Can You Have a Tying Streak?

Leave it to the Red Sox to necessitate the invention of new baseball terminology: a tying streak.


That's right, the Sox are currently on a 3-game lossless streak. WMYM has to say "lossless" streak because two of the three results have been ties. That's right, Boston has put up not just one, but two ties in spring training, against the Mets Monday and then against Rays - remember, you can't call the Devil Rays anymore - today. A day after the first encouraging outing from Clay Buchholz all spring, Bartolo Colon, a man Buchholz may suddenly be competing with for a rotation spot, gave up a run in two innings. He yielded two hits in all, as well as a walk, but considering the face that he reported to camp less than two weeks ago, the outing had to be considered a significant step in the right direction for Colon, who suddenly appears to be in line for a big role in the Red Sox's season.

Overlooked in all the Colon hubbub - not to mention the somewhat stunning dispatching of a longtime Red Sox backup catcher who will remain nameless - was a resurgent appearance in the two-hole by Kyle Snyder, who tossed two innings without a run, giving up just one hit. Set-up man extrordinairre Hideki Okajima tossed a perfect inning, as did Javier Lopez, who is charging his way back from the brink of the trash heap to make a serious case for a spot on the opening day roster. In fact, Lopez can probably preorder his flowers to be delivered to Craig Hansen for cut day if he wants to save himself the trouble later in the week.

Meanwhile, Julian Tavarez seems to have pitched himself out of the fifth starter's competition, giving up another run on two hits in his two innings, which came later in the game against Rays scrubs. That's right, he gave up a run against Rays wannabes. Not such a sterling sign for a guy who wants the ball every fifth day.

At the dish, the surging Chris Carter, Manny Ramirez, Mike Lowell, J.D. Drew, Sean Casey and Alex Cora all got hits, but it was Brandon Moss, the former call-up spot starter in the outfield, who had a big day, going deep in the ninth to tie the game. For what it's worth, Moss - who has virtually zero-shot of making the opening day roster - is up to .290 while Carter is hitting, get this, .367. That's right, .367 with a .500 slugging. Seems like that Wily Mo Pena dump deal is working out ok at the moment, no?

So how is that fifth starter's competition looking at the moment? Given that Josh Beckett may start the season on a temporary DL stint, that would open two slots in the rotation to start with. It's hard to imagine that the team would run with Buchholz after only one good outing, rather than give him more time in AAA. That would mean starting Colon out of the gate and having Snyder pitch in until Beckett returns, then sliding back over to long man. Of course, all these decisions are completely fluid and absolutely projected by no one outside WMYM, so they're probably not worth listening to.

But they are a lot of fun, aren't they?

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