- Jon Lester: 41.1 innings, 6.31 ERA
- Josh Beckett: 34.2 innings, 6.75 ERA
- Justin Masterson: 29 innings, 5.28 ERA
- Tim Wakefield: 40.0 innings, 2.92 ERA
- Brad Penny: 30.0 innings, 6.90 ERA
- Daisuke Matsuzaka: 6.1 innings, 12.79 ERA, DL trip.
If someone told you on April 2nd (not April 1st, nobody would believe you if you were told that day) that the above would be the performance of the Sox' starting rotation, what would you have thought their record might be? I might have pegged them at just under .500, maybe even a little worse.
We Sox fans ought to be over the moon that the team is where it is, with the performances by our rotation (and Big Papi). Onward an even further upward, we hope.
15 replies on “Starting Woes”
The “if you’d told me” game is usually played by fans of teams that are at or below .500 when expectations were much higher. It also seems to be played almost exclusively by fans of teams who ultimately do not make the playoffs.
That makes this particular version all the more effective. The Sox are one game out of first, behind a team who won’t be there by the end of the season, and 4.5 games ahead of Tampa and New York, sporting the second-best record in the AL — with the worst starter ERA in the league.
Even figuring some overall regression from the offense, the improvement from the starters over the rest of the season should make this a far better club than we’ve seen.
Beckett, Lester, and Daisuke will be performing well at the end of the season. Penny and Wakefield probably won’t, but by then Smoltz or Buchholz will be in the rotation. Our bullpen should remain dominant as well.
The offense is what I worry about. Lowell is going to regress quickly, and every day I worry more about Ortiz. Drew/Baldelli/Youkilis/Lowell all staying healthy is something I doubt will happen.
In any case, we’re in great shape considering out starting pitching.
MLB dot com reporting that Daniel Bard has been recalled from P’tucket and is expected to be available tonight. He’ll be used as a set-up man.
No word on who went the other way.
It’s gotta be Hunter Jones. Lopez doesn’t have any options left, right?
Lopez was DFAd. Way past time for it.
It’s Lopez.
Let’s be fair to him, too. He did have a couple of good years for us. Just sucked beyond belief this year.
Yankees pick him up, a la Mike Myers? Might just need a change of venue.
You guys are winning…that’s all that matters.
2006: 2.70 ERA, 1.380 WHIP
2007: 3.10 ERA, 1.328 WHIP
2008: 2.43 ERA, 1.348 WHIP
I’m sad that he didn’t work out, because he got a lot of unfair hate by sox fans (specifically SF). This year though he’s been horrible. The Yankees only have one left-handed reliever; don’t be surprised if they snag him up.
Whuh? Was I a “Lopez hater”? I don’t think so. I hate LUGO.
I don’t think I was every all that harsh on Javy, and if I was it was intermittent. I am pretty sure Paul didn’t like him at all.
Not sure where you get that from, Ath.
Paul SF said…
LFRS refers to “Least Favorite red Sox.” SF uses it for Lugo; I use it for Javier Lopez, though I think I’m going to switch over to Alex Cora…
Reply Wednesday, July 09, 2008 at 02:31 PM
My bad SF, I was indeed confusing you and Paul.
With those ERAs, I’d expect the Sox to be well *below* .500
I was pretty hard on Lopez, but FWIW, I was praising him by the end of last season. He was solid all year long (those comments followed a particularly brutal outing, and in my defense look at those WHIPs. He was always working around trouble of his own making),
Semi-sad for Lopez…even if he did suck and couldn’t get a lefty out to save his life, he had some key DPs on occasion.
I sure HOPE the SPs get better, or that record is a mirage.
i would have guessed that the yankee staff had the worst era…goes to show you that stats don’t always tell the whole story…except the final score that is…your relief pitching and timely hitting are what’s keeping you in the hunt for now…just a short year ago, i don’t think any of you could have imagined a lineup without manny and an ineffective ortiz…
Some of the pitching woes are tied to defensive miscues–the largest problem has been giving up the big innings.
When (if?) the defense gets a little better, the number of big innings will go down, and the pitching will also be more effective.