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By Jimmy, 5/27/2010 6:58 am

5/26/10: Red Sox 11, Rays 3

One of the most notable aspects of John Lackey’s 8 year career coming into this season was his consistently good control.  Lackey’s annual walk rates from 2002 though 2009 have ranged from 2.1 to 3.1 with very little variance, and it’s been a big reason for his success over the years.

Lackey’s not really a strikeout pitcher or a ground ball pitcher, and thus pinpoint command is really a critical part of his game.  This is why his current walk rate of 4.4 is so alarming.  It’s nearly 5 standard deviations above his career average.  Two deviations above the mean is the outer edge of what you would see on a normal distribution of measurements in a sample.  Three is extreme (think of it as the 99th percentile).  Four is downright improbable, and 5 is just insane.  Something is up.

According to Lackey, that was the best he’s thrown the ball all season.  I do admire his approach, because he seems to handle himself well when guys are getting on base or after a lousy inning.  I was shocked to see him in the 7th inning of that game, but I think there’s something to be said for that (he racked up nearly 100 pitches after 5 innings).  Lackey’s a guy I really want to see succeed here.  I suppose the whole 5-year contract thing has a lot to do with that.

Luckily, the Red Sox provided Lackey with plenty of run support, and completed an impressive sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays.  The Sox have won 8 out of their last 9 games (all against very tough opponents: the Yankees, Twins, Phillies, and Rays) and are now right in the thick of things with the 4th best record in the American League.

Notes & Takeaways:

• I switched over from the Celtics game once I came to the realization (again) that the NBA is fixed, like professional wrestling.  The referee is firmly entrenched in the story, like Dangerous Danny Davis in Wrestlemania III.  I expected him to hit Kendrick Perkins over the head with a metal chair as Perkins turned his back and walked away.  He might as well have done that, as the effect would have been the same.
• Big night for Adrian Beltre, who is now second in Wins Above Replacement among MLB third basemen (Evan Longoria is edging him by 0.2 WAR).

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By Jimmy, 5/26/2010 9:19 am

5/25/10: Red Sox 2, Rays 0

If Monday’s defeat of Wade Davis and the surging Tampa Bay Rays wasn’t enough to convince you that the 2010 Red Sox are for real, last night’s 2-0 run prevention masterpiece against staff ace James Shields may have done the trick.  The Rays,  second in all of MLB in runs scored per game coming into last night, were completely stifled by Jon Lester and the Red Sox bullpen.

Here’s some fodder for the “Varitek has superior pitch-calling powers” camp: Alex Speier tells us that the Red Sox have had 13 no-hitters or 1-hitters since 1998, tied for most in baseball, and that Jason Varitek was behind the plate for all of them.  I went back and calculated the percentage of games that Tek has started behind the plate since 1998, and by my count, it’s 65% (1293/1991).  So, this does appear to be slightly more than coincidence.  However, this is probably skewed by the fact that Varitek was often on the bench for games started by Tim Wakefield, and Wake is typically one of the weaker starters in the rotation.

Notes & Takeaways:

• Not so fast: Darnell McDonald was not DFA’d yesterday, it was Scott Atchison who ended up as the loser in the zero-sum game of roster management.  Apparently Jacoby Ellsbury isn’t quite as spry as management initially thought.
• Pete Abraham notes that the Sox have thrown out 8 of 20 would-be base stealers in the past 28 games, and the team’s increased focus on holding runners proved especially critical against Carl Crawford and the Rays last night.
• The Providence Journal tracked down Rocco Baldelli, now working in the Rays system as an instructor.  He still hopes to return to the field (shades of Gabe Kapler’s career path).

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By Jimmy, 5/25/2010 9:15 am

5/24/10: Red Sox 6, Tampa Bay 1

Given the pitching match-up here (Clay Buchholz vs. Wade Davis), I considered last night’s game the most winnable of the three in this series against the red-hot Tampa Bay Rays.  The offense continues to be carried by Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, and Adrian Beltre.

