Miller Gives Up Less Than Five Runs: Universe Implodes.

I guess I can be pretty mean to Andrew Miller. It's not completely intentional. I know he's just a kid. Talent. Potential. Blah. Not going through that again.

Despite my general feeling that he is of no use to us, he actually managed to pitch well against the Royals on Friday. Honestly, pitching well against the Royals shouldn't be considered a difficult task, but not everyone can live up to my impossibly high standards for pitchers. Actually, no one can. Beckett and Lester come close, but even they don't quite make it. Against one pretty bad team, Andrew Miller pitched 5.1 innings and only gave up three hits and a run. I won't go back through any of his other game data, but three hits and a run seems like a typical inning for him, not a typical game. Anyway, he won so cool.

Itty bitty baby catcher-turned-DH Ryan Lavarnway got his first hit as a major league ballplayer, but he still had a terrible night as he left eight runners on base. It's fine. He's young. If we didn't have injuries, he wouldn't even be up right now. I haven't seen enough of him yet to make any sort of brash statements about his possible abilities... and let's not fool ourselves, my statements would be brash.

Aside from Miller not sucking and the kid getting his first hit, Ernie semi-broke-out from his little funk, collecting three hits on the night and showing a teeny bit of power with two doubles. From what I hear, they almost went out of the park. Sadly, in baseball, almost doesn't count. What does count as going out of the park is Salty's 5th inning home run... because it actually went out of the park. Weird how that works.

Hmm, what else? Pretzels got hit in his back with a pitch and he's a big bruised marshmallow. Aceves continues to pitch like a rockstar when we need him to. Terry Francona still enjoys tea. I think that about covers it.

For the record, I am not writing about Saturday's game because I don't want to trigger any flashbacks. So we're skipping that and going right to Sunday. Everyone's cool with that, right? I sure hope so.

Pedroia Is The Show: Everyone Else Is A Background Character

You know I would never take away from the importance of Beckett, but if it weren't for MC Laser Show, we would have been lost. No... wait, we would have lost, not would have been lost. He drove in three of the four runs we gathered on the night, with Tek driving in the other one. Strangely, both of them made outs at second base after RBI singles, so that was dumb. I don't like having so many baserunners thrown out trying to stretch singles into doubles. Especially Tek. Tek, darling, you can't run. It's not worth trying!

Beckett actually did get on my nerves yesterday. His first inning was a tad sketchy. His second inning was beautiful and ended with an easy-to-manage pitch count. But the third? Meh. All he had to do was hold the lead they gave him, and that's the one thing he failed to do. Overall, he could have been far worse. Three runs in seven innings with four strikeouts and no walks against one of the worse teams in baseball is nothing to sing songs about, but it'll do. 110 pitches in seven innings also isn't the best we've gotten out of him. Again, I'll limit my nugacious complaints because we won the game. Had we lost, heads would be on chopping blocks.

So, news is that Youkilis is now on the DL with a severe case of suck (which they kindly referred to as 'back trouble,' but we all know) and David Ortiz is down with a case of 'needing a vacation' which they covered up by calling it bursitis and putting him in a boot, so the Sox decided that we needed an offensive boost. Granted, they're about three weeks late to that party, but they called up Ryan Lavarnway to pump up our boys. He may not have gotten a hit last night, but I think he put the fear of God into Tek. Our old man catcher was hustling, for sure. Guess he wants to keep his job. Not gonna lie, I want him to keep it, too. It's got to be hard seeing the ghost of Christmas future hanging out in the dugout.

The Sox ended up with nine hits for the night, matching their hit total from the past three games. Thanks for waking up a little, bats. You're going to need to be fully caffeinated with Andrew Miller on the mound tonight, and I demand that by the time Wakey takes the mound on Saturday that you've gotten your shit together. Really, I don't ask for too much, do I?

It's Wednesday: I'm Still Writing About The Weekend

Does it count as slacking if I'm trying really hard to make up for lost time? Because I feel like I should get a little bit of credit here. Better late than never, right?

Thankfully, I'm wrapping up the weekend (finally!) and then we can move on to the two games that already happened this week. Don't look at me with that shame and disappointment in your eyes, I feel bad enough as it is. Today, we discuss Andrew Miller.

