Saturday, August 28, 2004
More 5th Starter Frustration
Well, Jason Grilli was less than impressive in his Sox debut tonight. The failures of the Sox's fifth starters are somewhat comical at this point - they just seem to be throwing batting practice.
How bad is it? It's monumentally bad. The Sox's fifth starters have a collective 13.50 ERA in the first inning. That's unimaginable - the Sox are in a 1.5 run hole on average in the first inning. Throw out Danny Wright, whose tenure looks downright promising four months later, and the ERA is 14.14. Jon Rauch, for all his negatives, actually never gave up a run in his first 3 innings of his starts.
In the second inning, the 5th starters have an ERA of 11.81. In the third inning, it is only a 4.50 ERA. All tolled, the Sox's fifth starters have a 9.93 ERA in the first three innings - meaning the Sox have been in a 3-run hole because of their fifth starters.
It's been ugly.
Meanwhile..... Brandon McCarthy won his third consecutive start tonight in Birmingham, going 7 innings, giving up 4 hits and 2 walks. He also struck out 9 and gave up a solo shot for his only earned run. He's now 17-5 on the season between 3 levels - low A, high A, and AA. He hasn't lost since June 5.
