The good news is that John Smoltz looked great today. The bad news is that he probably won't get his first win in the American League. I doubt that the Sox will let the 42-year-old head back out after sitting around during a rain delay. Answer me this, the starter can't get a win if he doesn't go at least five, but if he leaves with a 9-1 lead, as Smoltz has, who does?
Anyway, Smoltz had all three pitches working. His slider and his curve were biting hard and he was painting with the fast ball. He worked quickly and looked very comfortable. It's a complete 180 from his first start.
Meanwhile, the Boston bats have been relentless in this game making things even more comfortable for Smoltzy (as I'm sure Tito is already calling him). It was very satisfying to see the Sox break things open in the 4th when the Orioles intentionally walked Jason Bay to get to David Ortiz. He took a pitch the opposite way to left field and made them pay. He's smacking hits the other way more and more often, and if he keeps doing that he'll be in good shape the rest of the season.
4 comments:
Oh poor poor Dan, jinxing away one of the biggest leads ever blown by the Sox. I'm not trying to rub it in, but I think Baseball Tonight said it was the largest lead ever blown by a first place team to a last place team.
Aw, crap. I'm just hearing about this now. When I went to bed they were still in rain delay. I'm hardly concerned. Rain delay games are wierd that way. Still... Dadgummit!
The reason I haven't posted in a while is because I can't sign onto the blog at work. I will try to do more from home in the coming weeks, but for now here is an extra long comment. For the first time in nearly 80 games the Sox bullpen has betrayed them. Masterson gave up 5 and Okijima 4. Like Dan said rain delays are weird. The good news is the sox have a fairly easy stretch of games before the All-Star break. They need to take advantage of this with the Rays going crazy at the plate and the Yankees bats coming around, it looks like it will be tight through September. All three teams can easily win 90 games and one will stay home in October while the Tigers will limp into the playoffs with a .500 record, but that is baseball. It will come down to who can make a move to add a small, but important piece. A bench guy, defensive specialist, an extra arm in the pen all these things could make the difference in a race this tight. Let's see where things are at the break then make some predictions sure to be bias if nothing else.
Now that we have our new Macbook, I blog in front of the TV.
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