Albeit in loss, chronicling the valiant effort of often-criticized John Lackey
John Lackey's pitching performance was as stunning as his rbi-double, which was the only support he would get. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
In December of 2009, the Boston Red Sox made what I considered to be a mistake. They signed free-agent John Lackey, formerly the ace of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, to a five-year, $82.5 million contract–the same deal A.J. Burnett had signed with rival New York three days earlier. He clearly used that deal as a benchmark. Being linked to Burnett right off the bat was a bad omen, and it turns out he has been equally as frustrating.
The 32-year-old right-hander entered his most recent start against the best team in baseball, the 50-30 Philadelphia Phillies, with a 7.36 ERA over 11 starts. The prospects of him pitching well were not good. But he did, much to my joyous surprise.
His fastball, changeup, and curveball–one blown past bats and the other two slicing away from them–were mixed perfectly, catching a dangerous offense off guard from the get-go. He gave up his fair share of hits, including an rbi-single to Raul Ibañez to break a scoreless tie in the second inning, but limited the damage as he has not often done.
His counterpart on the mound for Philadelphia, 23-year-old Vance Worley, put up zeros on the scoreboard over the first four innings, shutting down a struggling offensive team. And he rightfully drew a lot of praise from the befuddled Red Sox hitters.
“He had great mound presence, and we were all very impressed,” said second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who was asked by Worley for his autograph before the game. “It’s really good for a kid that young to have a presence like that on the mound. He’s going to be a good one.”
“Did that guy just come up or something? Man, because he looked pretty good to me,” first baseman David Ortiz said of Worley. “He had decent stuff, and it really looks like he’s been around for a long time.
“They’ve got four big starters here, right? Well, he looked like one of them out there tonight. He really looked comfortable. It’s obvious that he’s listening to those big starters over there. It’s rubbing off on him.”
Lackey was the only member of the Red Sox who didn’t seem confused by Worley. Pitchers shouldn’t be forced to hit, but Lackey proved in the fifth inning that some can. Josh Reddick, Boston’s young left-fielder who has knocked the cover off the ball in his cup of coffee thus far, reached for the second time by singling to right. There were two out when Lackey stepped to the plate, and all he did was give Worley the longest at-bat thus far.
He fell behind 0-2, as most pitchers do, but fouled off the next and then patiently watched three pitches missed the strike-zone. Surprisingly, he had Worley figured out. He saw a third-straight fastball flow out of the rookie’s hand and he hit it as hard as he could, smacking the offering into right-center field. Reddick cruised in to score. The game was tied. And Lackey stood on second base, mouthing to the dugout two priceless words: “I’m tired.”
He wouldn’t show any fatigue on the mound after he was stranded on second. He continued to use his fastball-slider-curveball trio to make quick work of the Phillies in the fifth, needing only seven pitches. One of those was hit hard by Worley, trying mightily to get his revenge. He gave it a ride out to the warning track, but the speedy Jacoby Ellsbury was there to corral it. Unfortunately it wouldn’t be the last well-hit pitch by Philadelphia off Boston’s starter.
If Ibañez wasn’t already scheduled to appear in Lackey’s nightmares, he penciled himself in with a deflating blast to begin the seventh. The Phillies now led 2-1. The crowd of 40,000 plus filling Citizen’s Bank Park went wild, and the pitcher was left to process his mistake. He has watched opponents round the bases many times before, but this had to be particularly grating. He was in fine form, yet would eventually take the loss as Mike Stutes and Antonio Bastardo made Boston’s hitters look new to the sport.
It was disappointing, as he fell to 5-7 on the season, but Lackey can’t hang his head. He was tremendous; the pitcher Boston signed.
“I thought he was tremendous,” manager Terry Francona said, as documented by NECN. “I thought he threw as good a breaking ball as we’ve seen. I think he felt the same way. He got us deep into the game, but we scored one run. That’s a hard way to win. I thought he did terrific.”
The Red Sox will need more performances like this out of the veteran. He has it in him. Hopefully from now on all he will need is run support, supplied by bats other than his own.
