Does Boston have the arms to make the playoffs?

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

It's really sad to see.

The team that was said of have one of the best pitching staffs in the game heading into the season is now relying on Clay Buchholz and Junichi Tazawa to get into the playoffs.

Remember when nothing made you more confident than to look at the Red Sox' rotation heading into a pivotal series? It seems a million years ago. Brad Penny didn't look so bad when he was your fifth starter. Now he's your third and lo and behold, the Red Sox are being left in the dust in the AL East and now trail in the Wild Card race.

Josh Beckett and Jon Lester have been all that you would expect them to be. Beckett has to be one of the favorites for the Cy Young award, especially with his current tear. He's 7-1 in his last 10 starts with a 1.93 ERA. Clearly he has done everything you could ask of your ace. Lester, likewise, has looked more than solid. He hasn't earned a decision in his last four starts, but has only allowed nine runs in 24.6 innings (3.29 ERA) in that span.

But Penny has been simply atrocious basically since the All-Star break. He's won just one of his six starts and dropped four with an ERA north of 6.50 after making Theo Epstein look like a genius over the first half of the season, especially when June rolled along. Perhaps the whiplash is getting to him, as he's allowed seven post-All-Star homers after giving up just 10 taters in 17 starts to begin the year.

Buchholz has done nothing to give Sox fans a warm and fuzzy feeling. He's learning the hard way once again that there's a major difference between AAA hitters and major league ones. Yes, he's been left out to dry in his last two starts by zero run support, but he's very lucky he hasn't gotten blown up with that 20/19 K/BB ratio. In fact, he's failed to strike out more batters than he's walked in each of his last three outings.

Tazawa has been placed in one tough position after another. Ok, go hold off the Yankees in extra innings in your first big-league appearance. Ok, go beat the Tigers on the road. Ok, help us hold the lead in the Wild Card against Texas. The kid has 20 professional appearances before being called up and while people have raved about his talent (though he has been overshadowed by Buchholz and Michael Bowden), he's still a green 23-year-old. Expect a lot more where today's outing came from against quality opponents (5 IP, 10 H, 4 ER, 3BB, 0K).

Is this team and its postseason hopes fading away as its pitching staff falls apart? John Smoltz was an epic failure. You can't blame the organization for taking a gamble on a future Hall-of-Famer, but you can question their decision not to hold him out for longer, even when he complained. Anyone counting on Daisuke Matsuzaka needs to step away from the pipe and head to their nearest N.A. meeting. It seems ridiculous to say, but at this point, the Red Sox desperately need Tim Wakefield and unfortunately, he's still limping around.

Two pitchers does not a rotation make and at this point, that is what the Red Sox have to work with.

Beckett: Don't worry, bullpen. I got this one

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

It was all too fitting.

A day after the Boston bullpen blew up once again, Josh Beckett did what you'd expect an ace to do. He picked up the Red Sox on his back and int he process, picked up his 100th career win.

The Red Sox bullpen has been one of the best for most of the first half, but they've also been one of the most overworked. Justin Masterson is on pace to throw over 120 innings after throwing just 153.1 over his first two seasons (that included 15 starts). Hideiki Okajima is on pace to excede his career high in innings, as is Ramon Ramirez. Jonathan Papelbon is on pace to surpass them both.

It's not because the Red Sox have decided to add more innings to their games. Daisuke Matsuzaka averaged just 4.1 innings per start before going on the DL with "shoulder weakness," otherwise known as leaving batting practice fastballs over the plate. Brad Penny, as good as he's been lately (3.44 ERA since the beginning of June), has averaged just about 5.2 innings per start. John Smoltz hasn't gone more than five innings since coming off the DL. Jon Lester has come around, but going seven innings was a struggle for him over the first two months of the season.

The All-Star break seems to be coming at just the right time for the Sox' pen, which is showing signed of weakeness over the past month or so. They still have the best ERA among American League bullpens, but over the last month, they have been strictly mediocre.

After watching them give up a combined six runs over the final three innings of last night's game, Beckett decided to give the pen a night off.

Beckett dominated over nine shutout innings, allowing just three hits. He struck out seven, including four of the first five batters he faced and threw 66 of his 94 pitches for strikes. That's right, folks. He needed just 94 pitches to go nine innings.

The shutout was the second of the season and his second in his last five games. Over that span, he's gone nine innings twice and seven innings twice and 6.2 innings once. He's not only eating innings, but he's being the guy he needs to be - a sure-fire winner. The righty is 4-0 and Red Sox are 5-0 over those five starts.

What's more, Beckett has a with a 1.63 ERA in those games. It's just scary.

When this guy's on, he's untouchable. The Red Sox need to hope he can keep being that guy.

Dice-K is far from OK

By Jorge Bannister
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Is Daisuke Matsuzaka breaking down?

Don’t look at your monitor like that, it’s a legitimate question.

The phenom, who once threw an 18-inning complete game in his high school title game, can barely make it out of the fifth inning in his starts now.

In 2006 — after pitching Japan to the World Baseball Classic title over Cuba — Matsuzaka went 17-5 with an 2.13 ERA for the Seibu Lions. He threw 186-1/3 innings, striking out 200 and walking 34. Dice-K started 25 games and threw 13 complete games.

Matsuzaka threw 215 innings in 2005 for the Lions, and was 14-13 in 28 starts with an ERA of 2.30.

This year, Dice-K has been, well, less than stellar. He’s 1-4 with a 7.33 ERA in six starts. He’s only averaging four-plus innings a start, but finally got past the five-inning barrier Sunday against the Rangers.

Last year Matsuzaka was a sparkling 18-3 with a 2.90 ERA last year. Remember, though, he only threw 167-2/3 innings compared to 204-2/3 in his rookie campaign. Somehow, that gets lost in translation with some. In fact, if he had similar winning numbers and a solid ERA with more innings, he probably would’ve won the Cy Young Award.

Through 66 career MLB starts, Dice-K has only one complete game. It’s not his fault, he’s a nibbler. Oh. Wait.

In Sunday’s game against the Rangers, he showed something else, though. There was life on his fastball and he seemed to pound the strike zone early in the game. Matsuzaka finally threw more than five innings this season (5-2/3 to be exact), but was pounded for 10 hits and five earned runs. He struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter.

Maybe that’s why he nibbles?

In his MLB rookie season (2007), Dice-K threw fewer than six innings only 7 times in 32 starts. In fact, in his final five starts he only went six or more innings twice. His worst start of the year was 2-2/3 innings on Sept. 8 at Baltimore — he was shelled for eight runs on six hits and three walks.

Though he had a successful season last year, Matsuzaka failed to throw six innings in 14 of his 29 starts.

And there’s the problem. His pitch counts are near- to over-100 pitches by the fifth inning and Red Sox manager Terry Francona is forced to call his bullpen earlier when Dice-K is on the mound.

If you think I am crazy by asking that question in my lead, then ponder this little Jeopardy portion of the column. 

Answer: He was a Japanese pitcher who had successful outings for the Red Sox but ultimately turned out to be worthless and unable to pitch in the majors anymore. 

Question: Who is Hideo Nomo?

That’s right. I am comparing Matsuzaka to Nomo.