Bullpen Does the Sox In Again, Fall 6-7 to the Orioles

by Ben Buchanan on Apr 25, 2010 5:24 PM EDT

BOSTON - APRIL 25: Miguel Tejada #9 of the Baltimore Orioles rounds the bases after he hit a home run against pitcher Hideki Okajima #37 of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on April 25, 2010 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

If this was Tim Wakefield's last regularly scheduled start, it'll be a shame.

After pitching 6.2 great innings, Tim Wakefield left with a 4-1 lead and a runner on second.

And then the bullpen imploded. Again. Hideki Okajima allowed a double and a home run to tie the game before recording the final out in the 7^th, and Scott Atchison and Scott Schoeneweis combined to allow 5 baserunners and 3 runs while recording only 1 out (by Schoeneweis on a bunt attempt) in the 10^th inning. The Red Sox put on a late rally, but failed to score the tying run, and that was all she wrote.

The Red Sox still manage a series win, 2-1, but had to be hoping for a sweep against the destitute Orioles. They'll try again tomorrow against a suddenly slumping Toronto Blue Jays team.

Game Notes:

The rally fell short when Marco Scutaro hit a line drive directly at Ty Wigginton.
Adrian Beltre had two errors in the first inning (one was later changed to a hit), and then played stellar defense for the rest of the game.
Had the Red Sox won, they would have been 9-10--the record the Yankees held last year through 19 games. Instead, they're 8-11 and 3 games under .500. Feels like a big difference.

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Comments

Scutaro sucks

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by Sean O on Apr 25, 2010 5:30 PM EDT reply actions

No, no he doesn't.

USG

by Ben Buchanan on Apr 25, 2010 5:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Can't hit and can't field

Which, I’m pretty sure, is what we need from a player.

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by Sean O on Apr 25, 2010 5:54 PM EDT up reply actions

You are wrong on both accounts.

USG

by Ben Buchanan on Apr 25, 2010 5:57 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm desperately waiting for him to not suck

If that ever happens. We’ll see.

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by Sean O on Apr 25, 2010 6:03 PM EDT up reply actions

he can

and he’s been hitting alright. As far as fielding, he’s made some awesome plays, but he’s also fouled up some pretty routine plays. If that stops, he’ll be great in the field.

by wolf9309 on Apr 25, 2010 7:10 PM EDT up reply actions

He's really not been playing that badly.

I’m sorry we couldn’t get Tulowitzki for you.

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by BoldandBrash on Apr 25, 2010 6:42 PM EDT up reply actions

minus the error in the first series

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by BoldandBrash on Apr 25, 2010 6:43 PM EDT up reply actions

when someone is on your personal hatelist does this person have any realistic chance to get off it?

by German Red Sox Fan on Apr 25, 2010 6:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Sure

Coco did, when he began fielding like Mays.

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by Sean O on Apr 25, 2010 7:17 PM EDT up reply actions

Fun with thinking...

I don’t think a .273/.360/.379 line over 18 games qualifies as “can’t hit”. Not MVP numbers, but they do indicate decent hitting. Perhaps you’d like to argue that he is not “clutch” because he lined out to end the game today?

Haven’t been watching many games, so I can’t say much about defense, but I’m guessing that you also probably don’t have much of anything to back up your argument, anyway.

by Fizrat on Apr 25, 2010 7:11 PM EDT up reply actions

-1

by German Red Sox Fan on Apr 25, 2010 5:44 PM EDT up reply actions

ound sucked.

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by bestbostonsports on Apr 25, 2010 8:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Beltre officially only commited 1 Error in the first inning.

1 was ruled a hit

by German Red Sox Fan on Apr 25, 2010 5:46 PM EDT reply actions

Amended

USG

by Ben Buchanan on Apr 25, 2010 5:58 PM EDT up reply actions

So in two games...

the O’s had 31 hits. Bleh.

by AJBlue7 on Apr 25, 2010 5:47 PM EDT reply actions

How long can we really wait before we trade for bullpen help?

by German Red Sox Fan on Apr 25, 2010 6:34 PM EDT reply actions

really, we're probably better off seeing if any of the guys we still have in pawtucket do any better

i’d love to see Richardson and Nelson rather than, say, RamRam and Schoeneweis and see if they do any better.