Andrew seems like a fine young fellow, to be sure. Potential. Velocity. But mostly potential. Location, on the other hand, is a constant problem. With an ERA now sitting at 5.36 and a WHIP of 1.884, Andrew doesn't instill a whole lot of confidence in me. Though his BAbip is a slightly high .341 (MLB average = .299) and we can probably expect the hits to come down a bit in the future, 51 hits in 40 innings is still scary. To top it off, his BB/K ratio is exactly 1.00. For every strikeout, he walks a guy. I watch his location. Too many times, where Tek is set up and where Andrew throws the ball is too far off for comfort. So what's with this guy? Is it bad luck or is it just a case of potential that cannot be realized? Detroit and Florida quit on him, so obviously he's the type of player that Theo wants to tap into because Theo knows that even in a tight pennant race (like, um, the one we're in), the talent level on the team will be able to compensate for acquisition mistakes. In other words, we have the luxury of being able to give him a chance to achieve said potential. This is a luxury that most teams do not have.

Take Sunday. Miller pitched 5.2 innings and came out of the game trailing by a run. He had an ok game. The hits (10) were a little outrageous for five plus innings, but he only allowed one walk and managed eight strikeouts. He was one third of an inning away from his first dictionary-definition quality start since July 2nd, but a high pitch count prohibited him from continuing on after Juan Pierre's sixth inning single. Luckily, behind him in the bullpen were Aceves, Bard, and Papelbon, who finished out the game by allowing only one additional hit between them. They gave the Sox a chance to come back and win the game. Our bullpen has been incredible this season. As has our offense.

A seventh-inning rally got Miller off the hook and made sure Aceves got the win for another fine job out of the pen. An additional run in the ninth made the lead a little more comfortable. Oh, did I mention that Tek hit a home run? Because I'm pretty sure that was my favorite part of the game. Again. Tek, love, well-documented, blah blah blah. I repeat myself a lot. I'm aware of this issue.

I'm glad the boys walked away with a win, but I'm still uncomfortable with the thought of Miller on the mound. He makes me nervous, and I don't enjoy being nervous. Unfortunately, the man who pitched Monday? He just makes me angry. I think the tone of my next post is going to be angry, and I apologize for that in advance. Sorry, guys.

Lucky Man: Offense Shows Up For Miller

Andrew Miller, I hope you treated the entire starting lineup to a steak dinner last night. Wow. That was some bad pitching, Andrew. Truly bad. The location was way off of where Tek was setting up, and you weren't fooling anyone. The Kansas City Royals, though a fine young team, are 17 games under .500, and you couldn't make it out of the fourth inning without giving up nine hits and seven runs. And yet.... yet, you didn't lose. That is luck.

Or maybe it's not luck. Maybe it's talent. Not Miller's talent. No, everyone else's talent. Miller has the benefit of being on a very good offensive team. As a matter of fact, our boys were the top offensive team in the AL during the first half of the season. They made a game out of this shitshow, and they brought home a win for Aceves... you know, the guy who pitched 1/3rd of an inning less than Miller and managed to give up seven fewer runs? Yeah, that guy. He has been priceless to the Sox. There's no debate there.

Another guy who's been priceless basically for his entire career? Yep. The Muddy Chicken Laser Show Munchkin. Whatever you want to call him, he's irreplacable. Right now, our mighty midget is up to a 23 game hit streak and is impervious to superstition. Didn't he look like a twelve year old last night with no facial hair? I think it's precious. Regardless of what age MC Laser Show appears, he actually is a grown-up who can hit Major League pitching like nobody's business. Little guy was a home run short of the cycle last night, and his deep fly in his last at-bat looked like it had a chance. Oh well, another time.

Between the Chicken and Papi collecting eight hits, the love of my life had a solo home run in the seventh, keeping that batting average up to .235. Listen, .235 might be nothing worth writing home over, but for our elderly backup catcher, isn't that good enough? I think it is! And I'm always right... at least in my world.

Franklin Morales had another rough outing, giving up 2 runs in the ninth. I did specifically ask Franklin not to make a habit out of giving up runs. He may not have heard me, so I'll remind him: Franklin, I would appreciate if you did not make a habit out of giving up runs late in the game, ok? I know we had a comfortable lead, but 13-9 is honestly a little too close for comfort.... especially against the Royals.

