Game 130 - Mariners 10th of 10 (M's lead 5 - 4)
Seth says that if Timlin had just held the line the over the last week plus the Sox would be 2 1/2 games out. (Ed- why can't you come up with stats like that? (because I am a freaking moron while he gets paid the big bucks smart***!!!)).
As usual all statistics were found at the day by day database at Baseball Musings.
Ok, we have Snyder going against ??? Baek???, give me a freaking break, another pitcher that these hitters haven't faced before because he has only pitched in 8 games in his career and only made 6 starts. As if this weekend and last weekend weren't bad enough we get to sit through another (most likely), new pitcher baffling the boys from 1 through 9. Sheesh
Snyder has pitched against the M's earlier this year. Getting the win by going 5 innings and not allowing any earned runs. You might remember that game. Seems like just about everbody went deep agains Moyer. Of course it was a typical start for Snyder, as he went 4 innings giving up four hits and only facing 3 men over the minimum before struggling in the 5th. Both runs that he allowed came in the 5th and Hansen came in to start the 6th. If the dude could get past five innings he probably would have a couple of quality starts this year.
Fortunately the team plays 500 behind his starts, but they only average 4.3 runs per game in his starts. As a Sox Snyder has a 5.35 ERA in 11 appearances with a 5.61 ERA in his 5 starts. His shortest outing as a starter was against Oakland where he went 4 2/3 innings.
Baek only appearance this year was against the spankees, in which he pitched 5 innings only giving up 3 runs in a no decision. Overall his career record is 2 and 4 with a 5.40 ERA.
ESPN.com preview is here.
Yahoo sports preview here.
MLB.com press pass (if there is a new one for today is here, otherwise look at yesterdays here.
The yankees have used a total of 10 pitchers to start games this year, 4 of those pitchers have started 104 (all of them have started over 20) games combined or 81% of all their starts, which would be exactly what you want in a 5 man rotation. Only 6 of their starters have pitched in 5 or more games and that sixth one is Cory "freaking" Lidle and he just got there. The Sox, on the other hand, top 4 (only 2 of them have started over 20 games) pitchers have made 89 starts out of 129 games which is 69%. Nine, count them, nine pitchers have made 5 or more starts. Injuries killed this pitching staff and that always has a bigger impact on your record than the loss of position players.
1 comment:
Fair enough. It should be noted that the Red Sox' starters did not miss one start because of injury in 2004. Arroyo was last among the 5 starters with 29 starts. Only 5 games were started by players other than the 5-man rotation (one by Abe Alvarez, interestingly enough).
However, one can't even begin to compare that rotation to the 2006 rotation. If Matt Clement were healthy, he'd still be losing games. Tim Wakefield would be slightly above average and eat innings...but the bullpen still sucks, no matter how rested they are. And David Wells...how anyone could count on him at this point in his career for 25-30 starts is beyond me.
Injuries or not, Arroyo or not, this rotation was poorly put together. The average age of Schill, Beckett, Wake, Clement, and Wells is 36. Take out Beckett, and the remaining four average age is 38.5. One had to expect these guys to fall apart at some point. If anything, the Sox were lucky to have Wells/Wake pitch as often as they did last year. Sometimes the well runs dry. I don't think it's so much the injuries themselves, but poor management that led this team in the wrong direction. Jason Johnson, Kyle Snyder, and a not-ready-for-prime-time Jon Lester are not acceptable replacements. Of course, nobody could have predicted Beckett would be this bad either.
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