I was thinking last night as the Sox racked up 14 runs for Lester: "Can't we save some of these runs for a pitcher who better needs them?"
Do any of you know what happened to Felix Doubront? We was a AAA pitcher who did some spot starts for us last year. I think he was called up on 9/1 but i'm not sure why he's not a starter anymore.
after watching doubront pitch on sunday, i'm pretty sure we don't WANT him as a starter. that was incredibly bad.
this, erm, rotation is scary. we're getting down to the wire here and one would hope this would be perfectly sorted.
beckett and bedard are set to miss only a start apiece right now. not that bedard will make me fell much better (i'd rather see miller out there), but, please, don't start wake in the playoffs.
Didn't realize that Dupront was already pitching. Was he that bad? That sucks because he looked so promising last season.
You'd rather see Miller rather than Bedard? Really? The guy with a 5.27 era, 1.811 WHIP, and a scary 10.3 h/9 innings vs. the guy with a 3.50 era, 1.22 WHIP and 7.9 h/9? I'm not saying Bedard's great, but IMO he's better than Miller who I think would be trying to cut down on his hits in AAA if our rotation was completely healthy.
I think the four horseman of the apocalypse would come riding into Fenway before Wakefield made a playoff start. If everyone's healthy, I anticipate Beckett, Lester and Lackey as your first round starters, with Bedard getting the nod as the fourth starter in subsequent rounds. If Buchholtz comes back, it'll be in the bullpen.
As long as we are throwing numbers out there, Wakefield has a 4.95 ERA, a 1.33 WHIP, and 9.6 hits/9 innings.
Perhaps more important, he's been consistent. In each of his last 6 starts, he has given up either 3 or 4 earned runs. All season long, he's only had two games when he gave up more than 5 runs. OK, he's not fantastic, but at least you know that he's not going to get blown out of the water. As long as the offense can put 5 runs on the board (and assuming the bullpen holds up), you've got a damn good shot at winning.
Indeed, I think that there is an argument that Wakefield is as good an option as -- maybe better than -- Lackey. But we all know that Francona is going to put his trust in Lackey.
I suppose the one advantage to not starting Wakefield is that he is such a good sport, and is willing to come in as a reliever whenever he is asked. So, with both Wakefield and Aceves ready for long relief, hopefully we can ride out the sure-to-come shaky starts from Lackey, Bedard, and/or Miller.
Thanks for those numbers Joel. Had no idea that Wake was pitching that well this season. My impression was that everytime I turned around (esp. once he started going for win 200) he was getting shelled in the 4th or 5th innning. I miss the Wake of only last season that would occasionally pitch into the 7th with only allowing 1-2 runs.
Wakefield has always been one of the toughest pitchers to watch, for me. He doesn't strike out many batters. (This season has the same number of Ks as Papelbon). Instead, the knuckleball leads batters into making bad contact. So even during innings when he is pitching well, you still end up seeing a lot of ball contact.
Wakefield looked dreadful tonight . . . walks, hit batters, home runs, wild pitches . . . really painful. And yet, when all the dust settled, he was charged with 4 earned runs. Just like always.
Um. Yea. Okay.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking last night as the Sox racked up 14 runs for Lester: "Can't we save some of these runs for a pitcher who better needs them?"
Do any of you know what happened to Felix Doubront? We was a AAA pitcher who did some spot starts for us last year. I think he was called up on 9/1 but i'm not sure why he's not a starter anymore.
after watching doubront pitch on sunday, i'm pretty sure we don't WANT him as a starter. that was incredibly bad.
ReplyDeletethis, erm, rotation is scary. we're getting down to the wire here and one would hope this would be perfectly sorted.
beckett and bedard are set to miss only a start apiece right now. not that bedard will make me fell much better (i'd rather see miller out there), but, please, don't start wake in the playoffs.
Didn't realize that Dupront was already pitching. Was he that bad? That sucks because he looked so promising last season.
ReplyDeleteYou'd rather see Miller rather than Bedard? Really? The guy with a 5.27 era, 1.811 WHIP, and a scary 10.3 h/9 innings vs. the guy with a 3.50 era, 1.22 WHIP and 7.9 h/9? I'm not saying Bedard's great, but IMO he's better than Miller who I think would be trying to cut down on his hits in AAA if our rotation was completely healthy.
I think the four horseman of the apocalypse would come riding into Fenway before Wakefield made a playoff start. If everyone's healthy, I anticipate Beckett, Lester and Lackey as your first round starters, with Bedard getting the nod as the fourth starter in subsequent rounds. If Buchholtz comes back, it'll be in the bullpen.
As long as we are throwing numbers out there, Wakefield has a 4.95 ERA, a 1.33 WHIP, and 9.6 hits/9 innings.
ReplyDeletePerhaps more important, he's been consistent. In each of his last 6 starts, he has given up either 3 or 4 earned runs. All season long, he's only had two games when he gave up more than 5 runs. OK, he's not fantastic, but at least you know that he's not going to get blown out of the water. As long as the offense can put 5 runs on the board (and assuming the bullpen holds up), you've got a damn good shot at winning.
Indeed, I think that there is an argument that Wakefield is as good an option as -- maybe better than -- Lackey. But we all know that Francona is going to put his trust in Lackey.
I suppose the one advantage to not starting Wakefield is that he is such a good sport, and is willing to come in as a reliever whenever he is asked. So, with both Wakefield and Aceves ready for long relief, hopefully we can ride out the sure-to-come shaky starts from Lackey, Bedard, and/or Miller.
Thanks for those numbers Joel. Had no idea that Wake was pitching that well this season. My impression was that everytime I turned around (esp. once he started going for win 200) he was getting shelled in the 4th or 5th innning. I miss the Wake of only last season that would occasionally pitch into the 7th with only allowing 1-2 runs.
ReplyDeleteWakefield has always been one of the toughest pitchers to watch, for me. He doesn't strike out many batters. (This season has the same number of Ks as Papelbon). Instead, the knuckleball leads batters into making bad contact. So even during innings when he is pitching well, you still end up seeing a lot of ball contact.
ReplyDeleteWakefield looked dreadful tonight . . . walks, hit batters, home runs, wild pitches . . . really painful. And yet, when all the dust settled, he was charged with 4 earned runs. Just like always.
ReplyDelete