Pedroia Can Play: Daniel Bard Sort Of Can, Too

Yep, another loss. Painful, right? Absolutely painful. Here we sit, alone in the basement of the AL East, hoping that someone throws us a rope so we can climb out. At least give us a flashlight so we can find the stairs. Bobby V is too busy taking phone calls during press conferences to tell Daniel Bard to throw higher in the zone.

Did Bard pitch well? Well enough. Much better than I thought he would, but he still allowed five runs in innings. Forgive me for my biases, but wouldn't Tek have actually made in-game adjustments? Was Salty making any? It didn't seem like it. To be honest, Salty looks nervous to me 90% of the time, so I have no idea what's going through his head. Maybe someone threatened him with rabid dogs if he failed to be Tek. I make no promises that it wasn't me.

Sox starters, listen here. It's your job to get into the seventh inning. In order to do so, you need to not suck so badly. Christ, at this point, I'll be happy with a quality start. Six innings, three or less runs? Ever heard of it? One run through the rotation and we've had exactly one quality start. Lester with his seven inning, one run effort. Had Doubront pitched on more inning, he would have qualified. That goes to pitch count. You should not, in any circumstance, be throwing more than five pitches to any given batter in any single at bat. I know, it sounds so easy, right? I live with the luxury of not having to follow my own pitching rules, so it's easy for me.

Five starts, one quality start, two painfully embarrassing ones (Looking at you, B-boys.... er, sans Bard), one sort of good one, and one sort of bad one. And we didn't even win the quality start! We need better from you, guys. I'm not hitting the panic button. I'm not announcing the sky is falling. All I'm saying is that you CAN do better, and you HAVE to do better. Munchkin needs some support here. Give the little guy a helping hand, will you?

Today at 12:35, Lester closes out the second series of the year. If he could pitch as well as he did on opening day, I'll be happy. Because it's Tek and Little Tek's birthdays today. You better not lose on their birthdays, Jon.

Also, Happy Birthday to Jason Varitek and Trot Nixon. I miss you guys...