. After the game, Lackey seemed as frustrated and confused as anyone by his performance.
 
“I can’t explain it,” Lackey said. “That’s the best I’ve felt warming up in the bullpen all year. I don’t know what the hell happened.

CSNNE | Notes: Lackey has no answers for struggles

I know I probably should be focusing on the offense, but I can't help but complain just a bit more about John Lackey.

Last night was a good example of one of the most frustrating things about him. In the bottom of the 2nd, the Sox pushed the lead to 6-3 -- a pretty generous offensive helping for that early in the game. How does Lackey respond? He loads the bases and gives up two runs.

Then in the 3rd the Sox bat around, scoring five funs in the process to take a commanding 11-5 lead. How does Lackey respond? He gives up a single, an immediate steal of second, and then a triple to drive in another run.

This seems to happen a lot. Lackey can't seem to build on the run support the Sox give him. I would think it would be incredibly frustrating for the rest of the team that he can't seem to harness any momentum. Of course, this night it didn't end up mattering, but on others it has.

Maybe it's nothing. Or maybe it's just that John Lackey isn't that good, and it has nothing to do with one moment or another.

On page 2, David Ortiz has some thoughts on the starting pitching.

Taking Stock: Sox - Rays Series

After each series, we'll be taking stock in each player's...and maybe manager's...performance. If we like what we see, we're buyin'. If we don't, we're sellin'. Or maybe we'll just hold onto our stock until we see more next series.

Nobody: I'm not buying anyone that had anything to do with that series.  The Sox needed to stake their claim for the postseason, and instead, they did whatever the exact opposite of staking your claim for the postseason is.  The offense sucked.  The pitching was awful.  They weren't even good in the field, committing 5 errors over the 4 games.  We don't even look like we deserve to be playing in the same league with the Rays right now.

Kyle Weiland: The fact that Kyle Weiland is pitching for the Red Sox in such a critical time of the year pisses me off.  It's not his fault.  It's Clay Buchholz's stupid back's fault.  It's years of Dice-K abusing his body's fault.  It's Andrew Miller's inability to get people out's fault.  Hell, I'll even heap some blame on Trever Miller.  Don't think you're getting off that easy!  It's everybody's fault but Kyle Weilands.  But that doesn't mean he didn't drop a 3 inning, 4 run turd on the mound.  I think it's time to pull the plug on the Weiland experiment (I write as he's given up 5 runs over 4 innings to the O's.  Ugh). 

Adrian Gonzalez:  I never thought I'd sell Gonzo.  Not even in a special April Fool's edition of Taking Stock.  But I'm doing it now.  In the biggest series of the season, Adrian went hitless with 6 strikeouts (2 in each of the final three games).  I have no idea how much his shoulder is bothering him.  Maybe his car needs an oil change and it's weighing heavily on his mind.  I don't know what his problem(s) is or are, but now is not the time for problems.  Now is the time to win some baseball games.

John Lackey:  Yeah, I know you never played in the series.  Too bad.  You're getting sold too.  I haven't connected all the dots yet, but this is somehow you're fault.  I'm sure of it.  

Mike Aviles: He was the one batter that seemed to give a damn over the past 4 games.   He had 6 hits in the series, with 2 home runs, 2 doubles and 5 RBIs. 

Josh Beckett: The man had one job to do: win a freaking ball game.  And that's exactly what he did.  Coming off an ankle injury, Beckett struck out 7 Rays and only allowed 3 runs (2 earned).  Even more impressively, he out-dueled James Shields.  If the Sox want to have any chance of playing in October, they're going to need Beckett.

Your Morning-ish Dump... Where the wheels have come off

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.

Is it officially time to worry about the Red Sox? And we’re just not talking about making the playoffs.

Even after last night’s 7-2 loss to the Rays, they still lead the wild card race by 51⁄2 games. It would require an epic collapse to miss the postseason.

The greater issue is what they’ll do once they get there. Their health and recent play have them in danger of looking at a one-and-done.

“When you don’t swing it well, you don’t pitch well, you don’t play defense well, you’re not going to be consistent,” said second baseman Dustin Pedroia [stats]. “We haven’t done that in a week or two, so we’ve got to get back to playing good baseball.”

“We’ve got a bunch of great players,” Pedroia said. “Somebody will find a way. That’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to find a way to win.”

The Sox have lost 8-of-11 and increasingly look like they’ll be opening the playoffs on the road, either in Texas or Detroit.

Herald - Plenty wrong to get right

I straight up reject Tomase's claim that the Sox 5 1/2 wild card lead is somehow seemingly safe, save for an "epic collapse".

