OMG. WTF can I say here people?

Atrocious, plus a side of excruciatingly painful to watch.

Signs it's going to get better? None. And the only acquisition I'm really interested in, Damaso Marte, hasn't pitched in the AL in awhile, and could easily be cost-prohibitive. Out of 8 full-type seasons, his WHIP has only been above 1.266 twice, and he has struck out 483 hitters in 453 1/3 career innings. It's all but assured that we need to get better on an internal basis.

Masterson. I'm cautiously optimistic, if only because his sinker should make him reasonably effective in those IH situations that we've to this point only been able to use Hideki Okajima, Manny Delcarmen, Craig Hansen, Mike Timlin, Javy Lopez, David Aardsma absolutely no one in. I'm concerned about his control and HR issues, however, which basically means he'll fit right in in our bullpen.

Delcarmen. All right buddy, I'm losing faith here. I've been one of your biggest defenders, I think, as others have clearly lost all thought of using him in close situations. He's simply been easier to hit this season. Last year he threw 44 innings and walked 17 while striking out 41. This season he's at 40 2/3 with 16 BB and 40 Ks. Hits? 28 last year, 37 this year.

Oki. Same issue, really, and this could've been predicted for both. Control in terms of walk rate and strikeout rate have not changed too much. 

Timlin. Am I serious? His last 5 1/3 of ridiculouslysmallsamplesize: 4 H, 1 BB, 3 Ks. I've given up on trying to figure Timlin out, but his ability to not be afraid to f'n throw strikes means I'm ready for him to try higher-leverage work again, if only because I'm ready for hits rather than walks/gift-wrapped hitters' counts to beat us in close games.

Paps. Pass. Good job buddy, even if you haven't been as crazy-dominant as the past two seasons.

Javy. Just not sure here. He had a good stretch to begin the season, but has come WAY back to Earth. Predictable, yes, and he probably doesn't need to see the kind of work he got earlier anymore. Surprisingly enough, he's looking more like a lefty specialist, with a .741 OPS against LHHs and an .814 OPS against RHHs. That .741 isn't that great, I suppose, but it means maybe we should only throw him against weak LHHs from now on. Doesn't seem that useful.

Chris Smith. 0.97 WHIP in Pawtucket this season. 45 Ks in 48 1/3. He might be a quad-A guy, certainly, but we'll never know until he gets an extended look. Seems like a guy (8 BB this season) who would make the other team beat him rather than beating himself. Refreshing?

Daniel Bard. Well. 82 Ks in 62 innings and a 0.94 WHIP. Next season, certainly, even if he doesn't make it up to help us this season.

Aardsma. Injured, and we'll see how that velocity is when he comes back. Walks too many. Walks too many. Walks too many. 

EDIT:

Conclusions. Manny D and Oki just have to become more deceptive and get into less hitters' counts. Timlin might need to see more late-inning work, if only because he'll throw strikes. Lopez would be good if he got on another run, but as of now should be mop-up and vs. LHH's only. Aardsma shows promise, less IP than MDC with great strikeout rates over his career. Some control (we could say this about a lot of people) and he'll be a rock. Hopefully Masterson can defy his BB and HR issues as a starter during his conversion to the pen. 

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Can I admit I'm not exactly Paps up there when thinking about how the bullpen has been used lately? Our players love playing for Tito and some of that has to do with the confidence he shows in them in certain situations. 

Paps, for example, belongs to save situations and that's not going to change anytime soon, and it shouldn't. MDC is the RHP called upon most often in the 7th/8th in close games. Again. No problem. 

The issue, here, is some heralded RPs who need to switch roles with their, perhaps, less-heralded counterparts. 

Craig Hansen has been up-and-down since called up, looking better than MDC at times, and looking worse than Timlin at others. Yet Tito has shown confidence in Hansen, putting him in situations where the score is close and the Sox are deep into the game. The fact of the matter is, despite how good he was today (and he was, awesome). He needs some of what Joe Morgan might refer to as consistency before he's trusted as the third option out of the pen.

Hideki Okajima. I wish I had some confidence in him. But I just don't. I have to wonder why he was in the game late yesterday, rather than David Aardsma, but of course remembered that we used/wasted Aardsma in back-to-back losses. I don't know what Oki needs, but he needs to put in some impressive work in garbage time to earn our confidence to pitch him late in games. Until then.

