Colon's Clean Sweep?: Royals-Sox Gamer III

The last time Bartolo Colon started a game in the big leagues, dinosaurs walked the earth Eric Gagne was a member of the Red Sox.

So it hasn't been that long since Colon started. It has been a while since Colon was consistently effective, however (much like Gagne!). And while he was never among the league's upper echelon of pitchers (he should have finished no better than third in the 2005 Cy Young voting), Colon was intimidating enough.

Tonight, he (weather permitting) makes his 2008 debut, to much fanfare -- in part because from the momnent he first tossed a spring training warm-up pitch with the Sox, Colon has looked stronger than at any point in the last three years.  The Sox aren't hurting for pitching depth, what with the emergence of Justin Masterson, but a decent start tonight -- we're not greedy, 3 ER in 6 IP would be fantastic -- could set the Red Sox as one of the best and deepest rotations going forward.

Starting against the Royals, one of the league's weakest offensive teams (we won't say who's challenging them for that title at the moment), sure shouldn't hurt.

Comment away!

Red Sox

1. Jacoby Ellsbury RF
2. Dustin Pedroia 2B
3. David Ortiz DH
4. Manny Ramirez LF
5. Mike Lowell 3B
6. Kevin Youkilis 1B
7. Jason Varitek C
8. Coco Crisp CF
9. Julio Lugo SS

-- Bartolo Colon SP

Royals

1. David DeJesus RF
2. Mark Grudzielanek 2B
3. Alex Gordon 3B
4. Jose Guillen LF
5. Mark Teahen 1B
6. Billy Butler DH
7. John Buck C
8. Tony Pena SS
9. Joey Gathright CF

-- Brett Tomko SP

Comments

[rootbeerfloat]

Anybody else concerned about Oki?

[Paul SF]

Game underway. Colon touching 92 on the Fenway Park gun, which trends about 2 mph slower than the GameDay readings.

Leadoff ground-ball single. :-P

[Paul SF]

I think he was a little rusty yesterday from not pitching for four straight days. He was bound to struggle more this year than last anyway. So I'm maybe concerned; not worried yet. Emphasis on yet.

Force out, as Youk drops the poor DP throw from Pedroia.

[LocklandSF]

Balls getting hit hard... ;-)

[rootbeerfloat]

Well, there goes Colon's no-hitter.

[Atheose]

Hopefully the E will go to Pedroia and not Youk.

Colon struggling with command, walking Gordon on 4 pitches.

[Paul SF]

Four-pitch walk to Gordon. Yuck.

[Paul SF]

No E because the out was recorded. Can't assume the DP (which I think is an asinine rule. Why can't we assume a second out if we can assume a first out?).

[Paul SF]

Strike 3 called! Nice...

[rootbeerfloat]

I think there's no error on that since you can't assume a double play.

[Atheose]

HAHA that ump really got into that K. DO and Remy having a ball with it.

[rootbeerfloat]

Paul - you can still get an E on an attempted double play if the ball gets away and the guy at first takes second.

[Atheose]

Inning over, not a bad start.

[Paul SF]

Really only the one hard-hit ball, and that was the potential DP. Aside from the walk to Gordon, not a bad first inning from Colon...

[LocklandSF]

Nice inning, not too many pitches.

League average is all I'm looking for and that alone would be a steal.

[Atheose]

No harm no foul I guess?

I just stumbled upon this video. Holy crap is it hilarious. This b*tch is crazy.

http://encyclopediadramatica.com/IM_PRESSIN_CHARGES

[Paul SF]

Well, sure, RBF, but that didn't happen here.

Sad note: Ellsbury would have broken the MLB record for consecutive steals without being caught last night.

Home run Ellsbury!!!!!!

[Atheose]

1-0 Sox! Yeah Ellsbury!

[LocklandSF]

MLB's best Mormon goes DEEP!

[Atheose]

Pedroia singles!

[Paul SF]

If you'd told me Ellsbury would have had four home runs all season, I would have been happy, but four home runs before the end of May? Awesome.

Now Pedroia with the line drive hit! I'd love to make this a laugher early...

[Paul SF]

No overshift for Ortiz? Craziness.

I'd really love to get a comfy lead because I'm going to have to go to dinner soon. :-P

[LocklandSF]

Paul...

"Ellsbury would have broken the MLB record for consecutive steals without being caught last night."

Fact check? ;-)

[rootbeerfloat]

I think he means a record for consecutive steals to start a ML career.

