Sox Beat:
Sinking out of rotation?
By ALEX SPEIER
Special to The Union Leader
Red Sox starting pitcher Derek Lowe reacts while walking to the dugout as he is taken out of the game in the sixth inning against the Baltimore Orioles yesterday at Fenway Park. The Red Sox lost, 13-4. GAME STORY (AP)
BOSTON — Even before the Orioles battered the Boston nine, Sox skipper Terry Francona suggested that he might soon shuffle the deck a bit with his starting pitchers. The comment, delivered between stifled early-morning yawns, seemed innocuous at the time.
After all, the Sox will enjoy off days on each of the next six Mondays, a fact that would allow the club to keep its front four starters operating, for the most part, on normal rest. That scheduled created the possibility of using Bronson Arroyo to fortify the middle-innings bullpen bridge that was depleted by Scott Williamson’s trip to the disabled list.
But after yet another atrocious outing from Derek Lowe, onlookers suspected that the place might take a different turn. With a 6.84 ERA that ranks among the worst in the league, it seems untenable to leave such a glaring weak link in the starting staff for much longer.
To be sure, the outing was not without its moments of promise. The sinkerballer pitched passably for the first five innings, keeping the club within arm’s length of a 2-0 deficit, and short-circuiting any thoughts of bumping Lowe from the rotation.
“We’re down 2-0 . . . but I actually felt pretty good. We might be down, [but] I could see it coming. We [were] going to win this game,” Francona recalled. “It got away so quick in the sixth. Once it gets moving in the wrong direction, Derek just can’t right the ship right now.”
The sixth inning echoed the familiar sound of a screeching record needle. Lowe (4-5) faced five batters, yielding a pair of hits and three walks. The succession of events literally left him bloodied, as Lowe cut a finger that wouldn’t stop bleeding.
Nor would the scoreboard. All five batters scooted home in the eventual seven-run abomination of an inning, staking the Orioles to a ludicrous 9-0 advantage in an eventual 13-4 victory.
“I’m at a loss for words. It’s been a two-month stretch where I’ve put myself in a lot of bad situations as far as the amount of baserunners,” observed Lowe who, despite his claim to the contrary, remained calmly analytical after the game. “Every small mistake has turned into a really big inning.”
Indeed, where grounders pounded into the dirt recently served as the hallmark of Lowe’s outings, the big inning has now become the true signature of his turn in the rotation. The right-hander has coughed up three or more runs in an inning in five of his starts this year, including each of his last three and four of his last five.
Moreover, the two most effective means of escaping an offensive uprising — the strikeout and the double play — were nowhere in evidence. Yesterday, Lowe recorded neither a whiff nor a twin-killing, helping to explain how this recently dominant pitcher could again perform so dismally.
While statistics often produce conflicting measures of a player’s performance, Lowe’s numbers this year paint an unequivocal portrait of a pitcher performing terribly.
In 51Ð innings this year, Lowe has punched out just 21 batters, a career-worst average of 3.7 whiffs per nine innings. He’s walked more men (25) than he’s struck out (21).
It’s enough to leave Lowe longing for a reprieve.
“Can we not talk about any numbers,” Lowe (4-5) requested after the contest. “Please?”
Lowe pronounced himself confident in his abilities and asserted that the proverbial corner remains nearby. He shook off any parallels regarding the disastrous 2001 campaign that ultimately converted him from closer to starter.
“I look forward to every game. When I’m out there, I believe good things are going to happen. I don’t ever dread going out there,” Lowe said. “We’re a third of the way through the season and the next two thirds for me are going to be a lot better.”
Even so, with each successive drubbing, Lowe’s backers sound just slightly more defeated.
“This is hopefully one of those valleys that he can climb out of,” said pitching coach Dave Wallace. “It may not be an easy climb.”
Notes: Kevin Millar snuck an eighth-inning parabola just inside the left-field foul pole and over the Wall for his third homer of the season. It was his first mash in 115 at-bats, a rut that dated to April 23. “This is the longest drought I’ve ever been in,” observed Millar. “I didn’t know where to run. Jeez, Louise!”
Curt Schilling continues to pitch through ankle soreness, but Francona doesn’t consider the malady noteworthy. “With Schill, aches and pains with him as long as it’s not affecting his arm angle or his delivery, I try not to really pay attention,” said the Sox skipper.
Nomar Garciaparra proclaimed his first rehab game on Sunday a success, and was pleased with his ability to both run and play the field without hesitation, according to the Sox skipper. “I think he kind of surprised himself. Evidently he played the game without thinking it through,” said Francona. “I think it was a great first step.”
Though the Sox found themselves in a 9-0 crater entering the bottom of the sixth, the club managed to push four runs across. The club has yet to get shut out this season. . . . Manny Ramirez launched nine longballs in May, tops in all of baseball.
Alex Speier covers the Red Sox for The Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News.
http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=38495
Sinking out of rotation?
