Thursday, August 10, 2006

Hopefully, the Red Sox put it behind them

Let's make it clear about why last night's loss was a hard pill to swallow.

  1. Papelbon gave up two runs in the ninth inning to blow his second save in as many tries
  2. The KC Royals have the worst record in major league baseball
  3. It was the first walkoff victory for the Royals this season
  4. It's the first time I heard Papelbon give the "learning curve" speech
  5. The Red Sox have lost four in a row to Tampa Bay and KC
  6. The Red Sox fell another game behind the Yankees for the division

Let's make this clear, though. The only point above that matters is the last one. It doesn't matter who you lose to. It only matters that you have another loss. There's no such thing as momentum in baseball. Every day is different, every day you have two different pitchers. So, four losses in a row don't matter (even to teams with TB and KC record).

All that matters is the Red Sox are letting the lead the Yankees have in the division grow.

BTW, Curt Schilling put the starting pitchers on notice last night they need to do more:

    “There’s more
responsibility on the starting pitching staff right now than there has
been in the past,” he said. “And if we’re going to get into October,
we’re going to have to pitch our way there.”

    Speaking
before last night’s 5-4 loss, Schilling said, “You can call it
pressure, but I don’t know if it’s pressure, because, for me, it’s the
position I’m in in the rotation. I look at that as my responsibility
every time I’m out there. I’m supposed to throw more innings than the
other guys. I’m supposed to pitch deeper in the games. That’s how I
feel.

    “And
there needs to be a staff-wide urgency to do so. What you have to do,
though, is take that terminology and translate what it means for you.
Do you need to be doing more work between starts Do you need to be
doing more preparation between starts Do you need to be doing less off
the field between games All the little things that go into being as
good as you can possibly be on that fifth day. That is more important
now than it was three months ago when we were semi-healthy.”

No comments: