In lost season, Red Sox found a new ace: Eduardo Rodriguez

Seen often this season: E-Rod gets a hand (AP)

Earlier this summer, Eduardo Rodriguez was asked what he attributed to his rapidly rising star on the Red Sox pitching staff. In slow but thoughtful English, which has improved along with his game, the Venezuelan left-hander said that rather than trying to emulate the three Cy Young Award winners who preceded him in Boston's starting rotation, he was now focusing more on himself -- on being the best he could be as a pitcher.

E-Rod's insights, which seemed astute at the time, have grown increasingly sagelike as this hugely disappointing Red Sox season has continued.

Those three Cy Young winners who helped Boston to the 2018 World Series title -- Chris Sale, David Price, and Rick Procello -- have all fizzled due to injuries and ineffectiveness. Rodriguez, meanwhile, has quietly put up the kind of numbers that traditional fans and the analytics crowd can all appreciate.

If you still believe that victories by a starting pitcher have relevance, E-Rod is your man. His 18-6 record after yesterday's victory over the Giants would look just as impressive in 1990 as it does today, and with two starts left he still has a shot at 20 wins -- a magic figure that has largely gone the way of the dodo and $1.50 bleacher seats.

His Twitter feed says it all: E-Rod is PUMPED!

Rodriguez is no Jake deGrom when it comes to ERA, but his 3.53 mark was good for 7th in the American League entering tonight despite the hardship of being a lefty who calls Fenway Park home. He has kept his team in games all season, and the Red Sox are 24-8 in his 32 starts. In games started by anybody else, they are 56-64.

Some people cite Rodriguez's tremendous run support in downplaying his success. For much of the season, Boston scored more often with E-Rod on the mound than any other MLB pitcher. But that is certainly not his fault; in fact, it's a trend any pitcher would covet. The aim of the game is to score the most runs and win. When Rodriguez pitches, the Red Sox usually do both.

Even more impressive is this: During the long, slow march to the end of Boston's championship reign, as his rotation-mates have floundered and flamed out, Rodriguez has shone brighter. He is 10-2 in his last 15 starts, with a 2.21 ERA and 6.2 WAR -- marks that would earn him heavy Cy Young consideration of his own were he to continue them over a full campaign. He's got something to prove, and it shows.

No one is going to confuse Rodriguez with Sale when it comes to strikeouts, but not trying to mow everybody down seems to agree with E-Rod too. He's no slouch in the department -- with 199, he ranks 9th in the AL -- but given the choice between heat and control, he seems content on the latter. Pitching to contact means quicker outs, which is keeping him in games longer.

Home and away, Rodriguez has caught on.

This might be the single most important change in Rodriquez circa 2019. Last year, when he went a solid 13-5 with a 3.82 ERA, E-Rod was known as a six-inning pitcher. This season he has gone 7+ innings eight times, and is 6th in the league in innings pitched. The decision to limit the workload for Ming vase mates Sale and Price in spring training backfired, in that both pitchers failed to last deep into the season before getting injured; E-Rod, in contrast, has been E-Long in August and September.

If Sale and Price were doing the same, even with the team's horrendous April, Boston would likely be pushing for the playoffs the final week of the regular season -- rather than playing out the string.

No less an authority than Red Sox pitching legend Luis Tiant cites this as the key to Rodriguez's rise: manager Alex Cora is giving him the chance to pitch out of more tough situations, and E-Rod is gaining confidence in himself. "If you don't give somebody the chance to get out of a jam now," asks Tiant, "when will he ever learn?"

The secret is out: E-Rod is for real. (LaVida Baseball)

Rodriguez is learning now, and along with everything else, he has age on his side.

Modern baseball is a sport where being 30 years old earns you a warning label come contract time, and Boston has three graybeards in Price (34), Sale (30), and Porcello (30). Rodriguez, in contrast, is just 26, an age that throughout the game's history has usually coincided with the start of a player's physical and statistical prime. In other words, while the "Big Three" of Boston's 2018 champs are trying to regain their standing as dependable hurlers come 2020, Rodriguez should be getting stronger and better.

As Boston fans count down the final days of a forgettable campaign -- and cheer for E-Rod to reach 20 wins, 200 strikeouts, and 200 innings -- that's a thought they can hang their Hot Stove hats on.

E-Rod is after it (Barry Chin/Boston Globe)

David Price chases history and the Ghost of Earl Wilson

Price's start has baffled the experts. (AP)

When he takes the mound tonight at Fenway Park,  David Price will be doing more than trying to turn around his season.

There is a fact that you won't find mentioned in his long Red Sox media guide entry, or anywhere else. In many respects that's a good thing -- a sign of progress. Even he likely doesn't know about it,

As history, however, it is worth acknowledging.

