No need to worry about Rick
Sox have bigger problems
Perhaps some of you are worried about Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello. You worry that last year’s brilliant, Cy Young Awardwinning season was some kind of goofy hardball fluke, that it was all smoke and mirrors, that he’s not really good, that . . . Whoa. Relax. It is true that Pretty Ricky wasn’t much in the looks department in the Red Sox’ 5-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays last night at Fenway Park. He lasted only six innings and allowed five runs — though to be fair only three of those runs were earned because, of course, none of the 187 bodies the Sox have stuck at third base this season can play the position, last night’s hot-corner cadaver being Josh Rutledge.
It is also true that Porcello registered seven strikeouts and didn’t walk anybody, yet here we are: Last year’s Cy Young Award winner is 2-5 with a 4.01 ERA.
At best, Porcello was OK last night. He did give up nine hits in those six innings, and one of those hits was a home run by Evan Longoria in the fifth inning. The Rutledge error came in the fourth inning and, yes, for bookkeeping purposes it means that the two runs the Rays scored were unearned. But it doesn’t excuse the bad pitch by Porcello that Tim Beckham hit to left for a two-run single.
“Second and third, two out, fastball in the middle of the plate,” said Porcello, matter-of-factly. “Can’t do that in that situation. You gotta execute pitches and get out of that.
“In the fifth inning,” he said, “I created trouble for myself by falling behind (Derek) Norris and then giving up the hit, and then a couple balls that were driven really well by (Corey) Dickerson and obviously Longoria. Just two innings where I didn’t make pitches with runners on base and ended up getting hurt by it.”
Of errors, he said, “It’s part of baseball. That stuff’s out of your control. You just have to keep executing pitches regardless of what happens. That’s the only way your mindset can be.”
Let’s just say it wasn’t a Cy Young effort. It was also the second time this season the Rays have been tricky for Ricky: He lasted just 41⁄ innings against them on April 14 at Fenway, allowing eight runs.
But I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Porcello is going to be just fine. He hasn’t blown out his knee (Steven Wright), he hasn’t gotten himself all banged up in a dirt bike mishap (Madison Bumgarner) and he hasn’t curled up in the fetal position after learning that his ex-girlfriend has been doing the town with Julian Edelman (Matt Harvey).
Plus, everything about Porcello suggests professionalism and game-readiness. It’s not like he sat around all winter admiring his Cy Young Award instead of going to the gym. If you’ve followed the Red Sox at all in recent years, you know that John Lackey would have had a nervous breakdown when Rutledge threw the ball away. (The Rutman dropped an easy pop fly later in the game, but the Sox were able to force a runner at second. So no error there; just bad optics.)
Put it all together and the betting here is that Porcello may well have stolen a “W” last night had a few things played out differently.
And that, I guess, is what the bad news is all about. It’s entirely possible Porcello could pitch very well this season and yet not come close to matching the success he had last year. Take away the eye-popping 22-4 record and there were still some great numbers on Porcello’s 2016 log — like the 189 strikeouts against only 32 walks. That works out to a 5.91 strikeout-to-walk ratio, best in the AL last year.
But he could at least approach that K/BB thing again and still wind up with, say, a 15-12 record. If that’s what happens, it may turn out to be because of bad defense or lack of run support or, as even he’ll admit, badly located pitches with two outs and runners on second and third.
What I’m saying here is that Rick Porcello shouldn’t even crack your Top Ten list of Red Sox things to worry about.
Defense is a problem. Thirdbase defense is a huge problem. Starting pitching depth is a problem. Jackie Bradley Jr. hitting .171 is a problem.
Rick Porcello is the 2016 Cy Young Award winner who has had a couple of rough outings this year. And that’s it.