Olerud, The Yankees, and THAT Game Last Night

by Randy Booth on May 3, 2005 9:04 AM EDT in News

John Olerud may be 36 years old. Olerud may have had his worst year as a pro last year. And Olerud may have been a Yankee last season, but as of right now, he's a Boston Red Sox and a pretty good acquisition in my eyes.
Once Olerud is healthy -- and I do believe he'll be healthy soon this season -- he'll prove to be a great backup first baseman, and a 'closer' so to speak at that positon. He won't push Millar to be the starter, nor will he complain about being a backup. So I don't see Millar wanting a trade. Because 9 times out of 10 Millar will be the starter get his at-bats.
It's pretty easy to say that Olerud is better than David McCarty. And at a $750,000 contract, what is there to lose? All Theo Epstein is doing with this signing is making the Sox better. Plain and simple.
The Yankees have done it. They have completely flipped around their lineup and aren't looking like the Yankees anymore.
If the Red Sox continue to struggle, could we see that happen to our Sox? I don't think so. We may become a little desperate and call up Hanley Ramirez to play a position, or maybe see Alejandro Machado, but I don't think we'd do something as drastic as the Yankees.
Not too shabby, J-Go. Not too shabby.
I appreciate what you did, especially those 7 K's in five innings, and I want to congratulate you, but I really want to see Abe Alvarez get a start. You did your job, now let's see what Alvarez can do, shall we?
The game last night was absolutely horrible. We lost to the Tigers, 8-3. Want to see a horrible stat that makes my jaw drop, and probably yours too?
27.
27 men left on base last night. Every member of the Sox last night left atleast four men on base except for Johnny Damon, Kevin Millar and Kevin Youkilis. Just ugly.
One bright spot last night came in the relief pitching. My boy, who I think could turn out to be our best relief pitcher this season, pitched a perfect 1.2 innings last inning with three strike outs. Matt Mantei, folks. Matt Mantei. When he has the curveball going, nobody can hit him (literally, because he gave up zero hits last night). He has 95+ MPH heat, and that curveball just makes hitters look foolish. Mantei lowered his ERA to a cool 3.72 on the season, which is fourth for relievers on the team. The leaders are Lenny DiNardo and Mike Myers with a 0.00 ERA, but they've only pitched 1.1 and 2.2 innings respectively. Mike Timlin, though, has been Mr. Automatic with a 1.54 ERA in 11.2 innings pitched this season.