when the ballpark was only 4 years old and Boston was on its way to its second World Series le in a row. Ruth beat the New York Yankees on June 22 and Ernie Shore edged the Philadelphia Athletics on June 23, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
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Young arms have kept Red Sox on top
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Dayn Perry / Special to FOXSports.com
Posted: 12 hours ago
Although the Boston Red Sox's lead in the AL East has been slipping in a hurry, they're still on pace for 98 wins and their first division le since 1995.
The Red Sox's success this season is mostly the result of David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis and the rest of their potent offense (they rank third in the AL in runs scored). However, another vital component has been the contributions of Boston's rookie pitchers.
Coming into 2006, Boston figured to lean heavily on veteran stalwarts such as Josh Beckett, Matt Clement, David Wells, Keith Foulke and Julian Tavarez. Instead, those five hurlers have combined for a 5.65 ERA this season and spent a ulative 160 days on the disabled list (and that's not counting Tavarez's 10-game suspension in April). Those shortfalls placed a greater onus on Boston's young arms, and, fortunately for Sox partisans, their young arms have responded in tremendous fashion.
Jonathan Papelbon, Jon Lester, Manny Delcarmen and Craig Hansen — rookies all — have teamed up for 124 innings and a 2.25 ERA. The greatest of these, of course, is Papelbon. The Sox's closer this season has worked 47 innings, whiffed 48, walked only eight, given up only 27 hits and posted an ERA of 0.56. He's on pace to work 80 frames this year, and if that ERA holds up it will be the best mark in baseball history for a pitcher working at least 80 innings. (Incidentally, second place would belong to Tim Keefe and his 0.86 ERA from way back yonder in 1880.) Papelbon is also on target to rather easily break Kazuhiro Sasaki's 2000 record for saves by a rookie (37).
To etch Papelbon's dominance in sharper relief, let's compare his projected numbers from this season to some of the great closer campaigns in history:
Great Closer Campaigns in History
Closer IP ERA Saves K BB Opp. OPS
Jonathan Papelbon ('06)* 80.0 0.56 45 80 13 .435
Dennis Eckersley ('92) 80.0 1.91 51 93 11 .548
Rollie Fingers ('81) 78.0 1.04 28 61 13 .512
Eric Gagne ('03) 82.1 1.20 55 137 20 .375
Rich Gossage ('77) 133.0 1.62 26 151 49 .503
Trevor Hoffman ('98) 73.0 1.48 53 86 21 .461
Mariano Rivera ('05) 78.1 1.38 43 80 18 .465
John Smoltz ('03) 64.1 1.12 45 73 8 .511
Bruce Sutter ('77) 107.1 1.34 31 129 23 .502
It's not an exhaustive list, but, as you can see, Papelbon is cobbling together one of the great closer seasons in the annals of the sport. Taking into account all elements of pitching game, Gagne's 2003 campaign was probably tops, but Papelbon has a case. It's a special season no matter how you massage the numbers.
Still, the Sox's rookie pitching corps boasts more than just Papelbon. Jon Lester was called up on June 10 because of the injuries of David Wells and the ineffectiveness of David Pauley. Since then, Lester has made seven starts for Boston with a 2.70 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 37.1 innings. Lester's control needs work, but those are common straits for a hard-throwing young lefty. Going forward, his fastball-cutter-curve arsenal should afford him continued success. With Wells and Clement still sidelined and with Tim Wakefield's back acting up, the Sox will rely on Lester down the stretch.
In the bullpen, there's Manny Delcarmen and Craig Hansen. Delcarmen this season has worked 27.2 innings this season with a 3.25 ERA and a 3.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and he just recently ended a streak of eight outings in which allowed neither a run nor a walk. Delcarmen underwent Tommy John surgery in 2003, but his velocity and command are better than their pre-operation levels. In the minors, Delcarmen battled control problems from time to time, but in 2006 he's been stingy with the walks without compromising his stuff.
As for Hansen, he's just getting acclimated to the majors. Before Papelbon assumed the role, Hansen, a product of St. John's University in New York, was regarded as Boston's closer of the future. His ERA stands at 4.20, but it's been on a steady downward trend since an initial rough outing. Hansen's fastball approaches triple digits, and he cultivated a closer's mentality during his college days. Boston hoped to have him pitch high-leverage innings down the stretch last season, but a tired arm in September snuffed out those plans. Still, Hansen's command and classic power arsenal should make him an excellent setup man at the highest level. Once he logs more innings, expect that ERA to plummet. He'll be used in more and more critical situations as the season deepens.
Overall, it is, as mentioned, the offense that's ferrying the Red Sox toward their fourth consecutive postseason berth, but without the bestowals of four rookie pitchers, they'd be lagging the Yankees by a comfortable margin right now. It's received wisdom that high-payroll, perennial contenders are loath to rely on rookies to such a degree, but Terry Francona, Theo Epstein and the rest of the Red Sox have benefited from giving the ball to these rooks and letting them do their thing.
