Posts tagged BartoloColon at FanHouse

With the playoff chase coming down to the wire, our MLB editor rounds up the five biggest pennant race stories in Eye Toward October.

- Champs Getting Stronger: The Red Sox have suddenly opened up a sizable four-game edge in the wild-card race after winning Tuesday while the White Sox and Twins lost. The news gets even better when you consider that Mike Lowell and Josh Beckett are set to return on Friday, with J.D. Drew and pitcher Bartolo Colon possibly returning next week.

It's easy to compare the 2008 Sox to the last Boston team that defended a title. Like this year's version, the 2005 team was ravaged by injuries to key players. There's one major difference, though, and that's the depth in the organization. GM Theo Epstein's vision of making the Red Sox a nine-figure player development machine has bloomed fully, and because of it Boston has a very real chance to repeat.

Their minor league system is among the most robust in the game, far different from the Dan Duquette era, and it's enabled the Red Sox to plug many of the holes they've had over the course of a trying season.

When Julio Lugo went down, Jed Lowrie came up and improved the team. When the team needed a spot starter for Josh Beckett, they turned to pitching prospect Michael Bowden. When the team needed another outfielder because of Drew's injury, they were able to deal a prospect with good upside for Mark Kotsay because of their minor league depth.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

Chicago White Sox (41-32) at Chicago Cubs (46-28) - 1:05 PM ET

Friday was the first time that both Chicago's baseball teams entered a series against each other in first place. The initial game did not disappoint, with Aramis Ramirez smacking two home runs, including the walk off extravaganza in the ninth to win the game for the Cubs. But the Cubs have more surprises for the White Sox. Before the game yesterday, Ozzie Guillen took another shot at Wrigley Field, saying that under the right field bleachers, there are "rats out there are lifting weights" while the assembled media laughed. Little does Guillen know that Lou Piniella is thinking about using a couple of those rats in key pinch hitting situations today. Then ... who will be laughing?

They say no news is good news. A ton of news, it follows, would be bad news. That's not quite the case for the Red Sox but it's definitely a mixed bag when it comes to the health of their pitching staff. The negative dispatches begin with Bartolo Colon.

The righthander went on the disabled list today after his humorous attempts at swinging a bat fouled up his back. Colon had done a nice job since joining the rotation but the team should be able to weather his loss without skipping too many beats. Daisuke Matsuzaka is set to be activated from the DL on Saturday, when Colon was next scheduled to start.

The really bad news is that if the rotation does need a shot in the arm at some point down the road, it's unlikely to come from Curt Schilling. He returned to Boston early so that he could meet with the team's medical director about his shoulder. Schilling was supposed to face live hitters soon but pitching coach John Farrell indicated that the schedule was going to be pushed back.

"He was optimistic. He was at the point of looking down at the calendar a little bit and put the pieces into potential dates. Now he seems to have hit a plateau."

Ah well, it just leaves Schilling more time to come to grips with the frailties of officiating. I'm already looking forward to hearing his thoughts on the gymnastics judging in Beijing later this summer.

Red Sox and Yankees fans don't often see eye-to-eye, but I have a feeling fans in Boston don't find Hank Steinbrenner's assertion that National League rules pose a danger to pitchers quite as laughable as fans everywhere else.

Chien-Ming Wang injured himself while running the bases, but Bartolo Colon was forced out of Monday's game simply trying to swing the bat. From Rob Bradford of the Boston Herald:

This occasion saw Colon attempting to bring his team back, trailing 4-0 with two outs in the fourth and runners at second and third. After a first-pitch fastball from Philadelphia's Cole Hamels, the Phillies starter came back with three straight changeups, all greeted by wild cuts from Colon.

[...] "I'm just trying to hit the ball," said the fireballer, who hadn't had a hit since 2005 and is 10-for-85 with 47 strikeouts in his career. "I'm not thinking about trying to get hurt."

It's a shame he wasn't thinking about his health -- those big cuts forced him out of the game after just four innings due to a sore lower back. Granted, unlike Wang, he's not going to miss most of the season, but it's still a shame to see a guy get hurt simply because he doesn't know how to protect himself. Steinbrenner's statement may have come across as a beligerent rant, but it doesn't make it any less true.

Update: Center Field has video of Colon's adventures at the plate.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

San Francisco Giants (30-40) vs. Detroit Tigers (32-37) - 10:05PM Est.

It's been a very odd year for the Detroit Tigers. After getting off to a horrible start this season, there have been times when they seem to be getting their act together and then suddenly they're horrible again in the blink of an eye. As Joe Morgan would probably say if you asked him about it, "I'm friends with Gary Sheffield." "They're consistently inconsistent."

