Game 127: Nick Green is a God, but still can't beat the White Sox
by Randy Booth on Aug 27, 2009 10:32 PM EDT
in Game Stories
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PrintMove over, Jonathan Papelbon. There's a new closer in town.
In what turned into a very ugly game early, super-utility man Nick Green came in to pitch in the 8th inning and turned in two scoreless innings.
OK, I'm not ready to go all the way with this, but at this point, I am ready to give Green the setup job. Jonathan Papelbon has been shakey, but I'm still not ready to put Green in that position yet.
Yet.
Oh, the Red Sox lost 9-5.
The Red Sox made a charge five unanswered runs, but the sucktitude of Junichi Tazawa was just too much. He gave up 9 runs in four innings of work. It was not pretty.
The Red Sox offense was pretty good, but it wasn't good enough. J.D. Drew hit two home runs and Alex Gonzalez hit a solo shot in the fifth. Drew's first home run was hit back-to-back with Gonzo's. David Ortiz also doubled-in a run in the 8th.
Another good note: Manny Delcarmen pitched the fifth and sixth and surrendered just one hit. A good outing from a reliever who has struggled this season (I say that, but he still hasn't been that bad).
Tazawa found a lot of trouble in the top of the second. After retiring the side 1-2-3 in the first, he gave up four runs in the following frame. Mark Kotsay had a sac fly, Jayson Nix doubled in two and Scott Podsednik had an RBI single.
The third wasn't much better. After a Jim Thome sac fly, he surrendered a two-run home run to Carlos Quentin to make it 7-0 for the ChiSox. Alexie Ramirez scored on a single to make it 8-0.
Sox start a series with Toronto Friday. Maybe they can pull of a sweep then ... maybe.
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I can see Buster's column tomorrow:
“There is speculation that the Red Sox will use Wagner as a rest of the season bridge to Nick Green, and trade Bard and Papelbon this offseason.”
Which is not much more incredible (meaning literally, not credible) than yesterday’s column.
Rock me, sexy Jesus...
by nuthinboutnuthin on Aug 27, 2009 10:39 PM EDT reply actions
Geez, Paps didn't even want Wagner in his pen...
…how’s he gonna feel now that Green snuck in there?
Why
Why leave Taz in long enough to give up 9 runs?
Because
the Sox have no long man out of the pen and are not going to burn 4 relievers to try to recover from a 4-0 hole (they have a 20% chance to do so), given that they also want to win tomorrow night.
Exactly
I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.
by Drugs Delaney on Aug 28, 2009 7:16 AM EDT up reply actions
Then this team is not a champion caliber team!
Such a champion caliber team would know how to get a failing starter out early, and hopefully would not have such a starter playing in the first place. That championship caliber team would have the needed resources to quickly replace a failing starter early and quickly when they rarely needed to.
The Sox are NOT in this category currently, and really badly need a fourth (and probably even a third)decent starter. End of story.
by NG on Aug 28, 2009 8:09 AM EDT up reply actions
You are right
the back of the rotation has failed to give them a chance to win too many times. Perhaps in the end that will take them out of contention, we will see. It is also true that our bullpen lacks a long man to eat these kind of innings, and that is a failing too (which I have complained about before). But given the resources, you can;’t pull Tazawa in the 2nd inning.
Worth it
I wonder if it’s worth the damage to a young pitcher, because the bullpen is full of ____.
Last year, Byrd was better than Tazawa is this year.
BTW, teams don’t win championships based on their #5 starter. It’s doubtful that they even miss the playoffs based on what their #5 starter does in the regular season (#5s rarely pitch in the post-season). Last year, the combination of Buchholz, Byrd, and Colon in 30 starts (164 IP) was 10-13 5.49 ERA 1.56 WHIP 1.32 HR/9—and the Sox won 95 games and came within one game of the WS.
Tazawa isn’t very good. He has been hit hard in every game he has pitched; only the results vary. Tazawa doesn’t have great stuff and he clearly isn’t ready. But, he has kept the Sox in 3 of the 4 starts he has made.
I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.
by Drugs Delaney on Aug 28, 2009 9:12 AM EDT up reply actions
It is a sign of desperation!
A team that has high expectations, after making what it thought was some positive changes, now finds that those changes were not enough. Then to have to undo some of the changes (Gonzales and Byrd) is a sign of managerial mistakes/misjudgments, even in the mind of that management. At least the management is not too pigheaded to not undo mistakes because it may show judgment weakness! However, I’m sorry, but it has too show some of this. Maybe it is just bad luck, but depending on OLD GUYS for success in sports is never a good bet, IMO!
They weren't able to thrive when some of the important pieces broke.
And most of the OLD GUYS will be gone soon.
@bs_uf15bosox9be The Original Gameday; Learn to use SB Nation
Wake is a solid #3 starter
Even despite the injury, he still pitches an amazing game. He had his A-stuff the other night. We don’t really have a number 4 or 5, at least until Dice comes back (And mark my words, he will be back, and he will be as good as he was last year).
We still need middle relief. That’s the main issue. Losing Masterson hurt this bullpen, but to get V-Mart… well, so far, it has been worth it honestly.
I know it's early, but it's never too early for a little optimism and hope. All I know is that Soxtober is the best month of the year.
The epitome of
“depending on OLD GUYS for success in sports is never a good bet, IMO!”, is Wakefield! Good luck with that hope!
Wake's a winner
and he’s a solid pitcher, and will be for a few more years with us at least. :-) Plus he’s a class act.
I know it's early, but it's never too early for a little optimism and hope. All I know is that Soxtober is the best month of the year.
He's got some issues that might end his career...
But they could have happened at any given point in his career, from what I understand.
Because of the lack of hard throwing, he can pitch MUCH longer than almost any other pitcher in recent history.
@bs_uf15bosox9be The Original Gameday; Learn to use SB Nation
Dice-K wasn't good last year.
He was very lucky, but not good.
@bs_uf15bosox9be The Original Gameday; Learn to use SB Nation
Nothing wrong with dumb luck
provided it’s on our side :-)
I know it's early, but it's never too early for a little optimism and hope. All I know is that Soxtober is the best month of the year.
Did anyone notice that
Green throws harder than Tazawa?
I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.
I noticed
He had more movement on his fastball too.
Yeah...
He had more movement on his fastball too.
Most of it straight up, but still. ;)
Man I love that tuna casserole.
+1
Anyone know where we can get some pitchfx data for his night last night.
Brooks:
http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfx/
LOL @ his movement:
And yeah, everything was up:
@bs_uf15bosox9be The Original Gameday; Learn to use SB Nation
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