Report Cards: Road Grading the Rotation

While we wait for J.D. Drew to duck more batteries in the outfield, WMYM thought it might be a good idea to bring out some actual, legitimate letter grades for the rotation over the last week. With that in mind, here's the first WMYM Rotation Report Card (the goal is to crank one of these puppies out each week to track the evolving strength of different pitchers. We'll see how it goes).

Josh Beckett: A
The ace looked like an ace in taking care of Cincinnati, albeit with plenty of run support. Despite some lengthy waits in the dugout, Beckett was dominant. Not 2007 postseason dominant, but overpowering nonetheless. That's a hell of a good sign going forward.

Jon Lester: A-
Jon boy got back on track against the Orioles, and looked a lot more efficient than in his last outing against the O's, which was down in Baltimore. He's still not a guaranteed quality start every time out, but he's getting awfully close, week to week.

Justin Masterson: B+
OK, he struggled in an early inning, and that ended up costing him in his first trip on the road. Still, seven innings and only three runs in a first road start? The sinkerball specialist is making a legitimate case to stick in the rotation when Daisuke Matsuzaka returns, and that's truly saying a lot of a guy who was supposed to be a spot start fill-in. And just think: He's only using three pitches!

Tim Wakefield: A-
The knuckler had it going in Cincinnati, right when a lot of pundits -- cough, cough, WMYM, cough -- were about to consider pushing him to the bullpen. While the season has officially reached the point when you have to start worrying about Wakefield's consistency start to start, he's been rock solid of late, which could be an indication he's in for an Indian Summer style turn, just as he put out last year. Here's hoping for Red Sox fans ...

Bartolo Colon: C-
Alright, he was due a stinker eventually, anyway. And he probably could have kept pitching, if the power-heart of the Phillies' lefty-heavy lineup wasn't coming back up for the fifth inning. Still, three home runs, four runs in four innings? Not Cy Young stuff. Nor quality stuff. That doesn't mean it won't return soon, but hey, it wasn't there this week. End of story.

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