Who Is The Red Sox Closer?

Bailey is on the DL, and Hanrahan had to leave the game last night, so there is a serious question about who will be the Red Sox closer until one of those guys return. Most people think it'll be Koji Uehara, which I'm fine with. He has been playing well, and I like the way he is always way overexcited. 

Yet, I have a feeling I agree with DP here that I would rather see Tazawa. It's not that I don't think Uehara can do it, because I think he can, it's more about changing roles on a team. I like Uehara in that 7th/8th inning spot, and Tazawa has done nothing wrong over the last two year to make me think he can't handle thing. 

Going forward is going to be really interesting for the Red Sox. I like Bailey a lot, but he never stays healthy. It's hard to be impressed by anything Hanrahan has done. Even if Tazawa or Uehara take over the closer role and do well the Red Sox are going to have some bullpen problems if Bailey and Hanrahan can't be healthy and effective. Going into the season I thought the Sox bullpen was actually the strongest part of their team, now it looks like it could be the one part they made need to improve through trade.

I say trade because there doesn't seem to be a ton of internal options if these guys end up not being able to stay on the field. Bard seems to be a lost cause. I guess if the season was coming to a close you could call up young starter and have them do it, but they have all been doing well and I don't want to fuck with their progress. I hate flip flopping starters to relief roles, way to many cautionary tales to go down that road again.

Red Sox Grades

This was a bad outing for Jon Lester. He allowed a ton of baserunners and was very fortunate not to get burned by it any worse than 3 runs. Luckily the bats and the bullpen picked up the slack and delivered Lester his 4th win of the season. The Red Sox are still undefeated when Lester starts going 5-0. The A's are a very strong offensive team as we learned Tuesday night, so hopefully this says more about their hitting prowess than it does about Lester's production dropping off. Lester's next start will be against a last place Toronto team that's middle of the pack in terms of run production. Last time Lester matched up against Toronto he threw 7 shut out innings, if he struggles there I might start to get a little worried.

This entire game was a struggle for Jon Lester. He gave up hits, he gave up walks and his pitch count soared. He got bailed out by two double plays and was lucky to get out of this game only giving up 3 runs on a 3 run home run by Chris Young in the 4th and in position to pick up the win. When he left Tazawa bailed him out of a 2 out bases loaded jam. When all was said and done he pitched 5.2 innings, gave up 6 hits, 6 walks, 3 earned runs and got 5 strikeouts. By no means an impressive start from the ace, but the game was still in their grasp so he gets some credit for that.
STARTING PITCHING GRADE: C

Junichi Tazawa came into a tough situation to finish out the 6th inning with 3 runners on base and 2 outs and came through by getting Coco Crisp to fly out. Tazawa seemed to be cruising in the 7th as well until Jed Lowrie hit a 2 out double and he was brought in by a follow up single. After this Miller was brought in to close out the 7th. Miller collected the strikeout to end the inning. Koji Uehara came out for the 8th with a 6-4 lead and immediately gave up a solo home run to Chris Young to cut the lead to 1 run. Young had a monster game against Red Sox pitching going 2 for 3 with a walk and two home runs. Uehara managed to settle down after this and got the next 3 batters in order with two strikeouts. Uehara has definitely cooled off from his early season form giving up a solo home run in each of his last two appearances. Bailey came on to close in the 9th and was really impressive striking out the side while holding on to a slim 1 run lead.
BULLPEN GRADE: C

The Red Sox offense was pretty quiet for most of the day, but managed to get some serious damage done in the 4th and 5th innings to provide the necessary runs to win this game. In the 4th Ortiz and Napoli hit back to back doubles to get on the board. Jonny Gomes walked and Stephen Drew hit a two out triple to score two more. It was Drew's only hit of the night, but it was a big one. The Red Sox kept the pressure on Brett Anderson in the 5th as Ellsbury lead off the inning with a single and then stole second. Victorino brought Ellsbury in with a double. Pedroia and Ortiz had back to back singles to bring in Victorino. At this point Bob Melvin had seen enough of Anderson and pulled him for Chris Resop. Resop didn't fare much better immediately hitting Napoli to load the bases. Daniel Nava got a single to bring in Dustin Pedroia from third and keep the bases loaded, still with no outs in the inning. Resop managed to get Will Middlebrooks out before being pulled for Jerry Blevins, the third A's pitcher of the inning with bases loaded and one out. Blevins got the final two outs to end the threat and keep the game in striking distance for the A's at 6 to 3. The top and middle of the order did a lot of the heavy lifting this game with Pedroia, Ortiz, Napoli and Victorino all coming in with doubles, contributing runs and RBIs. Ortiz has been a real shot in the arm for this lineup, but he's still looking for that power stroke as we wait for his first home run of the year. Daniel Nava had another good game going 2 for 2 with an RBI. Middlebrooks continues to slump going 0 for 4 in the game and 0 for 2 with runners in scoring position. David Ross also went 0 for 4 in this game and 0 for 2 with runners in scoring position. The catcher spot has been a real problem this year for the Red Sox. Salty is inconsistent at the plate and terrible defensively. Ross is a better defensive catcher, but I don't think we can realistically expect to see much production out of him at the plate.
Hitting Grade: B+

