3.26.08 – Sox vs. A’s

The final game in the Tokyo series went to the A’s 5-1.     Rich Harden was superb. His line was 6 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 9 Ks, 1 ER. The run he gave up was a monster blast to Manny. But, apart from that, Harden was in control, and the A’s pen also looked pretty sharp with a nice appearance from Santiago Casilla. 

• Manny has certainly started off the season with a bang.  He looks to be in midseason form already.  I guess the contract year has been a motivating factor for him.
• Lester fell into the trap I was afraid of – not enough first pitch strikes led to way too many pitches thrown by the fourth inning.  He departed after 83 pitches, well on pace for 100+ through 5.  That just is not going to cut it.  Lester is a pretty big question mark in my mind.
• Varitek does not look good.  In 8 plate appearances so far he is 0-8 with 6 Ks.  Let’s hope this is not a sign of things to come.
• David Aardsma looked really good in his 1 2/3 IP.  He had good velocity and was painting the corners.
• Is Keith Foulke going to resurrect his career?  I am still not sold on him.  While his numbers look good, there were some solid shots against him.  I don’t think he has gotten out of the woods yet, but, as I mentioned yesterday, it still is like spring training for many of these guys.

 

The NESN broadcast had a really funny moment.  Remy and Orsillo were doing the game via the Japanese feed and at one point the feed was different shots of Dice-K, for, I kid you not, about 5-7 minutes.  Remy couldn’t take it at the end and actually got up and walked around the booth so he would have something to do.  Both he and Orsillo were actually speechless for blocks of time – they had nothing to say because the picture was of Dice-K sitting in the stands.  It was pretty funny.

 

 

A little more on Varitek – he has me worried.  His K%/BB% has gone like this since 2000:

 

• 2000 – 18.8/11.8
• 2001 – 20.1/10.8
• 2002 – 20.3/8.1
• 2003 – 23.5/10.2
• 2004 – 27.2/11.8
• 2005 – 24.9/11.7
• 2006 – 23.8/11.2
• 2007 – 28.0/14.0

 

This is not a good sign; it looks like age has caught up with him. What will the Sox do with him?  They have very little down in the minors and this is the last year of his contract.  Is his handling of the pitching staff enough to overcome the scary look of these numbers?  

 

It will be interesting to see how Theo and company plan for the future starting in 2009.  Will Varitek accept a one year deal? With Boras as his agent, you’d think not. 

 

Player of the Day – Rich Harden:

 

 

3.25.08 – Sox v. A’s

My first post of this new blog.  The goal of this blog is to record my thoughts and memories about the Sox, the games, and baseball in general.  Onward … 

6-5 Sox in 10.

• Dice K had no control at all in the first two innings.  March 25 is still spring training.
• Keith Foulke, while his line looked good, was lucky to escape his inning without any damage. Youkalis took him to deep center and then Big Papi hit a laser right at Emil Brown in left.
• Huston Street’s windup reminds me of the Eck – the results however were not on par with the Eck.  But, again, I think March 25 is still spring training.  Street did not put the ball where he wanted.  You have to wonder if Billy Beane though gnashes his teeth over these type of outings in that other GMs might not be as interested in Street if he struggles for any period of time.  Small sample sizes must have some impact on a player’s value – they shouldn’t but we are all human and look at what the player has done lately.

 

This was a nice comeback win the for Sox and a great way to start the season.  The A’s must be very frustrated; my friend Dennis is an A’s fan – I feel his pain.  The A’s deserved to win this game but for their stud closer’s implosion.  

 

Rich Harden takes on John Lester tomorrow.   If Harden is healthy he is a tough pitcher.  Let’s see if Lester can get to the 5th inning with fewer than 100 pitches.  I am not very hopeful about this, unless Lester has changed his erratic ways.  His two post-season outings, while amazing, have not convinced me that his control is better and his ability to throw first pitch strikes has improved.