Notes & Takeaways:

• While Beltre continues to hit well, I can’t help but point out the fact that his BABIP is .390 this season (compared to a career average of .293).  Yeah, he’s been lucky.  Consider it a good thing, seeing as though he’s helped the team win some games during a period where a bunch of his teammates were struggling.
• It was nice to see Dustin Pedroia have a 3-hit night, the first time he’s done that since April 26th.  Let’s face it folks, he’s a gamer.  He’s a scrappy, blue-collar gamer who brings his lunch pail to work every day, and isn’t afraid to get his uniform dirty.  Give me a team of nine Dustin Pedroias, and I’ll gladly take on a team of nine Albert Pujolses.  Sure, I’ll lose that game by a score of 36-3, but I’ll do it by playing the game the right way.
• Mike Cameron will return from the DL tonight, but Jacoby Ellsbury will remain the team’s regular center fielder for the time being, as the Sox plan on taking a conservative approach with Cameron’s recovery.
• Darnell McDonald was DFA’d to make room for Cameron.  I’d have to think that another team will pick him up off of waivers.  He’s proven that he can be a solid 4th outfielder on a Major League team, a guy who can play all three positions and come up with a big hit once in a while.
• There was a scary moment in the 3rd inning last night when Victor Martinez fouled a ball off his toe, and were were instantly haunted with visions of Jason Varitek behind the plate for the next 5 months.  However, it appears that Victor will be fine.
• We have a confirmed Jed Lowrie sighting to report.

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By Jimmy, 5/24/2010 9:14 am

5/23/10: Red Sox 8, Phillies 3

I’ve become full-fledged hater of interleague play over the past few years, so you could only imagine the level of dread I was feeling as the Red Sox traveled to Philadelphia to take on the reigning two-time National League champions.  However, the Sox did quite a bit to quell some of the unease fans have been feeling this season, by playing well against a tough opponent in a difficult, unfamiliar environment.

Notes & Takeaways:

• While the mood surrounding the team is generally positive, Dustin Pedroia continues to struggle, hitting .214/.333/.357 in the month of May.
• On the opposite end of the spectrum, Kevin Youkilis has been putting up Barry Bonds numbers this month: .397/.587/.810.
• The fans said “boooooo”, but J.D. Drew said “fuck youuuuu”; he hit .364/.417/.455 in the three game series against the team that initially drafted him (and subsequently failed to sign him).
• The Red Sox travel to Tropicana Field in Tampa for what will be a true test of their recent awakening.  If the Sox are to win the series, they will need to beat at least one of Tampa’s two best pitchers, as both Matt Garza and James Shields are slated to pitch (combined 10-3 with a 2.71 ERA in 126 innings, 120/32 K/BB.

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By Jimmy, 5/21/2010 9:44 am

5/20/10: Red Sox 6, Twins 2

I’m not sure if it’s really kosher for me to refer to a 2-game series victory as a “sweep”, but the way things have gone thus far this season, I think I’ll go ahead and take that liberty.

Surely, two beacons of hope for the 2010 Red Sox have been starters Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester, both of whom pitched masterfully against one of the best teams in the American League.  Lester has been especially impressive since his first three shaky starts of the season.

Lester, Since April 23rd:

Notes & Takeaways:

• David Ortiz, not really known for his thick skin, took some time before the game to pee into Amalie Benjamin’s ear a little bit.  His rant was mostly directed at his detractors in the media (one specific example being ESPN’s Buster Olney).  Ortiz was benched against lefty Francisco Liriano last night.
• While Ortiz has been all over the news due to his hot streak (hitting .358/.397/.774 in May), Kevin Youkilis has been even better during the same stretch (.411/.585/.786).
• Jacoby Ellsbury will be with the team in Philly this weekend.  No word yet on when he’ll actually play, but the indication is that he’s ready to go today if Terry Francona is so inclined.  When he is activated, outfielder/mop-up pitcher Jonathan Van Every will be the roster casualty.
• The error by Dustin Pedroia in the 9th inning last night is the first of the year from the right side of Boston’s infield.

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By Jimmy, 5/20/2010 8:47 am

5/19/20: Red Sox 3, Twins 2

I’m a little pressed for time this morning, so here’s a few quick hits:

• Marco Scutaro has tennis elbow and will miss a few games.
• Since the Sox are already extremely thin at SS, Angel Sanchez was added to the 40-man roster and called up from Pawtucket.  He’ll start today.
• The corresponding move was to DFA lefty Scott Schoeneweis.  Tough break for a guy everyone was pulling for, but the reality of being a LOOGY is you are often the first guy on the chopping block when a roster crunch occurs.  He’ll probably catch on elsewhere.

