Lackey posting bounties
Contributing Writer
John Lackey has been providing stellar pitching the entire season, but he was repeatedly let down in run support.
His record of 10 - 12 does not do his performance justice, not by a long shot.
While Clay Buchholz gets all the attention for his wins, Lackey could easily have had 8 more wins if the Red Sox had scored just 2 more runs in his games. That would be an 18 - 4 record, something that blows your socks off.
John Farrell seems to get the frustration and is throwing Lackey a bone. He has put together his season ending pitching assignments so that Lackey will get two more starts and a chance to bring his record back to .500.
Fair?
No, but the least they can do in this world where you are evaluated on your numbers, not on what might have been. Granted most will dig deep enough to evaluate the quality of John Lackey in the 2013 season, but you don't want to go into the history books with a losing season.
Things to note
- This season over 28 starts he has gone 7+ innings 50% of the time.
- He has 19 quality starts (6+ innings pitched, 3 or less ER).
- In 12 losses, Red Sox gave him 3 or fewer runs in support (20 runs total).
- In 7 losses, Red Sox scored 1 or fewer runs to support Lackey.
- Last start against Baltimore Orioles, complete game, not giving it up to bullpen for 3 - 1 win.
Be watching for an aggressive John Lackey in Colorado on Tuesday and in the final game on Sunday against Baltimore. He will be holding teammates pets hostage until he gets some serious run support. He will be raging through the locker room to pep up the hitters. Heck, he might even be out there making sure they take extra batting practice which he will throw himself.
What else can he do?
Maybe a bounty on runs scored?
Post a comment or via twitter @ericschabell with your thoughts.
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