Pedro

There are other reasons to worry about his next start other than that he could possibly get hurt. His career ERA at Coors Field is well over 5.

Well it's about time. Here's to a healthy stretch run!

Wallace suggested Pedro look at tapes, something Pedro admits he rarely does. He watched them, found the flaw and corrected it immediately.

Of course Clemens lost. He was going up against a team that had already seen him for once. Look at what happened in his 2nd outing against Cincinnati. Very similar result. I'm telling you... this is a JOKE. Clemens is not any better than he's been the last 5 years, which is an average pitcher. He is still a very effective pitcher, but he isn't a 2.08 ERA pitcher like he appeared to be going into last night's start. Jason Schmidt, Randy Johnson, Carlos Zambrano and Tom Glavine will all have better seasons and Clemens will be no better than 5th in Cy Young voting. I hope he does start the All-Star Game in Houston and get bombed on out of the park. Here's the standard for pitchers starting All-Star Games in their home park, Rog: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 HR, 5 K B. Larkin - struck out swinging on 78 mph change-up L. Walker - struck out looking on 97 mph fastball. S. Sosa - struck out swinging on 98 mph fastball. M. McGwire - struck out swinging on 98 mph fastball. M. Williams - reached on error by stupid Robbie Alomar; thrown out at 2nd J. Bagwell - struck out swinging on 74 mph curveball

Wins are such a fickle stat these days that it really depends more on run support and the bullpen performance to dictate how many games a starter will win. If Pedro's past is any indication, we can certainly expect him to get some raw deals this year as well. Here's a nice compilation of Pedro's supposed losing efforts and no-decisions since 1999: 04/15/99: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K – LOSS 07/07/99: 8.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 14 K – LOSS 08/19/99: 7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 11 K – LOSS 10/15/99: 7.0 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 14 K – No Decision 05/06/00: 9.0 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 17 K – LOSS 05/23/00: 8.0 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 7 K – LOSS 06/20/00: 8.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 K – LOSS 07/13/00: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K – No Decision 08/08/00: 8.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 K – LOSS 09/09/00: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 9 K – LOSS 09/20/00: 8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K – LOSS 04/02/01: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K – No Decision 04/14/01: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 9 K – No Decision 04/25/01: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 K – No Decision 05/24/01: 8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 12 K - LOSS 08/16/02: 8.0 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 10 K – LOSS 03/31/03: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K – No Decision 04/27/03: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K – No Decision 06/21/03: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K – No Decision 07/07/03: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 11 K – No Decision 07/12/03: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K – No Decision 05/11/04: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 11 K – No Decision Obviously, 23 wins in 1999 was pretty good, but he really truly deserved to lose 1 game that entire year, and it ended up being a no-decision. Pedro was worthy of over 25 wins that year. 2000 was perhaps the roughest of all... he set single-season ML records in ERA+, WHIP, BR/9 IP, BAA & OBA and still ended up with a disgusting 18-6 record. Look at those "losses"... that is absolutely BRUTAL. You could argue that he pitched well enough to win every single game he started... the only blemish was a 6 ER outing... Pedro later called it his best outing of the year because the Pen was banged up and he stuck around for 8 innings, eventually retiring them one after another. 2002 was the only season he didn't really get squeezed, going 20-4. And of course, Pedro should've won 19-20 games last season if the bullpen could've closed any games for him at all. I don't have his 1997 game log, but it isn't too hard to figure out what was going on there. Pedro pitched 241 innings of 1.90 ERA ball and ended up with a dismal 17-8 record. Just insulting, really. Like Bob Gibson losing NINE games when he posted a 1.12 ERA in 1968. Meanwhile, Andy Pettitte was throwing up ERA's around 4 and winning 20+ games. Pffft.

You're exactly right JMD... none of those things happened, which is exactly why the contribution Schilling would've made a world of difference. Pedro and Lowe started 4 games in the ALCS and the Red Sox lost all four of them. Imagine if we had Schilling the rotation...looking at his postseason past, I'd say we could certainly expect some dominant outings, and the Red Sox would've beaten New York in no more than 6 games.

The NBA is rather boring these days, but anytime the Lakers get owned by a team they completely overlook because of their ridiculous arrogance, it's a great day. Eat $hit, Phil Jackson. You couldn't shine Red Auerbach's shoes... or Larry Brown's for that matter. This series is OVER.

Pedro is launching a strike on his inflated ERA... and it is a positive one. Mass reduction in just TWO outings, great to see him hitting 94 on the gun for the third consecutive start. The real 'Pedro of Old' will never, ever return. However, Pedro of 2002-03, possibly the best in the game, has returned.

RED SOX WIN 4-1! Pedro improves to 7-3... Foulke picks up his 13th. Pedro has also lowered his ERA from 4.40 to 3.77 in just two outings. Imagine what he can do with another 14-15.

Finish this!

By September Nomar should be able to make BOTH plays on those balls that were hit towards him. I was about to go ballistic on him if Pokey didn't save that inning.

Woah! Pokey! Jon Miller scared the crap out of me on that pitch earlier... "CURVEBALL!!!" God dang, calm down!

And he will... I had taken my eyes off the game for a bit and wasn't sure if the Pen was getting busy. Get a nice double play here, Pete.

God where could the 2003 team had gone if we had traded for Schilling at the All-Star Break? I'd say they'd be World Series champs and a Game 7 would not have been required in the ALCS.

Pedro has looked a whole lot sharper than this, and he's gotten some luck on his side tonight. I'll take it anyhow. I hope he comes out for another inning... where is his PC at?

Man, I forgot how extremely boring of a pitcher Hideo Nomo is.

LMFAO@Beltre... that curveball was sick.

Pedro is looking about as sharp as a doorknob in this 4th inning... THROW A F***ING STRIKE, PEDRO!

It ain't looking like low 90s... did you see Roberts' swing? It look like he was swinging at a 102 mph fastball, not 92. Sure looked like one to him after being fed about 4 straight curves and change-ups.

Because I was "yelling"... I like using bold rather than caps.

Griffey is ridiculous... best swing. Ever. Also one of the best centerfielders to ever play as his 10 consecutive gold gloves can attest.

These 1st inning runs are a complete mystery to me, yet I know exactly why they are happenning. Why does it take them to score a run for Pedro to throw over 90? Just throw it anyway! Dominate!... enough of these 86 mph fastballs getting knocked for hits. AARGH.

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.

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.