Bill,
Are you luvin' this new look?
yikes! Byrdie just doesn't look right in that uni to me just yet.
Red Sox acquire Paul Byrd
- Thread starter BillD1984
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yikes! Byrdie just doesn't look right in that uni to me just yet.
Looks alright to me, but he could look as out-of-place as he wants for all I care, as long as he pitches well.
Coming off last night's meaningless drubbing (with the Yankees fading faster than Clemson football), Byrd's performance today was REAL good.
I think Byrd has supplanted Wakefield as the fourth starter in the playoff rotation (behind Beckett, Lester, and Dice-K). The Sox are only 1.5 games behind the Rays (they were 6 games back about ten days ago) and only 2 games behind the Angels for homefield advantage with three weeks to go. Also, the Twins are really struggling, and the Red Sox are up by 6.5 games (7 in the loss column) for the wildcard with only 20 games remaining.
There's a saying that in a big game, you never want a knuckleballer pitching against you and you never want a knucleballer pitching for you. The knuckleballer takes the manager and pitching coach out of the game, because nothing he does from pitch to pitch enables even a professional observer to predict what kind of success he will have with the next pitch.
Knuckleballers are the Rodney Dangerfield's of professional sports. As valuable as Wakefield has been, he could even be left off the post-season roster. If one of those four starters goes down, Bartolo Colon might take his place before Wakefield does.
I agree, and it takes the need to start Kevin Cash (Wakefield's personal catcher) over Jason Varitek away in very important games.
Good to see Byrdie do well in Beantown. He's a crafty old SOB.
Bill, what's up with Colon? Is he healthy? I'd got to imagine he still has gas left in the tank. A few years back, he was one of the most dominant pitchers in the league.
Wakefield may be better suited in the bullpen during the postseason. That knuckler still gives batters fits.
Bill, what's up with Colon? Is he healthy? I'd got to imagine he still has gas left in the tank. A few years back, he was one of the most dominant pitchers in the league.
Wakefield may be better suited in the bullpen during the postseason. That knuckler still gives batters fits.
A few days ago, I read he was going to pitch the second game of the day/night double-header against Toronto this coming Saturday.
I think I read at the same time that he had just had a 65-70 pitch outing at triple A
HD MM,
With Wakefield coming into the middle of a game it means Varitek (who hasn't caught Wakefield in three years) would be exposed to the knuckler. I'll never forget game 5 of the '04 ALCS vs. the Yankees. Wakefield pitched the 12th, 13th, and 14th innings of an elimination game and was pitching awesome. His knuckler was dancing like nobody's business, however, Varitek was catching and allowed three passed balls (twice allowing the potential lead run get to third base). THAT was probably the most tense I've ever been watching a sporting event.
That's true. (On the knuckler being a burden to catch, especially in close games). You'd hate to lose or tie a game on a past ball.
Maybe he can be used as a situational reliever only with no runners on base.
When I think of a knuckleballer, I think of that huge mitt Biff Pocoroba wore while he was trying to catch Phil Niekro.
Biff Pocoroba, the "can I buy a vowel" catcher, that's a blast from the past!
Wasn't it Bruce Benedict that shared catching duties with Biff back then?
Biff Pocoroba, the "can I buy a vowel" catcher, that's a blast from the past!
Wasn't it Bruce Benedict that shared catching duties with Biff back then?
I seem to remember Johnny Oates, too.
