6 runs should have been enough against these pukes, but it wasn't. When the lineups e posted, I was pissed that Drew was sitting. A number of you posted that Drew doesn't hit lefties well, that Baldelli hits lefties well, and that Drew is 0-3 against Anderson. Drew appears to be coming out of his slump. The other night he was right on everything even against lefties. His 0-3 against Anderson was in the midst of his slump and the team had only 2 hits against him. When Drew is hot, he can carry the team. I don't believe in strict platoons. If you want to get Baldelli into a game, it would have been better sit a slumping Bay. Baldelli got his usual 1 hit and Bay took the collar. Managing by strict platoons and formulas is a cop out. Any monkey can be trained to push a button. If Drew is entering a hot streak, he needs to be in the lineup.
As for being mad at Penny, he is our # 3 starter. Smoltz is worse and Buchholz is an unreliable unrefined rookie. The rotation sucks right now, and there is little help on the horizon. Dice K is more than a month away. Masterson doesn't look like the answer. Wakefield will be welcomed back, but he is only one guy and we have 3 bad slots right now. This rotation is not very good right now. It probably is not good enough to provide the strong finish that will be needed.
As for the offense, let's not kid ourselves. One big bat is not going to cure the ills of this offense.
Last night we had two Pittsburgh Pirates and a Tampa cast off with an incurable medical condition in the lineup together with a guy with a bad hip, a catcher with one foot in the grave, and a .130 SS. We root for these guys, but they are just not that good.. Bay is no Manny, and three teams have already given up on LaRoche. Long gone are the high octane offenses fueled by Damon, Manny and Ortiz.
Can this team win this season? Yes, but without a key trade or two I think it is likely that the Yankees will run away and if Tampa shores up its pen, it could blow by us too.
Some people have expressed that they would be happy to go into next season with this team. Not me. What if Ortiz declines further and Lowell can no longer play? We still don't have a reliable SS, and Tek will be step closer to the bone yard. The FO will need to fill those holes through FA or by trading prospects.
This years team is one key acquisition from being the front runners down the stretch and next season. Pitching wins and a top three of Beckett, Lester and Halladay would make any team very good.