Don't Blow This For Us Lackey...

I made a decision on the cost/benefit of staying up all hours to watch last night's game quite quickly. 

No chance. 

Lackey (who is quickly falling into the same distrust category as Dice-k)was on the mound against a team who tees off on him at all times. Something told me it would be a high scoring, long game that would start at 1am London time, ending with the sun/clouds ready to rise over the horizon. 

No chance I was staying up. And since I've yet to master any semblance of self control, I immediately woke up and ruined my chance of watchig the replay on MLBTV by checking the score. 

I also checked my 7 text messages, all saying terrible terrible things about Lackey. 

In typical Lackey fashion, he deflected some criticism by saying "it's only two games".  I'm sure that if Dice-K knew how to say "don't look at my pitching line, all that matters is that I felt good" in English, he would too. 

The pitching will surely improve (hopefully starting with Buchholz today), the question will continue to come back to Lackey and Beckett. Can they live up to anywhere near their expectations (or paychecks)? Or will they sink Boston's chances of putting together one its best teams in history?   Don't blow it gents.  Don't you dare blow it.  

Lackey's Second Half - Searching for a Silver Lining

Watching the start of the 2010 baseball playoffs has reminded me of two things:

1) I love playoff baseball, it truly is a completely different game. Without the Sox in the mix, it allows me to more thoroughly enjoy the game.

2) I hate that the Red Sox are not in the mix.

Anyways, most media outlets (ITM very much included) have pointed part of the finger of blame at John Lackey in 2010. So much so, that when I saw the headline of a recent NESN.com article saying "Lackey Will Build on a Solid 2nd Half", I immediately dropped F bombs until ITM Gal told me she wouldn't make dinner if I kept it up.

But to my surprise, they almost have a point. Almost. Sure, Lackey's overall numbers in 2011 were an extreme disappointment, but I think I was so pissed at him, that I was blind to his somewhat improved second half (I'm searching for silver linings here, roll with me):

Lackey finished the second half with a 3.97 ERA, almost a run less than his piss poor first half. After the mid Summer classic, he had 88 strikeouts compared to just 26 walks...which is certainly more "Lackey like". Prior to the midsummer classic he struck out 68 and walked 46. Lackey ended the season by going 2-0 with a 2.18 ERA over his last three starts.

Lackey called the 2010 season "a learning experience". I'd say that's soft, but perhaps fair.

I'm not softening my stance on the big ass Texan, far from it, he needs to feel the heat all off season to make sure he never feels it again......but I'm just trying to point out the only bit of optimism I have for a guy who's number have been declining each year of late.

ITM note: We may have grossly overpaid for what we thought was inning-eating "ace", but I still would love to crush beers with this guy. I mean, he looks like he could drink team under the table and then drive his pick up truck home, but I bet he's a great drunk. (see George W.)

Money Terribly Spent?

The book closed on Josh Beckett's 2010 season last night.

One of the only things keeping many of us watching over the past few weeks was to see if Beckett and Lackey could finally string together some quality starts and find their grove.

That question has been answered, and it's time to be concerned.

Consider Beckett's final 2010 numbers:

GS: 21

Innings pitched: 127.2

Hits: 151

Taters: 20

K's: 116

Record: 6-6

ERA: 5.78

WHIP: 1.54

At the beginning of the year you may have been able to convince me that those numbers were Dice-K's....or maybe Dontrelle Willis'....but certainly not a guy who the Sox just locked into for 82.5 million dollars.

Add to that Lackey's utter failure in Boston this year and you've got 165 + million tied up on two pitchers over 30 for the next four years. They were supposed to be our solid rocks, the stoppers who remain as constants while Lester and Buchholz matured into their prime years.

Now, as ITM once again starts our internal debate of going to Ft Myers for Spring Training in 2011, we have 165 million dollars worth of question marks.

PS: ITM has become a fan of the Cincy Reds for the post season. If you don't route for them, you don't have a soul.