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By Jimmy, 5/19/2010 4:10 pm

It appears that Josh Beckett is headed to the 15-day DL.  Joe Nelson and his Vulcan change-up will be summoned from Pawtucket.  Tim Wakefield will presumably take Beckett’s place in the rotation for the next 2 weeks or so.

Wow, the Sox sure are going through great lengths to fake this injury.  This is the biggest cover-up since ACORN faked global warming.  Those extra few Manny Delcarmen warm-up tosses must have been really, really important, am I right?

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By Jimmy,

5/18/10: Red Sox 7, Yankees 6

It appears that the enterprising folks in the New York Yankees research & development department have developed new technology.  No, we not talking about their latest batch of untraceable steroids (though they are quite remarkable), we’re referring to their newly developed Pain Detector™.

You see, the Yankees now keep a prototype of this new Pain Detector in their dugout, a device which enables manager Joe Girardi to ascertain the exact level of pain that any human being is experiencing at any moment.  This device came in handy in the 5th inning of yesterday’s game against the Red Sox, when Josh Beckett (a pitcher with a notorious history of back problems, including extensive reports of recent stiffness before yesterday’s game) was pulled in favor of a reliever due to an “injury”.  Of course, this reliever was now able to make some extra warm-up throws, which all but sealed a Red Sox victory (even though they were losing by 5 runs at the time).

Joe Girardi, using the impenetrable logic of “he doesn’t look hurt, therefore he’s not”, decided to consult the Pain Detector.  Sure enough, the device showed no significant pain on Beckett at the time, and the Yankees decided to play the game under protest.

Once MLB overturns last night’s Red Sox victory in light of overwhelming evidence that Beckett was faking his injury, Girardi’s protest will go down in the baseball annals as one of the wittiest, most prudent managerial decisions of all time, right in-between Tommy Lasorda pitch-hitting Kirk Gibson in the 1988 World Series and Joe Girardi banning ice-cream from the Yankees clubhouse in 2008.

Notes & Takeaways:

• Both teams stayed true to form, as this game lasted 4 hours and 9 minutes (not including the rain delay).  Once Joe West learns of this and keels over, I think it would be good for the economy if his neck fat was harvested and used to make those religious candles you see in the ethnic isle at Star Market.
• J.D. Drew took himself out of the game (cue the “no heart” morons) in the 8th inning with lower leg pains, but he mentioned that it doesn’t appear serious, and he’ll probably be able to play tonight against the Twins.
  
• Jacoby Ellsbury feels good after his second rehab game, and is meeting with Terry Francona today to determine whether or not he needs more time before returning to the Red Sox lineup.

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By Jimmy, 5/18/2010 4:45 pm

Mike Lowell, angry about not starting against power lefty C.C. Sabathia tonight, has told a pre-game throng of reporters that he believes the team may be better off without him, and has considered asking for his release.

I guess what Lowell is forgetting (or, more likely, what he is choosing to ignore) is that the Red Sox still owe him roughly $9,000,000.  So, releasing him isn’t quite that simple.

But, hey, if Mike really wants out and is willing to light his contract on fire, I’m sure the Sox would be more than happy to light the match.

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By Jimmy,

5/17/10: Yankees 11, Red Sox 9

In all honestly, the only reason I turned on the computer this morning was to look at some porn and check my whatifsports.com dynasty team before work.  Hey, the Deweyshouse link is right there below “Red Tube” on my bookmarks, so I might as well say something about last night, for historical recordkeeping purposes.

Our closer, Jonathan Papelbon, has had an outstanding career in the major leagues thus far.  Historically good, even.  If he were to say “fuck it” and retire from baseball this morning, I’m pretty sure he’d take with him the best ERA+ in the history of America’s pastime (among pitchers with over 300 innings).  I’m not positive on that last tidbit, but if anyone feels like scouring baseballreference.com for a pitcher with a better career ERA+ than 257, please post your results here.

Anyway, last night’s game was one of the low points of his career, depending on where you rank his post-season hiccup against the Angels last year.  This was the first time in his career that he gave up a walk-off home run (pretty remarkable, considering he pitches almost exclusively in the 9th inning), and the first time in his career that he gave up more than 3 earned runs.

Man looks in the abyss, there’s nothing staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss.

-Lou Mannheim, Wall Street

Basically, what is happening here is every single one of these Red Sox-Yankees games are worse that the one before. Each game introduces me to a new level of torture. Through pain, I am experiencing enlightenment. By the end of the season, these games will feature the zombie of Thurman Munson pillaging Fenway Park and kidnapping Heidi Watney while Ramiro Pena kicks Ted Williams’ decapitated head around the outfield like a soccer ball.  That’s the only way it could get any worse.

