Comments on: Who needs Clemens? We’ve got Wake…

By: Music May 7, 2007 3:04 pm

Music May 7, 2007 3:04 pm — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 13:53:53 +0000

[...] Recent Blog Posts Dallas Observer Music Awards VOTE NOW Don’t wait…Hardrock/metal music plx anyone knows some positive (so, not such devilish) band(s), which make fast/hard/modern rock/metal music? I’m out of music. Tips? Btw, I love Underoath, it’s the kind of music I’m looking for.Who needs Clemens? We?ve got Wake? The Clemens news will ? as it should ? dominate the local headlines for a while. For the most part, I feel a sense of relief. As I?ve said before, I think there?s been a quasi-irresponsible lack of coverage concerning the various ?roid …Comment on In search of the Volk by john culpepper Sharp was a composer interested in music education at a time when music education was based on German music and German folk songs. (And education in reading and writing was based on a classical?Latin and Greek?curriculum. …NEW RELEASE: Rihanna f/ Jay-Z "Umbrella" Albums are a tricky lot for aspiring pop stars. Ever since Madonna and Michael Jackson revolutionized the industry, teeny boppers have been forced to consider each new release as a campaign in personal evolution. … [...]

By: The Feeding the Monster Blog — In which the author discusses Boston, the Red Sox, the media, and very occasionally popular music. » Suck it, Jayson Stark (All praise the wobbley knuckler)

Fri, 11 May 2007 13:58:40 +0000

[...] The lack of respect for Wake has been a bit of a bete noire for me as of late, and when I get something stuck in my craw, I’m likely to keep on gnawing on it until I can force it down. I’m thrilled that Beckett seems to have given up the bullheaded ways of his (recent) past. I’m also excited that Schilling appears to be closer to the ‘04 model than the ‘05 model; the Sox need both of these guys to play deep into October. But it would be nice if, instead of another SportsCenter or Baseball Tonight segment on one of these two, or instead of another full-length feature about Dice-K, someone, somewhere (besides here, I mean) decided to highlight a 40-year old pitcher who’s demonstrated the beauty of a skill that looks to be in its twilight years. After all, if you were a kid, wouldn’t you want to get noticed (and paid) for bringing the high heat (even if it resulted in a mediocre record) instead of getting looked over (and underpaid) for quietly making the best hitters in the world look like fools? [...]

By: HFXBOB

HFXBOB — Wed, 09 May 2007 15:54:42 +0000

After Wakefield’s last start Brendan Donnelly attributed Wake’s lack of run support to bad luck. When you look at the matchups in the current Jays series, maybe Donnelly’s right. Beckett draws a batting practice pitcher, Zambrano, Dice-K draws Ohka, and Wake draws…you guessed it, 2003 Cy Young winner Roy Halladay, one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Personally I would have thought there’s a psychological factor with the run support. Surely the hitters are aware of the fact they tend to score more runs when certain pitchers are on the mound. And ballplayers are known to be very superstitious. So who knows how all this gets into their heads.

Wakefield’s been with Boston since 1995. Anybody know if this is a short-term trend or a long-term one?

By: tmorgan

tmorgan — Wed, 09 May 2007 06:52:10 +0000

Ironically the other guy I associate with poor run support is: Roger Clemens in Houston in 2005. Run support debatably cheated him out of another Cy Young there, as he lead the league in ERA, was 2nd in WHIP and had a similar k rate to Carpenter.

As far as run support being the fault of Mirabelli look no further than Wake’s 12-10 record when Mirabelli was the STUD WHO HITS BOMBS in 2004. I guess you just have to chalk it up to the fact that with the entire history of the game there have to be examples of this kind of bad luck somewhere. Either that or he was cursed. Both seem like pretty good reasons to me.

By: V06

V06 — Wed, 09 May 2007 02:52:02 +0000

Hey jtrelstad: “poultry hitting”? When Mirabelli pops a ball up into the grandstands, is it a “fowl” ball??? *snicker, snicker, snicker…

By: tinisoli

tinisoli — Tue, 08 May 2007 21:43:22 +0000

Hey jtrelstad: What’s “poultry hitting”? Is Mirabelli violent toward chickens? Hardy-har-har…

Here’s how Wake has done and who he’s faced so far this season:
4/6, Rangers: L 2-0 vs. Robinson Tejada
4/13, Angels: W 10-1 vs. Lackey
4/18, Jays: W 4-1 vs. Ohka
4/23, Jays: L 7-3 vs. Ohka
4/28, Yankees: L 3-1 vs. Igawa
5/4, Twins: W 2-0 vs. Silva

- The only true #1 he’s faced was Lackey, and actually that’s the game in which the Sox gave Wake the most run support.
- He won one and lost one against Ohka, who is now pitching in the #3 slot for the Jays b/c Chacin is out.
- Igawa pitched pretty well in his win against the Sox, even though Papi and others said he was hittable.
- Silva did very well in a losing effort, and he has the best ERA of Minnesota’s starters despite being a #4.

A lot of these games could’ve gone either way. But they didn’t. I think with this offense, much of which hasn’t yet heated up, we can look forward to some games in which Wake has 8-1 leads before he hits the showers.

By: rog

rog — Tue, 08 May 2007 17:00:38 +0000

I’m very happy to see a longitudinal analysis of Wakefield, which is rare in the era of knee-jerk blogging. The first couple of starts after Wakefield signed his contract (last year), Boston Dirt Dogs started whining about it because he incurred a few earned runs (and losses). Talk about ’small sample size.’ I’ve recently had Wakefield on my mind because I think he’s valuable to this team in so many different ways. He can start on short notice, he can do long work in relief, he can shut down a team that plays in a domed environment, he can close (sorta) and pitch long innings in a double-header. That’s on top of his low ERA and BAA. But none of that matters to the imbeciles who start bellyaching when he throws a wild pitch with a runner on base.

Oh, btw, I’ve been thinking that Wake would be pretty much unhittable is he developed even one more pitch, like a sinker. Just something to truly f*ck with a batter’s mind.