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Projo SoxTalk with McAdam: Lester's return »
July 23, 2007
Journal photo / Glenn Osmundson
In losing three straight games last week to the Kansas City Royals and the Chicago White Sox, the Boston Red Sox scored a total of 10 runs on 33 hits. In winning their last three games this weekend over the White Sox, Boston scored a total of 29 runs on 31 hits. The difference? Well, the Chicago bullpen, for one: Chicago relievers walked nine Boston batters in 8.2 innings of work during the four-game series; while Kansas City's walked just three batters in 13.2 innings during the three-game Boston-Kansas City series. But the Red Sox suddenly began coming through with runners in scoring position, something they've been woefully inadequate at doing lately, and that has led to hopes that the Boston offense is coming around (projo).
The talk of the day, of course, now turns to Jon Lester's return to the mound (projo) as the Red Sox travel to Cleveland to face the Indians. Lester's last big league start was exactly 11 months ago, in Anaheim, when he picked up a win over the Angels. Eight days later, the club announced that Lester would begin treatments for non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a type of cancer. The 23-year-old left-hander returns to the team despite a less-than-dominant recent track record in Pawtucket, but manager Terry Francona says the decision is based neither on emotion nor on the struggles of displaced fifth starter Julian Tavarez (Boston Globe). Steve Buckley of the Herald says that the reason for Lester's call-up doesn't matter, that we should all just enjoy the latest development in this remarkable story. Lester's return is the subject of today's projo Red Sox survey.
To make room for Lester, the Sox will designate Joel Pineiro for assignment today (projo); they hope that they can get some small compensation from another team looking to add an arm. Thus ends a failed $4-million experiment to move Pineiro from underachieving starting pitcher to effective reliever.
IGNORE THE SCORE: Yesterday's final tally (11-1 Louisville) might not indicate it, but Clay Buchholz put on an impressive show as a starter for the PawSox (projo).
ANOTHER UP-AND-COMER: Curt Schilling wrote Saturday night (38 Pitches) about his rehab start in Pawtucket. He said "we accomplished everything we wanted to and more."
BULLPEN HELP? The Pittsburgh Post Gazette says today that the Red Sox are the team considered most interested in Pirates reliever Salomon Torres, and says the Sox are actively shopping Wily Mo Pena.
BRONX BATS ARE BURNING: While the Red Sox were scoring 29 runs in their last three games, that Yankees were piling up 45 runs in three games against the hapless Devil Rays. The big story of the weekend in the Bronx was 27-year-old rookie Shelley Duncan, who had the fans chanting his name as he slugged three home runs over the weekend (NY Daily News). The second big story was Alex Rodriguez's continued pursuit of 500 career home runs -- he's now just two short after hitting one yesterday in the Yanks' 21-4 laugher -- but A-Rod says he doesn't want to talk about it (Newsday). Another story was the arrival of new backup catcher Jose Molina (New York Post), who figures to be an offensive improvement over the departed Wil Nieves -- and remember that Molina is only hitting .224 this season. The Yankees have also signed former Red Sox reliever Scott Williamson (projostats) to a minor league deal.
HERE'S THE OTHER VIEW: Joel Sherman writes in the Post that Yankee fans should remember one sobering piece of news: The Red Sox still have 15 games left against the Devil Rays, whom he says "are so atrocious that Tim Donaghy could have big money on their games and be umping, and that wouldn't help."
QUITE A STAT: The Yanks had 25 hits yesterday and 20 on Saturday night. The last time the franchise has had consecutive 20-hit showings was in 1902, when it was known as the Baltimore Orioles (the team became the New York Highlanders the following season).
NOT TOO SURPRISING: The Yankee page on Wikipedia has been temporarily closed to editing by new or unregistered users due to "vandalism." The Red Sox page remains open for business.
ANOTHER TEST: The Yankees now go to Kansas City for four games against the Royals, who are coming off consecutive series victories on the road against the Red Sox and the Tigers, the teams with the two best records in baseball. Royals fans may finally have some reason for optimism following so many dismal seasons (Kansas City Star).
PRIDE OF A CITY: The Tigers have sold enough tickets to break the club's attendance record, set during the 1984 World Series championship season. Joe LaPointe writes in The New York Times that the Tigers have given Detroit a reason to cheer, which is something the city needs.
THE NAME FITS: While Barry Bonds sat the game out, the Milwaukee Brewers' Ryan Braun hit his 15th home run of the season in yesterday's win over the Giants. The homer, in Braun's 50th major league game, made him the fastest player to reach 15 since Albert Pujols in 2001 (projo stats).
THINK WE HAD IT BAD? The Colorado Rockies went 0-for-28 with runners in scoring position during a four-game series over the weekend with the Washington Nationals (projo stats). No team had gone that many at bats in a single series without a hit with runners in scoring position since the 1991 Montreal Expos.
Posted by Mike McDermott 
at 9:06 AM to Projo Sox Crawl
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