Nothing relieves the sting of a 4 games losing streak quite like a 7 game winning streak.
But holy crap these last 4 games gave me goose bumps if for no other reason than to see the sheer variety of the Defending World Champion Boston Red Sox starting staff and how awesome it could be.
JON LESTER
I mean what else is there to say?
He’s 23 years old and has beaten cancer, pitched the clinching game of the World Series and threw a no hitter!
When I was 23, I was fat, living in a messy apartment with my then girlfriend and another guy watching Price is Right in my underwear while eating McDonald’s every morning.
What I am saying is he’s off to a better start than me.
His no hitter was such a great story that even Chris DeLuca, a Yankee fan who loathes the Red Sox and their fans with the passion of a thousand suns, had to admit it was a good story.
I watched the last inning of his no hitter at a gym in Santa Monica. When he got the last out I high fived a woman who was also a Red Sox fan. We both agreed it was awesome and then I reminded her… “This guy is our #4 starter!”
Like any good Red Sox fan, when something positive happens to my team I also tried to think of how it affected the Yankees. I grinned when I thought “Our two stud young pitchers, Buchholz and Lester, have 2 more no hitters than the Yankees two stud young pitcjers, Hughes and Kennedy, have 2008 wins.”
Nothing gets a team going like a no hitter. Last year when it looked like the Yankees might be poised to overtake the Sox, Buchholz’s no hitter gave the Sox a big jolt.
As if this team needed a jolt, I’ll take Lester.
JUSTIN MASTERSON
In 2006, the Red Sox starting staff was so ravaged with injuries that it felt like they were letting the 15th caller on WEEI pitch every 5th day.
This year there has been an embarrassment of riches with young pitchers!
Unlike his first start, when I screamed at Francona to let the kid pitch seven, Masterson was stretched out. And while it is hard to get that excited about shutting down the Royals line up (he contained Ross Gload!) it’s hard not to get pumped about the idea of ANOTHER young stud in the rotation.
Like any greedy Red Sox fan, I started putting together the rotation of the future.
Neither Beckett nor Dice K are 30 yet… and Lester, Buchholz and Masterson round out the starting five!
“My God!” I thought quite greedily. “We could become like the Braves of the 1990s… only we’ve ALREADY won more World Series titles than those Braves teams and have a more stable bullpen!”
I might be getting ahead of myself, but keep in mind we’re asking Lester, Buchholz and Masterson to be the 3, 4 and 5 starters!
BARTOLO COLON
Now it is getting silly!
Lester beat cancer and it looks like Colon is trying to defeat gluttony.
Tell me he doesn’t look like Andre the Giant!
Christsake, El Guapo would look at this guy and say “Dude, order the small!”
If there is an uglier guy who looks worse in a uniform in the bigs than Colon, then I haven’t seen him. And if he pitches like that, who cares?
Seriously, his last full season he was a Cy Young winner and is buddies with Manny (keeping awkward looking pitchers who are friends with Manny is a phenomenon known as the Julian Tavarez Syndrome.)
And who doesn’t love a fat guy who plays well?
Why do you think David Wells is so loved in New York?
Or Fernando Valenzuela?
Or Tony Gwynn? Or Steve Bye Bye Balboni? Or John Kruk?
How’s about Babe Ruth?
Seeing a tubby guy kick butt is the inspiration for regular dudes with bellies who watch TV and say “Man! That could be me!”
I may have to get a Colon jersey… size XXXL.
DAISUKE MATSUSAKA
My friend Dan Cronin, the brilliant Emmy winning writer for Conan O’Brien, has bemoaned the Dice-K signing almost from the start and is convinced it was a giant waste of dough.
I haven’t heard a lot from him since Dice-K is now 8-0 with a 2.15 ERA.
Yeah he walks too many people, but he gets the outs when he needs them.
Also any game that features two grand slams and neither one was hit by Papi or Manny makes me feel happy for the line up.
But winning these last 4 games with those four pitchers and coming to Oakland tonight with Wakes ready to go shows how deep our staff is while Schilling and Buchholz mend.
And the other amazing about those 4 games and tonights is that none of them were pitched by the ace, Beckett.
Good times…
I will read this post if the Sox have a losing streak if for no other reason than to cheer me up.
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