July 28, 2016

Miggy's Shot Sweeps Sawx






With the Red Sox starting to scuffle, you kind of get the feeling that Terry Malloy shared above in "On the Waterfront". Boston can produce runs with the best of them, and could possibly hit their way into a playoff spot, but pitching and hitting has not gone hand in hand lately. My concerns weigh more heavily on the pitching side of the ledger.

For instance, let's take a look at yesterday's starter Eduardo Rodriguez. He's starting to make me feel Felix Doubront all over. As you remember, Felix was part of the 2013 championship team, and it was thought he could be a mid to upper rotation piece for the Red Sox moving forward. He had loads of potential with swing and miss stuff, but he had trouble getting through, or even to, the sixth inning. Also, his work ethic was not enviable and reported to camp overweight in 2013. Former Red Sox great and Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez was assigned the task of trying to turn Doubront around, but it didn't take and Felix was shipped to the Cubs for PTBNL Marco Hernandez. Now, on the other hand, Rodriguez seems more eager to learn as he too has been under the tutelage of Martinez in training camp this past spring. He was slowed my his knee injury shagging fly balls which affected his return to the Bigs along with a tendancy for tipping pitches. Yesterday, it was mentioned by Remy on the broadcast that Rodriguez pitched just well enough to lose, and that is exactly how I've felt about him this season. His velocity has slowly returned, and his changeup has been effective. Clearly, the goods are there as he has allowed only 3 ER or fewer in 12 of his last 16 starts. The problem is that third pitch - the slider. From what I've seen, it is not a viable option consistently, making him easier to figure out. In his three starts since returning for Pawtucket, he has pitched into the sixth only once and has given up 19 hits in 18 innings. He needs to be a guy who can lock things down and not give up homers to .190 hitters like James McCann. Until he can consistently be a three pitch pitcher, he doesn't project to the top of the rotation "dominate force" kinda guy as was hoped in the spring. Can Boston afford to allot a  "work in progress" spot in their starting rotation? Not from what I've seen which explains why Clay Buchholz still lurks around.

The tag team of Victor Martinez and Miguel Cabrera delivered a Tiger sweep at Fenway to end a disappointing 4-5 homestand for the Sawx. I joked yesterday on Twitter that the final game was like the opener of the series, and that I was waiting for the bullpen to put the game just out of reach. It did resemble the first game for about 6 innings, but the offense got up off the mat slightly coming back to tie the game as they did on Tuesday. Xander Bogaert's homer and Mookie Betts' RBI triple leveled the score, but this time it was Brad Ziegler's turn to bring a resounding thud to the comeback. Up until Cabrera's game winning shot, Ziegler had held opponents to a 1-22 mark, and I'd much rather take it on the chin in this manner as opposed to the way hillbilly Robbie "The Lawnmower"  Ross puked all over himself in the 9-8 defeat. From the replay of the Cabrera homer, it looked as if Mookie might have had a shot at catching the ball but lost it in the sun. But, ya know, that's baseball, and there will be no shit talking the efforts of Betts or Ziegler here.

David Price needs to be a force and set the tone for a very difficult West Coast swing tonight in Anaheim. Boston is starting to look like a pretender, and the ship must be righted quickly.

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