Thursday, June 15, 2006

Sox Pitching Getting Socked

I remember having conversations during the off season that went basically like:

"We may not be able to hit as well as '04, but we finally have pitching......".

The only question was who was going to be the fifth starter and who were we going to trade for some more offense? No one wanted Wells or Clement, the only guy anyone wanted was Arroyo. So off he went to the Reds. I don't think I'm the only one that questioned the trade for Willie Mo Pena when it was announced, and I know I'm not the only one to question it now. It's said you can never have too much pitching, and the Sox are seeing that ring true so far this season. Faulk has been up and down at best, Tavaraz (as my cuz the Zebster will tell you) has been a major disappointment, Riske still has yet to really prove he's legit in Boston, and Beckett, well we have seen the roller coaster, and it's scary. Wells can't seem to stay healthy, his uncanny knack for strange injuries continues, Seanez has times where it seems the ball has a negative pole to the strike zones negative pole. Wouldn't the guitar man look good in a Sox uniform right now? Willie Mo may turn out to be the next Manny with some grooming from Papa Jack, but the question is, and it's always the question, is the prospect worth more than the known?

There are a few, well ok two, bright spots. Schilling and Papelbon have performed to expectations, perhaps Papelbon beyond that. There have been some dim spots if you will Van Buren for instance had pitched well until being called back up for last night's game. I have to say that Pauley pitched well for a AA call up, especially in enemy territory, and his future looks bright.

The Sox need some stable, reliable arms, and I don't see where they'll come from. We have prospects that will help the big club in a year or two, but right now the Sox need help. Isn't it funny though, when looking at other teams, we can sit back and say they had a good season, after all it was a building year, but when it comes to the Nation's Team, we can't be so patient. Maybe one ring can't negate the 86 years of "Next year...".

So goes the Nation......

3 comments:

Zebster said...

Excellent first foray into the blogosphere, cuz. Yeah, I questioned the Arroyo/Pena deal at the time and still do (though Willie Mo came in handy while Coco was hurt).

I don't know who they'd trade for arms. So I'd just as soon they pitched the kids. Gimme a Sammy, barkeep!

We need to get to some minor league games again this year.

LittleCuz said...

We need to start looking for games now. I think I have sometime in July like one weekend of something.

Hey they just traded Riske for Lopez from the White Sox.....I guess that answers my question doesn't it.....

Zebster said...

Do you wanna check it out, since you know what availability you have? Lowell will be playing by then. Maybe we can match Lowell up with one of the CT teams.