Civil War over

In May, I took a look at how both of our teams' bullpens were outperforming their starting rotations. Things improved when I took another look in June, but they've pretty much evened out now that I take a fresh look at the numbers.

Basically, the Red Sox bullpen has come down to earth while the overall dominance of Josh Beckett and Jon Lester has improved the rotation's numbers (we'll ignore the disasters of Brad Penny, John Smoltz, etc.).

The Phillies, meanwhile, have also seen their bullpen numbers dip to mediocrity, thanks largely to Brad Lidge and all the countless souls who have rotated through the injury-ravaged bullpen, but their starters have shaved more than a full run off their ERA. Perhaps the Phillies should have sold Jamie Moyer on his new assignment by saying it's not a demotion, but an opportunity to help the bullpen stabilize its ERA.

Here are the numbers:

BOS starters
May 18: 5.76 (28th)
June 4: 5.05 (26th)
Today: 4.59 (17th)

PHI starters
May 18: 6.35 (30th)
June 4: 5.58 (29th)
Today: 4.37 (12th)

BOS relievers
May 18: 3.02 (3rd)
June 4: 2.86 (1st)
Today: 3.67 (6th)

PHI relievers
May 18: 3.97 (12th)
June 4: 3.72 (9th)
Today: 3.90 (14th)

BOS total
May 18: 4.77 (21st)
June 4: 3.31 (14th)
Today: 4.28 (14th)

PHI total
May 18: 5.59 (27th)
June 4: 4.88 (27th)
Today: 4.21 (11th)

After looking at the numbers, I once again realize the Phillies fortunes are rising and the Red Sox are sinking.

To quote Mike Lowell after Friday night's embarrassing 20-11 loss:

I think that it was plain and simple that we got our asses kicked pretty good. Those are easier to forget than the ones that you lose, 2-1, because we didn't have a chance today. So we move on, and we'll see if things play out a little differently tomorrow.

They did. I had a feeling that Junichi Tazawa would have a statement game and he did, pitching six scoreless innings against the Yankees in the 14-1 revenge game. Hopefully, Josh Beckett gets the better of CC Sabathia tomorrow night, and this temporary patch of Yankee dominance will soon be over.

After losing a tight one to the Mets on Friday and watching them celebrate 1969 tonight, the Phillies trail the Mets 1-0 in the 6th. Jeez, does J.A. Happ have to pitch a shutout every night?

Cheery thoughts for a holiday weekend

Phillies bullpen.

OK, not so cheery.

Two weeks ago, Scott Lauber and Paul Hagen wrote about interim closer Ryan Madson's seemingly good fortunes. That night he blew his first save, prompting me to question whether Lauber, Hagen or I had jinxed him.

This week, Lauber finally wondered whether his feature had jinxed Mad Dog, who has lately pitched like a peaceful puppy.

Today, he's got all the bullpen numbers; you can click here for them, but it's not a read for the faint of heart:

Lidge is 0-3 with a 7.57 ERA and six blown saves in 20 chances. Madson, meanwhile, after getting off to a great start, is 0-3 with a 10.80 ERA and three blown saves since June 16.

That's worth repeating: Between them, Madson-post June 16 and Lidge all season are 0-6 with nine -- nine! -- blown saves.

Incredible. Lauber also noted that last year the Phillies were 65-9 when leading after seven innings and as everyone is aware of, 79-0 when leading after eight. The Brad Lidge bullpen is no longer perfect this year: 29-6 when leading after seven, 31-6 when leading after eight.

Hopefully, things can begin to settle down a bit for the bullpen and the Phillies can conquer their home woes when the open a series against the Mets, who thanks to the Phillies are still in the NL East race, along with the Braves and Marlins. Jason Bay will play his first game as an American in Fenway against the Mariners.

Pitchers' Civil War may be ending

This morning I read a note in David Murphy's blog about how well the Phillies starters have been doing since Chan Ho Park has been banished to the bullpen:

Don't look now, but Phillies starters have recorded a victory in each of these six straight wins. Since a win over Washington on May 18th when Chan Ho Park allowed five runs in 1 1/3 innings and lost his spot in the rotation, Phillies starters have an ERA just over 4.00, which is nearly two and a half runs better than the 6.35 ERA they posted in the first 36 games of the season.

