6/11 @ What's my name again?

[Palodios]

Look on the bright side fellas, they got through the game with only two pitchers used. The pen is officially rested, and the Red Sox are going to spank the Rays tomorrow.

[jung]

Just a thought but maybe Lester has a case of tired arm. It is a little early for that which is why I have not considered it till now but it would explain his unwillingness to challenge hitters. He is making a conscience choice to pitch somewhat less aggressively than we or at least I would think makes sense for him.

 

Tired arm is not really specific to an injury. You just reach for it and there is nothing there. So then you reach a little bit more and then your mechanics get f***ed up and you run the risk of real injury at that point because you are no longer pitching within yourself. His FB sure looks like tired arm is a possibility. It is also not usual for a pitcher that has it to keep going out there hoping that this is the stint where the life comes back to his arm. Might explain a lot. Like I said though, it is a little early in the season for tired arm. Everything else we are seeing could be a fit.

[Standing Room]

I don't think he'd be throwing mid-90's if he had a tired arm. I just think this is the pitcher that Lester is at this point in his career.

[jung]

He is not throwing mid-90s. Although he has not thrown mid-90s for a couple years now. So this might just be where he is at now as you suggest. I don't remember his FB being this lifeless earlier this year. A FB that does not have a tail is just meat regardless of the velo. That might be the biggest dif between his FB earlier this year and this last month or so.

[Standing Room]

He is not throwing mid-90s. Although he has not thrown mid-90s for a couple years now. So this might just be where he is at now as you suggest. I don't remember his FB being this lifeless earlier this year. A FB that does not have a tail is just meat regardless of the velo. That might be the biggest dif between his FB earlier this year and this last month or so.

 

Have you watched him pitch on television this year? He's been getting his fastball up to 94 mph in most of his starts, including today.

[User Name]

He was throwing 94 MPH sinkers today. You don't get that kind of velocity on a sinker suffering from tired arm. The problem is elsewhere

[User Name]

They need to do something with Lester. Last 5 starts...

 

30IP 38H 23ER 18BB 22K

 

He's walked 3 more in his last 5 starts than he did in his first 10. His mechanics are off. He's flying open instead of staying closed, leaving his ball up and when he flies open quickly, he's missing up and away. They might need to skip him or DL him with a phantom injury to undo his mechanical issue

 

Maybe you should be more worried about what the Yankees should do with Fat Sabby.

[jung]

The last time Lester threw mid-09's was 2009. He has been on a slow but steady decline since then and occasionally muscles up to throw at 94 but averages 93.3 this year.

 

As for a 94 mph Sinker you would not want to throw it anyway if your FB is topping out at 94. You would want your Sinker to at least be a couple of mph under that. Software can only do so much. If he is muscling up to throw his FB at 94 I don't think we saw any 94 mph Sinkers, although some web site might have thought it did.

 

He has not thrown the Sinker at 94 since 2009. So on about the worse day he has had this year he was throwing a Sinker that he has not thrown in four years....I don't think so.

[User Name]

Right, so you are better at identifying pitches and pitch velocity than Gameday? Get real.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Maybe you should be more worried about what the Yankees should do with Fat Sabby.

 

Crazy, huh?

 

CC ERA: 4.07

Lester ERA: 4.12

 

Except the Sox have Buchholz (1.71 ERA) and Lackey (3.14) to hold down the fort until Lester returns to form (if he ever does).

 

Plus, Doubront has been throwing the ball well of late (3.10 ERA in his last 5 starts, starting right after the Twins nightmare).

 

I mean even Dempster has thrown well, 3.60 ERA over his last 3 starts since that horrid TOR - MIN - CLE series.

[MJantomaso]

He was throwing 94 MPH sinkers today. You don't get that kind of velocity on a sinker suffering from tired arm. The problem is elsewhere

 

You also don't want to throw a 94 mph sinker...they tend to not sink. Sinkers should be thrown no harder than 91 mph in order to get good sinking action on the ball.

[User Name]

You also don't want to throw a 94 mph sinker. They tend to not sink.

 

As evidenced by the fact that he got hammered into oblivion, yes. The point of the post was to counter the idea that he's suffering from dead arm. I think overthrowing might have been a more reasonable explanation for yesterday's shitfest.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Lester's cutter has still not regained that 2.5-3 inches of downward movement that it had in his heyday. The horizontal movement this year is consistent with that of last year. Which is bad news.

[a700hitter]

Lester's cutter has still not regained that 2.5-3 inches of downward movement that it had in his heyday. The horizontal movement this year is consistent with that of last year. Which is bad news.

So, he is not fixed. The mechanical fixes gave him better command, but the movement did not return. I agree that is a bad sign. Without that movement on his pitches, he will have a hard time returning to his old form. I still believe that better pacing will help him to command the stuff that he has and improve his performance. Last night, he had a snails pace with the dimished stuff and it was a train wreck like last year. Yesterday's start was reminiscent of Bard's last couple of starts before his career unraveled. Very concerning. I hope Farrell and Nieves were up all night looking at video, because this guy needs help.

[mvp 78]

@JLester31: Man you guys are awesome, thanks for all the kind words and encouragement! Love RSN! #NVRQT!

[SoxFanForsyth]

@JLester31: Man you guys are awesome, thanks for all the kind words and encouragement! Love RSN! #NVRQT!

 

He very clearly has not visited Talksox.com.

[a700hitter]

He very clearly has not visited Talksox.com.

It's kinda weird that he loves us without meeting us or knowing us. Don't ya think?

[SoxFanForsyth]

It's kinda weird that he loves us without meeting us or knowing us. Don't ya think?

 

What's his vested interest in the fans? Support? So if he's getting support, he loves us. Just like our vested interest in him is for him to pitch well. If he doesn't, you don't like him.

[a700hitter]

What's his vested interest in the fans? Support? So if he's getting support, he loves us. Just like our vested interest in him is for him to pitch well. If he doesn't, you don't like him.

So, he doesn't really love us? I'm crushed.