As he wrote, the Sox have only won 3 of their last 11 games.  They play the Rays (you know, the team that's been beaten the Sox 3 of their last 4 contests) 6 more times over the next week.  It's gotten to the point that Kyle Weiland is our starting pitcher this evening.  There is a very real chance that the Sox are on the outside looking in just next weekend. 

But I'm going to remain positive.  I feel like I've been writing the same thing, every day, for the past week or so, but the Sox are simply too talented to be playing this bad.  As Pedroia stated, the Sox have a bunch of great players.  They just need to find a way to win.  They've been doing it all season long.  I don't see why they can't do it again.

Even if we have to throw Wild Kyle Weiland on the mound tonight.   Someone has to step up.  To borrow a seemingly successful catch phrase from a few seasons ago, 'Why Not Kyle?'

On Page 2, we throw that positivity out the window and take a peek at some guys who are injured.

Your Morning Dump...Was that really John Lackey yesterday?

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.

“That was good,” said manager Terry Francona. “It was fun to watch.”

[...]

“There’s a fine line between being good and bad,” said Lackey, who improved to 6-8, lowering his ERA to 6.84. “I guess I was locating a little better. Honestly, there wasn’t a whole lot (of difference). My velocity was good.”

As Lackey walked off the mound he was treated to a rousing ovation. In his departure in the Toronto game, he was given a chorus of boos. “It was nice,” Lackey said of the cheers

The main difference was command of the strike zone, locating his pitches. He threw 106 pitches, 69 for strikes, a 65 percent strike ratio, considerably above the 60 percent threshold that is considered acceptable. In his previous outing, the mark was 57 percent.

“I was locating a little bit better,” Lackey said. “But not a whole lot.”

[...]

“Hopefully I can keep it going,” he said.

CSNNE: Lackey enjoys rare warm reception from fans

What the hell is going on? On day, we all want John Lackey banished, the next day, he pitches out of his mind and looks like the ace of the staff. Like Aaron said last night, what'd you do with him? Talk about an emotional roller coaster, this is how hot and cold Lackey has been leading up to last night's game...

Baseball Reference

Date	Opp	Rslt	Inngs	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	HBP	ERA
Apr 2	TEX	L,5-12	GS-4	L(0-1)	3.2	10	9	9	2	3	2	0	22.09
Apr 8	NYY	W,9-6	GS-5	W(1-1)	5.0	7	6	6	2	2	1	1	15.58
Apr 19	OAK	L,0-5	GS-6	L(1-2)	6.0	4	1	1	1	3	0	0	9.82
Apr 24	LAA	W,7-0	GS-8	W(2-2)	8.0	6	0	0	1	6	0	1	6.35
Apr 30	SEA	L,0-2	GS-6	L(2-3)	6.0	7	2	2	4	3	0	0	5.65
May	Opp	Rslt	Inngs	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	HBP	ERA
May 5	LAA	L,0-11	GS-5	L(2-4)	4.0	10	8	8	3	1	1	1	7.16
May 11	TOR	L,3-9	GS-7	L(2-5)	6.2	9	9	9	5	1	1	1	8.01
June	Opp	Rslt	Inngs	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	HBP	ERA
Jun 5	OAK	W,6-3	GS-6	W(3-5)	5.2	3	3	3	2	2	1	3	7.60
Jun 11	TOR	W,16-4	GS-6	W(4-5)	6.0	6	4	4	2	8	1	0	7.41
Jun 17	MIL	W,10-4	GS-8	W(5-5)	8.0	8	4	4	0	5	0	0	7.02
Jun 22	SDP	L,1-5	GS-4	L(5-6)	3.1	4	5	5	4	4	1	2	7.36
Jun 29	PHI	L,1-2	GS-8	L(5-7)	7.2	8	2	2	1	5	1	0	6.81
July	Opp	Rslt	Inngs	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	HBP	ERA
Jul 4	TOR	L,7-9	GS-3	L(5-8)	2.1	9	7	7	0	2	1	0	7.47

He either flip-flops good outings, or just goes on a streak,and you hate him, then love like him. There were a couple of outings in there that he should have won, such as the Philly game, and Seattle. I can't take much more of his inconsistency or his consistently good then bad crap.

Related: Herald: Lackey 'O' so good | WEEI: John Lackey feels the same, but looks better | Globe: Sox cheered by his victory

On Page 2, Youk gets selected to the All-Star game to replace A-Rod & Kyle Weiland makes his major league debut.