Well May 1st is upon us and we find our beloved Red Sox in first place with a 16-8 mark, 3.5 games up on the Blue Jays, 6.5 up on the Yankees. Seems like deja vu all over again, but with a much better record. Last May it was the same story, the 15-11 Sox were up by a full game in the standings over the 13-11 Yankees and Blue Jays. There current winning streak was at 1 with the last win coming against the Yankees, 7-3 (did anyone else just get a chill run up their spine?).
The biggest difference thus far? It is not the hitting. A comparison of the April stats shows a near statistical dead heat in hitting categories from 2006 and 2007 with 10 less extra base hits this year! The pitching comparison of the same period shows a far greater improvement. Team ERA down by almost 1.5, 46 fewer hits allowed, 43 fewer runs allowed, 13 fewer homers allowed. The pitching staff is a much better quality than last years model.
This is not a knock at those pitchers from last year either but you have to be honest in the evaluation. Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Tim Wakefield, Matt Clement, and David Wells/Lenny DiNardo?? Schilling, Beckett, and Wakfield are solid. Beckett has improved his ERA by 2 runs and that is a huge difference, Schilling is up almost half a run but is still consistently overpowering, and Wakefield's ERA is also lower by almost 1.5 runs. With a healthy Wakefield and the addition of Matsuzaka, the starting has already improved! Julian Tavarez has filled the gap better than his record shows. While he has given up some runs, run support at the critical times has been lacking, which is much the same story with Wakefield. With the progress that Jon Lester has showed in his minor league starts, he is not far from joining the club and bringing even more improvement to the staff. Tavarez with graciously go back to a more comfortable and effective roll for him out of the bullpen.
Speaking of bullpens, has anyone else taken notice of the strut that is finding it's way back into the Sox 'pen? Now they have worked almost 60 innings (compare that to the 90 plus innings worked by the Yankees 'pen), but even that number is down from last year at the time. In fact, Hits, Runs, and HR allowed by the bullpen are all down. The most telling indicator owever may be this; the bullpen W-L record right now is 2-0 and 9-9 in Saves. This time last year the bullpen's W-L record was 4-1 and they were 10-12 in Saves. While this means that comeback wins may be down, more telling is that the bullpen is doing the intended job extremely well! Papelbon is lights out, Okajima is an absolute surprise, and Timlin is Timlin, steady and reliable. If this staff stays healthy the Sox could go all the way.
Faces at the U.S. Open
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