MLB announced yesterday that the Red Sox will open their 2008 season in Japan against the Oakland A's. The Sox will play a 4 game away series against the A's, 2 of the games in Tokyo and 2 of the games in Oakland. God, I am yawning already.
It will be a fitting start to the 2008 season as it will remind us of all the late nights at the end of the 2007 season.
In other Sox news, C.C. Sabathia won the AL Cy Young. I am no expert, but this might be one of the tightest races in recent memory. (Given that I have a very short memory, this has a very good chance of being true). C.C. was 19-7, Beckett was 20-7, Lackey was 19-9, and Carmona was 19-8. Lackey led the league in ERA at 3.01, followed by Carmona 3.06. C.C. edged Beckett in the ERA department 3.26 to 3.27 while clocking a league leading 241 innings. (Ok, I am guessing on that last statement and I am too lazy to look it up). Honestly, I feel like Beckett got over looked because the Sox were a better offensive team, so his contribution did not seem as valuable as C.C.'s. The voting should have been much closer, C.C. got 19 of the first place votes with 8 going to Beckett and 1 going to Lackey. Anyway, we know who was the better pitcher in 2007 :-)
CC pitched 40 more innings (20% more than Beckett) which probably put him over the top. Which is fine. Those 40 innings probably were much of the difference between his problems and Beckett's awesomeness in the postseason.
ReplyDeleteWhat's ridiculous is that there were 3 voters who left one of those two off their list. How the hell you can't think those two were among the top three pitchers in the AL is beyond me.
Sabathia had more innings, more Ks, less walk, and a lower ERA. Of course he also had to face the light-hitting Twins, the Royals, and the White Sox a bunch of times while Beckett had to face the Yankees, Blue Jays, Orioles, and even The D-Rays a bunch.
ReplyDeleteI think the K's, low walks, and ERA got Sabathia the Cy Young...not necessarily the extra innings pitched.
As for the opening in Japan? I don't like it. It is a lot of extra travel. I guess, though, that you just don't bring your non-starting starters with you and you should be ok. And what about the turbulence on your flight caused by Godzilla? (Simpsons joke there)
It's a lot of travel, but they're doing it right: 5 days off in between the games in Japan and the ones in Oakland.
ReplyDeleteYou could be right about the innings not mattering to the voters; Lackey pitched 224 (and had a lower ERA than either of them).
While obviously it would've been great for Beckett to win, I'm glad the voters didn't just look at wins, which is what they usually do.
Although the year that Zito won it, Pedro was the best in baseball by a long shot...That was totally based on wins (which would have put Wakefield in the ballpark this year)...
ReplyDelete