When the Red Sox signed Price to a seven-year, $217-million contract last December, they did more than make him the highest-paid pitcher in MLB history. The move meant that, barring injury, the team's No. 1 starter entering the 2016 season would be African-American -- a first for a franchise that dates to 1901.

The Price was right in December. (AP)

Even at a position where there has traditionally not been a tremendous amount of racial diversity at the MLB level, this is surprising for such a storied organization. And while it can't be linked entirely to the team's dubious racial past, this does play a part.

There have, of course, been men of color atop the Boston rotation. Pedro Martinez is the best pitcher most of us will ever see, and the pride of the Dominican Republic. Luis Tiant, the big-game king of the 1975 American League champions, was as famous for his long exile from Castro's Cuba as for his topsy-turvy delivery and victory cigars. Both Pedro and El Tiante were beloved, charismatic winners, but neither was African-American.

Oil Can Boyd, the Mississippi-bred son of a Negro League player, went 15-13 with 3 shutouts for a mediocre Boston club in 1985. He seemed on the verge of No. 1 status, until Roger Clemens' rapid ascent in '86, coupled with Boyd's injuries and off-field problems, kept him from achieving it.

Boyd claims racism was also a factor. This can't be proven, but the other pitcher with perhaps the most legitimate chance to be Boston's first African-American ace was undeniably denied that shot by one of the ugliest injustices in team history -- which happened 50 years ago.

Earl Wilson was called up to the Red Sox in 1959, just a few weeks after infielder Pumpsie Green's promotion made Boston the last of the sixteen original MLB clubs to break the color line. During the next several seasons, the right-hander established himself as a very good pitcher on a very bad team. Twenty-game winner Bill Monbouquette was undeniably Boston's ace, but Wilson was a rising star who pitched a 1962 no-hitter at Fenway Park in which he also homered.

Wilson's no-hitter earned him a $1,000 bonus. (AP)

A down year by Monbouquette prompted his trade after the 1965 season, opening the door for Wilson to step into the No. 1 role. He had poise, experience, and confidence -- all the makings of a star.

Then came spring training of '66, which the Red Sox spent in the still-segregated Deep South. Wilson stepped into the Cloud Nine bar one hot night in Lakeland, Florida, with white teammates Dennis Bennett and Dave Morehead.

After taking drink orders from Bennett and Morehead, the bartender reportedly looked at Wilson and said, "We don't serve niggers here."

A Louisiana native, Wilson was not surprised -- but still angry. He went to team management, and was told to forget about the incident. He later said he thought long and hard about doing just that, knowing the club's dubious reputation in racial matters. In the end, however, he felt he could not remain silent and went to the press.

Even a great power stroke couldn't save Earl.

A few stories appeared in the newspapers, and the front office failed to condemn the incident or back its ballplayer. From that point on, it was only a matter of time.

On June 17, despite a fine 3.84 ERA for a last-place club, Wilson was traded to the Detroit Tigers in a terrible one-sided deal involving otherwise nondescript players. By stirring the pot, Wilson and others close to the situation believed, he had sealed his fate.

It can be argued that Wilson had the last word. He won a combined 18 games (mostly for Detroit) that summer, and then upped his record to 22-11 for the Tigers in 1967. The '68 season ended with a World Series championship, and Wilson -- still a stalwart in the Detroit starting rotation -- was celebrated as a key man in the title run.

Wilson won big in Detroit.

He settled in Michigan and went on to a successful business career after baseball, but the pain of what happened to him in Boston remained with Wilson until his 2005 death. The sting of injustice, and of being left out to dry by an organization to which he had given so much, was "the most humiliating experience of my life."

Now the Red Sox are one of the most racially diverse teams in baseball, and David Price has a chance to avenge this proud, personable man and knock down the final racial wall of Boston baseball. Price may never have heard of Earl Wilson and the Cloud Nine bar, but it's one more reason to root for the would-be ace.

Price ponders -- and hopes for better days.

Looking back on Pedro's Day and Papi's Night, 25 years later

It is June 2040, and Cameron Piper is at Fenway Park with his son, Eddie, for a Red Sox-Providence Whalers game -- 8-year-old Eddie's first time at Fenway. 

Cameron: "Did I ever tell you about my first Red Sox game, Eddie?"

Eddie: "No dad, when was it?"

Cameron: "I was 7, just a little younger than you  now. Tickets were only $50 each, if you can believe that, and I went with Grandma Bart, Grandma Jen, and Aunt McKenna. It was her first game too."

Jen, Cameron, Bart, and McKenna Piper, 

July 26, 2015.

Eddie: "Did the Red Sox win?"

Cameron: "You better believe it. They were having a really tough year, but that night everything went right. They had 20 hits and won 11-1."