Actually, that start was May 17. The next day, I took a look at how much better both of our teams' bullpens were than the starting rotations. Things have improved since then:

BOS starters
May 18: 5.76 (28th)
Today: 5.05 (26th)

PHI starters
May 18: 6.35 (30th)
Today: 5.58 (29th)

BOS relievers
May 18: 3.02 (3rd)
Today: 2.86 (1st)

PHI relievers
May 18: 3.97 (12th)
Today: 3.72 (9th)

BOS total
May 18: 4.77 (21st)
Today: 3.31 (14th)

PHI total
May 18: 5.59 (27th)
Today: 4.88 (27th)

Although both teams' starting staffs still have poor overall numbers, things are moving in the right direction - enough so that the members of both teams vaunted bullpen can put their muskets down for the time being.

Speaking of pitching, interesting report the other day on Junichi Tazawa, who seems to be the anti-Daisuke Matsuzaka in that he is pitching well - and efficiently. The Red Sox put their AA pitchers on 85-pitch limits. That would barely get Dice-K through the lineup once. Tazawa pitched into the 7th inning last time out on that limit.

Phillies: J.A. Happ finished off the sweep of the Padres last night, pitching seven scoreless innings in the 5-1 win. J.C. Romero gave up an unearned run in 1 1/3 innings - his 2009 debut. Ryan Howard hit another home run, but much of the ink went to Greg Dobbs, who got a rare start in right field, because of a running catch he made to end the 2nd inning with the bases loaded. It was a win-win for me because it was a solid drive by Padres pitcher Chris Young, right after Chris Wheeler said he looked futile at the plate. So, Wheels looked dumb without the Phillies getting hurt.

The Phils return to Los Angeles tonight for the first time since beating the Dodgers in the NLCS.

Red Sox: They also completed a sweep when Tim Wakefield got his seventh win this afternoon against the Tigers, 6-3. For the second straight game, Kevin Youkilis was removed with injury. David Ortiz did not make an out today. He was riding the pine. But he made news by saying he's going to try to end his slump with an eye exam - or maybe just being happier. I hope something works.

Pitchers' Civil War

One of the more interesting "Did we see the last start of Chan Ho Park's Phillies career?" stories was Jim Salisbury's column that suggests Park and the other struggling starters should be nervous about the fine season J.A. Happ is having.

He even likens Happ to a cattle prod to impose some urgency on the underperforming rotation.

He should have taken it a step further: The bullpen should be downright pissy with the starting rotation. And this could apply to both SoxandPhils.

The teams that are supposed to meet in the 2009 World Series (after the Rays botched the matchup in 2008) have two of the three worst starting staffs in baseball. Red Sox starters are 28th with a 5.76 ERA while the Phillies are dead last with a 6.35 ERA. (Each is more than a run worse than baseball's average; the Phillies are approaching two runs higher.)

But their bullpens have been pretty good. Red Sox relievers have been dominant - third with a 3.02 ERA while the Phillies are 12th with a 3.97 ERA. (Baseball's average is slightly less than 4.50.) And if you replaced Brad Lidge's awful line with an average reliever's - not even one of an elite closer - the Phillies' bullpen ERA would drop to 3.44.

Overall, the Red Sox are 21st with a 4.77 ERA (slightly worse than baseball's average) while the Phillies are 27th with a 5.39 ERA - almost a run higher than average.

Both teams expect to go far in the playoffs, but it's going to be hard with the starters pitching so poorly - especially when on paper each staff should be doing so much better.

Oops: Reading the box score yesterday, I didn't understand why Ramon Ramirez's run was unearned. The scorer has reversed it, so his ERA did rise to 0.86.

Holiday weekend starts with a thud

My company has a flexible work schedule - if you make up the hours during the rest of the week, you can leave early on Fridays. With the long weekend coming up and a Phillies game starting just before 2:30, I was definitely eager to cut out early this afternoon.

I guess I should have stayed at work.

My apologies for sounding like a broken record: good outing by starter Joe Blanton, too many men left on base (10), ineffective bullpen, blah blah. Cubs 3, Phillies 2. Before a pitch was throw in any other game today, the Phils had managed to lose ground. Sweet.

A new extra man: The Phillies seem to have acquired Matt Stairs from the Blue Jays. Greg thinks it's a pretty good pickup. I'm indifferent. The losing has made me numb. (If Greg were home, he would have jokingly threatened to cut me off from the Phillies by now. Maybe I get a bit overly dramatic when they go on skids like this. But come on, the last three games have just sucked.)

Sarge: Gary Matthews didn't say Cubbies or Phillies when he sang during the 7th inning today. He just held the microphone out to the crowd and let them handle it. His grandson Denver joined him in the booth for the singalong.

Red Sox: Josh Beckett was put on the DL, but it's retroactive to August 18. He's tentatively scheduled to pitch next Friday in Texas. Terry Francona says that Beckett's elbow examination went well and that nothing bad was found. The team also DL'd Sean Casey because of a strained neck.

