6/29 Vs. The Toronto Blue Jays

[Youk Of The Nation]

Rogers for the Jays, Doubront for the Sox.

 

Not sure if I'll be on in time to start the thread tomorrow, so here we go.

 

Just win, the last thing I need right now in my life is a Sox loss.

[Bellhorn04]

We often worry about our bullpen getting stretched thin. In the first 2 games of this series the Jays starters have pitched 5 innings and their pen has pitched 11.

 

Let's see if we can get into that pen early one more time today.

[RedSoxRooter]

Date: Saturday, June 29th, 2013

First Pitch: 4:05 pm ET

TV: RSN/NESN

Starting Pitchers:

http://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/headshots/mlb/players/full/30008.png&w=350&h=254http://bellsouthpwp.net/c/h/chinigor/TALKSOX/VS.GIFhttp://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/headshots/mlb/players/full/30066.png&w=350&h=254

 

http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/mlb/images/team_logos/50x50/tor.gif #32 Esmil Rogers (3-3, 3.46)

 

http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/mlb/images/team_logos/50x50/bos.gif #22 Felix Doubront (4-3, 4.33)

 

Toronto (39-40) at Boston (49-33), 4:05 pm EDT

 

The strong starting pitching that was the catalyst for the Toronto Blue Jays' 11-game winning streak earlier this month has failed them at Fenway Park. Esmil Rogers will look to reverse that recent trend as he leads the Blue Jays into the third contest of a four-game weekend series against the host Boston Red Sox on Saturday. Boston has registered back-to-back wins against Toronto, chasing the Blue Jays' starters early in both games.With Toronto starters recording just 15 combined outs in the first two games of the series, Rogers is being counted upon to provide some much-needed quality innings. He'll be opposed by left-hander Felix Doubront, who hasn't won in nearly a month but has been one of Boston's most consistent starters since the beginning of May. The Red Sox have won seven of the 11 meetings between the teams in 2013.

 

The 27-year-old Doubront had allowed just three homers over his first 48 2/3 innings this season. Rogers hasn't had much success against the Red Sox in his career, surrendering six runs and four walks over four innings.While Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester and John Lackey have earned most of the laurels for Boston's strong pitching, Doubront belongs in the conversation. The 25-year-old Venezuelan has allowed three earned runs or fewer in each of his last eight starts, though he is just 1-2 over that span. Doubront is 2-2 with a 5.40 ERA in 31 2/3 innings against Toronto, and has allowed more home runs to the Blue Jays (eight) than to any other team.

 

GO SOX! (old school game thread mojo!) :damon:

[Palodios]

Rogers has career lines of a 5.48 ERA, a 1.58 WHIP. He should be batting practice, but we'll see what happens.

[Bellhorn04]

Rogers has career lines of a 5.48 ERA, a 1.58 WHIP. He should be batting practice, but we'll see what happens.

 

He's pitched pretty well lately though (1.98 ERA in last 36.1 IP).

 

However, we are playing good offense right now and I think we can put a crooked number on him just as we did with Wang and Johnson.

[SoxSport]

Iggy is the first rookie since Tony Oliva ('64) to get 50 hits in less than 120 at bats in a season since rookie records started being taken in '58. Some media twits are counting his infield hits--he has 16, about a third of his total (52). Just another example of how speed helps offensive output. A lesson to be learned there.

 

So now Drew is hurt, and Iggy gets to play his position--SS. One wonders if Drew will come back to SS. 3B has always been the more logical place for him with Iglesias around and Middlebrooks in the minors looking like trade bait.

[SoxSport]

We often worry about our bullpen getting stretched thin. In the first 2 games of this series the Jays starters have pitched 5 innings and their pen has pitched 11.

 

Let's see if we can get into that pen early one more time today.

 

The key to preserving a BP is having starters who can go 6-7 innings--and more. That means guys who don't build up high pitch counts in early innings. The other thing is to stretch your relievers to go more than one inning--like Miller did last night. That reduces their no. of appearances.