The newfound positivity in this town sickens me. Bartolo Colon can't even get out of the first inning, and the Glass Half Fulls out there are already ignoring the not so bright sides of his outing. And there was plenty on the not so bright side.
Colon's main problem was location troubles. I wouldn't say he was "wild" as indicated by his pitching line (0.2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 0 HR). Of the 41 pitches he threw, 21 were strikes, 20 were balls. But he wasn't crazy wild, he kept missing in the same place. I don't know if that's good or bad because that place was up.
He struggled in the count, seemed to labor with the high pitch total, allowed silly walks, and left a pitch up in the zone for Matsui, who slapped it the opposite way for a ground rule double.
But the positivity in this town sucks.
Here's an excerpt from Jackie MacMullen's article about yesterday's game:
"It's undeniable that Colon had command problems yesterday, but he did catch Jason Giambi looking at strike three with a nasty off-speed pitch on the inside of the plate. That was just after he engaged in a nine-pitch battle with Bobby Abreu before walking him."
Nine pitch battles are bad things for pitchers. And getting Giambi to look at strike three isn't a major accomplishment.
I don't mind the team being overly positive. They have to be. But when fans and journalists start glorifying a 4 run first inning because the misplaced fastballs Colon threw hit 95 on an unreliable Tampa radar gun; they've crossed a line into dreamland.
Colon HAS NOT done anything to make me or any other sensible Sox fan think he will be a decent starting pitcher. I'm not saying he won't be one, just that he has yet to demonstrate that he can be one.
Sources:
BostonRedSox.com
Boston.com
Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Kathy Willens
