Monday, April 27, 2009

Long Weekend Part II

Though the Sox swept this weekend, the nation should not be that excited less than 20 games into the season. To counter Dan's post, here are a couple things I didn't like about the weekend.

#1: Beckett and Ortiz are off to slow starts. Beckett did not pitch well on Saturday. He lacked control and the ability to put batters away. I will not overreact, but Beckett has not looked sharp this season. Hopefully, he will get going as the weather heats up. Ortiz continues to struggle, going 2-13 in the series. It might serve the Sox to drop him in the order, especially with Lowell and Bay playing well. I would like to see Francona's line-up card look like this:
Ellsbury
Pedroia
Bay
Youk
Ortiz
Lowell
Drew
V-Tek
Green

#2: What the hell is Francona doing putting Papelbon in the game up by 5 runs after throwing 30 pitches the night before. Papelbon will face the Yankees upwards of 20 times this season, so by all means, let's have him throw in a meaningless ninth inning.

All in all, the Sox had a great homestand going 9-0 and have crept back up to the top of the AL East. Hopefully, Boston will continue their winning streak on the road this week against the struggling Indians and Rays.

3 comments:

Dan said...

You make a very good point about Papelbon. It was not a save situation, and I would've like to see him not pitch there. However, who else was Tito going to turn to. The only people I trust in the bullpen are Pap and Manny Delcarmen (and that may not last). Another cause for concern, Okajima has looked awful.

Joe said...

Saito and Ramirez have looked sharp from what I have seen.

Dennis said...

I don't think it matters if it was a save situation. Saves are a meaningless statistic and the Red Sox know that. Francona probably figured that if the Yankees got a runner on Papelbon would have to start warming up anyway. Makes more sense just to get him in there and get the sweep.