Mike Lowell: Rejuvenated? PLUS Opening Day Pictures

Before we get into today’s article, here are the pictures and video from the home opener on Tuesday. It was a cloudy day, a bit chilly, but I got away with wearing a t-shirt and shorts. I settled for jeans and a sweatshirt last night, and you’ll be introduced to the pictures from last night on Tuesday, along with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ ‘Know Thy Enemy’ series – so check back then. See below the pictures to read an analysis of Mike Lowell…

Mike Lowell: Rejuvenated?
Through Wednesday night’s game, Mike Lowell has so far shown a liking to the Green Monster. In eight plate appearances, Lowell has five hits (four for doubles) and one walk. In five of the eight games played (again, not including Thursday night’s affair) so far this season, he’s had at least one hit. This is all turning into a .321/.406/.607 line and while certainly will not end up at this line come September (wouldn’t that be nice?) … he at least has a shot at attaining his career average of .272/.340/.462, especially with the Monster inviting him over for a cup of tea every time he steps into the batter’s box at Fenway.

However, this table above brings to light a few things.
ONE: His power has so far only been shown at Fenway Park.
TWO: The one time where it wasn’t was the first game, which just so happened to be at Ameriquest Field, aka the American League Coors Field, or at least second behind US Cellular Field.
THREE: He was, shall we gently say, not a factor at Camden Yards, which is much more of a neutral park than Ameriquest or Fenway.
It’s certainly far too early to have any definitive answers, especially when on April 9th, Lowell’s OPS was .693 and in one game, it rose to .993. Nonetheless, the opening throes of the season have brought to light one irrefutable fact so far: Lowell likes Fenway.
It’s away from Fenway we need to track. Even if he’s David Ortiz at Fenway and Alex Cora away, we can handle it because we’ve gotten quite used to the extreme home/road splits over the last several years. Plus, we can bench Lowell more often on the road, enabling JT Snow to see more time at first with Youkilis moving over to third.
Right now I just want to keep playing with what we have. I don’t want to see any drastic changes until each player has at least 100 at-bats under their belts. The first two months are spent seeing what you have. The next two is spent getting what you don’t have, and the final two is the push for the playoffs. This is a long season, and there are going to be more injuries and more pitfalls. We may be 6-2 right now, and I have every confidence in the word we’ll be playing October ball, but these Yankees aren’t going to go away, and we have losing streaks looming.
The Yankees are going to make the playoffs, I’m sure of it. They remind me too much of the 2003/2005 Red Sox (who made the playoffs, by the way): awe-inspiring offense with enough pitching to get by and lousy defense. The Red Sox are a different club – a tremendously balanced club that will neither get too high nor too low, but play at a solid clip, and just overall play good ball. Both are ways to win, and only time will see which way shall win in 2006.
The Red Sox have the better club in terms of athleticism, youth, speed, pitching, home-run offense, small-ball offense … but awe-inspiring offense makes up for a lot of deficiencies, so it should be a seesaw battle all year long. Having Mike Lowell around is going to make things a lot easier if he keeps producing at the clip he has. My guess is that he’s going to be a top producer at Fenway, but as the year progresses, he will tail off on the road. Most average hitters are only good for several years at Fenway. Lowell reminds me of Millar. He was good for three years, but each year – nay, each month – he became more and more dependent on the Wall – altering his swing to take advantage of it, but only robbing him of any effectiveness on the road.
It’s too early to say whether Mike Lowell is rejuvenated, just as its too early to say that Josh Beckett will throw over 200 innings. But … so far, so good.