Why does Bill Pulsipher still have a job? Seriously, can someone explain this to me? EVERY time he pitches, he gives up a homerun. EVERY time. I know Kerrigan has said Beck will be limited to one inning of relief (it’s about time), but why does he continue to use Pulsipher? Does he think that getting shelled every other day will somehow help his confidence? To Trenton, I say.
Why would anyone attempt a double steal with a lefty batting? Why, why, why???
Thanks, I feel better now (last night’s win (and the Yankees and A’s losing) helped also…)
Pulsipher has only given up four home runs all year.
That said, the reason teams continue to use Pulsipher is because he has an enormous amount of potential - or so they think. Pulsipher was on of the Mets’ “golden boy” pitching prospects back in the mid-90s, along with Paul Wilson and Jason Isringhausen. The Mets blew all their arms out by making them pitch too much.
Pulsipher is still young, he’s big and athletic, he’s lefthanded (lefthanded pitchers get FAR more chances than righthanders) and he still has good velocity, so every pitching coach is convinced he can make a good pitcher out of him.
According to the Sox website, Pulsipher has given up only 3 HR’s in 22 innings, or 1 every 7 1/3 innings.
The Brewers have their own ‘Pulsipher’ called Curtis Leskanic, who has given up 11 in 55 innings. Or 1 every 5 innings, usually in the 9th with the game on the line too.
I noticed Rod Beck, is his usual self too, 14 HR’s in 61 innings, or …I don’t know, a hell of a lot. More than Pulsipher anyway. Seems to be every team needs one, guess the Sox have 2!
HA! I say to thee. Look to the Cardinals’ Andy Benes and his 7.07 ERA. The Cardinals had the lead two nights ago against the Reds going into the bottom of the 9th, 2-1. The reliever blew the lead and we go to extra innings. The Cardinals rally and score 2, going into the bottom of the 10th, again with the lead.
Andy Benes gives up back-to-back homeruns to tie it up again. Then Griffey hits an inside the park homerun in the bottom of the 11th to win it for the Reds, again off Andy Benes. Those homeruns broke the Cardinals’ winning streak at 11 games. All cuz Andy couldn’t pitch one solid inning. He’s got a flat curve ball and an 85 MPH fastball. Yet he’s still on the team instead of letting him rest his aching knee and build some confidence in the minors and maybe be good to go again next year.
Normally I like Andy Benes, he can be a good pitcher (got the only Cardinal win against the Mets in the NLCS last year), but he’s had knee problems all year that’s affecting the way he pitches. And yet they don’t put him on the DL. They don’t send him and his 7.07 ERA to the minors for some rehab and some confidence building. They move him to the bullpen, where instead of putting the Cardinals down early in the game as a starter, he can blow the leads late in the games as a reliever.
In 104 1/3 innings, Benes has allowed 116 hits, 27 HRs. That’s a homer about every 3 2/3 innings. Does that help you feel better about your Red Sox hurler?
so that when the seventh game of the world series is ripped away from us, we can point to pulsipher and say he is the reason, and run him out of new england. or to the insane double steal with the lefty batting.
Well, it appears that Dan Duquette and I think alike, since Pulsipher was put on waivers yesterday and picked up by the White Sox. This confirms that Pulsipher is not the awful reliever I thought he was…
As for the double steal, I’m happy to see the Sox get aggressive on the basepaths, but it might have been better to wait for a situation where a righty was batting so the catcher would have had something in his way from home to third. Maybe Kerrigan was banking on the element of surprise–I don’t know, I just want to see the Sox playing in the post-season.
The Sox could have kept Pulsipher, and a one-inning lefty in the bullpen other than Sun-Woo Kim, simply by withdrawing waivers. In the thick of a pennant race, Duquette simply gave him away. All is not lost.
The biggest question I have is about how Derek Lowe keeps getting the opportunity to blow games, even if he isn’t the closer anymore. The one thing a reliever needs most is the ability to shake off a bad pitch and concentrate on the next guy, but he broods instead and lets the next 2 or 3 guys on, too. I don’t know what Duquette and Stat Man were thinking by switching him from starting, but he needs to switch back. At least we have Oogie now, though, and a manager willing to use him.
I read today (I don’t remember where) that Lowe is interested in becoming a starter again. For the best description of how Lowe loses it, check out Page 2 at espn.com and look for Bill Simmons’ column from a few weeks ago. His description of the “Derek Lowe face” is priceless.
Great Simmons column - it’s almost too bad he’s had to edit himself a little now that he’s got the ESPN.com job. I’ve never laughed any harder than at some of his Digital City Boston work, or at the Reader Rants - on the level of anything you’ll find on this board. He’s said in his mailing list that he hopes to bring that back, too.
