SarroSports

8/25/08 11:18pm

Once Julio Lugo hurt his quad muscle trying to run out a ground ball July 11th against the Orioles, Sox fans only knew their shortstop situation could go up.  As of August 25th, his replacement standing six feet tall from Salem Oregon, Jed Lowrie is hitting .299 and has gone errorless in 153 chances at short this season.  At the time of his injury, Lugo was hitting .268 with 1 hr and whopping 22 RBIs.  Not exactly Honus Wagner type numbers, Lugo made even Mike Lansing  look great at the dish.  As much as I would like to vent about Lugo’s struggles all season, I promise he wont be mentioned for the rest of this post.

Before Jed Lowrie was drafted in the first round by the Boston Red Sox, he was tearing up the Pac 10 winning player of the year honors in 2004.  At Stanford, scouts described Lowrie as an intelligent shortstop (its Stanford isn’t everyone intelligent) with great work ethic and doubles power.   He hit for average from both sides of the plate and provided above average speed on the bases.  In the field, Lowrie didn’t impress anyone with his range, but made up for it with a good glove.  All credentials worthy of a first round pick.   Three years later, everything scouts have said about that shortstop from Stanford have been very accurate.

Lowrie has had a knack for big hits since his second call up to the big leagues.  None better than his a go-ahead homer in the 11th against Toronto Sunday afternoon.   After taking an outside fastball from Toronto reliever Brandon League over the fence in right field, Lowrie didnt focus too much on what hes accomplished, but chose to speak about whats ahead for him and the Red Sox.  “Any series that we have with New York is going to be a big series, but when we come off a win like this, I feel like everyone will show up and have a little more energy and be able to feed off this game.”Lowrie even gives good quotes, mentioning how the Yankees is always a big series (even though the Yankees look as sluggish as a race between Bartolo Colon and Rich Garces) and how energy is important to any big series.  Maybe its because he went to one of the best colleges in the country, or it might be that he has veteran teammates showing him how to go about the game.  With his steady play at short, his impressive at bats, and his boring but team first quotes, 24 year old Lowrie is here to stay in 2008.  Sox fans couldn’t of expected any of this, but appreciate everything Lowrie does for the team.   In the end, anyone could better than their last shortstop.  Sorry I had to throw in one last jab.

-Sarro

8/23/08 12:26am

Red Sox outfielder JD Drew is no stranger to the disabled list and theres a chance he will be heading there again very soon.  The Doctors at Mount Sinai hospital informed drew that he has a herniated disk in his back and prescribed Drew a curse of anti-inflammatory medicine after giving him an MRI exam.  This injury does not come at a good time for the Red Sox who are 4 1/2 back in the American League East and in a virtual tie in the wild card with the Twins.  Drew has never played more than 146 games in a season and has missed his last four games with what he said was a sharp pain in his back.

Sox manager Terry Francona  announced yesterday, that Drew would be in the  lead off spot Friday night in Toronto.  After MRI results came back and the issue was a herniated disk, plans changed and Dustin Pedroia filled in for Drew once again at the top of the order.  This is a huge blow to the Sox line-up with Drew being a crucial part of their success all season.  Drew has been asked at times to hit all over the batting order, including in the third spot when Sox slugger David Ortiz missed time with a partially torn tendon in his left wrist.  In 2007 the Sox right fielder did not produce as expected after signing a five year 70 million dollar deal, but 2008 has been just the opposite.  Drew leads the team with a .408 on base percentage, often working counts and drawing walks.  The power production has been back, hitting 19 home runs which is 8 more than he had all last year.  This is due to a new approach at the plate, going with what pitchers are giving him and hitting to all fields.  Last season drew seemed to become pull happy rolling his hands over on  outside pitches, often resulting in a ground out to the second basemen.  All season, Drew has been staying on the ball longer showing the talent that every GM in baseball has been drolling over since his rookie season in 1998.

A herniated disk is not an unfamiliar issue to Red Sox right fielders and unfortunately has shown that it can shelf a player for an extended period of time.  Back in 2004, Trot Nixon was diagnosed with a herniated disk and missed almost two months of the season.  Fortunately for the Red Sox, herniated disks come in many varieties and Drew’s might not me a major issue.  With the Rays and Twins playing their best baseball of the season, Drew needs to find a way to get back in the Sox line-up before its too late.

-Sarro

8/21/08 12:26 am

Red Sox fans are a few weeks away from the one year anniversary of Clay Buchholz’s no-hitter. That magical night ended on a nasty twelve to six curveball that left Orioles hitter Nick Markakis frozen with his bat on his shoulders. Almost one year later, Buchholz would take the mound against the Orioles in the final game of a three game series that ended with much different results. The Sox rookie fell to 2-9 on the season, allowing 5 runs on three hits in only 2 1/3 innings. Buchholz struggled with his control all night, walking three batters and hitting another. When his pitches found the strike zone, they often found the center of the plate, making it a very easy night for Oriole hitters on their way to a 11-6 pounding of the Boston Red Sox.

