Matsuzaka threw well last night with 19 strikes in 25 pitches. He actually gave up a double on the very first pitch. He then induced a dribbler out in front of the plate and struck out the next two batters, stranding the runner on third. The next inning he retired the batters 1-2-3 with another strikeout. It’s impossible to judge his stuff against college hitters so this outing isn’t of much worth. I was impressed however with the multitude of movements he was able to put on the ball and his incredible accuracy. There were a few times that Varitek did not have to move his glove an inch to catch a pitch.
Wakefield today looked alright. He started off strong dropping in sharp knucklers one after another. Then he threw some breaking balls that didn’t have great movement on them and allowed a couple hits, one of which was a 2 run Ryan Howard double. To be fair though, Pedroia made an error on a ground ball the batter before and it probably could have ended the inning. Wakefield was more effective in the second when he varied some of the movement on his knucklers. Either that or he just got lucky. Overall he struck out 2 and walked none while allowing 3 hits and an earned run in his 2 innings. He threw 25 of his 32 pitches for strikes.
Papelbon was the most impressive pitcher I’ve seen this spring. He came out guns blazing and struck out the first three batters he faced; Greg Dobbs, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. In the second inning he got a pop up, ground out and then ended the inning by striking out Aaron Rowand just for good measure. Papelbon was getting the ball up to around 95, and got all his outs on his fastball. He pitched a perfect 2 innings. Only 18 of his 26 pitches for strikes though. I would have liked to have seen him attack the hitters a little more but he was softening the hitters up for the strikeout. At the same time he wasn’t running up his pitch count either. At that rate he could have pitched through the 7th inning comfortably.
Since then Pineiro has come on and has been largely ineffective. He allowed 2 walks in his first inning along with a 2 run home run. I’m not sure what Mirabelli was doing on the pitch asking for the ball up. As I said early, when Pineiro leaves the ball up in the zone it can be hit a long way. He’s been doing it quite a bit today and has just been removed from the 6th inning after allowing his 3rd earned run. He’s visibly upset and frustrated.
One last note as the game is winding down. Manny Delcarmen looked really raw today. He simply didn’t have it and didn’t appear to know what to do to get the hitters out. This could probably be expected from a pitcher like Delcarmen early in spring. He’s never established himself or had long periods of success in the majors as many other Red Sox pitchers have. Although Delcarmen has great stuff he’s always been somewhat raw since he was called up in 2005. He still doesn’t appear to have put it together so I’m sure Farrell will be working with him quite a bit leading up to the regular season. It will be interesting to see how he reacts in his next appearance. If he continues to pitch anything like this, he most definitely will lose his roster spot.
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