I'm happy with the game. I am! I'm happy with MC Laser Show, and Papi, and Tek, and Aceves, and what the hell, let's give some credit to Albers because he's been solid. I'd like to see Andrew Miller locate better, and I think it's silly that we couldn't get a hit off of their outfielder, but it's fine. We'll be ready for him next time.

Tonight, Lackey tries to seal up at least a series tie against Bruce Chen. I have zero faith in Lackey, but you never know. He likes to pitch well when I'm not at the park, so he'll probably throw a no-hitter. And he'd do it to spite me.

I Sort Of Love The Orioles: Also, The Rays Right Now.

That's not me being obnoxious or sarcastic. I legitimately sort of love the Orioles. They're like my backup team. I know, the general rule is one favorite from the AL, one favorite from the NL but I just kind of have a soft spot for them. They've got a beautiful ball park in a beautiful city, and they tend to get at least a few players that I like (MILLAR!) once in a while. I like going to Camden Yards even when the Sox aren't playing there. The Orioles are just kind of delightful.

Also, right now, it doesn't hurt them that they feature my coveted shortstop and they let us win to get back to the top of the division before the ASB. Us being number one is also why I sort of love the Rays. That affection will fade quickly, because I don't enjoy the Rays in any capacity when they aren't doing something to positively effect my team.

I'm also a huge fan of my team hitting six home runs in a single night, with three that went back-to-back-to-back (nice work, Papi, Reddickulous, and Salty) because that generally means that I don't have to worry about who's coming out of the bullpen. Keep in mind, I still shut the game off when Jenks came in. I had to, for the sake of my own sanity, not watch him. It would have ruined the delightful glow of home run hitting that the game had going for it. Aside from the B-2-B-2-B HR's, Pedroia also took one completely out of the park over the monster, Pretzels hit his second in two days, and Ernie showed everyone that he was just fine with a solo shot of his own. All those homers and an RBI groundout from Drew, and your final score is 10-4 Sox, America.

The offense saved Andrew Miller from his first loss. He had a bit of a rough night, with his pitch count rising very high early on. He only made it through five, and he walked more (4) than he allowed hits (3), but he was still able to come away with the win. I enjoy the offense when they pick up the kid pitchers on bad nights. It's good for all involved... except the opposing team, I guess.

Beckett vs. Britton tonight. I'm sure you know who I have my hypothetical money on.

It's Miller Time: And Other Completely Overused Expressions

Let's be truthful here. Saturday's game should have been out of hand in our favor WAY before the eighth inning. There was a lot of squandering, and I never approve of squandering. It started right in the first inning, folks. We had Happ on the ropes from the get-go, lacing three singles in between a pair of walks. It was a delicious, fully-loaded single sandwich (with no pickles), but I guess Salty doesn't like sandwiches because he all but threw it away and then Ronald helped him by closing the lid to the trash bin. We may have gotten three runs out of the deal, but there should have been more. I personally LIKE sandwiches and disapprove of Salty's apparent distaste for them. I'm trying not to dwell. Moving on!

Miller was decent. I'm not going to harp on the few mistakes he made because he is still essentially an itty bitty baby pitcher in a big leager costume. Aside from the first, there really wasn't an inning that he got himself into trouble. The seven hits he gave up seemed to be spread out enough that they weren't concerning. The two runs he allowed didn't put us in a position that I felt that the game was in danger. It was a fairly relaxing game, as far as baseball games go. I appreciate that, Miller. Thank you.

Munchkin drove in another run in the fifth, Yamaico Navarro hit his first home run ever in the big leagues in the seventh (Yay, Yamaico!), and then came the eighth. Knowing how Salty dislikes sandwiches, the guys decided to set up just a plain old single spread and they loaded the bases with no outs. Apparently, he wasn't a fan of that either, but he didn't double-play it this time. He settled for a sac fly. In an effort to save the inning, Ronald hit a 3-run shot out to the train. In case you don't know where the train is, it is far from home plate. I don't know how far, but far. Youkilis added one more run in the ninth for good luck, but I didn't see it because I shut off the TV as soon as Jenks came into the game in the bottom of the 8th. I had no desire to see any of that, even though he supposedly did well.

With those ten runs, the Sox took game two from the Astros and made us forget just a little about how bad they've played during this road trip. Hold on tight, boys and girls, because we've only got one interleague game to go! Try not to cry too much.