Back to the Future, I Hope
The dominant theme of RedSox baseball lately has been the walk-off hit. We salvaged a split with the Indians this week only because Papi and Loretta came up big with men on base in our final at-bat. What happened to those games back in April when we were winning 2-1, and Papelbon began his remarkable string on ninth inning heroics?
Tonight, for only the second time in the last thirteen games did the Sox hold their opponent to fewer than five runs. Looking like his old self, Schill went seven solid innings, as he was doing consistently earlier in the season; Delcarmen pitched a solid eighth; and for the thirtieth time this year, Papelbon earned the save. Another one-two-three lights out performance. Tonight was two strikeouts, and then a fly ball to Coco in right center. His ERA dipped to under .5, which means that in over 54 innings pitched this year, he has surrendered only three runs. Now if our starters could once again get through the first six or seven, without giving up a bundle of runs, we’d have a chance to be competitive. Of course, if we continue to give up five or more runs every game, and to rely on late inning fireworks, whether supplied by Papi or others, we’re not going to make it into the post-season. The numbers are scary: Timlin’s ERA, which had been so low for so long, is now above 3; Beckett has climbed up above 5! and even Schill is pushing 4.
On a cheerier note, Manny reached 1500 RBIs this past week, all that production in under 6500 at bats, over not quite 14 seasons. Manny gets a lot of notice for being our goofball-in-residence: Manny being Manny. Everyone knows he can knock in runs, but the past couple years, his hitting has been overshadowed by Papi, and all those walk-offs. But the fact is that Manny is one of the greatest RBI machines in the history of the game. By my reckoning, only five players have a better career at bat-to-RBI ratio: Jimmy Foxx, Ted Williams, Hank Greenberg, Lou Gehrig, and Babe Ruth. Not bad company. And only one player retired with more RBIs in fewer than Manny’s 14 seasons, that being Joe D.
With Manny slugging again, and Papi off the Richter scale, all we need is some decent outings from the starters. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to have Tek, and Lowell, and Trot back in the line-up. But you know what? I’d settle for seven decent innings, on a regular basis, and then we can just wait for everyone to heal up. We’d be all right.
Tonight, for only the second time in the last thirteen games did the Sox hold their opponent to fewer than five runs. Looking like his old self, Schill went seven solid innings, as he was doing consistently earlier in the season; Delcarmen pitched a solid eighth; and for the thirtieth time this year, Papelbon earned the save. Another one-two-three lights out performance. Tonight was two strikeouts, and then a fly ball to Coco in right center. His ERA dipped to under .5, which means that in over 54 innings pitched this year, he has surrendered only three runs. Now if our starters could once again get through the first six or seven, without giving up a bundle of runs, we’d have a chance to be competitive. Of course, if we continue to give up five or more runs every game, and to rely on late inning fireworks, whether supplied by Papi or others, we’re not going to make it into the post-season. The numbers are scary: Timlin’s ERA, which had been so low for so long, is now above 3; Beckett has climbed up above 5! and even Schill is pushing 4.
On a cheerier note, Manny reached 1500 RBIs this past week, all that production in under 6500 at bats, over not quite 14 seasons. Manny gets a lot of notice for being our goofball-in-residence: Manny being Manny. Everyone knows he can knock in runs, but the past couple years, his hitting has been overshadowed by Papi, and all those walk-offs. But the fact is that Manny is one of the greatest RBI machines in the history of the game. By my reckoning, only five players have a better career at bat-to-RBI ratio: Jimmy Foxx, Ted Williams, Hank Greenberg, Lou Gehrig, and Babe Ruth. Not bad company. And only one player retired with more RBIs in fewer than Manny’s 14 seasons, that being Joe D.
With Manny slugging again, and Papi off the Richter scale, all we need is some decent outings from the starters. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to have Tek, and Lowell, and Trot back in the line-up. But you know what? I’d settle for seven decent innings, on a regular basis, and then we can just wait for everyone to heal up. We’d be all right.
posted by pops | 11:37 PM
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