6 Sox, 3 Indians

I know it's against the Indians and that pill popping douche Francona, but this Red Sox team is fucking unstoppable. It doesn't matter which pitcher we face, which team, the World Series march is impressive.

Yesterday the Red Sox faced a red hot and former Sox pitcher Justin Masterson. We made his day miserable, he barely made it through 5 innings allowed 11 hits and 4ERs. The Sox were all over him from start to finish. Alfredo Aceves coasted through five innings, Mike Napoli and Daniel Nava drove in two runs apiece.

The Red Sox have the best bullpen in baseball. Aceves did a great job through 5 innings, but our relievers were more impressive. 4 innings letting up zero hits and 6 Ks. Taz, Koji and Bailey are just awesome.

World Series or Bust.

P.S. John Farrell has already accomplished more as the Red Sox manager than Francona did during his whole time here.

3 Red Sox, 2 Rays

Before the Terror, we kicked off Patriots day with an 11 o clock start time of the Red Sox vs the Rays.

And let me tell you, yesterday made me think there is no doubt that these Red Sox are going to win the World Series. Jon Lester seems to be back, Clay Buchholz is unhittable, and Ryan Dempster just went out there and pitched like he was still with the Cubs and made the Rays looks like the Astros. He went 7 innings let up 1 run and K'd 10. The one shitty thing about this game is that Bailey blew the save (but got the win) and cost Dempster the W.

I really love everything about this team. I like the players, I like the coach, the pitching staff, our bullpen, it seems a lot like a certain cowboy up team we had during a certain world series year.

Maybe one critique on Farrell is that I wish he sent Jackie Bradley down to get more acclimated for the game. Pitchers know that if you go inside on him he won't hit it and he hasn't. Just start Nava until that magic runs out, then figure something else out.

But yea, World Series.

I'm Glad To See Andrew Bailey Isn't Throwing A Hissy Fit Over Not Being The Closer

We didn't really get to see much of Andrew Bailey last season. He was brought in to fill the big shoes left by beloved closer, and noted Toradol user, Jonathan Papelbon. Bailey went down with a thumb injury in spring training and didn't make an appearance until mid-August when the Red Sox were already trailing significantly for a playoff spot. When Bailey finally did get the opportunity to contribute he was unimpressive. His final stat line for the season:
19 G
W-L 1-1
ERA 7.04
WHIP 1.891

During the offseason, the Red Sox acquired Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan and immediately gave him the closer role that Andrew Bailey probably expected to assume prior to that trade. Across all sports when a player gets a demotion it's typically the beginning of a bitch fest, especially when the player getting the demotion has any high profile achievements on his record (Bailey was a 2-time all-star with the As and won the Rookie of the Year in 2009). I was pleasantly surprised to see Bailey handling the situation with some humility and class, which has been lacking on this Red Sox team lately.

“Ben had given me a little heads up on that and I said, ‘Hey, whatever makes us better.’ I only get to play this game a certain amount of time and I want to win,” Bailey said Wednesday. “All the accolades are great in the role of a closer, but ultimately everyone here wants to win and that’s the goal.”

“I love it here,” he said. “The team we have is a winner, a contender. We do have a deep bullpen. Starters only have to go four or five innings, really. It’ll be fun down there, for sure. Obviously, everyone’s goal as a reliever is to close, and I’ve said this before, I don’t think my closing days are done and I certainly hope they’re not done in Boston. I love the city. I love being here and it’s close to home (Connecticut) for me.”

“I wasn’t able to do what I wanted to do last year, or had that opportunity because of the injury,” he said. “I’m excited about this year to come in healthy and show what I can do.”

This was almost a perfect media answer. I think Bill Belichick would be proud. He prioritizes the team's goals above his own ambitions, admits past disappointments and presents a positive outlook going forward by saying that he expects to close again in the future. I haven't been really happy with what Andrew Bailey has done in a Red Sox uniform thus far, but I do feel good about his attitude.