Jeremy Guthrie held the Rays to 3 runs in 6 IP on 8 hits, 4 walks and 5 K but did not figure in the decision on Tuesday. In the midst of the great season for Jeremy his starts have degraded into the fantasy equivalent of Russian Roulette. In his last 6 goes he has 3 QS and 3 outings where he has allowed 5 runs or more including two in which he's allowed more runs than IP. In two of those QS (the last two) he gave up 17 hits and 5 walks 12.2 IP (1.74) which should have translated into 9 more runs (15) than he gave up (6). So those QS haven't been great either.
Yes that was me that wrote that Jacoby Ellsbury wasn't going to be a home run hitter as a major league player. He hit his second HR in three nights on Tuesday matching his HR total for the 436 ABs he had between AA and AAA this season. He also tripled in the game and he is 8- for -12 since rejoining the Red Sox on September 1. The Red Sox seem to want to find time for Jacoby and the injuries to the Red Sox outfield have given him a chance. In his earlier call up this summer, he brought a very palpable energy to the team and the bench and he has done exactly that again. In between call ups the Red Sox have Jacoby playing more left and right field in Pawtucket to prepare him for this recall. He may see more ABs going forward that we anticipated. In keeper leagues Jacoby is a must-have and now it is looking like he will have some September '07 value as well.
Josh Beckett became the first AL pitcher with 17 wins as he went 8 innings against the Blue Jays on Tuesday allowing them 3 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks while giving up 7. He improves to 17-6 on the year with a 3.30 ERA. All of his indicators have seen big gains in his second year with the Red Sox. Josh upped his K rate (8.5) by 1.5, dropped his walk rate to a career low 1.8 and most importantly he cut his HR rate by more than half, from a career worst 1.5/9 last year to a 0.6 this season. This performance level seems solid. His .296 BHIP% and 72.0% strand percentage are level. And he has even managed up his already good GB rate to 1.31 this year, the second best rate of career and best since 2003.
The Red Sox got to Roy Halladay for 5 runs in 8 IP on Tuesday as the result of 9 hits and 2 walks against 7 Ks. He drops to 14-7 with the loss and his ERA swells to 3.94. The Red Sox have now beaten Roy 10 times by taking his sinker to the opposite field. Roy was 3-1, 3.38 in August so he's not necessarily fading but I'm not sure this is the time for Toronto to let him throw the 126 pitches he threw last night. He is at 2,882 pitches on the year, and that's still almost 800 pitches short of his career high total in 2003 and 165 pitches short of last year's total, but there are only so many throws in there. The Tigers are next . He has now averaged 125 pitches in his last two starts and by the 65th pitch last night his cutter wasn't cutting and his sinker wasn't sinking. He looked very flat. After his only other 120+-pitch start this year he allowed 4 runs in 6 IP to the Rangers. Last year he didn't throw more than 119 in an outing and followed that up with a strong start. I hate to bet against this warrior but 251 pitches in 5 days ... it has to start catching up to him at some point, doesn't it?
Jeremy Bonderman continues to struggle. He went just 5.1 IP last night allowing the White Sox 3 runs on 7 hits, 2 walks and 2 K. After a 1-4, 6.05 August, Jeremy falls to 11-8 on the year with a 4.73 ERA. All of Jeremy's overall indicators are pretty much in line with his norms believe it or not, but then again his 4.73 ERA is one click above his career 4.72 ERA and his 1.34 WHIP is two clicks below his career 1.36 WHIP. So I guess it all fits.
Chien-Ming Wang was solid against the M's on Tuesday allowing just 1 run over 7.1 IP on just 5 hits and 3 walks while striking out 1. You can guess from that line that Wang had his GB working and he did with a 14/3 GB/FB split. He improves to 17-6 with the win, tying Josh Beckett for the league lead in wins, and his ERA drops to 3.68 on the year. More importantly, however he came up with a stiff back. He looked awkward in his first two deliveries in the 8th inning and Jorge Posada called the trainer out. "It didn't look good," Posada said. "Something about it just didn't look right." The Yankees will have two off days before Wang's next scheduled start and all concerned seemed to be confident that he would make his next scheduled start next week.