[Paul SF]

How embarrassing is this fact:

The Kansas City Royals lead the all-time season series against the Red Sox, 205-197. The Sox haven't won a season series against KC since 2005. Ouch.

[Atheose]

Damnit Manny

[Paul SF]

Yeah, thanks, RBF. Ellsbury's homer kinda cut me off. He would have broken it, obviously, if he hadn't been caught the other day.

[LocklandSF]

Just busting your balls buddy, both the "last night" and the "MLB record for consecutive steals without being caught" made me go, huh?!?!

[Paul SF]

Yeah. :-P Stupid Ellsbury couldn't wait 'til after I was done typing my point before hitting that homer. :-)

[rootbeerfloat]

OK, we're in an alternate universe when you get updates on how Tampa Bay did in the middle of a Red Sox game so you know how far the Sox are ahead in the division.

[Atheose]

Wow, a 1-2-3 inning! Nice!

Also nice to see Colon hitting 93 on the radar.

[Paul SF]

I firmly believe TB will regress, which means I'm still watching the Yankee scores with the most urgency.

All right, I'm out. Carry on, and let's go Sox!

[Atheose]

Lowell with a nice double!

[Atheose]

Ugh, emphatic K to Youk despite being a little low.

[Atheose]

This ump REALLY likes calling strike 3.

[LocklandSF]

He does, I even think he nailed a batter once with his punch out move.

[sf rod]

that was naked gun.

[rootbeerfloat]

Through the 4th with 58 pitches and 1 ER. Not bad.

[stuck working]

Yeah, Colon's looking good so far, but what's with the bats making a NL-reject like Tomko look like an ace? I mean, who died and made him Chien-Ming Wang, y'know?

[Atheose]

I just dozed off for an hour, and got back in time to see the Sox retake the lead. Nice.

[Atheose]

what's with the bats making a NL-reject like Tomko look like an ace?

For the last three years we always seem to do great against aces (like Halladay and Sabathia) but struggle against the crappy pitchers. Dunno what it is.

[SF]

Damn, off the bat in a 1" x 3" window on my computer Papi's sac fly looked like a longer hit.

[Atheose]

Remy: "With this long wait, I don't think there's any way Colon comes back out for the 6th"

Whaaaa? I didn't know they were keeping him on such a short leash. He's only at 74 pitches.

[Atheose]

Wow, Mahay threw that ball about 50 feet. Bounces WAY in front of home plate, Ellsbury scores.

[Atheose]

Sure enough, Hansen is out there. Glad we got a few extra runs that inning.

[SF]

Following up on Ath's post:

Sox against Halladay in 218.1 career innings - 11-10, Halladay has a 4.66 ERA.

Sox against Sabathia in 48 career innings - 4-2, Sabathia has a 3.91 ERA (career ERA against everyone is 3.88).

[SF]

Hansen with a high hanger to get the first out on a K. Not a great pitch, but not bad enough either.

Hansen seems to be nearly off the third-base side of the rubber.

[SF]

And then a quick grounder. Two down.

[Atheose]

Great play by Lugo, 1-2-3 inning from Hansen. Happy to see it.

[SF]

Three up, three down. Well done, Craig!

[Atheose]

Thanks for backing up my statement with numbers, SF.

[SF]

The Halladay numbers are pretty surprising, but Sabathia (save the playoffs last year, and my numbers don't include such a small sample), has put up his career numbers against the Sox, so it's not like they've brutalized him like they have Roy. Small sample, though, for CC.

[SF]

Tek singles. Nice night for the backstop.

[stuck working]

Do my eyes deceive me or does Tek now have a higher average than Manny? Uh, that's surprising.

[SF]

Gah, Lopez can't throw a strike.

[Atheose]

Another hit for Ellsbury! Let's see a stolen base.

[SF]

I still can't get over the fact that someone has the last name "Gobble". It's so odd.

[Atheose]

Stolen base #19.

[Atheose]

Gobble gobble gobble!

[Atheose]

Pedroia knocks him in, 6-2.

[Atheose]

HEHE Remdawg just said "Gobble gobble"

[SF]

Manny slumping, but the timing is just fine! The team hasn't needed him.

[Atheose]

HAHA Ortiz trying to steal 2nd. He almost had it too!

[SF]

Another single for LFRS. Don't want to be too critical, but does LFRS hit anything more than six feet off the ground anymore?

[SF]

17 baserunners, six runs so far.