Bullpen Assist
After losing the first two in Anaheim, the Red Sox bounced back thanks to a solid offense and a bullpen that all but closed the door. That's how it's supposed to work, right? You trade for Eric Gagne and with the help of Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon, they keep Anaheim off the scoresheet for 3.1 innings (Mike Timlin was effective too making it 4.2 IP).
Boston has a much needed day off today, something that will help both players and fans alike as these 10pm starts are brutal. They start a weekend series in Baltimore on Friday.
One major concern has been the performance of Jon Lester. Lester has allowed 4, 4 and 5 earned runs in his last 3 starts. His ERA stands at 6.43 and his whip at 1.71. Lester had a bad tendency last year to miss the strike zone thus raising his pitch count prematurely and leading to bad results. He eventually picked himself up and figure things out. After pitching a solid 2007 debut, Lester has gone back to his early 2006 struggles. Boston has a tough call on this one as if Lester doesn't figure it out, who do they turn to? Julian Tavarez? David Pauley? Clay Buchholz?
Lester probably deserves 2-3 more starts to figure things out.
Some notes on the farm: Justin Masterson won AA player of the month in Portland. In 6 starts for Portland he has gone 4-0 with 45 K's in 39 IP yielding a 1.38 ERA and a 0.72 whip. Not bad. Masterson struggled at High-A ball in Lancaster CA, but from what I can tell, that league is a hitters haven and both offense and pitching stats can be deceiving.
Clay Buchholz has also performed nicely at AAA Pawtucket. 39 K's in 25.1 IP with a 3.20 ERA. He is 0-1 in 5 starts. His 5 IP per game are the reason he is not getting decisions. He is probably being held to 5 per start so they can save him for use later in the year (perhaps in Boston) what with the Red Sox holding all of their pitchers to strict innings pitched limits.
As for the prospects of any power at AAA, don't hold your breath. There seems to be a shortage of offensive help at Pawtucket. With their season 80%, the leading home run hitter at Pawtucket is Jeff Bailey. But he only has a .429 SLG%. At AA Portland, things aren't any better, in fact they are worse. At High-A Lancaster, there is plenty of power where 1b Aaron Bates has 24 HR's and OF Bubba Bell has 22 HRs, but most of that is probably a function of where they play.
A good indication that Lancaster (and not so much the California League) is a hitters haven, the Lancaster Jethawks, the Red Sox affiliate, have the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th best hitters in the league (measured by batting average). Wow. I don't think it is a good idea for Boston to send any pitchers of importance to Lancaster as it might permanently kill their confidence.