Javy Lopez. I wouldn't be saying this last year. But, for now, Javy needs to be getting those high-leverage situations when Tito/Farrell want a lefty. Javy's been effective this year, for whatever reason, and we should keep riding that while it lasts. The fact that his total numbers indicate that he's making hitters, in general, look like Jason Varitek (.703 OPS against, v. .717 OPS) is as encouraging about Lopez as it is discouraging about our captain.

David Aardsma. Aardsma has earned a shot at some more important situations, especially given his performance this weekend, striking out the side in two straight games. A 1.30 WHIP and 36 Ks in 34+? Not lights-out, but certainly better than many of our other options.

In, short, get J-Lo and Aardsma out of these blowout games and near-losses, and let's start using a couple of our best relievers as they should be used.

Oh. And Mike Timlin needs to be moved from the 15-day DL to the foreverplease RL. Yes. I'm in the camp that believes he's pretty much entirely cooked. I know he proved us all wrong last season, but it just seems different.

I suppose some trades could be made to help our cause. Names that intrigue me:

Jon Rauch: 33 Ks and 35 baserunners in 36 2/3. Toiling away for the last-place Nationals.

Alan Embree: Looks like he's gotten his mojo back in Oakland. 31 Ks and a 1.24 WHIP in 30 2/3.

Damaso Marte: He's been excellent, in Pittsburgh,with 39 Ks in 36 1/3 and a 1.07 WHIP. Last I've seen is that Pittsburgh might hold on to him the rest of the year, but I don't know how much sense that makes for them.

Who'd be a fair return for these cats? I dunno. Throw down some ideas in the comments.

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Summary:

Well, it wasn't vintage Becks, no matter how much the numbers might tell us otherwise. There was some iffiness, and an injury-scare. He certainly did get the job done though, and I'm not going to say he didn't earn the win. He absolutely did. And the iffiness could be chalked up to the raininess, I suppose.

Following Becks was three strong innings of relief from MDC, Oki, and Hansen in that order. MDC, in particular, looked pretty strong, striking out the side in the 7th. We need one (ideally two) of those three to start looking like a lockdown setup man. 

Our new (hopefully he remains so) #3 hitter was the top performer on the night, 2-3, 2 R, BB, SB. This is what they envisioned from Drew, and to say that this'll be the norm from now on probably isn't fair. But the fact remains, he's a very talented hitter who works the count and gets on base at an excellent rate. He should be higher in the lineup with Papi out, so that "Being" and Lowell can knock him in, rather than standing on 1B while Lugo and Coco fail to do so. As far as Coco goes? I haven't seen a good angle replay of either of his SB attempts, so I couldn't hazard a guess as to whether anyone is right at all in that mess. 

Eric Hinske stealing 3B? 'Tek and Becks should be embarrassed. 

Player of the Game:

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Could be that Becks is that statistically better choice for this game, but Drew hit well in this one and deserves some recognition for his play of late. Is this like the NBA giving the MVP to Kobe rather than KG or Chris Paul? *Shrugs* Also, no. 

Rant-o-licious:

So Papi is out? So what? Or, I just want to weigh in. Like FJM does, twice. But honestly. If he's out for longer than a month, or for the rest of the season, we might have to explore outside options. I've seen many bandied about, but one has been conspicuously absent, probably because his GM is bluffing that he's not on the block. But why wouldn't he be? This player is: 1) Hitting well, 2) Might be too old to be part of the "next great X team", 3) Talented OF who can play all 3 spots while also being potent enough offensively to DH, 4) Patient at the plate, 5) Seems to have matured since his early years in the Majors. This is the kind of player, when you should be in somewhat of a rebuilding mode, that can bring you back a good return to help your team in the future. And who is our mystery guest?

Milton Bradley. Let the virtual-flogging begin. (I am, of course, aware of his ridiculous BABIP and some other issues that come along with him. I still think he'd be a better option (tradewise, that is) than many of the other names brought up thusfar.)

First...

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Summary:

Two straight bad starts for Buchholz. Squeezed or not, a pitcher's primary weapon should be a well-located fastball. Buch hasn't had one for awhile, and the idea that he should go down to AAA to harness it/find one isn't one I'm against at this point. If Colon really is dialing it up to/near 97, then it's time to see if he can get ML hitters out. If not in this trip through the rotation, then next. The only thing that might be able to keep Buch at the ML-level is bigger struggles from Jon Lester than Buchholz himself has had lately. 

