5/22 @ The Pretenders

[BornToRun]

So you want to eliminate 25% of his starts this year. I get it. But sorry; they ALL count

 

This early, one or two rough outings are going to severely impact the bottom line. The cold hard fact is that Beckett has been ace like more often than not this year and the signs point to him continuing the success he had last last season in which he had his 2nd best year in a Boston uniform.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Terrible, terrible, terrible showing by the offense tonight.

 

I don't expect them to put up 8 runs a game, but they should have more than 2 hits and a walk against a guy who had a 1.70 WHIP this season coming into tonights game. That's unacceptable.

[d-money]

I wanna be over 500.They wont win every game but when u get off to a s***** start, all games are crucial!!Especially when it comes to teams in your division.

[BornToRun]

Terrible, terrible, terrible showing by the offense tonight.

 

I don't expect them to put up 8 runs a game, but they should have more than 2 hits and a walk against a guy who had a 1.70 WHIP this season coming into tonights game. That's unacceptable.

 

s*** happens. There's always tomorrow. The offense is gonna go cold every now and them. I'm more focused on how well Doubie pitche tonight.

[markj]

I guarantee you that Baltimore is a joke and will fall off a cliff. The talent is not there for them to compete in this division. Win tomorrow and we are still in great shape going home. I know you get a hard-on being a negative little turd but we are playing much better and we are still in good shape going forward in these next few games.

 

Ah you must be a Republican. When you can't back up your argument with facts, you resort to personal attacks. Good boy. Now tell me again, WITH FACTS, how your wet dream idol Buckett qualifies as an ace.

[BornToRun]

I wanna be over 500.They wont win every game but when u get off to a s***** start' date=' all games are crucial!!Especially when it comes to teams in your division.[/quote']

 

We can still take the series.

[Station 13]

Someone else turn to start a new streak tomorrow.

[BornToRun]

Ah you must be a Republican. When you can't back up your argument with facts' date=' you resort to personal attacks. Good boy. Now tell me again, WITH FACTS, how your wet dream idol Buckett qualifies as an ace.[/quote']

 

Never call me a republican. I f***ing hate republicans. And Beckett is an ace because he's f***ing pitched like it in 6 of his 8 starts this year. The guy just made Cliff Lee his bitch in Lee's own house.

[FredLynn]

No pitcher pitches well every single game. There are always bad games.

 

Thats true of everyone, as you say. So you have to include the good with the bad when you look at these guys. For example, Kuroda has had three bad starts out of nine. But in five others he has surrendered 2 runs three time, no runs once, and one run once.

They ALL count in figuring out who is performing.

Beckett and Lester are middle of the pack statistically; they are not aces, not right now.

Verlander, Peavy, Lowe, Morrow, and Hellickson are the guys pitching like aces right now. We don't have an ace.

[kapsis21]

Someone else turn to start a new streak tomorrow.

 

agreed!

[NativeBostonian]

Ah you must be a Republican. When you can't back up your argument with facts' date=' you resort to personal attacks. Good boy. Now tell me again, WITH FACTS, how your wet dream idol Buckett qualifies as an ace.[/quote']

 

Come one now. Don’t bring politics into baseball.

[d-money]

I said this week was crucial with teams in their division.I hope they can win tomorrow.They need to make some ground and get above 500.

[FredLynn]

Never call me a republican. I f***ing hate republicans. And Beckett is an ace because he's f***ing pitched like it in 6 of his 8 starts this year. The guy just made Cliff Lee his bitch in Lee's own house.

 

Beckett may be an ace to you, but I think you will have to admit that he is not pitching like one statistically right now. You cannot just arbitrarily exclude his worst performances. They count. As do his best ones.

[BornToRun]

Beckett may be an ace to you' date=' but I think you will have to admit that he is not pitching like one statistically right now. You cannot just arbitrarily exclude his worst performances. They count. As do his best ones.[/quote']

 

His stats are weighted. You have to look past just the cover of the book. He's been just as good this year as he was last year in the majority of his starts.

[Youk Of The Nation]

One step forward, two steps back. Im usually not 'f*** this team' pessimistic but I am really starting to dislike watching games. Win please.

[d-money]

The heat are winning as well, not a good night.The pacers missed their chance in game 4.