Eddie: "Did you stay the whole game or fly home early?"

Cameron: "Actually this was when we still used road cars, and we did stay till the end. We even got there early because it was the day Pedro Martinez was inducted into the Hall of Fame, and they played his speech on the big video screen."

Eddie: "You mean the one they used to have before the Blimp Boards?"

Cameron: "Yup. You've heard of Pedro, right?"

Eddie: "Sure, wasn't he the guy they named the earned-run-average title after? The president of the Dominican Republic?"

Cameron: "Yup, that's him. They played his speech, and in it he thanked a couple of his favorite teammates including David 'Big Papi' Ortiz of the Red Sox. They played together in 2004 when the Red Sox won the World Series. You remember I told you about that team, right?"

Eddie: "Sure, the team that finally beat the damn Yankees and broke Baby Ruth's curse."

Cameron: "Right, something like that. Anyway, after Pedro thanked Ortiz in his speech, Big Papi had three hits including two home runs -- and drove in seven runs!" 

Eddie:"Wow, that's great!"

Cameron: "What's really neat is that they are both from the Dominican Republic, and when Ortiz went into the Hall of Fame in 2024, he had Pedro introduce him to the crowd!" 

Eddie: "That is cool. What else happened in the game?"

Cameron: "Well, Xander Bogaerts had four hits and Eduardo Rodriguez pitched seven great innings to get the win. He was just a rookie that year but he would wind up winning three Cy Young Awards -- the first Red Sox pitcher ever to do that."

Rodriguez got win 6 of 234.

Eddie: "He's in the Hall of Fame too, right?"

Cameron: "Yup -- he won 234 games, the most of any Red Sox pitcher. Want to know a secret?"

Eddie: "Sure, what?"

Cameron: "You're named after him. I saw him pitch so many great games for the Red Sox and he brought me such joy that I figured I'd share that joy with my first son."

Eddie: "AWESOME!"

Cameron: "Your mother doesn't know, so let's keep it our secret, OK? Want to know another one?"

Eddie: "Sure!"


Cameron: "Rodriguez just got voted into the Hall of Fame this past January, and next month when they induct him, you and I are going!"

Eddie: "NO WAY!"

Cameron: "WAY! We can fly from Boston to Cooperstown in 16 minutes, check out the museum, watch his speech, and still fly back home in time for your Quiddich practice at 5:00."

Eddie: "Great, thanks dad!" 

Cameron: "Sure thing, son. Now hurry up and eat your Fenway Frank before it gets cold. It cost $36.00."

   

Throwback Thursday: In 1976, the Bird was the Word

Two golden boys.

He flashed like a yellow-curled beacon across the baseball sky, a brief blip of innocence and fun before free agency and million-dollar contracts changed the game forever. 

Mark Fidrych. Just saying the name still makes me smile. The Pride of Northborough, Mass., debuted for the Tigers this week in 1976, and died this week in 2009. His sore-armed career in the majors lasted only 58 games, but he's still right up there with Dwight Evans, Luis Tiant, and Pedro Martinez in my pantheon of all-time favorite players.

Maybe it's because I was a rookie too in '76, also playing for the Tigers as a 9-year-old in the Newton Central Little League. I could barely throw the ball straight, but in my genuine woolen uniform -- I think the league phased them out after that spring -- I could stand in front of the mirror and pretend I was The Bird. 

Rookie on the rise.

Forty springs on, I can still recite his rookie stats from memory: 19-9, 2.34 ERA, 250.1 innings, 24 complete games in 29 starts. But numbers only begin to tell the story.

Fidrych, then a wide-eyed 21-year-old with parts of just two seasons in the minors, didn't start his first game for the Tigers until May 15 because manager Ralph Houk wanted to work the youngster in slowly. But The Bird -- named after Big Bird on Sesame Street, of course -- only knew one speed: full-tilt. 

Beginning with a two-hitter against Cleveland, he went 8-1 over his first two months, including back-to-back 11-inning complete games and a dismantling of the mighty Yankees on ABC's "Monday Night Baseball" that made him a national phenomenon. Teammates and fans loved watching him pitch, because he did so with precision (just 53 walks), passion, and a train to catch after the ninth. 

He was a man on a mission -- to win and have fun doing it.

Man at work.

The Bird appreciated every second of his time on the field. If a teammate made a great play, he ran over and shook his hand. If the mound needed some tending, he got down on his knees and did it himself. He claimed he didn't talk to the ball, but the fact we all thought he was when he jabbered to himself was good enough.

