I think the Blue Jays inability to put the ball in play has actually hurt his pitch count. Lester's been ahead on pretty much all the batters and he's only walked 2.
Yeah, he's really more of an OBP guy. I don't understand why he wouldn't take an easy trip to first. He's a strong fundamental guy who played much of his career in the national league. He should be able to bunt.
It's been a very encouraging April from Buchholz. I wasn't sold on him because of his inconsistencies. The upside that a rotation of Lester, Beckett, Lackey, Buchholz and Matsuzaka has is just ridiculous. When our pitchers and hitters come around, we're going to be in really good shape.
Toronto's scored 93 runs but they're 26th in the league with a .232 AVG and 27th in the league with a .305 OBP. Seems like a good match up for a guy like Buchholz with swing and miss stuff who tends to get in trouble when he walks too many batters.
Which one of these guys is a bad hitter against lefties?
Lowell, career .848 OPS vs. lefties
Varitek, career .830 OPS vs. lefties
Beltre, career .807 OPS vs. lefties
Hall, career .805 OPS vs. lefties
McDonald, career .830 OPS vs. lefties
When will people realize that Lowell, Varitek, Beltre, Hall and even McDonald hit lefties really well? Twice we've run out a similar lineup against a lefty, twice people complained the lineup sucked and twice they scored 7+ runs.
A strong throwing arm is reportedly one of the reasons the Red Sox were interested in him. I've read in a couple places that he has a major league ready bat, but he still needs to work on his defense. He's played multiple positions and just began playing catcher two years ago.
http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/sports/red_sox/
Even the best teams in baseball have a stretch where they play below .500. What does it matter whether we get off to a slow start or struggle in the middle of the season? If we're going to struggle, I'd much rather struggle in April than October.
He seems pretty athletic for a big guy, he played primarily second base last year. In 2007-2008 he hit 363/.464/.525 and in 2008-2009 he hit 341/.470/.481. That's pretty good power someone who just turned 23 this month, especially at the catcher position.
It seems like the Red Sox always have trouble against Toronto, even when Toronto doesn't have a very good team.
EDIT: The Red Sox are 43-47 against the Blue Jays the last five years.