When your team is winning ballgames, as a player it just becomes a feeling. The events of the game just fall into place and the bounces seem to go your way. But from the outside looking in, we try to break down a team’s strengths and figure out the things that are leading to success on the field. Obviously a team needs to be effective in a number of areas in order to find success, but I think we can key in on a couple of key locations that have been rock-solid for this team.
Bullpen - Manny Delcarmen and Ramon Ramirez have been outstanding this season, Bowden, Hunter Jones, Masterson have been solid in their limited bullpen roles, and the rest of the staff has performed well situationally. There has been concern, in the media and in the stands, about Jon Papelbon but I don’t think it’s anything to be overly concerned about, especially given the depth of young pitching on this team and in the minors. Pap had a dip in velocity in Spring Training, but he was working on different things and he didn’t have to worry about making the ballclub; he’s on the team. He was trying some new stuff, getting his work in, and saving his strength for the season. Now that may have caused him to come out the gate a bit rusty, but I don’t think it’s an injury situation.
There has also been concern about Javier Lopez and talk of trading for a new lefty specialist. That type of a move is unnecessary because of the inconsistency of bullpen pitchers (Scott Sauerbeck). Hideki Okajima has held lefties to a .118 average this year and might gain confidence in that type of a role.
Small Ball - Going into this season, I said that, given the way this lineup is constructed, the Red Sox were going to need to play small ball and try to get on the scoreboard first. No one in this lineup is hitting a ton of homeruns (Nelson Cruz and Brandon Inge are among those who have hit more homers than team leader Kevin Youkilis) but the team has been able to do the small things and win ballgames. The Red Sox don’t need to hit homeruns as long as they keep running and hitting… and pitching.
The regular season series doesn’t mean anything now that the playoffs are here. Looking at the two teams on paper, the Red Sox have an edge in hitting and pitching. The Angels have been successful in the intangible aspects of the game. They have the ability to win close games with excellent situational hitting and by manufacturing runs through Mike Scioscia’s brand of small ball. The Angels proved this season that they can get to 100 wins without Vladimir Guerrero hitting 30 homeruns or any pitcher winning 20 games.
But in this series, you have to like the Red Sox chances of winning while sending Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Josh Beckett out to the mound in a best of 5 series. Jon Lester has pitched in the World Series! These young guys from Boston play in a packed house every night and they have all been to the post-season in the past. This series will hinge on which team is sharper. When someone tells you that you will be on National TV that night, there are a couple of things you can do: you can allow your nerves to control you or you can rise to the occasion.
The Red Sox have some health issues, but as a unit i think they have some guys heating up at the right time. It’s a testament to Theo Epstein and the front office to see guys like Justin Masterson making an impact in the bullpen in time for the playoffs. The Red Sox Hitters should have a good chance to come alive against the Angels pitching and the starting pitching should be good enought to keep the Sox in the game.
Justin Masterson is coming back to the Red Sox in a move that should help to shore up the bull pen. I hope this move is what it takes to solidify the relief pitching because I do NOT like the idea of trading for a reliever.
Relievers are such an unknown commodity in today’s game that just because you make a trade doesn’t mean it will work out. You never know how a player will perform after moving from a small market to big market or in the second half of the season. No one thought that Eric Gagne or Scott Saurbeck would perform the way they did following their respective trades to Boston.
While the team waits for help, the lineup needs to do some of the small things to steal runs. Over the last five games, the Red Sox have left too many runs on the table. The team needs to do the small things to help score runs. I know that Pedroia is a good hitting 2nd basemen but does he ever bunt? I bunted and I was a pretty good hitter.
You need to do the small things to score runs because games are so much more important in the 2nd half of the season than in April, May, and June.
We have all heard the reports that Bartolo Colon is going to break down as the season continues, but that is NOT the case. Last night Terry Francona pulled him out of the game because he knew that Colon didn’t have his stuff last night. But this is just a bump in the road, not a sign of Colon’s shoulder wearing down. Cole Hamels for the Phillies is a pretty good pitcher and was able to keep the Red Sox bats quiet for most of the game.
Tonight’s opposing pitcher, Jamie Moyer, shows that you don’t need to light up the radar gun to be an effective Major League pitcher. It’s better to have good location than to be able to throw hard and not know where the pitch will end up, and Jamie Moyer has excellent control. The vaunted Atlanta Braves pitching staff of the early to mid 1990’s didn’t rely on velocity, they kept you guessing with location and mixed in the occasional inside pitch to keep the hitter honest. Regardless of the control of Moyer, I expect a high powered lineup like the Red Sox should be able to get to the soft tossing lefty.
In the series finale, I don’t know much about Kyle Kendrick but I expect Justin Masterson to have a good bounce-back performance after Friday’s tough loss.
The Red Sox lost the first game of this series which was a frustrating game. Justin Masterson had some trouble hitting his spots. Masterson is a sinkerballer and the Reds are a team with a lot of left-handed bats in their line-up. Coming from a right-handed pitcher, that sinker is going to break right into the hitting zone of a lot of those left-handed Cincinnati hitters. Aaron Harang also pitched well for the Reds and is a better pitcher than his record indicates.
In the second game of the series, the Red Sox did well against a great pitcher in Edinson Volquez. The Red Sox were able to capitalize on mistakes and manufacture some runs and prove that they can be a competitive team without Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz.
The Jonathan Papelbon pitch that Edwin Encarnacion hit for the game tying homerun was a case of missed location as Pap threw him a split fingered fastball that didn’t move. Luckily the sox were able to get those runs back. The Coco Crisp homerun was another case of missed location: he tends to struggle with an inside pitch and pull it foul, the pitch he hit for a homerun was out over the plate and Coco was able to get his arms extended and drive the ball.
The finale was a good win for the Red Sox offense without Manny and Papi, Josh Beckett showed that he may be rounding into MidSeason form, and JD Drew continues to crush the ball.