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By Jimmy, 5/17/2010 9:05 am

5/16/10: Tigers 5, Red Sox 1

The Red Sox played the role of Las Vegas magician “Roy” over the weekend, as what began as a promising 3-game series turned into an unfortunate and unexpected mauling.  John Lackey’s hiccups in the first few innings of yesterday’s loss to the Tigers have been a reoccurring theme thus far in 2010.  His performances are not unlike my experiences with the 1987 Nissan Sentra I drove in high school; very erratic in the first few moments after the ignition is turned, but relatively stable after a while.  Take a look:

Lackey has been a different pitcher during the first few innings of his 2010 starts. The walk rate is especially odd from a guy known for pinpoint command, but I guess we can take some comfort from the fact that his walk rate during innings 3-9 resembles his career rate much more closely.

He started off slowly last season as well, posting a first half ERA of 4.93 compared to an ERA of 3.05 in the second half of the season. Considering all of this, I think we are seeing some evidence that he’ll most likely turn things around in the long run.

Notes & Takeaways:

• Check out this crazy Bernie Carbo story.  Oh, how I long for those clean pre-steroid years, when players played the game the right way, dag nabbit!
• There is a chance that both Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron could be roaming the outfield for Pawtucket tonight.  Cameron is already there, and Ellsbury is expected to begin his rehab assignment today.

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By Jimmy, 5/12/2010 4:25 pm

5/12/10: Blue Jays 3, Red Sox 2

I spent the afternoon listening to this game on internet radio, and occasionally pretending to work on some spreadsheet whenever someone walked by my office.  Anyway, I happened to notice that Joe Castiglione complained about the home plate umpiring quite a bit when the Red Sox were hitting.

Now, Joe is a bit of a homer, like most local market radio/tv guys.  Not a Tommy Heinsohn level homer, but let’s just say that he wouldn’t make much of a stink if the Blue Jays were negatively impacted by bad calls.  So, I decided to check out his claims myself (don’t take it personally, Joe).  Now that we are well into the Information Age, I can easily visit this website to check out the umpire’s strike zone myself.

Sure enough, Castiglione wasn’t kidding:

Let me first say that the Red Sox offense sucked today, and probably wouldn’t have been able to do much against Marcum (maybe the most underrated pitcher in the game) even with a good umpire behind the plate.  The umpire wasn’t responsible for the Red Sox loss, but he certainly was a factor.

The red triangles are called strikes thrown by Toronto pitchers.  The black square, as you probably guessed, represents the strike zone (as it’s typically defined).   You’ll notice lots of red triangles outside the strike zone, and unfortunately, not a whole lot of red squares.  Umpire Dale Scott clearly gave Toronto a bloated strike zone.

Terry Francona was ejected for arguing balls and strikes in the 9th inning.  If our manager was Butch Hobson, he’d probably be in the back of a police car right now.

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By Jimmy,

I’m going to try out a new regular feature here; a periodic (weekly?) report listing the top 5 minor league prospects in the organization, along with players who have seen their stock rise or fall recently.

Dewey’s House Top 5:

Anderson reclaims the top spot after a tough 2009 resulted in him being knocked down a few pegs on most lists.  He edges out Kelly here based on his ceiling; I think Anderson has better chance of becoming an “elite” MLB player than Kelly.  Both Kelly and Iglesias are drawing attention to themselves by excelling in a tough league at a very young age.  Kalish might be the best all-around player on this list.

The one guy here who has been trending downward is Pawtucket outfielder Josh Reddick.  Reddick stays on the top 5 primarily due to his track record (he played well in AAA last year), but his extremely slow start has been troubling.

I’ll begin the whole “rising/falling” feature next week.

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By Jimmy,

5/11/10: Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 1

Daisuke Matsuzaka did something he hasn’t done since May of 2007: he pitched 7 innings without walking anyone.  He threw mostly fastballs and kept them near the strike zone (71% of his heaters were thrown for strikes).

The result was a three hit masterpiece, the type of performance we were hoping to see once and a while when Matsuzaka was imported from the Land of the Rising Sun.

Here’s a nice little early season oddity for you:

Obviously, it’s nothing to take seriously.  Mauer has had nearly three times as many plate-appearances.  I think it’s time to give some credit where credit is due here; Varitek’s unlikely offensive production might be one of the things keeping the Red Sox above .500 right now.

