No Lowell who is sitting in favor of Kotchman, but not because Lowell needs the rest. It's meant to get Mighty Casey some ABs. According to Tito:
This just gets me steamed. I'm sure Lowell isn't happy either. Why in the hell did they get a third first baseman?
These plot points show where the pitch went. They don't show the intended target of each pitch. If a batter is looking outside, and Beckett tries to bust him in side, but leaves the pitch 3" over the outside portion of the plate he's missed his location badly but the plot point will look like a good pitch over the outside corner.
Beckett and the Coaching staff have been explaining this stretch as a mechanical problem causing him to leave certain pitches high in the zone. I think that you have to consider that fatigue could be a contributing factor. Schilling used to say that the difference between winning and losing came down to executing a half dozen pitches. The plot graph doesn't show which of those pitches were the critical ones.
I wanted to add a poll to this thread, but I couldn't do it from my blackberry. Is there a way to add it now? I am curious to see how people will vote.
I think he is a little fatigued at this stage accounting for his poor outings and unusual number of HR balls left up in the zone. Ideally, it would probably be most beneficial to him to skip one of his next 2 starts. However, the wild card race is still tight, and they probably can't afford to do that. There are a couple of off days coming up. If they stay in rotation, he could get an extra days rest.
26 to 6, in your signature, you have listed a bunch of numbers that you think should be retired. Do you really think #22 will be retired for Clemens? How do you assess the chances for O'Neil #22, Williams #51, Posada #20, and Pettitte #46?
Ozzie goes to the lefty to keep Drew and Ortiz out of the game. The joke is on him. Tito doesn't PH. Varitek is shot. He used to have a chance right handed.