Three Losses, Manny Issues

Every season has a sweep in it. It's preferable, if possible, to avoid that sweep when getting out of the box.

Unfortunately, that's not going to be the case for the 2008 Red Sox, the defending World Series champs who, somehow, dropped three straight to the Blue Jays in Canada despite A) the return of Josh Beckett in the finale, B) a fully rested bullpen at the outset of the series and C) Tim Wakefield pitching in a park where he's been stunningly effective.


So, how is a Red Sox fan supposed to come up with anything to take from the three losses? Well, that's easy.

1) This start was Beckett's first outing against hitters that weren't minor leaguers. He literally only pitched one minor league game against big league bats, and that didn't go so well, either. All things considered, when you consider the fact that his final pitch chart looked like this, that's not so bad. WMYM will take 97 mph fastballs every time, thank you very much.
2) The bats finally seemed to wake up in the late innings against the Blue Jays this afternoon. Sure, they couldn't finish the comeback, but that'll happen when Manny Delcarmen serves up a meatball to Frank Thomas for a grand slam. So be it. The fact that the Sox got one run back - and easily could have kept the comeback going if Jacoby Ellsbury's top of the ninth liner stays fair instead of 2 inches foul - could be a jumping off point for the team going forward. Oh, and Jason Varitek is officially hitting again. Hooray! There's plenty still to be desired - the fact that the team is only putting up quality at-bats with runners in scoring position 25 percent of the time is a good place to start - but the later innings of Game 3 against the Jays could be a good place to start.
3) If not for Mayor Sean Casey's horrendous error at first base in Game 2, that might be a different story, too. Clay Buchholz may not have been perfect, but the kid was pitching. In fact, he was pitching far better than one could have expected after his atrocious spring training. If he can build on what he did right instead of looking for cosmetics to cover up the massive scar tissue from what happened after Casey's error, the Sox may have something to work with here. Considering his postgame comments and the fact that he's still dating the reigning Penthouse Pet of the Year, something tells us he won't have too much trouble doing that.

Now, about that whole Manny Delcarmen thing. While Terry Francona is currently taking a bit of a beating on a number of Sox message boards, it's pretty understandable that he'd throw Manny Delcarmen back out against Frank Thomas this afternoon with the bases loaded, even after Thomas took him deep on Friday night. Consider the circumstances from Friday's homer: a 2-2 count, a changeup down in the zone and two men on base. In fact, Thomas never got a hold of a Delcarmen heater in that at-bat, so there's no reason Francona would have reason to fear him tearing the cover off a first pitch fastball on Sunday. Of course, that's exactly what he did, so suddenly Delcarmen has more than a one-time problem, now he's got a serious case of Big Hurt deja vu.

So, what is a Tito Francona to do? That seems fairly obvious: throw the kid out there again ... stat. If Delcarmen can prove effective against one of the Tigers' panoply of dangerous hitters, that he'll probably get back a lot of his lost swagger. If he doesn't, well, than maybe he's the one to take a little stint on the Pawtucket shuttle when the team has to make a move when Mike Timlin returns.

OK, so now that we have that optimism to lean back on, let's take a look at some deplaorable grades, shall we?

STARTING PITCHING: -
Yes, WMYM said that for a first outing, Beckett's effort wasn't a bad one. And it wasn't. Still, that was Josh Beckett. A two-run bomb to a hitter of Vernon Wells' ilk will happen once in a while (especially for Vernon Wells, as the case may be), but loading the bases in the fifth won't get it done, particularly when the team needs a win to avoid an official skid. Sorry Joshie, end of story. Better luck next time amigo.

MIDDLE RELIEF: -
Let's see, what are the recipes for a disastrous outing. Four-run bomb served up on a platter? Check, thanks to Manny Delcarmen. Pitcher fighting for a roster spot scuffling again? Check, courtesy David Aardsma's latest rough inning (that's recently - and stunningly - released Kyle Snyder on Line 2 Theo Epstein ...). To say that the middle relief was abysmmal is an understatement. Clearly, if we could drop a -- on the 'pen, we would, for the second day in a row.

SET-UP MAN: √
Hideki Okajima just needed work, so he was predictably brilliant. 'Nuff said.

CLOSER: √
Jonathan Papelbon just needed work, so he was predictably brilliant. 'Nuff said.

LINEUP: -
Again, there were strong signs of life in the latter stages, which may be the saving grace of this entire series. Well, that and the continued resurrection of both Jacoby Ellsbury and Jason Varitek. Still, one look at both the averages - David Ortiz is currently hitting .115, in case you cared to ponder - and the charting of quality at bats would give the hitters a straight C average in the Skydome. And that might be forgiving.

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