By ALEX SPEIER
Special to The Union Leader
Red Sox starting pitcher Derek Lowe reacts while walking to the dugout as he is taken out of the game in the sixth inning against the Baltimore Orioles yesterday at Fenway Park. The Red Sox lost, 13-4. GAME STORY (AP)
BOSTON — Even before the Orioles battered the Boston nine, Sox skipper Terry Francona suggested that he might soon shuffle the deck a bit with his starting pitchers. The comment, delivered between stifled early-morning yawns, seemed innocuous at the time.
After all, the Sox will enjoy off days on each of the next six Mondays, a fact that would allow the club to keep its front four starters operating, for the most part, on normal rest. That scheduled created the possibility of using Bronson Arroyo to fortify the middle-innings bullpen bridge that was depleted by Scott Williamson’s trip to the disabled list.
But after yet another atrocious outing from Derek Lowe, onlookers suspected that the place might take a different turn. With a 6.84 ERA that ranks among the worst in the league, it seems untenable to leave such a glaring weak link in the starting staff for much longer.
To be sure, the outing was not without its moments of promise. The sinkerballer pitched passably for the first five innings, keeping the club within arm’s length of a 2-0 deficit, and short-circuiting any thoughts of bumping Lowe from the rotation.
“We’re down 2-0 . . . but I actually felt pretty good. We might be down, [but] I could see it coming. We [were] going to win this game,” Francona recalled. “It got away so quick in the sixth. Once it gets moving in the wrong direction, Derek just can’t right the ship right now.”
The sixth inning echoed the familiar sound of a screeching record needle. Lowe (4-5) faced five batters, yielding a pair of hits and three walks. The succession of events literally left him bloodied, as Lowe cut a finger that wouldn’t stop bleeding.
Nor would the scoreboard. All five batters scooted home in the eventual seven-run abomination of an inning, staking the Orioles to a ludicrous 9-0 advantage in an eventual 13-4 victory.
“I’m at a loss for words. It’s been a two-month stretch where I’ve put myself in a lot of bad situations as far as the amount of baserunners,” observed Lowe who, despite his claim to the contrary, remained calmly analytical after the game. “Every small mistake has turned into a really big inning.”
Indeed, where grounders pounded into the dirt recently served as the hallmark of Lowe’s outings, the big inning has now become the true signature of his turn in the rotation. The right-hander has coughed up three or more runs in an inning in five of his starts this year, including each of his last three and four of his last five.
Moreover, the two most effective means of escaping an offensive uprising — the strikeout and the double play — were nowhere in evidence. Yesterday, Lowe recorded neither a whiff nor a twin-killing, helping to explain how this recently dominant pitcher could again perform so dismally.
While statistics often produce conflicting measures of a player’s performance, Lowe’s numbers this year paint an unequivocal portrait of a pitcher performing terribly.
In 51Ð innings this year, Lowe has punched out just 21 batters, a career-worst average of 3.7 whiffs per nine innings. He’s walked more men (25) than he’s struck out (21).
It’s enough to leave Lowe longing for a reprieve.
“Can we not talk about any numbers,” Lowe (4-5) requested after the contest. “Please?”
Lowe pronounced himself confident in his abilities and asserted that the proverbial corner remains nearby. He shook off any parallels regarding the disastrous 2001 campaign that ultimately converted him from closer to starter.
“I look forward to every game. When I’m out there, I believe good things are going to happen. I don’t ever dread going out there,” Lowe said. “We’re a third of the way through the season and the next two thirds for me are going to be a lot better.”
Even so, with each successive drubbing, Lowe’s backers sound just slightly more defeated.
“This is hopefully one of those valleys that he can climb out of,” said pitching coach Dave Wallace. “It may not be an easy climb.”
Notes: Kevin Millar snuck an eighth-inning parabola just inside the left-field foul pole and over the Wall for his third homer of the season. It was his first mash in 115 at-bats, a rut that dated to April 23. “This is the longest drought I’ve ever been in,” observed Millar. “I didn’t know where to run. Jeez, Louise!”
Curt Schilling continues to pitch through ankle soreness, but Francona doesn’t consider the malady noteworthy. “With Schill, aches and pains with him as long as it’s not affecting his arm angle or his delivery, I try not to really pay attention,” said the Sox skipper.
Nomar Garciaparra proclaimed his first rehab game on Sunday a success, and was pleased with his ability to both run and play the field without hesitation, according to the Sox skipper. “I think he kind of surprised himself. Evidently he played the game without thinking it through,” said Francona. “I think it was a great first step.”
Though the Sox found themselves in a 9-0 crater entering the bottom of the sixth, the club managed to push four runs across. The club has yet to get shut out this season. . . . Manny Ramirez launched nine longballs in May, tops in all of baseball.
Alex Speier covers the Red Sox for The Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News.
http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=38495