The Red Sox are leading the White Sox 1-0 in the 2nd at home. Maybe they'll fare better against a Chicago team this weekend.

They're killing me

The first baseball game that I remember going to was against the Cubs. I believe it was a group outing, perhaps through a church; my parents, my brother and I were sitting up high and I remember that it was a hot day. I also remember that game because it featured Greg Maddux vs. Mike Maddux; the elder brother was the victor because the bullpen managed to not blow the game.

There was no sibling rivalry tonight, of course, but there was a decent starting pitching match-up between Cole Hamels and Ryan Dempster. Cole left with a 4-1 lead after seven innings. Unfortunately, his bullpen couldn't handle the three-run lead and lost it in the 8th. Cubs 6, Phillies 4.

This is getting pretty scary. The bullpen has been outstanding all year, and now it keeps blowing leads in the 8th inning. The Phillies won't be going anywhere unless the bullpen straightens itself out.

The Phillies also missed a chance to move into a tie for first with the idle Mets. They are now a full game back.

Singing update: For some reason Jim McMahon sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" tonight instead of Gary Matthews. Sarge will be featured tomorrow afternoon. Yes, after killing me with late games every day this week, the Friday game will be played at 2:20 p.m.

Josh Beckett: The Red Sox starter is going to have his elbow examined tomorrow by Dr. James Andrews in Alabama. Dr. Andrews, I just learned, is a specialist in Tommy John surgery. Uh-oh.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox relief pitchers are experiencing the same bad mojo as the Phils. Boston lost the game in the 9th on a walk-off single by Jason Giambi. Yankees 3, Red Sox 2.

The Rays won, putting the Red Sox at 4.5 games out. Their Wild Card lead is two games.

Back to normal

The Red Sox and Phillies won in typical fashion; the Sox blew by the Mariners 11-3, and the Philles beat the Braves 6-2.

The Phillies, as usual, kept it close enough, blowing a 2-0 lead in the 6th before putting away Atlanta late in the game. The winning hit was an RBI triple by Chase Utley, of course. Another three and two-thirds shutout innings by the bullpen.

In afternoon action, Tim Wakefield and the bats took care of Seattle with no apparent drama. Jacoby Ellsbury pinch ran, so maybe he'll be OK.

Kevin Youkilis ended his record error-less streak at 1B, and Manny Ramirez homered, somewhat mirroring the different directions they're headed in public opinion. Everyone thought Manny would wind up being the bad guy in their little spat the other night, but it turns out players say Youk is to blame. I guess the Greek God of Walks thinks only He knows the strike zone.

Nonetheless, the Sox appear to have circled the wagons, and it seems like this will be just a footnote in the season.

Sox-Phils interleague history, 1999: The Phillies won two of three in Fenway. We had just graduated from college and didn't have the extra money or vacation time, so we didn't go to any of the games. In the first game, Tim Wakefield, then a reliever, quashed a Phillies 8th inning rally (started by a Ron Gant triple) to save the 6-4 lead. In the finale, Randy Wolf pitched a strong seven and one-third innings, out-dueling Mark Portugal (then a Red Sox). Other winners: Brian Rose and Robert Person. Other losers: Paul Byrd and Bret Saberhagen.

Too tired to care right now

Remember that shed we bought at the end of March? We came home from a funeral this afternoon and decided today was the day to tackle it. We figured it would take only a few hours. We were wrong, and we didn't hit a breaking point until 10:20 tonight.

We had the Phillies on the radio this afternoon as we worked, so we heard about another clutch hit from Pat Burrell and another dominating outing by the bullpen against the Brewers. The Red Sox used to have a dominating bullpen. I, along with the debuting Justin Masterson, wonder what happened to it.

OK, the Angels got some revenge for last year's ALDS, and I've been humbled. Now it's time to get back to dominating.

A season takes its stride

A couple of signs tonight that the season is starting to get into its groove. When the Phillies were struggling but unable to take a lead in regulation, Christine started her whiny grumble for the first time of the year. When this happens, I threaten to cut her off from the game. She doesn't appreciate it.

Then, the game goes extra innings and will likely bump into our viewing of The Daily Show.

The Red Sox game was cruising along until (it appears from the box score) that Manny Delcarmen and Julian Taverez (I call him Orange Julius) decided to try to let the Tigers back into it. Now we've burned Hideki Okajima for 1/3 of an inning and Jonathan Papelbon for more than an inning in a 12-6 win the day before the Empire invades.

Hopefully the Yankees will continue playing like old men this weekend, and Jed Lowrie has a memorable debut.