Red Sox manager Darrell Johnson let the lanky, 6-foot-3 rookie start for the American League in the All-Star Game over the likes of Catfish Hunter, Jim Palmer, and his own ace Luis Tiant, and it was the natural choice. When it came to pleasing fans, nobody did it better; Fidrych packed ballparks wherever he went, and Tigers attendance rose 39 percent from the previous season despite the team's lackluster 74-87 record. 

The Bird was the Word. Girls dug his locks, scooping them up after his haircuts. Rolling Stone put him on the cover. He even got to meet Frank Sinatra, which didn't mean much to him but delighted his mother.  

Bill Lee never got this gig.

Fidrych finished second in the AL Cy Young race to Palmer (he was robbed), and had a limitless future and a new three-year contract for $50,000 a year. Then, in the blink of a slip on the outfield grass while shagging flies in spring training, it was all but over. He injured his knee, requiring surgery, and then after coming back with a string of seven complete games in eight starts mid-way through 1977 suffered a dead arm from which he never recovered. 

Shoulder woes plagued him from this point on, robbing him of his control and his glory. By 1983, after umpteenth comebacks with the Tigers and a last-ditch effort for the Red Sox at Triple A Pawtucket, Fidrych called it quits at the ripe old age of 28. 

Last gas.

He went back to Northboro and became a commercial truck driver and farmer. He later had his own trucking business, mostly doing construction, and hung around the local diner. A working stiff with a wife, daughter, and no regrets he let folks know about.

Occasional "Where Are They Now?" articles appeared to catch us up on The Bird, but the first time Fidrych made real headlines after his retirement was on April 20, 2009, when word spread that he had died at 54 in a freak accident -- apparently crushed after his truck fell on him while he was working on it. 

I dug out my old 1976 Tigers team photo. There I was in the front row, with a Timex and Bill Lee glove on my wrist and a grin on my face.

The future limitless. 

Birds at rest.

Can Beckett put an end to his "Saberhagen Syndrome" with Red Sox?

Josh Beckett certainly pitched well enough to win last Saturday, but a no-decision against the Rays kept his record at a ho-hum 4-4. Even after three straight strong starts, his ERA is still a less-than-impressive 4.15 and the question remains: 

Beckett's inconsistency can be maddening.

Is Beckett suffering from Saberhagen Syndrome?


Many baseball fans are familiar with Steve Blass Disease, named after the Pirates right-hander who was a World Series hero and 19-game winner in the early 1970s, and then suddenly found himself unable to get the ball over the plate. Blass lost his effectiveness all at once, never to get it back, but Beckett's troubles more closely mirror another former pitcher who suited up for the Royals, Mets, Red Sox, and Rockies from 1984-2001.


Bret Saberhagen was a two-time Cy Young Award winner before he turned 26, and earned the MVP award in the 1985 World Series for two complete-game victories over the Cardinals. There was something about his career, however, that confounded his managers and kept him from reaching the Hall of Fame heights once predicted for him.


I call it Saberhagen Syndrome. For nearly a decade, each time the slim righty had a winning season, he followed it up with a losing one. Starting with his rookie year, the stretch went like this:


1984: 10-11
1985: 20-6 Cy Young Award) 
1986: 7-12
1987: 18-10
1988: 14-16
1989:  23-6 (Cy Young Award)
1990:  5-9
1991:  13-8 
1992:  3-5
Record in even years: 39-53 (.423 winning percentage) 
Record in odd years: 74-30 (.711)

Saberhagen's ups and downs left everyone perplexed.

Saberhagen had several injuries during the stretch, and in some years his ERA was better than his record showed, but in terms of wins and losses there is no denying a pattern. He would pitch more consistently with Boston in the late '90s, but by then a bad shoulder had rendered him far less durable -- and his career was effectively over at age 35.


Beckett's case is a bit more complicated. He too has a propensity for pitching far better in odd years than even ones, when his earned-run average really shoots up. Starting with his first year in Boston, during which he somehow went 16-11, his stats look like this:


2006: 16-11, 5.01 ERA
2007: 20-7, 3.27
2008: 12-10, 4.03
2009: 17-6, 3.86
2010: 6-6. 5.78
2011: 13-7, 2.89
2012: 4-4, 4.15
Record and ERA in even years: 38-31, 4.79
Record and ERA in odd years: 50-20, 3.35


It's still unclear at this point if the trend is going to continue all the way through 2012; Beckett's ERA is actually far lower than his even-year average, and he's given up three runs or less in seven of nine starts. Like Saberhagen, Beckett has shown an ability to be among the best pitchers in baseball, and he too has shined in the postseason -- with two World Series rings to show for it.


But at age 32 -- the same age Steve Blass lost it all -- Beckett is still seeking the consistency that is a trademark of great stars. Will he be able to find it this year, or will be continue to be an every-other-year ace?

Which Beckett are we going to get this year?