Even when he himself uses them.
Here's one of the things he thinks "went right" for the Boston Red Sox in the first half:
Josh Beckett (11-4, 4.75) has delivered.
Here's one of the things he thinks "went wrong":
Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (7-8, 4.05) has been only OK.
Class? Why is Mr. Donovan a dummy?
(For the record, if you want to look deeper:
Wake: 4.17 DIPS, 19.8 VORP
Beck: 4.65 DIPS, 12.6 VORP)
As a bonus:
What's next: If Jon Lester (4-0, 3.06 ERA) is as good as he's looked, the Sox have arguably the best pitching in the division and a better-than-good chance to earn their first AL East title since 1995.
Lester has worked his way out of a ton of jams. He has also been in a ton of jams, because he has 25 BB in 37.3 IP.
Thanks to reader Ironman for this follow-up:
ReplyDeleteJust thought that I'd point out than in his AL Central grade for the White Sox, he thought something that "Went Right" for the White Sox was this:
"...and the rest of the by-now-familiar rotation -- Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, Freddy Garcia and newcomer Javier Vazquez (9-4, 5.07) -- is ever-steady."
Garland: 5.37 ERA (42nd out of 46 qualified AL starters) 1.42 WHIP (36th) .297 BAA (40th) and 39th in DIPS
Garcia: 4.91 ERA (35th) 1.39 WHIP (33rd) .283 BAA (39th) and 38th in DIPS
Vazquez: 5.07 ERA (39th) 1.35 WHIP (29th) .273 BAA(31st) but at least he's like 11th in DIPS.
That's "ever steady?" I would say "bad" would actually be more appropriate.