| 04 September 2009
Can Paul Byrd do it again?
Like a scene from Major League, the Red Sox called Paul Byrd back in August and asked him if he'd like to pitch in the majors again. He didn't have a "guy on the other line about some white-walls" but he was coaching little league baseball.
A few weeks later, Byrd was blanking the Blue Jays at Fenway Park.
Now he gets the Chicago White Sox... an offense even more inept that the Jays - espeically now that Jim Thome is in LA. The White Sox 11th in the AL with 612 runs scored and 10th with a .259 team BA, but they've been even worse as of late, scoring just 3.4 runs per game in the last three series.
Sounds like a recipe for success for the Sox and Byrd, right?
Well... here's the icing on the cake: Thanks to his time spent in the AL Central, Byr has logged an 8-3 record and 4.43 ERA in 15 starts agains the Chi-Sox. He's also 4-1 with a 4.31 ERA at US Cellular Field.
The White Sox will counter with Freddy Garcia... assuming he can stay healthy between now and 7:00PM. We just saw Freddy on August 23rd, when he allowed 3 runs through 6 innings and took a no-decision in a 6-3 loss.
As always, Tito will have to decide who starts and who sits tonight, but it might be worth noting that righties are hitting a whopping .393 against him right now... Tek has started once in the past five days and he caught Byrd's first start, so I expect him to be in there tonight.
Personally, I'd like to see Mikey Lowell get the start at third and give V-Mart a rest, but we'll see how Tito pays it. See you in the Open Thread at 6:00PM EST.
Bottom Line: Ba-ba-ba Byrd, Byrd, Byrd... Byrd is the word!
Enjoy the holiday weekend and be sure to tune in to The Baseball Show on Comcast SportsNet New England this Saturday morning to see me and Felger debate which AL West team is more scary... the Halos or those upstart Rangers.
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