Results tagged ‘ Jon Lester ’

Slow Start

At this moment it feels like the end of world in Red Sox Nation, but with 151 games left that’s hardly the case. It’s not too surprising the Sox have got off to such a slow start. With the exception of Toronto they’ve only played playoff teams’ and Toronto could be headed there this year. I do realize that even with the schedule so far most expected more, but with pitching problems left and right it doesn’t appear that it’ll be resloved quickly. So far my top starter is Felix Doubront, because he hasn’t had a bad outing yet. And the pen isn’t anything special either as Mark Melancon has been nothing short of a disaster and Aceves has struggled so far. Vincete Padilla is the only guy whose shown some level of consistency out of the pen. I think at this point things can only get better, but they need guys to perform how they’ve performed throughout their careers. Any hitting problems will fix themselves, at this all we need to do is fix the pitching.

Rangers-Angels Best Rivalry? I Think Not

Yesterday Dallas Morning News columnist, Tim Cowlishaw, wrote a article talking about how the Rangers-Angels rivalry had surpassed the Red Sox-Yankees. Now I respectfully disagree with this. Yes, the Sox haven’t made the playoffs in two years, but neither have the Angels.  The Angels stole C.J. Wilson away from the Rangers and he tweeted Mike Napoli’s number. So? Where’s the intensity in their games? The answer is there isn’t. Rivalries aren’t measured by skill of the teams, but intensity between the teams and the fans. I realize the fans don’t like each other in Dallas and LA, but there’s nothing like the hate between a die hard Sox and die hard Yanks fan. It’s these things that make a rivalry great. Just because one team got two great players doesn’t make them part of a great rivalry. Until the Red Sox-Yankees hate dies down no rivalry in all of sports can challenge it.

Another thing that bothered me was that he said the Sox were the third best team in the AL East. Once again I disagree. Although the Sox have had back to back third place finishes in the division, there’s still reason to believe they’re the best.

The first reason is they have without a doubt the best lineup in the division, maybe even the best in the MLB. The top six hitters in the lineup are all All-Stars who’ve all finshed in the top five in MVP votes, with exception of Crawford whose top MVP finish was seventh place. Also behind those six are three solid, proven hitters.

The second reason is the top of their rotation is the best in the division. Many people could argue that Price, Shields, Hellickson trumps Lester, Beckett, Buchholz, but I don’t believe so. Lester-Price is a toss-up, but Beckett edges out Shields and Buchholz, when healthy, is by far better than Hellickson. I will say that the Rays rotation overall beats the Sox’s, but the top of the Sox’s rotation out matches the Ray’s.

My third and final reason is, the Red Sox bullpen (with Bard) is the best in the division. Bailey is the second best closer in the AL East, and Bard and Melacon are the second third best set-up guys in the division next to David Robertson. Aceves is the best long reliever and Albers is the best middle relief pitcher in the division. No bullpen in the east can match up with the Sox’s depth.

I’m sorry Tim Cowlishaw, I respect you, but I refuse to believe that Rangers-Angels trumps Sox-Yankees, or the Sox are the third best team in the East.

Still Tied

The good news today is that the Red Sox won, but once again the Rays beat the Yankees. Both teams are now 90-71. Tomorrow Jon Lester takes on Alfredo Simon in the Sox-O’s season finale. The Rays have David Price going for them tomorrow, and the Yankees are yet to pick a starter for tomorrow’s game. The Sox should be able to get to Simon rather easily, and if Lester pitches anywhere close to his best the Sox should be fine. In the Yanks-Rays game the Rays will have a huge upper hand thanks to David Price. It appears that the Sox and Rays will tie and play in Tampa on Thursday.

All Tied Up

After tonights 6-3 loss to the Orioles the Red Sox have fallen into a first
place tie with the Rays for the Wild Card. It’s hard to envision the Sox making it to the playoffs now following yet another devastating loss. The Sox are going to have to rely on Erik Bedard and Jon Lester, because they have the offense, but the pitching has struggled mightily all month. Also the Yankees won’t be wasting any of their top pitchers in the final two games of the season so the Rays will probably feast on their young pitchers. Whereas the Orioles are just trying to make their record look a little better and have nothing to lose. If things continue the way they’re going the Sox will stumble through the final two games while the Rays cruise.

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