When Lowe Comes to Town

Tonight will be emotional at Fenway, with the tribute to Carl Beane, but a familiar figure may also get an emotional reaction: Derek Lowe.

Here's Jonah Keri on Lowe, last November:

That 5.05 ERA he posted last year could be misleading, too. Lowe stranded just 65.9 percent of his baserunners in 2011, a figure that can be exacerbated by shaky bullpen support and random statistical variation. Ditto for his .327 batting average allowed on balls in play, the second-highest mark of his career and a number that may well regress to better results in 2012. His walks were up, but Lowe also flashed his second-best strikeout rate in a decade, while doing his usual commendable job of keeping the ball in the park. Indians staff believe that even at age 38 adjustments can be made, with Lowe changing his pitch distribution and sequencing, and correcting a tweak in his delivery that helped yield some ugly results late last season. With his sinker remaining one of the game's heaviest, the Indians are optimistic they've found a pitcher who won't show his age.

Good call. So far this year, Lowe is 4-1, and his ERA is 2.39.

He'll certainly get a warm welcome; every member of the 2004 team still does (with the possible exception of Manny). Let's hope Josh gets a bigger round of applause at the end of the game.