Red Sox Win Slugfest In Toronto..Daisuke Matsuzaka Looks Great

Josh Beckett, to put it bluntly, stunk last night in Toronto, Canada but the Boston Red Sox plated enough runners to escape with a 13-12 win. Just barely. Beckett was staked to a five run lead but quickly surrendered it. It seemed to me that his fastballs were grabbing far too much of the plate and at 94 MPH, they must have looked the size of softballs to the opposing batters. His ERA is a comical 7.22. Not acceptable, not at all. The entire starting five have a combined ERA over 5.00. Here's Josh...

“The numbers tell everything,” Beckett said simply. “They’re not good.”

And here's his catcher, Jason Varitek, the captain of the team who is off to a great start at the plate. Now if only he or Victor Martinez could throw out more runners trying to steal second. But that's another story for another post...

“Everything’s going around here and everyone wants to look at some sort of way to make more controversy or whatever,” catcher Jason Varitek said. “Josh is going to be good. He’s strong, and that’s the good thing. He’ll get through all of his pitches and get through all of that and he’ll be fine. It was a full moon or something. Nobody could get anybody out tonight.”

I think he's right. Beckett and Lester are notoriously bad April pitchers. There's a lot of baseball to go but I hope the pitching can sharpen by the end of this month, which happens to occur over the weekend. Maybe that's asking too much. I hope not. One bright spot yesterday was how Daisuke Matsuzaka looked in a simulated four inning game. He looked sharp and pain free. He will be a welcome addition to the Wakefield-less rotation. Here's the Boston pitching coach, John Farrell...

“The one thing that is becoming more evident is the action to his secondary pitches. His cutter and his slider have become a little more tight, powerful, and that’s an indication of increased arm strength. I thought he hit the target, as he’s been doing in his recent starts.’’

And here is Daisuke, eager to help his team instead of being a hindrance. You know what? I think he'll do EXACTLY that. He said this...

“I think the reality that I’m back with the team won’t hit me until I’m actually on that mound,’’ Matsuzaka said through interpreter Masa Hoshino. “I think that I’ll be really nervous when I first do get back out there. But looking back at this past month, when I’ve been such a burden on this team, I think as I get through more and more starts, I hope I can begin to repay them a little bit, and hopefully do that throughout the rest of the season.’’

Matsuzaka will be the Saturday starter against the woeful Orioles, so help is coming for the struggling rotation and the Red Sox bats are alive. At least they were last night. Tonight at 7:07pm EDT, Buchholz will face off against Marcum. The Boston bullpen has been used too much so I hope Clay can eliminate his early inning jitters and pitch a good seven or (dare I say?) eight innings. Seven would be more than fine. Let's hope the lumber doesn't go back into hibernation or terminal slumber.

Thanks for popping in on this late April Tuesday. When I awakened, for some reason I was sure it was Sunday morning. Oh well, Peter, only two days off. That's why I have to scoot. Click on this post's title for more on that team we love to love and as always, BE WELL. See ya. SOON.