He did his job yesterday. He struck out 9 Mariners in 7 innings, making quick work of a lineup that has 0 players hitting over .300, and 2 hitting below .200. Only Ichiro gave Beckett a problem with a pair of singles and a pair of stolen bases. Beckett only threw 93 pitches in his 7 innings, and easily could have gone deeper into the game.
That was unnecessary. The bullpen was fresh thanks to Lester's CG on Monday. And the Sox had a 4-0 lead. With the way Beckett was pitching, and the way Seattle was missing, a 4-0 score looked like a 14-0 score. Ortiz hit his 8th homer of the season. Aviles had an RBI double. Middlebrooks had an RBI single. Aviles added another RBI double in the 8th to erase any doubt.
The Sox ended their homestand on a positive note, with 5 straight wins. They're still very streaky. They were streaky last year, too. Streaky is the mark of inconsistent starting pitching. Good SPs prevent losing streaks. Streaky teams might win 5 straight (the Sox have done that twice), but they'll also lose 5 straight (the Sox have done that twice, as well).
Even after winning 5 straight, the Sox are still 2 games under .500.
So they've made steps. They have more steps to go. Beckett and the Sox are very similar. Inconsistent and unpredictable. We've seen brilliance from Beckett before. That's never been his problem. His problem has always been consistency.
The Sox go down to Florida for a two game series against the Rays. This will be a good test for them. Tonight Buchholz faces 3-0 Jeremy Hellickson. Unlike Buchholz, Hellickson has actually earned his wins.
-The Captain
7 comments:
Sox are 2 games under .500
2 games under .500 is pretty poor considering the teams they have played for the last few weeks. now they have a couple weeks of stiffer competition.
still not terrible considering that 2/3 of the outfield is not playing, the closer and #3 or 4 starter have been out all year, and our third baseman is on the dl. thank goodness for ross, sweeney, middlebrooks, doubront, etc.
Ditto to BMack, where the heck did you get 7 games under .500 from???
They're 5.5 games back in mid-May, with 2 games coming up against the division leader. Let's all hop back on the bandwagon!
Obviously a mistake. It happens. No need for extra question marks.
I'm impressed with myself, actually. I wrote all my Sox posts while drinking last night. And that is the only mistake I've noticed.
Let's all get excited about a 5 game win streak like the last 5 game win streak. You guys criticize me for being negative about the Sox but I've been even-keeled all season. They're mediocre. Streaky. Win 5, lose 5, go 6-3, then go 3-6.
I'm not jumping for joy. They beat a bunch of shit teams, it was nice to see them start pitching a little bit, and I do believe Lester can get going.... The rest I am not so sure.
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Riddle me this, Batman.
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