The official Derek Lowe thread

[ajhuffman]

Lowe certainly did not pitch well yesterday, fortunately the offense and the Kansas City pitching bailed him out .

[YanksHater213]

whoa whoa whoa, lowe pitched very well, 3 hits in 5 or 6 innings (not sure), but im still not jumping back on the bandwagon

[roary]

Originally posted by ajhuffman@Jun 7 2004, 03:48 PM

Lowe certainly did not pitch well yesterday, fortunately the offense and the Kansas City pitching bailed him out .

And a big welcome to you!

 

Edit: Lowe didn't pitch poorly though. He didnt pitch great either, but its certainly an improvement on what he's done before.

[Old Hoss]

Originally posted by ajhuffman@Jun 7 2004, 02:48 PM

Lowe certainly did not pitch well yesterday, fortunately the offense and the Kansas City pitching bailed him out .

Did you watch the game? Lowe gave up only 3 hits, 1 walk, 3 runs of which only 2 were earned (1st inning) in 5 innings pitched. This is the least amount of hits he has given up in any start this year.

[GreenMonsterSeats]

He threw 48 strikes as well. I think once his mind is back in the game he will be fine. Maybe overconcentrating and trying to steer the ball a bit more than usual. There were rumors that he was tipping his pitches but I don't see it. I think he just forces it to much and when hits are given up or a bad call happens he gets frustrated and can't put things behind and move forward.

 

Glad to see him do well again...

[RedSoxNut]

Finally, a decent start for D-Lowe, hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

[roary]

Definitely. If he keeps any sign of decency up, the sox will do well. I hate to say it, but our season is essentially dependent on Lowe's ability to get us wins.

[roary]

Ok, so after two good starts (one great) in a row, is D-Lowe back? He was lights out yesterday. Its a shame that Manny Ramirez sucks and had to blow the win for him, but he pitched the best he's pitched in years. I think I need to see one more quality start from him to become a believer again. Phew, I was getting worried.

[roary]

This is how I see it now. You get one of two extremes when Lowe is pitching. You either get the baby-man, break down mentally, crappy ass pitcher that we saw earlier on in the year, or you get the dominant, focused cy-young candidate that we saw yesterday. Hopefully he'll be able to avoid a 50-50 split in his personality, because I much prefer watching the cy young candidate pitch.

[yagmaster]

This is what is so frusterating about Lowe (and even Pedro, but to a lesser extent). We have seen how dominant he can be. He can be so good on some days that you just think to yourself "Damn, we can't let this guy go!" I think that the one positive we can take out of this season is that we might be able to get him for cheaper next year. But I still think he has Ace material.

[Old Hoss]

We can start worrying about Wakefield now. He has given up 29 hits in his last three starts and 17 earned runs. (17-2/3 innings pitched)

[Pedro]

Originally posted by yagmaster@Jun 12 2004, 01:31 PM

This is what is so frusterating about Lowe (and even Pedro, but to a lesser extent). We have seen how dominant he can be. He can be so good on some days that you just think to yourself "Damn, we can't let this guy go!" I think that the one positive we can take out of this season is that we might be able to get him for cheaper next year. But I still think he has Ace material.

Pedro has had some bad starts, but there honestly hasn't been a time this season that I said to myself "They have to keep Lowe!". Before his outing against Los Angeles, Lowe hadn't made a quality start since April 29. He could throw 3 straight CG shutouts - which he's obviously, obviously NOT going to do - and his ERA will still be over 4. That is how awful he's been.

 

The only difference on Friday from all of Lowe's other outings since April 29 was that he actually got out of what usually is a disasterous inning. This time the batters swung at Ball 4 with the bases loaded, this time they didn't walk in a run or smash it into the gap to clear the bases. By no means am I trying to demean 7 shutout innings of baseball, he did great... but he could've easily gotten smashed yet again.

 

Pedro on the otherhand, has a 1.94 ERA excluding just 3 outings. He's going to be fine.

[Old Hoss]

Actually, Lowe's starts on May 14 and June 6 were decent starts and of course this past start on June 11 was good.

[Pedro]

Yes, they were decent, but not official quality starts. Perhaps 5 IP of 2 ER ball like he did in KC is better than 6 and 3 ER (an official QS), but that is how it has gone thus far.

[roary]

Originally posted by Pedro@Jun 13 2004, 02:26 AM

Yes, they were decent, but not official quality starts. Perhaps 5 IP of 2 ER ball like he did in KC is better than 6 and 3 ER (an official QS), but that is how it has gone thus far.

I've never really been a fan of the whole "quality start" thing. I like judging pitchers on how I see them pitch. Lowe looked good in his past two starts, even if his June 6th outing wasnt a quality start.

 

Sure, there was the potential to get smashed there, but he didnt get smashed. This is a key characteristic of any great pitcher, the ability to get out of jams. Using your example, if Pedro didnt sometimes get batters to swing at ball 4, then he wouldn't be as dominant as he can be, and we would be criticizing him.

 

So, I think that he didnt just get lucky. He's probably snapped out of whatever bothered him (although with Lowe, you never know). Hopefully we'll see his better half now. We need that, with Schilling injury rumors abounding.

[yeszir]

Originally posted by Old Hoss@Jun 13 2004, 01:29 AM

Actually, Lowe's starts on May 14 and June 6 were decent starts and of course this past start on June 11 was good.

Let's hope he keeps it up. I'm sure most of RSN is torn between hating him and hoping he is back to his old form. It sure would be a shame if he tanked his next outing, wouldnt it be?

[JMDurron]

We need Lowe now more than ever, whether he tanks his next one or not. At least he's shown us that the good stuff is still there somewhere.

[roary]

Originally posted by JMDurron@Jun 13 2004, 05:04 PM

We need Lowe now more than ever, whether he tanks his next one or not. At least he's shown us that the good stuff is still there somewhere.

That's a scary thought, isnt it? Especially after what he's put us through this season. Relying on Lowe = not my favorite thing.

[roary]

Originally posted by roary+Jun 13 2004, 05:11 PM-->

QUOTE (roary @ Jun 13 2004, 05:11 PM)

[JMDurron]

Originally posted by TheFens@Jun 13 2004, 06:19 PM

Relying on Lowe! Let's just hope that it doesnt come to that, and if it does, that he'll come through when we really need him. The question is: how long will this upswing last?

It already has come to that, due to Schilling's ankle. That's the scary part. If Lowe falters, we'll have to pray for BK Kim. After Kim, it's Frank Castillo. Getting the shakes yet?

[yeszir]

Originally posted by JMDurron@Jun 13 2004, 07:52 PM

After Kim, it's Frank Castillo. Getting the shakes yet?

[CalvnHobs6]

I think Williamson is a better alternative to Castillo. He used to start....and if he's anywhere near as dominating as a starter as he is a reliever, I'd say that's a good alternative.

[JMDurron]

Originally posted by CalvnHobs6@Jun 13 2004, 09:09 PM

I think Williamson is a better alternative to Castillo. He used to start....and if he's anywhere near as dominating as a starter as he is a reliever, I'd say that's a good alternative.

Maybe for next year, but while recovering from an elbow injury, I don't want to see him getting "stretched out" for a starting role. Particularly when we're already overusing Timlin and Embree to try to get to Foulke. We need Williamson right where he is.