August 09, 2016

Golden Contract Yields Pyrite Performance


This road trip told me all I needed to know about the so-called stopper of the starting staff. David Price was awarded a king's ransom in the off season as the newly minted linchpin of the rotation. Even though the results have been well below expectations, he had shown glimmers of breaking through only to come sporadically crashing back to startling mediocrity. On the recent West Coast road swing, he was slated for three appearances, and I felt certain he would answer the bell. For me, anything less than two wins would be unacceptable, and the one loss I was prepared to tolerate occurred early in Anaheim. The offense, as was the case for most ofthe whole trip, was dormant, and he did all he could to hold the fort. A Hanley Ramirez throwing error was the culprit, and no fault could be leveled at Price.

Then, a Seattle outing was a painful reminder of how things have quickly unraveled for Price periodically throughout the season. David was cruising along, and without warning, hit the wall in the eighth inning. He served up a solo homer to Seattle catcher Mike Zunino, who he friggin' owned throughout his career. Christ, the guy struck out 11 of the 12 times he faced Price, but as fate would have it, he was the guy to ignite a rally. After three consecutive singles and another earned run, Price's night was done, and Fernando Abad took it on the chin, surrendering a three run homer to Robinson Cano.

Reality was ingrained for me during the Dodger finale. We all have to come to terms with the fact that we are paying a guy 30 million plus, and he can't be depended on. OK, the David Price apologists could claim he gets a mulligan for Anaheim, and even though he was responsible for four runs in the Seattle stinker, Abad threw the gopher ball. However, there's no excusing the the fourth inning of the Sunday game. I'm sorry, but a pitcher of Price's caliber has to be better, and he once again surrendered a lead in a game the team needed in order to call this road trip a marginal success.

Going into the fourth inning, Price had a 2-0 lead. The advantage was padded in the top half of the inning by the second of three hits from Red Sox rookie sensation Andrew Benintendi who drove in Boston's second run with a single. What the team needed was for Price to have a shutdown inning and get them back into the dugout quickly. Benintendi's hit drove Dodgers' starter Brandon McCarthy from the game, and they had a chance to beat up on the Los Angeles bullpen. Price's response - a lead off homer to Justin Turner to quickly cut the lead in half. Sound familiar? Yep, harkens back that start in the Emerald City. Adrian Gonzalez followed with a double, but Price managed to strikeout the next batter, Enrique Hernandez. Poor base running by Gonzalez should have given Boston their second out of the inning, but Brock Holt dropped a throw from Xander Bogaerts on a Josh Reddick grounder putting runners at the corners. Price still had an opportunity to get out of this mess getting ahead of Dodger catcher Yasmani Grandal 0-2, but he couldn't put him away. After Grandal battled by fouling off a few tough pitches, Price lost command and walked Grandal. This loaded the bases and brought lifetime farmhand Rob Segedin to the plate. He was playing in his first Major League game, and you'd have to think Price had a huge advantage here. Sadly, Price couldn't find the zone with the first two pitches, so he laid a 95 mph fastball right over the plate, and Segedin ripped a double off the center field wall. This made the score 3-2, and Boston never had the lead again in the 8-5 loss. To add insult to injury, Segedin came up again in the very next inning with two out and laced a two run single off Price. He would be the last batter David faced, leaving the game at that point down 6-2. In the first three innings of that game, Price threw 38 pitches and 26 were called strikes. In the next two innings, he tossed 62 pitches with only 33 strikes.

It had been a promising start in "La La Land" with a 9-0 pounding of a shorthanded Dodger
team. It looked as if Boston was getting them at the right time, but the same thing was said when the team split the series in Anaheim and Seattle. Sandy Leon was the hero in the opener with 4 RBI and has been having a remarkable season. Also near the top of the  "Unsung Hero" list would be Steven Wright who twirled a complete game shutout, pushing his record to 13-5 with a 3.01 ERA. This was a terrific sign on the heels of a 6.00 + ERA that Wright registered for the month of July. Unfortunately, Eduardo Rodriguez followed with an inconsistent effort, and the bats fell silent in a 3-0 loss on Saturday.

Mookie Betts continues to be a force with a 9 game hitting streak going 15-38, but a couple of notable hitters will be glad to get home. Jackie Bradley Jr. finished the trip 6-40 (.150), and Xander Bogaerts was 9-46 (.196) with 11 strikeouts. The Red Sox have a 3-4 start to August and have to rekindle some goodwill on the upcoming 6 game homestand.

 Here are some noteworthy facts gleaned for my Twitter feed during the Dodger series:









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