Really, David Price in Boston is a good thing
Bill
Foley
Contributing Writer
Maybe he remembers Game 7 of the 2008
American League Championship Series.
That’s when 22-year-old David Price got the last four outs of Tampa Bay’s 3-1 win over the Red Sox, ending
Boston’s hope of back-to-back World Series titles.
Maybe it is that Price gave up
five earned runs in 3.1 innings in his only postseason start for the Red Sox.
Maybe it’s that Price is a career 2-8 pitcher with a 5.52 ERA in the
postseason.
Maybe it was his 1-3 record and
7.94 ERA against the Yankees last season.
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| (AP Photo/Michael Ainsworth) |
Whatever the reason, my dad just
could not seem to enjoy seeing Price put up zero after zero in his best start
of the season Tuesday night.
While Andrew Benintendi was
stealing the show in a big way, one of the best signs from Boston’s sixth
straight win was that the big lefty seems to be pitching like David Price again.
If his performance against the
Rangers doesn’t have you feeling good about the surging Red Sox, there is
something wrong. But even as Price was striking out
nine Rangers, my dad was lamenting about how horrible the pitcher was for the
Red Sox in 2016.
“He was the physical sh--s,” my
dad said, sending me to Baseball Reference to try to shoot down that silly assertion.
While his season was a bit of a
disappointment when you factor in our huge expectations based on Price’s track
record and his $30 million salary, the numbers just don’t lie. Price pitching
in Boston was a good thing last season.
It could also be a very, very
good thing this season.
Price made 35 starts in 2016,
posting a 17-9 record with a 3.99 ERA. He pitched 230 innings, which is an
average of nearly seven innings per start. His strikeout-to-walk ratio was
228-50.
Sure, those numbers might not be
Cy Young worthy, but Price was right next to Rick Porcello when it comes to
major reasons why the Red Sox won the American League East.
While $30 million should get you
more than an inning eater, Price won some big games while consistently
resetting the bullpen start after start in 2016.
Watching him deal against some
pretty powerful bats on the Fourth of July has to give Red Sox fans hope that
he will at least do the same in the second half of 2017.
“Yeah,” may dad said, acknowledging Price's stats were, in fact, pretty sold, “I don’t like him.”
Not many Red Sox fans liked Price
when he pitched for Joe Maddon’s Rays. Nobody liked him when he picked a fight
with David Ortiz. We definitely couldn’t stand him when he was getting lit up
by the Yankees.
Price hasn’t helped himself with
his recent spat with the media. Following his extended absence because of an
elbow injury, Price sparred with the media and now will only talk to reporters on days that
he pitches.
Whether Price thinks he is being
a team leader and sticking up for teammates who are often treated unfairly by
the media or Price is just a jerk, it is never a good idea to pick a fight with
people who, as they say, buy ink by the barrel.
Right or wrong, that is a fight
you can never win — especially when one of those fights was with a Hall of
Famer on the team plane.
It’s OK if our pitchers are
jerks, as long as they win. After all, Red Sox Nation did put up with Curt Schilling for five years.
It doesn’t matter if the writers dislike
Price, and it doesn’t matter if the pitcher can’t stand Dennis Eckersley. Red
Sox fans, though, should absolutely love the Price we saw pitch into the
seventh inning of the Independence Day victory in Texas.
We shouldn’t even let the fact
that he left the game after 106 pitches with a blister or fingernail issue put
a damper on the night.
Price could go a long way toward
gaining the favor of Red Sox fans if he can somehow shutdown Aaron Judge and
the Yankees in the first series after the All-Star break.
But until he beats the Yankees a
few times and musters up at least on playoff win, those other numbers just won’t
matter. My dad’s opinion will continue to be widely shared by Red Sox
fans.
They just won’t like him.
Follow
Bill Foley on Twitter — @Foles74