After the game, Sox manager Terry Francona announced that Buchholz would be demoted to AA Portland to work out his pitching issues. ” I talked to Buck and we feel we need to give him a renewed start, said Francona who also indicated he thinks Buchholz will respond. Buchholz has never been able to find the command of his fastball that he had last season, this may be due to the team changing his arm angle in his delivery. The team has not announced who will take Buchholz’s place in the rotation, but AAA pitchers David Pauley and Michael Bowden seem to be the likely candidates. Pauley has major league experience and has been very impressive boasting a 13-4 record with a respectable 3.45 ERA. Bowden has been getting very little run support lately, comes in at 0-3 with a 3.21 ERA. Even though Bowden has the mental mindset of Sox reliever Justin Masterson, who pitches with toughness and intelligence, it would be a very tall task to ask of the 21 year old.

The Red Sox have watched Buchholz struggle all season, with his ERA rising to 6.75 and losing eight of his last nine games, it was definitely time for a demotion. Some may even think this move came a few starts too late, with the Rays still running on all cylinders leading the AL East by 4.5 games. In his last four starts, Buchholz has givin up 19 earned runs in his last twenty innings. For a team looking to make the post-season and possibly another world series birth, it needs more from their fifth starter. The Sox are eying September 1st when the rosters expand to add Bartolo Colon, adding depth to the back of an injured rotation.

Buchholz’s confidence has been diminishing with every start, often looking frustrated and confused on the mound. Granted Buchholz is a great talent, boasting two plus pitches in his change-up and curveball, but major league pitchers can’t rely on talent alone. Learning how to pitch to batters and attacking the strike zone, will be a key factor in how quickly fans will see Buchholz back on the mound in the major leagues. Something tells me we will have to wait till next season for that to happen.

-Sarro

8/20/2008 5:17 pm

During the 2007 season, the Red Sox rode their ace to a 20-7 record along with four more wins coming in post-season play. The 2008 season has not seen the same success from Josh Beckett, boasting an 11-9 record with a 4.34 ERA. After a season of ups and downs, the Sox starter thought he had turned a corner, winning his last two starts against the White Sox and Royals. In those games, Beckett pitched a combined 14 2/3 innings, allowing only three earned runs while punching out 15. This led Red Sox nation to be very encouraged by the recent success of their top three starters. With Jon Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka’s combined record standing at 27 wins and a measly 6 loses, one would think the Red Sox would have a comfortable lead in the American League East.

Reality struck in a bad way for both the Red Sox and Beckett last Sunday, to a tune of eight earned runs in 2 1/3 innings at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays. Beckett’s pitches had little movement and most were down the middle of the plate, something that the Sox ace isn’t used to. An outing like this naturally brought questions about Beckett’s health the following day, but the Red Sox were quick to dismiss the notion that the 28 year old Texan had been feeling discomfort.

Fast forward 24 hours and the news on Josh Beckett’s health drastically changed in the form of an ailment that no Red Sox fan wants to hear. The pitcher termed the problem, “numbness in his pitching hand”. Maybe this doesn’t sound like a big deal, but considering this is the same ailment that temporarily derailed the career of David Cone, Red Sox nation should be at the least a little worried.

Asked if the injury affected the pitchers outing on Sunday, Sox manager Terry Francona stated, “Probably a little bit. It probably didn’t help his location. Somebody asked me if he was healthy and I don’t want to lie. Its not something were concerned about.” After running Beckett through a series of tests, the Sox have ruled out circulatory problems or an aneurysm. If we are to take what the Sox brass is saying as accurate, I wouldn’t expect the Sox ace to miss too much time.

With Beckett scratched from the weekend, the Sox will move both Jon Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka up a day in a three game series against Toronto. The expectation is to see Beckett back in action Tuesday in Yankee Stadium opposing Andy Pettitte and the New York Yankees. If all goes well for Beckett the rest of the season, the Sox have a rotation that matches up against any opponent in the post-season throwing Beckett, Dice-K, and Lester, a very dangers threesome in any series. This puts Boston in great position to battle against any team in the American league including the Angles big three of John Lackey, Joe Saunders, and Ervin Santana. The White Sox would throw Mark Buehrle, John Danks, and Gavin Floyd. Also the American League East leading Rays would have Scott Kazmir, James Shields, and Matt Garza at their disposal.

With a healthy Beckett, the Sox look to be in good shape coming down the home stretch of the season and into the playoffs. If he misses significant time at any point from here on out, Boston is looking at an uphill battle in a very potent American League.

-Sarro