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Friday, August 12, 2005

Al Leiter Rotator Cuff Watch: Update!

... Where this space chronicles the heroic and incomprehensible suffering of Al Leiter's rotator cuff, as gauged through his pitch counts.

You will recall that when we left off, Al and his heroic appendage were seen trudging off the mound after two-plus innings and 73 pitches, a new high/low. Since that time Al's rotator cuff and accompanying owner checked in with a tidy outing where he squeezed in 5.2 innings on a mere 102 pitches, a rate of less than 20 per inning.

For the sake of Al's rotator cuff, one hopes that effort gave it the rest it badly needed, as Friday night the old ways returned. After two innings, three runs, and one shitty throw by gold glove shortstop/deity Derek Jeter, Al's cuff had been summoned 63 times. With Texas in town, it didn't look to get much easier as the night wore on, though he did settle down eventually into a more recognizable mediocrity. Final numbers:

5.0 IP, 124 pitches (24.9 per inning)

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Nothing Comes for Free

So last night's affaire, another slippery win aided almost entirely by offense, included the spectacle of the Sox blowing a five run lead late in the game. But all that proves is that players get designated for assignment for a reason. Mike Remlinger made his way into Fenway not because of some coup by Theo and Byrnes, but because he got himself run out of Wrigley. But for his, um, efforts, the Sox would have been protecting a 7-2 lead, thanks to gritty pitching by Clement and even grittier hitting against the only intimidating starter in the Ranger rotation, Joaquin Benoit. Presumably they could have handed the ball in the 7th straight to Myers, or Delcarmen, or any of their existing guys, and been OK. Methinks the Remlinger experiment will last about as long as the one it replaced, the Junior Cruz experiment.

Rather than turning to proven losers who were waived by teams in even worse shape than Boston (which is just about everyone if you look at wins and losses), I would rather see the Sox promote someone from Pawtucket and let him learn in the frying pan. They've been drafting character kids, I bet one or two could handle it in small enough doses. The devil or angel you don't know is better than the devil you know.

* Is there any pitcher the Sox offense can't wear out? OK, yes, a guy with dominating stuff who throws tons of strikes. Otherwise, if you can't get them to swing and miss, you're going to be in for a battle.

* BTW, they did a slow-mo of a Jeremi Gonzalez curveball Monday, which went about 55 feet and dove like someone had shot it. It goes to show that even the major leaguers with a 6.50 ERA can throw.

* Oh, and I watched King Felix's home debut with the Mariners last night. He now owns a shutout to go with his 97-MPH heater and sharp breaking ball. And he can't have a beer to celebrate for another two years. Very, very auspicious.

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Taking Offense

The softball-like success of the Red Sox these days raises questions as to how unreliable a team's pitching can be while still playing winning baseball. Scanning the rotation, it's hard to identify anyone who inspires true confidence: Clement is in a tailspin, ditto Miller, Wakefield is horribly streaky, ditto Arroyo, and Wells, while being the closest thing to an ace right now, is never more than one greasy truck-stop breakfast away from his next case of gout. And yet, they win.

Last night was a typical example. Miller was completely ineffective, though he battled through and stabilized the situation for a couple innings. Meanwhile, the offense drove Texas' starter from the game in the first, weathered some good innings by a surprisingly un-dead James Baldwin, and crushed Steve Karsay with their patented patient hitting. Karsay had intermittently nasty stuff... but Petagine stopped waiving at the splitter after the first one, watched two close fastballs miss, and hammered a hanging curve. Then Graffanino waited through seven or eight pitches, a classic case of fouling off the pitcher's pitches until he got an inevitable hanger, and hammered it for the decisive blast.

The point is that the Red Sox offense does so many things well that maybe they can persevere in the face of bad pitching. At least, that's tempting to think about in the dog days of August. The problem, of course, is that October is a totally different ballgame. Unless the Red Sox shake things up or get hot in October, their ceiling is the division title.

Anyway, time for a periodic checkin on the Four Figure Project, the Red Sox' quest to score 1000 runs. You'll recall that they were half a hundred shy of the magic number last year, and I boldly predicted that a more stable lineup would only improve on that number. So here's how we stand:

Through 111 games: 620 runs
On pace to score: 904 runs


Hm. Well, they do lead the league in runs, and the number is split evenly on the road and at home (although those 310 road runs are over a few more games). So relative to the league it's hard to find fault anyplace. Maybe pitching is on the uptick? Maybe Bud de-juiced the balls?

Within the club, however, there are some clear failure areas. Kevin Millar and Mark Bellhorn have taken huge steps backward. Nixon continues to miss large chunks of time, and his OPS is down about 50 points to more pedestrian .850 levels. The rest of the lineup is about where it was, give or take... but with a third of the guys experiencing some letdown, it's easy to see where a few dozen runs might disappear over the course of a season.

Later this week I'll check in on my preseason predictions and see how they turned out. If you don't see any postings for a while, you'll know the answer.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Al Leiter Rotator Cuff Watch

This space will attempt to chart the weekly achievements of Al Leiter's rotator cuff, as its owner throws an increasingly astounding number of pitches per inning, in his valiant attempt to restore the glory of Ruth, Gehrig, Rivers, Winfield, and Wetteland to the Bronx. In case you haven't been following, here are the numbers before Today's start in Cleveland:

July 10, Miami: 3.0 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 84 pitches (28.0 pitches/inning)
July 17, Boston: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 102 pitches (17.0 P/Inn)
July 22, Anaheim: 6.0 IP, 10 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 104 pitches (17.3 P/Inn)
July 17, NY: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 5 BB, 115 pitches (23.0 P/Inn)

And today? A new high!

Aug. 2, Cleveland: 2.0 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 78 pitches (39.0 P/Inn)

For the season, Leiter is averaging just over 20 pitches per inning. So, all the evidence -- the win at Boston, the tidy 4.15 ERA -- points to Leiter and his heroic rotator cuff leading the Yankees back where they belong. Stay tuned.
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