[NativeBostonian]

Beckett may be an ace to you' date=' but I think you will have to admit that he is not pitching like one statistically right now. You cannot just arbitrarily exclude his worst performances. They count. As do his best ones.[/quote']

 

He may not be an ace on someone else’s staff; but, he is on ours. We don’t have quality pitchers on this team and so far, Beckett at least to me has shown the best stuff.

[FredLynn]

Well, if we win tomorrow, and I think we will, we will have done the job despite tonite's loss. Bard is pitching for his spot in the rotation, and he probably knows it. Too many more bad performances and he is back in the pen when either DiceK or Oswalt comes to help. I am expecting Bard to pitch well tomorrow and for us to jump all over Arrieta. I don't think it will even be close.

[BornToRun]

He may not be an ace on someone else’s staff; but' date=' he is on ours. We don’t have quality pitchers on this team and so far, Beckett at least to me has shown the best stuff.[/quote']

 

Doubront?

[BornToRun]

Well' date=' if we win tomorrow, and I think we will, we will have done the job despite tonite's loss. Bard is pitching for his spot in the rotation, and he probably knows it. Too many more bad performances and he is back in the pen when either DiceK or Oswalt comes to help. I am expecting Bard to pitch well tomorrow and for us to jump all over Arrieta. I don't think it will even be close.[/quote']

And then we get a cozy off day to head home and prepare for a series with our two top starters going in it. It's unrealistic to expect that we'd take all 6 games from division rivals. We win tomorrow and take two from Tampa and we have ourselves a winning record.

[NativeBostonian]

Doubront?

 

Doubront is a nice pitcher. But, he needs to work on getting his pitch count down. An ace goes more than five innings.

[FredLynn]

His stats are weighted. You have to look past just the cover of the book. He's been just as good this year as he was last year in the majority of his starts.

 

ALL of those pitchers have had bad games. You just can't discount them, or at least I am not going to discount them. I look at raw data that includes all of it without deselecting data that is personally objectionable. His ERA is 4.38. Thats not ace material, not right now.

[BornToRun]

Doubront is a nice pitcher. But' date=' he needs to work on getting his pitch count down. An ace goes more than five innings.[/quote']

 

Doubront ain't an ace, that's not what I'm saying, but a sub 4 from your 4th starter is pretty solid.

[markj]

His stats are weighted. You have to look past just the cover of the book. He's been just as good this year as he was last year in the majority of his starts.

 

Now we're nearing agreement. He's been as good this year as he was in September of last season. That I'll grant you.

[FredLynn]

He may not be an ace on someone else’s staff; but' date=' he is on ours. We don’t have quality pitchers on this team and so far, Beckett at least to me has shown the best stuff.[/quote']

 

I guess it all comes down to how you define an "ace". I think an ace is one of the top pitchers in the league-maybe in the top 10% or 20% statistically. I used ERA because I think that is the single most useful way to evaluate a pitcher: how many runs he gives up per nine innings. Others may want to bring in other stats. Who an ace is will change as the season progresses and the true aces won't be known until the final statistics for the season are available. Just my own opinion.....

[NativeBostonian]

Doubront ain't an ace' date=' that's not what I'm saying, but a sub 4 from your 4th starter is pretty solid.[/quote']

 

Oh, I see what you are saying. I read that wrong. Doubront is pretty solid.

[BornToRun]

ALL of those pitchers have had bad games. You just can't discount them' date=' or at least I am not going to discount them. I look at raw data that includes all of it without deselecting data that is personally objectionable. His ERA is 4.38. Thats not ace material, not right now.[/quote']

 

It is when you factor in that he's been not just bad but awful in his bad outings. Simply looking at his ERA doesn't tell the story. He shut down Tampa a division rival, held Texas to 3 thru 7 one night after they put up 18, and took care of a hot phillies team and out pitched Cliff Lee on the road. Seems pretty ace like to me. Pitching like a number 1 in 6 of 8 starts to start a year qualifies you as a number 1 in my book.

[BornToRun]

Now we're nearing agreement. He's been as good this year as he was in September of last season. That I'll grant you.

 

We're reaching Limbaugh levels of stupidity here, folks.

[FredLynn]

Now we're nearing agreement. He's been as good this year as he was in September of last season. That I'll grant you.

 

His ERA last September was 5.38; much worse. Let be fair here

[BornToRun]

His ERA last September was 5.38; much worse. Let be fair here

 

The entire team sucked so hard last September that Phil Hughes looked good by comparison.