<$BlogRSDUrl$>

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

SOX DROP TWO STRAIGHT
Kansas City Royals 8
Boston Red Sox 4
W: Darrell May (1-4)
L: D-Lowe (3-3)
H: Jaime Cerda (1)


Derek Lowe is really dissapointing me. I figured that with a full spring training, and being matched up mostly against #3 starters, he'd be able to win at least 16 and up to 22 games. However, he's .500 and his ERA is over 5. Of all the Sox that are going to be a free agent, he is the lowest priority (besides Reese, of course). He is too tempermental.

The Man of the Game is Carlos Beltran. He had two doubles and 4 RBI. He also stole a base.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Bellhorn: 0.1 - 0 for 5, 3 Ks, 3 LOB
Varitek: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2 Ks, 2 LOB
Dinardo: 0.1 - IP, ER, 2 H, BB
Timlin: 0.1 - IP, ER, HR
Reese: 0.1 - Error, CS, Picked off
Lowe: 0.5 - 5.2 IP, 6 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 5 H

Cleveland Indians 10
Boston Red Sox 6
W: Chad Durbin (3-3)
L: BH Kim (1-1)
H: Scott Stewart (3)


What a long and pointless game this was. Three hours and 40+ minutes. Absolutely terrible pitching combined with a lack of clutch hitting to destroy the Red Sox in this game. Kim was absolutely horrendous. More on that later.

The Man of the Game is Ben Broussard. He went 3 for 3 with a pair of doubles, an RBI, and 2 runs scored.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Reese: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 3 LOB
Dinardo: 0.1 - 2.1 IP, ER, Inherited runner scored
Embree: 0.2 - IP, 2 ER
Kim: 0.6 - 3.1 IP, 6 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 H

I was going to write about whether or not to send Kim to the pen and put Arroyo back in the rotation but the Red Sox answered that question for me. Kim has a good arm and I think he'll be valuable coming out of the pen as long as it isn't against the Y*nkees. I would like to give him some easy innings out of the pen and possibly trade him for prospects or a bat to come off the bench.

PEDRO AND THE WEATHER
I've been theorizing that Pedro's poor starts were due to poor weather conditions. Here is a look at the relationship between game time temperature and his performance:

Start #1 - 4/4 - @BAL - 43 degrees: 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, BB, 5 K, HR
Start #2 - 4/10 - TOR - 55 degrees: 7.2 IP, 4 H, R, ER, 2 BB, 7 K, HR
Start #3 – 4/15 – BAL – 48 degrees: 5 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 2 HR
Start #4 – 4/20 - @TOR – 68 degrees: 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 0 HR
Start #5 – 4/25 - @NYY – 55 degrees: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB, 8 K, HR
Start #6 – 5/1 - @TEX – 58 degrees: 4 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, BB, 3 K, HR
Start #7 – 5/6 - @CLE – 82 degrees: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, HR

The Texas game got much colder as the game progressed. Apart from the Texas game, Pedro’s starts in weather above 50 degrees were all very good. His starts in mild weather (50-65 degrees) average out to this performance:

5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, BB, 6 K, HR

That’s essentially a quality start and this includes that Texas start. Here are his average numbers for warm weather games (65+)

7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, HR

That isn’t a bad start at all. Now here are his average numbers for all non-cold starts:

6.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, HR

That is a pretty good start, if you ask me. Is it “Pedro-esque?” Not really. But considering that the Texas start, in which it got much colder after the first pitch, that is a good average start. Without the Texas start, the numbers look like this:

7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, HR

That’s a good start. So judging by his track record in warm weather games and the game time temperature being around 80 degrees, Pedro should go out and pitch 7 innings, give up 3-5 hits, 1-3 ER, and walk about 2.

Just a final note, Manny Ramirez became a United States citizten yesterday and therefore missed the game last night. He was going to be given a day off in this series anyway and if he had missed the ceremony in Miami yesterday, he wouldn’t have been sworn in as a citizen for at least a year. Of course, some members of the Boston media decided that this was a story and deserved more than a blurb. Some members of the media criticized Manny even though he did this with the blessing of the Red Sox.

Post #177
Comments:
<$BlogCommentBody$>
<$BlogCommentDeleteIcon$> (0) comments
Post a Comment

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?