The key to Boston winning the ALCS
Posted on October 10, 2008
Filed Under 2008 Season |
This whole series relies on Daisuke Matsuzaka limiting the amount of walks he gives up and the amount of pitches he needs to throw to get outs. Let me throw some numbers at you..
IP by the bullpen in 2007: 447 innings
IP by the bullpen in 2008: 479.2 innings
This year saw an increase by 32.2 innings. Can you say ‘dead arms?’ The biggest (but not the only) reason for this was the performance of Daisuke Matsuzaka. Sure, he had a 2.90 ERA this season but look at how many innings he threw.
IP by Daisuke Matsuzaka in 2007: 204.2 innings in 32 starts
IP by Daisuke Matsuzaka in 2008: 167.2 innings in 29 starts
His average innings per start in 2007 was half an inning more (6 1/3) than in 2008 (5 2/3). That equals out to an extra 14.5 innings pitched by the bullpen.
Combine that with injuries to Josh Beckett, and Tim Wakefield, then throw in the ineffectiveness of Clay Buchholz (who ironically only pitched 2/3 of an inning less per start than Dice-K.) You’ve got a recipe for bullpen disaster.
The buck needs to stop here and now. Daisuke needs 6+ innings in his ALCS starts or Manny Delcarmen and Hideki Okajima might burst into flames.
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