I participated in a Red Sox Roundtable yesterday that was so long, it had to be split into a two-parter. The meat of my contributions was in the second part, so be sure to check back when the second part comes up. Nonetheless, there are some interesting observations I make (and particularly the others included in said roundtable make) in the first part, so head over and check it out.
Tonight I’ll be headed to see the Pawtucket Red Sox and Tim Kester pitch. Kester is a 33-year old journeyman who has pitched effectively for the PawSox, but I can’t help but be dissapointed that it won’t be Abe Alvarez pitching, who pitched yesterday. Oh well, hopefully I can make it down to another PawSox game, and at least I can see Kelly Shoppach and the other Sox youngsters in person.
Basically, the last two entries on this page, both pro- and con-Matt Clement (not that I don’t like Clement, I do, I just think the praise of him at this point is unwarranted) have told us that it’s too early to really mark just who Clement is, so let’s keep watching and waiting. Perhaps by July we’ll have a better handle on just who we have. There’s also been a little Renteria spat in the comments, and I can say that I’ve officially moved into the anti-Renteria camp, effective yesterday, so you’ll be hearing from me on that matter ….
And on Lyle Overbay. In the roundtable last night, when listing off various first basemen that could play for us next year, we hit upon someone that immediately all of us took a liking to – Lyle Overbay so you’ll be hearing from me on him as well.
Tonight pits Matt Clement, the subject of discussion here at Fire Brand, against The Single One, the last remaining member of The Big Three. The game is at 10:05 PM again, so it looks like I’ll be able to watch the PawSox and the BosSox in one day. Not bad.
Clement is gunning to remain undefeated on the season, like Arroyo has so far. However, Clement is hoping to pitch well enough for a different outcome of the game that panned out last night. Zito is going to come back on the hill and look to forget his last start and build on his two previous starts. Zito went 7 and 7.1 IP on 5/1 and 5/6 and won the game on the first, while had a no decision resulting in a win on the sixth. On the first, he had 5 H 2 ER 0 BB 1 K, and lowered his era to 5.84 from 6.60. His next start lowered it again to 5.48 when he checked in at 6 H 3 ER 1 BB 5 K.
He slipped his next start, which was against us on the 11th. He went 6 innings with 9 H 4 ER 2 BB and 6 K to bring his ERA to 5.54. Zito’s career against Boston checks in at a 4.53 ERA and has a massive home/road split thus far this year – he has a 7.22 ERA away and 3.32 at home, so this looks like it could shape up to be a good pitching matchup. We haven’t had a game column in a while, so here it is – leave your comments before, during, and after the game about the game or anything else you want to vent about (hint: Renteria) and we’ll see how it goes.
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