After a rough first few weeks, the Red Sox bullpen has really stabilized. Look at some of these numbers:
Matt “Fat” Albers- 16.1 IP, 1.65 ERA, 4 BB, 8 K
Scott “50 year old man” Atchison- 24 IP, 1.13 ERA, 4 BB, 18 K
Franklyn “Heart Attack Inducing” Morales- 13 IP, 4.15 ERA, 5 BB, 8 K
Vicente “Toad” Padilla- 16 IP, 5.63 ERA, 4 BB, 16 K
Alfredo “How did I end up the closer again?” Aceves- 17 IP, 5.29 ERA, 8 BB, 20 K, 8 SVs
Rich “Insanely Fast Recovery Time” Hill- 8 IP, 1.13 ERA, 5 BB, 7 K
Andrew “6th pick in the country” Miller- 6.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1 BB, 8 K
The 2 guys that look bad on this list are Padilla and Aceves. Padilla really only had two straight up horrible innings, the first against the Rangers where he gave up 2 and one against the Yankees when he gave up 5. Since then, he’s given up just 2 runs in 8.2 innings. Aceves was terrible out of the gate, botching two games against the Tigers in the first series of the year. Since then, he had one complete disaster against the Yankees (the same one as Padilla) in which he gave up 5 runs without getting a single out (as well as walking 4 in the process). Other than that, he hasn’t blown a game. In fact, in 13 innings since that game, he too has only given up 2 runs. He’s been as solid as one could expect as a closer. Maybe what doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger. I mean, other than like an amputation or a lobotomy or something.
Morales has been a weird case because his stats are kind of bland. His problem has been his inconsistency. Watching him reminds me of watching Tim Wakefield pitch because you really never have any idea what’s going to happen. Sometimes he dominates, sometimes he works through control problems, sometimes he hits a dude with the bases loaded. He never seems to be the same guy but when he’s on, he’s lights out.
The rest of the pen has been downright nasty. None more-so than Scott Atchison. Who would have thought the guy would be such a workhorse? He didn’t even get a guarenteed contract going into the season but once he made the team, he hit the ground running. He’s leading all AL relievers in innings pitched and his 1.13 ERA is pretty amazing for a middle aged looking guy who wasn’t even supposed to make the team. Albers has also been impressive, though this may be less of a surprise considering his performance the first 4 months of last season. As long as he isn’t overused again, he should be able to keep up numbers comparable to this for the rest of the year.
Meanwhile, the two lefty specialists have been just as good. Andrew Miller has yet to give up a run and has only walked one guy. Considering that his control has always been his biggest bugaboo, this can probably be considered and achievement even though he’s only pitched about 6 innings. Rich Hill, who somehow recovered from Tommy John surgery in roughly 9 months, has been nearly as good albeit with less control.
Theory: Rich Hill is actually Wolverine from X-Men.
The pen has somehow gone from a weakness to a strength in a very short time. Indirectly, this makes the decision to move Daniel Bard into the rotation look a little better. He’s no longer absolutely needed and with Aaron Cook getting hurt and the rest of the starters struggling at times, the decision to put him in the rotation really hasn’t been as much of a disaster as many expected out of the gate. His numbers have been average but he’s probably better than someone like Padilla or Ross Ohlendorf would have been.
Side note: Completely off topic, but if you want to follow me on twitter for whatever reason, here it is… Yep…
https://twitter.com/#!/Oil_Can_Ed