Relievers are never too expensive, but they get much less expensive once teams are safely completely out of playoff contention. Might be too early for many teams to give away their relievers as absurdly cheap as they will be.

by wolf9309 on Apr 25, 2010 7:14 PM EDT up reply actions

fair enough

how about Bowden? is it a dumb idea to try him again?

by German Red Sox Fan on Apr 25, 2010 7:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Not dumb in my opinion

He’s not really wowing this year like he did early last year, but I think he can do a pretty good job in the ‘pen. But, really, I’d like more than just Bowden. Richardson still doesn’t seem ready yet, and with Embree pitching well the past few games he’ll probably get the first LHP call-up.

DFA Beckett

by South Coast Ghost on Apr 25, 2010 7:54 PM EDT up reply actions

Juan Cruz?

by Sologub on Apr 25, 2010 7:26 PM EDT reply actions

He's available

He also has a very high BB-rate

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

by Drugs Delaney on Apr 25, 2010 7:34 PM EDT up reply actions

Get him

Sign him for the minimum and see if you can get anything from him. KC is on the hook for his salary anyway. He has too much raw stuff to be a total bust, and even if he is, nothing really lost. I think he has too much potential to be a Craig Hansen.

by Sologub on Apr 25, 2010 8:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Daniel Cabrera says "Hello!" to your Too-Much-Raw-Stuff-To-Bust argument

I just think the last thing we need is for our relievers to walk more batters.

I mean, if he’s willing to put up with a trip to Pawtucket to see if they can’t work with him a bit then sure, but I’m guessing there’s a team out there willing to give him a starting job right off the bat.

DFA Beckett

by South Coast Ghost on Apr 25, 2010 8:56 PM EDT up reply actions

What potential?

He’s already 31 years old and averages close to 5 BB/9.

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

by Drugs Delaney on Apr 25, 2010 8:58 PM EDT up reply actions

Well I don't mean potential in terms of like

“He’s gonna fill out and add a few more mph” more like “he hasn’t put it together yet and maybe he never will but hey why not take a flier for the minimum and see if our guys can work with him”

by Sologub on Apr 25, 2010 9:17 PM EDT up reply actions

He'd probably have to clear waivers to go to the minors

But, looking at his numbers, he doesn’t really seem like an improvement over what the Sox already have.

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

by Drugs Delaney on Apr 25, 2010 9:59 PM EDT up reply actions

This game just all all around sucked.
Hey, the Blazers made the playoffs…

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by bestbostonsports on Apr 25, 2010 8:22 PM EDT reply actions

+1

Scorch was at Fenway today, I was happy.

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by Sean O on Apr 25, 2010 8:43 PM EDT up reply actions

awesome.

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by bestbostonsports on Apr 25, 2010 8:47 PM EDT up reply actions

I watched from the 7th on with At-Bat.

Why does out bullpen show brilliance then suck all of a sudden!

I LOVE PEDROIA!!! ITS MAN LOVE!

by kraken613 on Apr 25, 2010 9:04 PM EDT reply actions

Some times it over-sucks

and needs 19 innings to regress to the suck-mean.

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by Sean O on Apr 25, 2010 9:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Since when did it show brilliance outside of Bard?

USG

by Ben Buchanan on Apr 25, 2010 9:54 PM EDT up reply actions

I'd say Bard has been good, not brilliant

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

by Drugs Delaney on Apr 25, 2010 10:03 PM EDT up reply actions

But Bard is the only one who has even flashed brilliance.

USG

by Ben Buchanan on Apr 25, 2010 10:17 PM EDT up reply actions

True

But he has had trouble with inherited runners and the long ball.

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

by Drugs Delaney on Apr 25, 2010 10:31 PM EDT up reply actions

And he's also grossly overworked.

"Hating the New York Yankees is as American as apple pie, unwed mothers and cheating on your income tax." -- Mike Royko

by sox-inda-south on Apr 25, 2010 11:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Not really

Apprearances:

Bard – 10
Okajima – 10
Papelbon – 9
Schoeneweis – 9
Ramirez – 8
Delcarmen – 7
Atchison – 6

Pitches thrown:

Bard – 173
Papelbon – 172
Okajima – 158
Ramirez – 155
Atchison – 146
Schoeneweis – 142
Delcarmen – 140

