Search Maine Yellow Pages 
Log In | Register | Help

bobble-ed
Late Hits
Over the course of the season, Ed Walsh will be scouring the Web to bring the latest news, polls, and commentary about the Boston Red Sox to these pages.

Blog Index
May 07, 2007
Hooray!

One New York blogger writes about Clemens return:

...the skies parted over the Bronx during the seventh inning stretch and Roger Clemens rode down from Asgard on a golden chariot to announce to the common mortals that he would lay down the hammer of Thor and would pick up a baseball for the glory of winning a championship with the mighty New York Yankees.

Oh, Puh-lease. Clemens the savior? We'll see. Outside of New York, everyone hates Clemens.

I never for one minute thought that Clemens would return to Boston and I was right. Clemens loves the Big Apple and relishes a challenge. He wants the fame, the glory.

So much so, he circled June 1-3 weekend for his return - Yankees vs. Red Sox. If he did not make that series, the two division rivals would not meet again until September and Clemens' debut would be less meaningful.

There is no bigger stage than Fenway Park for nine-inning bout with the Bombers. That was the motivation and the $4.5 million-a-month a bonus.

But if winnning a championship was truly a factor for Clemens, he chose the wrong team.

No longer an eight-innings pitcher, Clemens needs the bullpen to aide him in all starts. Knowing this, how could he have picked the Yankees? The Yankees bullpen has, err, struggled.

The other Yankees starters are not eight-inning pitchers either. In fact, they only average 5.2 innings a start. And have used nine starters thus far. As a result, New York's pen is being used more often, failing miserably.

Meanwhile, the Sox staff has been very economical. The five starters are going deep into games (averaging 7 inn. a start), leaving the pen rested. Only Tavarez averages five-innings.

And consider these numbers:
Boston is first in AL pitching after the start of seventh inning; Yankees 12.
Boston is second only to Oakland in pitching overall, Yankees 11.
Boston is fifth in defense, Yankees eighth.
Boston is fifth in offense, Yankees first. OK so they get one point.

I can't wait until June 3.

Looking for a little pick-me-up:
Sox say 'We don't need him
The Boston Herald's Michael Silverman writes that Clemens is not a sure thing.

Posted by Ed Walsh at 09:32 AM

E-mail this entry to a friend

Comments
Post a comment









Remember personal info?







Please enter the code as seen in the image above:



Blog Index
Updates
Sign up to be notified when there's a new entry
RSS
Subscribe
Archives
By category