Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Daisuke Matsuzaka will be starting tomorrow night for the Sox against the A’s, Joe Blanton. In their ‘North American’ opener in Oakland, the Red Sox will look to Daisuke to improve on his season opening 5 inning, 95 pitch outing which he struggled to make it that far.
What do the Sox do about the outfield situation? With Jacoby Ellsbury playing like he did in the 2007 ALCS & World Series, he all but sent Coco Crisp packing - but Theo never moved him. Was his asking price too much for a hitter who the Sox expected to step into the leadoff spot vacated by Johnny Damon? In his defense, 2006 was a disaster due to injuries. At this point, to get any value for him, you have to showcase him. When you showcase him, you have to hope he produces. So, is it a good thing JD Drew back is ailing to start the season? It allows Coco some time out in centerfield, Ellsbury in right and Manny doing his thing in left. I think Manny will have yet another great season - the Sox hold a team option for 2009. If they don’t pick it up, he’s an unrestricted free agent. So either way, he’s playing for his contract for 2009 and beyond.
The infield is steady with Jason Varitek behind the plate. He, like Manny, is playing for next year’s contract. It looks like his best offensive days are behind him but he handles the pitching staff and calls a great game behind the plate. The rest of the infield sees Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia and Mike Lowell with Julio Lugo back as they were in 2007.
Pitching Matchups for the next two games in Oakland are as follows:
Tuesday - Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-0) 3.60 ERA vs. A’s, Joe Blanton.(0-0) 4.76 ERA
Wednesday - John Lester (0-1) 9.00 ERA vs. A’s, Rich Harden (1-0) 1.50 ERA
Jim Mulligan
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Last post (s) by Jim Mulligan
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5 Responses to “BoSox Gameday”
Posted: 03/31/08 at 8:48 pm
[...] SportsTalkBuzz 24/7 Sports Talk and Commentary placed an observative post today on BoSox Gameday [...]
Posted: 04/01/08 at 5:18 am
I agree about showcasing Coco. He could start for a lot of teams, but I’d love to see him hang around as the fourth outfielder. He would end up getting quite a bit of playing time spelling the other three, as well as being a defensive replacement for Manny. He has gold glove talent in the field, and I know he is a better offensive player than he’s shown so far in Boston.
Dice K needs to step it up. Or I’m afraid he may be just a .500 type pitcher, not the ace we were led to believe.
Agree about Manny. He’s going to have a big year.
Posted: 04/01/08 at 9:46 am
Well since I’m writing about the Yankees I should get familiar with my blog counterpart :). Anyways nice post, but I don’t remember who said it (god please don’t be Steve Phillips) but someone made a decent point about how Varitek may be calling for too many fastballs from Dice-K. His strength is being able to throw a breaking ball in any count, possibly that could help him.
Personally I think Varitek does fall in love wtih the fastball too much. Take gagne from last year, he was always calling for the fastball, despite his best pitch being his changeup. (Then again it was Gagne so no matter what he threw would probably get hit.)
Posted: 04/01/08 at 11:58 am
Jim,
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Posted: 04/02/08 at 6:41 pm
Nice first blog Mr. Mulligan. I hope we get to see some more.
So, it looks like Daisuke improved in his second game of the season. One run and 6 2/3 innings. That is not so bad. I think he is still adjusting to U.S. baseball and will continue to improve.
What do you think of the rest of the pitching line up? I thought Lester looked ok today. He got the shutout, but the numbers were just ok.