Notes & Takeaways:

• It looks like Josh Beckett’s next scheduled start will probably be canceled due to his back problems.  In other words, Tim Wakefield might prove very useful for something other than predicting the weather based on knee pains and recounting tales about that old lemon tree at the edge of town.
• A nice tidbit from Amalie Benjamin: J.D. Drew’s last bunt single (prior to yesterday) happened in Olympic Stadium in 2004.  Yes, in Montreal.  Man, do I miss the Expos.

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By Jimmy, 5/11/2010 10:23 am

1) New York Yankees – Eventually, guys like Brett Gardner and Andy Pettitte will come down to earth a bit, but the hot starts from certain role players allowed them to win while Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson struggled.  Once the latter two get back into their groove, watch out.

2) Tampa Bay Rays – The Rays have the best Pythagorean record in the game.  Pitcher David Price looks like the guy I thought he would be last year.

3) St. Louis Cardinals – Brad Penny’s ERA is nearly two whole runs lower than that of the best pitcher in the Red Sox rotation.  FML.

4) Minnesota Twins – Joe Mauer is expected back behind the plate tonight, after a 10 day hiatus from the “tools of ignorance”.

5) Philadelphia Phillies – Signing Ryan Howard to a mega deal is probably a dumb move for the long-term, but as of right now, 2010, this team is stacked.  Roy Halladay is having his way with National League hitters like an NFL quarterback at a sorority house.

6) San Francisco Giants – Has Barry Zito figured it out (again)?  Since July of last year, Zito: 145.1 IP, 2.97 ERA.

7) Detroit Tigers – Center fielder Austin Jackson looking like an early RoY favorite, hitting .360/.408/.493.  Could NY end up regretting this trade?

8) New York Mets – Johan Santana, Jose Reyes both struggling out of the gate, yet the Mets have been decent as a whole.  A good sign for the long term.

9) Texas Rangers – The favorite to win a weak division.  I don’t agree with using prized pitcher Neftali Feliz as 1 inning reliever, for the record.

10) San Diego Padres – The bullpen trio of Heath Bell, Tim Stauffer, and Luke Gregerson combined: 55 IP, 5:1 K/BB ratio, 0.98 ERA.

I only rank top 10, mostly due to time constraints.  Yes, the Red Sox are currently absent from the list.  I’d estimate that they’d come in at around #13 if I had kept going with the rankings.  Hopefully, by this time next month, they will appear on the above list.

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By Jimmy,

5/10/10: Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 6

The Red Sox bullpen hasn’t been their strongest suit thus far in 2010, but they were the key to last night’s victory against the Blue Jays.

Starter John Lackey had an odd night, sandwiching 2 horrible innings between 4 smooth ones.  He left the game after giving up 6 runs, but fortunately the Red Sox offense managed to jump on Toronto starter Brandon Morrow early, and provided Lackey with 7 runs of support before he was pulled after 6 innings.  The combination of Hideki Okajima, Dan Bard, and Jonathan Papelbon stifled the Toronto offense by pitching three hitless innings and securing the win.

Notes and Takeaways:

• J.D. Drew was a late scratch due to vertigo (i.e. the condition that lead to Nick Esasky‘s early retirement).
• Josh Beckett is having back spasms, and his next start has been pushed back two days.  Now we learn that in addition to the spasms, he recently tweaked his back and may be delayed beyond the initial two day timeframe.  When you find out how he tweaked his back, you’ll, hate interleague play even more than you already do.
• Power rankings coming soon.

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By Jimmy, 5/10/2010 8:58 am

5/9/10: Red Sox 9, Yankees 3

A.J. Burnett demonstrates the "Inverted W" for the youngsters watching at home.

Jon Lester, clearly the ace of this rotation, ensured that Red Sox fans wouldn’t be sent back to work on Monday with their souls completely shattered.

This was a nice win from a psychological standpoint.  The Sox did manage to prevent the league’s most prolific lineup from scoring runs, and also scored a bunch of them off of a guy who started the game with the 6th best ERA in the American League (and finished out of the top 20).

