| 18 August 2010
It's been a busy morning, so I'll cut to the chase and get focused for tonight's game.
Clay Buchholz set the table last night with 7 shutout innings and a win over the Angels. With the bullpen in shambles, we need all of our starters to go 6-8 innings if we want to rack up 8+ wins during this 10-game home-stand.
Buchhy did that and hopefully the rest of the staff took notice. Buchholz now has 14 wins on the season and lowered his AL leading ERA to 2.36. The K's are down to 6 per 9, but his 53% groundball rate continues to work for him...but here's the most important stat:
3-0 with a 2.56 ERA in his last three starts against the best AL teams (NYY, TB, MIN). He's 3-3 with a 3.31 ERA in 6 starts against those teams, but the other three starts came on 5/8, 4/22 and 4/17... Buchhy has been locked in ever since.
Mr. Beckett... I hope you're paying attention.
Side notes: Ryan Kalish has helped me move on from Jacoby Ellsbury. Recent reports say that Ellsbury broke another rib in his collision at firstbase a few games back, but who cares... Kalish is hitting .300 in hist first 50 major-league at bats and broke the game wide pen last night with a Grand Salami of Weaver in the 4th. Most rookies might have buckled under the pressure of a bases-loaded 2-out situation against the MLB's leading K machine... but Kalish knew he had Weaver on the ropes after back-to-back walks and crushed a change-up into the bullpen.
Ellsbury who?
Also, Pedroia was 0-4 with a K in his return to action, but I'm willing to give Pedey another day of two to get his mjo back.
Game Preview to follow...
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
