A win, a loss, and it’s down to half a game. The final score was 4-2, we out-hit the Mariners 9-5, and we didn’t waste any time. JD Drew hit one deep with two outs in the first. He later collected another RBI, as did Lowell and Lowrie, who continues to make it very difficult to answer the question of why we ever bothered to put up with Lugo in the first place. Notice how Lowrie can field effectively with a significant lack of errors. He reminds me of Ellsbury last year, a rookie who comes up, adds a little something extra to the clubhouse, and rules the tools.
For his part, Dice-K did everything right as well. After Lester’s long one yesterday, it’s back-to-back seven-plus-inning starts. Dice-K allowed two runs on five hits, walked only three batters, and struck out six. Ladies and gentleman, Daisuke Matsuzaka is now sporting an ERA of 2.63. That ERA is so low you’d think it belongs to a star reliever or closer or something. At times like these, I can’t get over how totally stacked the rotation is.
But wait, there’s more. Okajima came in to finish up the eighth inning and was perfect. No runs, hits, walks, or K’s. ERA of 2.77. Jonathan Papelbon pitched a perfect ninth for his thirtieth save. ERA of 2.28. Okie in the eighth, Pap in the ninth, one-two-three, done, finished, over. Just like old times. Okie’s actually been more or less stable recently. Whatever it is, I hope it sticks.
Buchholz at Felix Hernandez this afternoon. To tell you the truth, it worries me. Dude was unhittable in Triple-A. He got command of his fastball. He comes back up here, and what does he do? He has a meltdown. He has to find whatever it was that helped him pitch the no-hitter before he ends up in the minors for the rest of the season. Actually, how about this? Why not make Buchholz a reliever and keep Masterson as a starter? That makes way more sense. Buchholz is a young pitcher trying to permanently break into the big leagues on mostly off-speed pitches. A young guy who throws mostly off-speed pitches is going to have a hard time keeping his endurance up because that stuff can burn your arm out in a snap. So if you decrease his workload, he should be able to pitch more effectively when he pitches, and he should be able to pitch more in the long run.
In Tampa Bay, Greg Smith will start against James Shields, and it’s Glen Perkins at Mike Mussina. The Yankees are going into this afternoon’s contest with a five-game winning streak, and they’re 3.5 games out of first. They still don’t worry me as much as the Rays, but I’d like to see them buried under a monstrous pile of games back that they couldn’t possibly climb out of. And if they happened to miss the playoff cut completely that would be good, too.
In other news, Manny was napped in Seattle for jaywalking. Manny Ramirez: you think you know, but you have no idea. Zoe Zaferiou and Jenny Samuelson, two teens from Melrose, Massachusetts, even wrote a song about it.
