You know what I hate about Dice-K?
He’s a fucking pussy. That’s what.
Dice-K is tied for 7th in the league in ERA, ahead of Beckett who’s at 3.98. ahead of Wakefield who’s at 3.69, and ahead of Lester, who’s at 3 fucking 20 .
Despite his ERA, Beckett is our Ace. When Becket needs a strikeout, he gets a strikeout. When he gets in a jam, he gets out of it. And he doesn’t walk people. In 120 innings pitched, Beckett has a miniscule 25 walks. At a little over one per outing, that’s almost David Wellsian-like numbers.
But it isn’t the numbers that makes Beckett the Ace. It’s his attitude. When he walks out there, it’s with quiet, cool intensity. He has the maturity to control his energy, conserve his pitches for when it matters, and throw the team on his back when they need a win. And with Fatty McSchilling gone, Beckett has become the stopper. When the team is down, after a few losses, they can count on Beckett to shut down the opponent. When Manny rolls around like a beached whale in the outfield, the team can turn to Beckett for solace.
And when the entire offense puts up a big fat stinker, Beckett takes ‘em home.
Throwing the team on his back, by the way, is exactly what Lester did last night. He’s already proven himself to be the number 2 of this staff, but with a few more performances like last night’s, he can plant himself firmly in the category of Ace #2 – on any other staff, he’d be the number one, with or without his lymph nodes. He still had those pesky control issues earlier in the season, but in his 8 starts since June 1, Lester has exactly 8 walks. In May alone, he had 13. But again, it’s the attitude that sets him apart. He doesn’t freak out with men on base anymore. He gets timely strikeouts to end innings. In short, Lester is showing us why Theo didn’t trade him for a guy who’s record is 8-7 right now.
That brings us to Wakefield, who is quietly putting together one of his best seasons in the majors. Despite lack of run support and a rediculous amount of blown leads by the bullpen, Wake is just being Wake. He’s eating up innings like a champ at around 130, on tap for and despite a high homerun count of 18 (only 6 off the major-league lead, a dubious distinction that our own Beckett held just two years ago – remember that?), his ERA is his third-best ever. Ever. Not including the 2002-2003 seasons, when he split his time as a starter and reliever, the only year he’s had a better ERA was 1995, his first year with the Sox. Troy O’leary would be proud.
So where do we put Dice-K when the playoffs start? The fact is, until he proves that he can step up in big situations, he’s not going to be able to shed the “pussy” label. My guess is that sometime between now and the end of the season, Dice-K is going to have a watershed moment. He’s either going to have a terrible outing that turns him into full-time pussy, or he settles down and grows some balls.
Let’s hope for the latter.
