Re: Boston Red Sox - 2006
Anytime a team wins with a Double A pitcher on the mound its a good win. Pauly pitched about as well as could be expected. He at least came away looking like a legitimate end of the rotation starter (as opposed to Dinardo) who just needs to wash away his nerves and get some more experience. He has vanilla stuff but if he throws more strikes and can get that breaking ball to be a bit more consistent there's no reason to believe he can't be a league average starter, which makes him better than Clement already! I think he'll get another start for the Sox to prove himself.
The defense up the middle was tremendous tonight (with the exception of Loretta's bobble that surprsingly did not go for an E-4) and the hitting was very timely. The rotation had a horrible series up in Toronto but the bullpen was lights out (except for Riske). Congrats to Jermaine Van Buren on his first career win. If he keeps pitching like this he'll be a mainstay in the bullpen for the rest of the season. Hopefully the young guys like Van Buren and Delcarmen can push some of the struggling veterans to better things. I'm not prepared to lay a verdict down on Riske since he hasn't pitched much and is coming off an injury but Tavarez and Seanez need to show me something and neither has been consistent.
The Sox are now bound for Detroit who are struggling against the Yankees right now. If there is one plus heading into this series it's that the Sox will not see Verlander who is going tomorrow. The Sox usually have a tough time against pitchers they haven't seen before. The Tigers will get Schilling, Wakefield, and (gulp) Clement. Wakefield has had his struggles in Detroit which is odd given that its a big ballpark and usually friendly to fly-ball pitchers. The Sox need some strong outings from both Schilling and Wakefield to help settle the rotation down and because Clement cannot be counted on.
Anytime a team wins with a Double A pitcher on the mound its a good win. Pauly pitched about as well as could be expected. He at least came away looking like a legitimate end of the rotation starter (as opposed to Dinardo) who just needs to wash away his nerves and get some more experience. He has vanilla stuff but if he throws more strikes and can get that breaking ball to be a bit more consistent there's no reason to believe he can't be a league average starter, which makes him better than Clement already! I think he'll get another start for the Sox to prove himself.
The defense up the middle was tremendous tonight (with the exception of Loretta's bobble that surprsingly did not go for an E-4) and the hitting was very timely. The rotation had a horrible series up in Toronto but the bullpen was lights out (except for Riske). Congrats to Jermaine Van Buren on his first career win. If he keeps pitching like this he'll be a mainstay in the bullpen for the rest of the season. Hopefully the young guys like Van Buren and Delcarmen can push some of the struggling veterans to better things. I'm not prepared to lay a verdict down on Riske since he hasn't pitched much and is coming off an injury but Tavarez and Seanez need to show me something and neither has been consistent.
The Sox are now bound for Detroit who are struggling against the Yankees right now. If there is one plus heading into this series it's that the Sox will not see Verlander who is going tomorrow. The Sox usually have a tough time against pitchers they haven't seen before. The Tigers will get Schilling, Wakefield, and (gulp) Clement. Wakefield has had his struggles in Detroit which is odd given that its a big ballpark and usually friendly to fly-ball pitchers. The Sox need some strong outings from both Schilling and Wakefield to help settle the rotation down and because Clement cannot be counted on.
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