Since when is 75 pitches over 5 innings considered particularly "efficient"?

17-12 projects to 95 wins. That could leave you on the bubble right up to the last week for the AL East title. But in the wild card era you would think 95 wins gets you into October Madness anyways.

great for Dice-k...i'm excited (i know, it's just spring training) but our starters have been pretty solid!...
Yesterday in Espn Deportes' "Beisbol Esta Noche" (it's the spanish version of baseball tonight of ESPN), former player Carlos Baerga picked Dice-K to win the cy young this year...i agree with him, i'm thinking this would be his year!!...

Projecting from spring training is a bit of a lark, but 17-12 does project to 95 wins. I don't think any one has missed the wild card with 94 wins. Here are the teams that missed with 93 wins:

2005: Cleveland
2003: Seattle
2002: Seattle and Boston

great for Dice-k...i'm excited (i know, it's just spring training) but our starters have been pretty solid!...
Yesterday in Espn Deportes' "Beisbol Esta Noche" (it's the spanish version of baseball tonight of ESPN), former player Carlos Baerga picked Dice-K to win the cy young this year...i agree with him, i'm thinking this would be his year!!...

75 pitches over five averages out to 15 pitches an inning. for sven inn ings that would be 105 pitches. For Dice-K, that's pretty efficient.

75 pitches over 5 innings = averages 5 pitches per out = 105 pitches through 7 innings for the pen to take over the 8th and 9th. While that is not the model of efficiency, that is pretty good for any starter in this era, and certainly for a "strike-out" pitcher as opposed to a junkball pitcher. For Matsuzaka, 5 pitches/out would be a marked improvement in efficiency from the last couple of years. Clearly, he has always been capable of pitching more aggressively, but has been reluctant to do so since his early appearances with the Red Sox when the defense up the middle couldn't deliver. That was a different team back then. He now has Pedroia and Ellsbury behind him and that should help. Matuszaka just needs to learn to trust his team and use the defense behind him. The SS is obviously a big concern, still.

"Clearly, he has always been capable of pitching more aggressively, but has been reluctant to do so since his early appearances with the Red Sox when the defense up the middle couldn't deliver. That was a different team back then. He now has Pedroia and Ellsbury behind him and that should help."

That might be a potential point if not for the fact the Sox had the best up the middle defense they've had all decade since signing Matsuzaka. Pedroia was the opening day second baseman and Crisp is actually a bit better of a fielder than Ellsbury is. The defense really hasn't changed much the last few years.

**Off Topic**

For a guy who wants to "move on" and doing what "is right for me," John Smoltz sure seems to be hanging around the Braves clubhouse a lot. By his own choice, he is an EX-Brave.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Monday, March 30, 2009

Lake Buena Vista, Fla. — John Smoltz isn’t expected to pitch for Boston until June, but the (ex-) Braves icon didn’t pass up a chance to visit with some former teammates and manager Bobby Cox on Monday when the Red Sox came to Disney’s Wide World of Sports.

Smoltz, who’s rehabbing from June shoulder surgery, worked out at Champion Stadium before the Braves’ 4-3 win against Boston, and planned to spend the afternoon golfing with his pal Tiger Woods.

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AP
Kenshin Kawakami was charged with four hits and two runs in six innings, with two walks and four strikeouts against the Red Sox Monday.
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“It’s weird,” Smoltz said of returning to visit the Braves clubhouse, where his gregarious personality and booming voice were dominant features for so long before this spring.

“Any time you’ve been somewhere and known a lot of guys — I’ve known Chipper [Jones] forever and known [Tom] Glavine forever — you miss it. You go back to all the times you had.

“I’ll always be a part of it. But now, more or less, for it to work for me, you move on.”

After pitching for only the Braves in his previous 20 major league seasons, Smoltz jumped to the Red Sox in January, signing a guaranteed $5.5 million contract that could be worth up to about $10 million with performance incentives.

The guaranteed portion of the Braves’ offer was less than half as much. Smoltz wasn’t pleased by quotes attributed to Braves officials following his decision to sign with Boston.

He has expressed that displeasure in several interviews since the decision. But Monday, Smoltz, who turns 42 in May, sounded content.

“I’m fine,” he said. “I really am. I’m on a whole new plan, in a whole new situation. You get remnants of … I miss the heck out of Orlando. It’s a great place. Any time you spend a lot of time somewhere, it’s great to reminisce.

“But’s it’s going to be like opposites — I’m not in the same league, not in the same division, so it’s not going to be anything other than a whole new challenge for me. And given the circumstances, now that I’m two months removed, I think of what could have been, and I could be doing nothing right now, realistically.

“So given the way things happened, it’s been a great transition. It really has. And they [Red Sox] have made it great.”

Daisuke takes the next step this year...top 5 Cy Young Voting, 18-5, 3.25.

be quite an offseason pickup. When Julio gets back, he will either be his Tampa self or, if he repeats 2007-08, will be on the DL for 6 months. Daisuke may have finally realized he has really tight defense behind him at every position. He threw first and second strikes today, with confidence and command. He would have thrown maybe 65 pitches today except for Youk's rare error which set up a run instead of ending an inning. The game was a sell out, and it seemed that most were Sox fans, and they sang Sweet Caroline loud & clear. Nice touch by the Braves. And the stadium was actually clean, kept clean by a regiment of cleaners in Disney outfits. Strange.

I think he's gonna drive us crazy again this year nibbling at the strike zone. His starts seem to last forever. You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

I agree - I think this is going to be a great year for him. Last year he aspired to win games to match his uniform number of 18. I say we get rid of Wakefield and give Dice K his number. Go Dice K! Seven innings, 5 pitchs per batter might make his games go quicker too, resulting in more sleep for all of us. Efficiency all around!

dice K for cy young?...I'm going with lester....if he can develope the change-up he's working on watch out!...GO SOX!