Game 36: Red Sox lose ... but how?

by Randy Booth on May 16, 2009 1:35 PM EDT in Game Stories

Don't pretend you can figure out the guy pictured above. Because you can't.

Jon Lester was struggling early last night, but he was still pitching well. Then it all just unfolded. From the 5th inning on, the screws came out and Lester surrendered five runs, including two home runs by Ichiro Suzuki. The Sox were up 4-0 early, but Lester couldn't hold on and the Sox lost, 5-4.

The offense came from 2.5 spots: Jacoby Ellsbury batting leadoff (3-5, R, RBI), JD Drew batting third (3-5, R, RBI) and Jason Bay, batting fourth (3 BB, R). Everyone else was just "meh." Julio Lugo also had an RBI.

Daniel Bard alert! He pitched 1.1 last night and gave up two hits. He didn't strike anyone out, but he can't do that all the time, can he? Takashi Saito gave up a hit, a walk and struck out one in his inning of work.

What can we take out this start by Lester? Not much. He faced a poor lineup and struggled. He didn't allow a run until the 5th, but he was very close on many occasions to doing so. Perhaps the Red Sox are lucky to have only lost by one, but after the first couple of innings, they really should have won this game.

Sox, M's are back in action tonight at 10. It will be Josh Beckett versus Garrett Olson.

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It can’t all be put on Lester’s shoulders. The Sox need to produce offensively later in games, even with leads.

"Well let me just quote the late-great Colonel Sanders, who said...'I'm too drunk to taste this chicken.' "
-Ricky Bobby

by nepats108 on May 16, 2009 3:41 PM EDT reply actions

No, he doesn’t take all the blame, but the Jon Lester of last year could have easily handled this M’s lineup. Lester is most certainly not himself…

OverTheMonster.com

by Randy Booth on May 16, 2009 3:53 PM EDT up reply actions

Yes and no

clearly the results are not Lester results. And he does seem to be giving up a fair number more fly balls than last year, but not an enormous number. The rest of the number “look” good: K/9=10.3, K/BB=3.4, LD%=17%. All of these important metrics are better than last year, in the case of K/9 by a lot. There are also the BAPIP=390 and the HR/FB of 19%. That’s right, one out of every 5 fly balls is leaving the park! If you could ever come close to finding a pitcher who has even thrown 100 innings with numbers like these I would be shocked. If you simply cut that rate down to normal (not even last year’s rate) he would have an ERA in the low to mid 3’s.

It is really crazy, he has given up roughly 65% of his earned runs in 4 total innings. He somehow is giving up homers at a rate not close to what he has in the past, and not close to anyone. He has a very high BAPIP. His walks to Ks and overall K rate is fantastic. His velocity is high. How are we supposed to interpret this? Is he just unlucky? He is unraveling or not keeping composure? Is he challenging hitter too much? Thoughts?

by Buzzy on May 16, 2009 4:22 PM EDT up reply actions

NG was at the game

He clearly sucked the Sox’ momentum.

:-)

I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.

by Drugs Delaney on May 16, 2009 5:03 PM EDT reply actions

I totally forgot about that.

He was probably screaming at Tito for removing Papi while keeping Lugo in.

WBULTV - BDale TV Prod

by bdalebs on May 16, 2009 5:06 PM EDT up reply actions

Sox

I blame the Sox’s current woes on Francona.

He has been way too slow in taking the starting pitchers out when they’ve struggled and he needed to send Ortiz signals way back when that his performance was unacceptable – as in putting him 8th or 9th in the batting order. Taking him out of the lineup yesterday was way overdue.

Francona’s approach as a “players manager” is usually effective over the long run but he needs to step up to the plate and be more assetive when things aren’t going well – he needs to wake up and put some fire in that blood of his.

by bigeasy8 on May 16, 2009 8:42 PM EDT reply actions