From a Frustrated Red Sox Fan
By Bob Branco
April 6, 2019
When the equipment truck left Fenway Park for Florida before Spring Training, I am wondering if there was room in the truck for a big box of Pampers. Based on what happened during Spring Training and the first 9 games of the season, I think that would have been appropriate. Red Sox management babied and coddled their starting pitchers. Some of them didn’t even see a major league game until the third week of Spring Training. There were guys with unfamiliar names starting against big league hitters. Why didn’t the starters get more exposure? Isn’t this what Spring Training is all about? Get these guys ready. Instead, the Sox management felt that if they worked their pitchers more often during Spring Training games, that they would run out of gas later in the season.
I didn’t know that we have batteries inside of us. Since when do we run out of gas? Do we only have so much in the tank, and then it’s all gone? Perhaps I should stop using the treadmill in case I run out of gas and can’t do it anymore. This is silly. We can throw as hard as we want, and as often as we can, as long as we are healthy and are conditioned to do so. If we can’t, it’s not because we pitched a few more innings during Spring Training and ran out of bullets. Do you mean to tell me that if I couldn’t throw my fast ball very hard on August 15, it was because I pitched too much on March 10?
I would understand if one or two of the Red Sox starters had problems during the first week of the season, but this is a more general problem, and that’s why I’ve reached the conclusion that I reached. These starting pitchers are not ready yet because management wanted to baby them. I hope management learned a valuable lesson.