Notes & Takeaways:

• The Sox and Yanks extend their middle fingers in unison to umpire Joe West; the average game time this weekend was roughly 3 hours and 20 minutes.  (In all honestly, that isn’t too bad considering the amount of runs scored/pitching changes made).
• You may have noticed Adrian Beltre (now leading all MLB third basemen in batting average) wearing glasses last night.  The non-perscription glasses were used to block the high winds.
• Mike Cameron will begin a rehab stint today, serving as the DH for Pawtucket, and possibly playing the field tomorrow.  It couldn’t have come at a better time, because it seems like Darnell McDonald’s pixie dust is beginning to wear off.
• I’m going to try to issue the first Power Rankings of the season later on today, and start a weekly minor league prospect report (a “hot/cold” type of thing) tomorrow.  So, stay tuned.

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By Jimmy, 5/9/2010 7:58 am

5/8/10: Yankees 14, Red Sox 3

Not a whole lot to say here.  This was a complete bloodbath, and most fans had the good sense to escape during the rain delay.

Derek demonstrates his road head coercion technique on a teammate.

Notes & Takeaways:

• The Yankees have outscored the Red Sox 40 to 20 in their 5 games thus far (that’s an average score of 8 to 4).
• Red Sox pitching single-handedly increased Mark Teixeira’s OPS by over 100 points. In one game.
• No, the “Van Every” in the pitcher’s column of the box score is not a typo.  Reserve outfielder Jonathan Van Every pitched the 9th inning in yesterday’s humiliating rout.  He did the same thing around this time last year, pitching the 9th in a 13-0 loss to the Rays.
• Per Pete Abraham, the Red Sox are 1-8 at home against the Yankees and Rays, and they have lost 13 of the last 15 to NY.
• One of the major flaws in the MLB rulebook prevented C.C Sabathia from being credited with the win (he didn’t go 5 innings).  I think a provision should made, something along the lines of a starting pitcher getting the win if he leaves with the lead and no reliever throws more innings than him.  Especially since SPs aren’t really throwing the same number of innings as they did in the past, the existing rule is probably a tad outdated.

The only positive thing to highlight here is that is will probably get better than this.

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By Jimmy, 5/8/2010 9:22 am

4/7/10: Yankees 10, Red Sox 3

"We're down by 6 runs. Fuck it, I'm throwing at Jeter."

While fans in Boston anticipated a lunar eclipse of memorable sports moments, they instead were treated to a giant asteroid collision, as the trifecta of Sox/Yankees, Celtics playoffs, and Bruins playoffs all ended in disappointment.

The Red Sox were a bit more futile and pathetic than their hoops and hockey counterparts.  Josh Beckett looked great until the 4th inning, when he tossed a hanging curveball to Nick Swisher.  Nick is a doughy Ed Hardy wearing type who looks like he should be working at Blockbuster Video, but he has been hitting well, and he made Beckett pay for his mistake.  It just spiraled out of control from there.

The Weather Channel (wtf?) was showing classic “bad” movie Dead Calm, and that was probably the best thing on television last night.

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By Jimmy, 5/7/2010 6:49 am

5/6/10: Red Sox 11, Angels 6

Let’s just say this up front: the Angels look absolutely terrible.  Pitching, hitting, fielding – they haven’t really done any of the above on a consistent basis.  Last night in particular, they did not resemble a major league team.  After Daisuke Matsuzaka had a rough first inning and spotted the Angels four runs, it seemed like Scott Kazmir was trying his hardest to give the lead back in every inning he pitched.

Still, a four game sweep of any team should be taken as a sign of encouragement.  While the Angels are nowhere near the team they were at this time last year, I think they are a better team than Baltimore.

What we saw from Daisuke was the standard Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde act.  Daisuke looked fine except for his one “Mr. Hyde inning” in which he couldn’t throw the ball over the plate.  In fact, if you take away the Mr. Hyde Inning (the worst inning in each of his first two starts), Daisuke has been quite effective:

Yes, that’s the definition of cherry picking, but it does seem interesting that Matsuzaka’s struggles seem to hit him all at once, like a freight train.  I would guess that most struggling pitchers more effectively spread their suckitude across innings.

The Yankees come into town, which presents both an opportunity and a threat for the Red Sox.  All three of the pitchers sent to the hill by New York have been outstanding, and their lineup has of course been terrific.  It will be a difficult series, but taking two of these games will pacify a lot of the naysayers.

Tonight is one of those ADHD sports fan nights, with Sox/Yankees, Celtics playoffs, and Bruins playoffs all on at the same time.  Basically, a sports bar owner’s wet dream.  Enjoy.