Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
August 10, 2006
Adjusting to Papelbon

Jon Papelbon allowed two runs in a game last night and blew his fifth save of the year and his second in a row. Through July, he had not allowed more than one run in a month! Has the league figured him out?

Sweeney said the Royals have had good scouting reports on Papelbon, and know his tendencies a little bit better.

``Those guys are going to make adjustments and I need to make some on them," Papelbon said.

I also wonder how much of this is Lopez catching. Varitek might be better at mixing things up. Lopez certainly had problems catching Beckett last night:

Lopez's defense was a different story. It was evident he wasn't comfortable catching Beckett as he learns a new staff.

In the third inning, Beckett struck out Angel Berroa, but the ball got past Lopez for a wild pitch. Berroa could have ended up at first, but the Royals shortstop didn't run the ball out.

In the fourth, when the Royals scored three runs, right fielder Shane Costa reached on a wild pitch on strike three. That was after three consecutive hits by the middle of the order, the big blow a two-run double by Teahen.

Then with Ryan Shealy up, Lopez committed a passed ball.

He was crossed up on a ball that broke inside. Lopez didn't follow the break on the pitch and it bounced off the end of his mitt, scoring Teahen. The inning was reflective of the inexperience Lopez has with the staff.


Posted by David Pinto at 09:09 AM | Pitchers | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Paplebon had given up only 3 earned runs all season before giving up 3 in the blown saves against Tampa Bay and Kansas City in his last 2 appearances.

Thought there would more difference in fieding statistics of Lopez and Varitek but Lopez has thrown out 4 out of 24 basestealers and Varitek 12 out of 52 and each of them had 1 passed ball all season before Lopez had his 2nd last night.

What matters the most is handling the pitching staff and that is where Varitek has a big advantage.

There is a reason Greg Maddux didn't want Lopez catching him when he started in Atlanta.

It is strange the Red Sox started losing streak after Lopez joined the team.

Posted by: Andrew Godfrey at August 10, 2006 09:37 AM

Like all great pitchers, Maddux was an ego maniac a la Clemens. These guys all have their own personal catchers that wouldnt' have playing time otherwise and subordinate their methods to the pitcher so he can throw his own game. Javy Lopez has an unfair rep thanks to Maddux. The Big Unit doesn't want to throw to Posada. Does that mean that Posada can't call a good game? No. It's just that Randy wants more input in pitch selection than Posada's used to giving. Javy Lopez is a solid game-caller and a veteran to be trusted.

Posted by: Cape Codder at August 10, 2006 11:01 AM

I don't like Lopez at all, but he was probably a reasonable choice under the time constraints Theo had. The real screw-up was the "quick fix" and monumental impatience shown early in the season when Theo traded Josh Bard, whom the Sox claimed to believe (they were right, as it turns out) was the best back-up for Varitek and heir apparent, for Doug Mirabelli, a great guy, an OK defensive catcher who is marvelous with Tim Wakefield, but who is older than Varitek, heavy, slow, probably injury-prone, and not much of a hitter. By now, Bard would have been better at handling Wakefield (who ain't pitching anyway), would, because of his hitting, gotten some extra starts, would know most of the pitchers, etc. Theo and Terry had a good plan in the offseason and panicked after Bard got all those passed balls. Ironically, with Mirabelli catching him, Wakefield didn't do all that much better.

As bad as Lopez is, the fact remains that the Red Sox were not playing great ball before losing Tek.
Starting pitching has been erratic all year, as has the bullpen. Because Tek is the greatest catcher in the history of the universe and calls games impeccably, I guess we have to say that the pitchers are pretty lousy. Or maybe Josh Beckett kept getting shelled with Tek behind the plate because they both love fast balls--which, it turns out, the opposing batters also love.

Posted by: creighton abrams at August 10, 2006 11:23 AM

Kind of odd that it takes the D-Rays and Royals to finally figure Papelbon out.

Posted by: Adam Villani at August 10, 2006 12:24 PM

i also though including shoppach in the marte deal was a little odd. all that catching depth gone so fast.

Posted by: Tim at August 10, 2006 01:49 PM

Is Papelbon hitting the rookie wall in August, or is this just another case of a closer having an amazing season (or half season) and then returning to earth? There is only one Mariano!

Posted by: Vic at August 10, 2006 01:57 PM

Mariano Rivera blew a save the other night. Papelbon isn't Rivera--who is?--but I'm inclined to say it's just law of averages. A couple of bad pitches and you're talking two blown saves and a loss. That's the life of a relief pitcher who comes into 1-run games.

Posted by: steve at August 10, 2006 04:32 PM
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