Monday, June 25, 2007

Rod Beck and Other Thoughts

First off, my sympathies to Rod Beck's family. I remember, not too long ago, seeing a piece on him pitching in AAA and having a blast. He lived in a Winnebago behind the stadium and would have fans join him for BBQs after the game. I can't believe he was only 38...

On to lighter things...
The Yankees are 11 1/2 back again, and they had to use Clemens out of the pen. They will probably make another nice run before the season is over...However, we're closing in on 80 games, and they are under .500...

The Padres/Sox series was excellent (with the exception of Game 2). Great pitching, great drama. That Padres bullpen is ridiculous.

It is obvious that, even though they are winning many of the interleague games, that the Sox are built for the AL, and need the DH to get runs...

Ortiz, as much as I love him, is starting to annoy me with arguing almost every called strike.

Lugo is struggling. I like him, though. I hope they continue to put him in there. I think he'll get hot at some point. It looks like he is very afraid of striking out, and therefore is only hitting weak grounders. He's not trying to drive anything.

Hot Coco? He's up to .253...

Apparently the Red Sox are the front runner for Buerhle. The White Sox are reportedly interested in Jed Lowrie (minor league SS), and pitching prospects...Buerhle is an innings eater. Get him. I don't know where you slot him...Maybe Wake to the pen? I don't know...But with Donnelly out (what is wrong with him?), and Timlin not good, you need more starters that can go deep into games.

Although...the Sox's bullpen ERA is 2.90! Of course, that is mostly Okajima and Papelbon...but still. If I asked, I would have said upper 3's.

Gabbard will start on Tuesday. Not Lester. They must be thinking that they'll bring Lester up when he is ready to stay here for good.

I still say if the Sox keep their lead at 10+ games...leave Schilling out to rest for a little while. At least until after the break...

4 comments:

  1. Re: Rod Beck... it is VERY sad to learn of his passing at such a young age... I met him at a bar in Baltimore (I think back in 2000) and had a beer and a deep-fried pickle with him... awesome guy! Down to Earth... gregarious... approachable. I, too, read the stories about him living in his RV in the stadium parking lot and inviting fans in for a barbeque... pity that he had such diabolical demons, though.

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  2. The Pads series was great. I was there in full force with the nation. It was a great showing. The Saturday game seemed like a spring traning game though with that lineup and even a fill in ump.

    Buerhle ould obviously take Tavarez' spot. As well as he has done, I can't seem him getting a start in Oct. Plus with all the other teams needing starters, they could deal him now while his stock is high and get one decent player back - making up for the 2+ players they would need to deal for Buerhle.

    I can almost see the scenario now. Sox trade for Buerhle. Yankees will sign him this offseason. He will pitch great in 2008, Lowrie will win ROY, Theo will take a beating, then Buerhle's arm will fall off and the Yanks will still owe him $84MM over the last 5 years of the deal.

    As for the pen, don't forget that Javy Lopez and Snyder have been fantastic as well, so its not all Oki and Paps. And even Donelly has been really good - he had one bad week, and other than that he has been fantastic. 14 of his 27 appearances he has given up no hits or walks - Paps has done it 11 of 27. And Donnelly only allowed 5 of 21 inherited runners to score. Pretty impressive.

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  3. And while on the topic of the bullpen (and I think I wrote this before), I think Timlin is done. Hate to say it. Hate to see it. But I just don't think he is going to recover. I was surprised that they cut Romero so quickly (even with his BB problem resurfacing) in order to make romm for Timlin. The Sox of late have not been ones to show undying sentimentality, so I would imagine that Number 50's days are numbered in Boston.

    Using my stat before of H or walk in each appearance - timlin has 16 appearances and only 3 "clean outings" - actually only 3 of 17 once you add in tonight. And while Pineiro is not much better, 6 clean outing of 26, he has pitched multiple innings in 8 of those outings and has occassionally shown effectiveness.

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  4. Re: Beck... what a sad story :(. Hate to see people go out like that. By the way, when you write new blog posts, go over to BeTheRef.com and post a link to your story, and hopefully get a little extra traffic for your blog.

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