Livan Hernandez was his usual self tonight, the typical "keep it close" pitcher. He allowed Being's 498th bomb, a two-run shot, an RBI 1B from Papi just before the HR, and nothing beyond that. Juan Rincon and Jesse Crain were effective in finishing off the Sox over the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. 

The Sox pen, however, was somehow just as effective. Javy came in in relief of Buch, got 5 outs and handed the job over to Craig Hansen, who definitely reinforced the decision to DFA Tavarez rather than demote him. 13 pitches, 8 strikes, 2 GBs and a K. It's one inning, but he looked at least close to ready to take over for the struggling MDC in the 7th/8th inning mix. Timlin came on and got 3 outs and allowed a hit on a total of 7 pitches in the 8th. The Twins were clearly ready to go home for the day.

Player of the Game:

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It's the guy on the left, of course. 498. Look at how small he looks standing next to Papi. I have to interject, however, that it was Craig Hansen that gave me a lift about this game, and made me feel all right when it was all over.

The Shortstop Position:

Alex Cora
Excellent hands and good range
Is not a hitter. Pretty much at all. Runs well, though doesn't have the speed of a real base-stealing threat.

Jed Lowrie
Good hands, worst range of all three
Is a hitter. But we don't know how much rookie "jitters" could become a factor. Is...not ridiculously slow or anything.

Julio Lugo
Excellent range, poor no hands
Runs well, .OBP is almost .350. 

So who do we go with? Honestly, it's going to be Lugo and Cora until one of the two is injured, at least for this season. Lugo is not going to continue to have the kind of defensive issues all season long that have plagued him thusfar. And even if he does, Cora will just see more PT late in games to preserve leads, which Lugo's steadily rising OBP may help to create. I love Jed Lowrie, and under other circumstances I'd be yelling loudest to bring him back up and let him start. It's just not going to happen, not until one of the others gets hurt, or Lugo starts to be a complete black hole at the plate as well.

Tavarez is gone. How does the 'pen shake out?

Well. This was a bit unexpected, if only because most people were of the belief that Hansen would simply be sent down to create room for Sean Casey, and most people thinking DFA were probably attaching Timlin's name to it. Instead, Tavarez is out. I've seen comments around the web about "who is the Sox's long reliever now?" Am I the only one who thinks it's silly to just plan for your starters to be poor enough that within one turn of the rotation, you'll at least once need somebody to come in and throw several innings in a single game? Plus, Tavarez has only twice thrown more than 1 2/3 anyway. Aardsma already has 3 2 IP appearances under his belt, and would seem to be the logical choice (or J-Lo, depending upon situations/matchups) to get the game a little deeper. All the DFA really does is indirectly cause a change in the pecking order.

• Paps
• Oki
• Hansen !?!?!
• MDC !?!?!?
• Aardsma
• J-Lo
• Um.
• F.
• Anyone.
• Mike Timlin

Walks.  Walks. Walks. Walks. Walks. Walks. Walks. Walks. Walks.

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Walks. Walks...

Summary:

So, to be fair to Dice-BB, the strike zone last night was...tight. However, the umpire wasn't biased or anything; it was up to Dice-BB and 'Tek to make the adjustments. They didn't. I told a friend of mine, before the game, that this game could have been a statement game for either starter. Neither Bonderman or Matsuzaka delivered. 

Thankfully, Mike Lowell did. 3/5, 2B, HR, and almost missed another 2B or HR due to the glove of probably anyone but Gary Sheffield Gary Sheffield. A good game, too, from Papi, who went 2/4 with his own HR and a BB. Or, a walk. A walk. A lot of f'n walks.

Craig Hansen. The one hitter where I felt he got squeezed, in the 7th, was of course Gary Sheffield. Ball 3 was particularly suspicious, even if ball 4 was all Hansen. Nonetheless, he looked strong, and it was his own error bizarre infield single that was scored ridiculously ruled a hit, and so no doubt was a hit, even if the hitter would've been out by a mile if Hansen had fielded the ball properly. I'm so f'n confused by the scoring on that particular play. I suppose it doesn't matter in the grand scheme, but holy crap some homer-scoring there. Oh well. F.

Player of the Game:

Have to, again, disagree with WPA. See the guy on the left for our PotG.

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Comment of the Game:

holy shnikees, I didn't even look at how dice k was because I was looking at hansen...8 walks? is this a joke? -pedroiastroika