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

by Drugs Delaney on Apr 26, 2010 7:25 AM EDT up reply actions

right they're all grossly overworked

because our starters haven’t been able to go close to as long as they should’ve and we’ve already played significantly more innings of baseball than most teams at this point in the year (I think with extra innings, we’re averaging about an extra out per game, which adds up quick).
Hopefully that’ll change. It has to right? At least the first part.
I think Tito needs to give MDC another shot with pressure at this point. People haven’t been making good contact off him, and we really need someone he can go to besides Bard, and none of those other guys fit the bill.

by wolf9309 on Apr 26, 2010 10:02 AM EDT up reply actions

shiver

by Sologub on Apr 26, 2010 10:39 AM EDT up reply actions

yes

and also because we obviously had a thin, not too impressive pen to start with (as I have said from the beginning of the season). Even if our starters were going 7 on average this pen is crappy and paper thin. They need another reliable arm +long guy (Wake?). Aside from 2 guys in the pen there is not much to count on. I agree about MDC-I would rather see him in there than RamRam, Atcheson and probably Schoenweis and Oki. RamRam should simply be released, he is worthless.

by Buzzy on Apr 26, 2010 12:53 PM EDT up reply actions

right, not that MDC is necessarily good

though he may be. Just the lesser of evils.

by wolf9309 on Apr 26, 2010 12:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Should have kept Bard in.

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by bestbostonsports on Apr 26, 2010 12:23 PM EDT reply actions

Probably

Bard had only thrown 15 pitches. However, Tito doesn’t want to blow out his pen. Francona is very good at keeping players fresh. He doesn’t generally ride one guy, like a lot of managers. The problems with the pen are twofold: (1) The starters haven’t been going deep consistently, which increases the innings by your 4-6 guys in the pen. (2) The Sox haven’t blown anyone out and have played quite a few extra inning games.

The pen is the Sox’ number one weakness (you have to believe good hitters will eventually hit and good starters will find some consistency). That’s on the FO not the manager, who can only play the roster he is given. Tito went an extra inning with Okajima yesterday because he had to, in order to lengthen his pen (the bottom of the Sox’ order was due in the 8th). Too often, Francona is unfairly criticized by fans for the failure of player to execute. if Tito had stayed with Bard in the 10th lots of Sox fans would have criticized him for burning out a young pitcher. While the Sox likely would have held the O’s in the 10th, by not extending Bard in those situations he’ll be fresher later in the season.

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

by Drugs Delaney on Apr 26, 2010 12:52 PM EDT up reply actions

I don't blame Tito for his pen management last night after Okajima.

Taking Bard out was fine. Using Atchison over MDC was fine. Last thing you wanted was to have MDC come in and walk 4 guys. At least Atchison was more likely to have them put it in play than just give ‘em a free pass. Didn’t work out, but I’m not asking him to be a prophet, just to make the right choice.

Too many people grade a manager on his ability to guess what will happen next.

USG

by Ben Buchanan on Apr 26, 2010 6:26 PM EDT up reply actions

in that situation

do you really put in the guy who has given up 5 hits and 2 walks in 8.2 innings rather than the guy who has given up 2 hits and 6 walks in 7.2 innings? Especially when the one giving up all the hits has looked home run-prone and hasn’t pitched in a week?

I don’t. I think it was a bad decision. And I’ll usually stand by most of his decisions.

by wolf9309 on Apr 26, 2010 11:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Yes, you do.

Hits are only marginally in the control of the pitcher. Walks are much more their fault. Scott also had a bunch more strikeouts. The homers are a problem, but quite frankly with the Orioles pen having to hold any lead they might make, I’d prefer to take the risk of the homer to the risk of the lengthy rally. We ended up getting the latter anyways, but as I’ve said, I don’t expect Tito to be a prophet. Just to make the right decision given the information.

USG

by Ben Buchanan on Apr 27, 2010 12:40 AM EDT up reply actions

that's not true, I don't

hits may be only marginally under the control of the pitcher, but they are under the control of the pitcher. The fact is batters have not been making solid contact off of MDC and no one has been fooled by Atchison. The fact is, one of them is fooling batters, one is not. I also just don’t think that you bring in a pitcher who hasn’t pitched for a week into a high leverage situation unless it is your very last resort. I thought it was a bad idea when he came in and I still do now, I’m not expecting him to be a prophet. I guess we’ll just philosophically disagree on that one.

by wolf9309 on Apr 27, 2010 9:34 AM EDT up reply actions