Still, after sweeping the division-leading Chicago White Sox last week, I asked the question if this was the start of the Tigers turnaround. Was it a sign of things to come?

Well, the Tigers didn't stop there as they followed that sweep with another one against the Dodgers this weekend, and they've now won six in a row to creep back into the race.

While things eventually cooled off between the Rays and Red Sox last night, tempers were still heated in the Red Sox dugout. Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis had to be separated just before the start of the fifth inning. According to MLB.com, Ramirez even took a swing at his teammate, though it's hard to tell from the video featured in that article.

So what was it all about? Not surprisingly, no one would say after the game. From Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe:

"I think they were just exchanging some views on things," he said. "We had a lot of testosterone going tonight. It was kind of a hectic night. Sometimes those things happen. It wasn't really a big deal, it won't be a big deal, it happens. We'll get by that one. In fact, it's been handled and we'll move on from that one."

You have to wonder if the views they were exchanging had something to do with Youk not being happy that Manny was one of the last players to reach the scrum earlier in the game -- even Bartolo Colon waddled out there before Manny arrived. Whatever the case, these are problems most teams would love to have: by winning their third straight last night, the Sox are just a game behind the Angels for the best record in the league.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Boston Red Sox (29-19) vs. Kansas City Royals (21-24) - 7:05PM Est.

Let's take a look at how the first two games of this series have gone for the Kansas City Royals. On Monday they were no-hit by Jon Lester, and on Tuesday they were beaten by rookie Justin Masterson as he picked up the first win of his Major League career.

Today things get no better as the Royals are preparing to uncomfortably bend over an examining table, and get their colon's checked by the Round Mound of...um...Pounds? That's right! Bartolo Colon is back, and he's ready to make his very first start as a member of Red Sox Nation.

Will he be responsible for the Royals leaving Boston walking uncomfortably, or will the Royals come out of their check-up with flying colors and salvage a game in Beantown?

Spot starts are always risky propositions. Well, not always, unless they're guaranteed starters, like your Brandon Webbs and what have you. Anyway, if you're going to gamble, gamble large. And almost no one is larger than Bartolo Colon. He got the call-up and he'll be starting this week (with a bonus two starts next week!), so why not take the dive into the buffet bar and see what the fat man can bring you?

Five Up
Bartolo Colon, BOS -- He once won a Cy Young. Boston scores a lot. There's something fun about cheering for Bartolo. Maybe. He also recently dealt in his minor league rehab start.

Andy Sonnanstine, TB -- Sonny (does that even work) gets little to no love ... yet. But he's pitched well this year, he doesn't allow a ton of home runs and doesn't issue a ton of walks. Which means Oakland will have to swing. Like the odds.

Jered Weaver, LAA -- He's been dealing lately, since I privately called him a "loser", for nothing other than familial reasons. Which kind of makes me the loser. Play the hot hand.

Aaron Laffey, CLE -- How can you not keep starting this guy? He's white hot. And everyone's focusing on CC and Cliff these days, letting Laffey fly under the radar.

Getting the jump on injured, rehabbing or struggling players can help win your fantasy leagues. Stash tells you what your play is for these guys.

For those late to the party, the Red Sox signed someone in the off-season who was just two years removed from winning a freaking Cy Young. Turning 35 late next week, he's not ancient by any stretch. He is, however, fat.

Yep, good ol' Bartolo Colon still checks in at 250 while not even standing six feet tall ... but he's no ordinary fat man. He can throw a baseball really hard.

The signing made sense for the Red Sox, with Curt Schilling's injury woes and the unpredictability of youngster Clay Buchholz. Now Buchholz is on the DL with a broken fingernail (I'm sure he's quite chagrined to be sidelined with that -- but fingers matter to pitchers), and the Sox are going to need a replacement for the short-term beginning Tuesday.

Meanwhile Colon has been studly in Triple-A. He entered Thursday with a 1.12 ERA and 0.75 WHIP in eight innings. The seven-to-one K/BB looked enticing as well.

Thursday, the numbers only got better.

The Red Sox are probably the last team about which one would think "boy, do they need some help with their pitching!", but they've added another name to their list of available hurlers in Bartolo Colon. Several teams, including the White Sox and Cardinals, had expressed an interest in Colon during the off-season, but the Sox managed to woo him with promises of a winning season and playoff contention and signed him to a minor league contract; if he makes the major league roster he would earn $1.2 million.

The large and in charge former Angel was once a Cy Young winning dominator, but over the past two years injuries have thwarted his pitching performance. After starting 33 games to the tune of a 3.48 ERA during his 2005 Cy Young season, he started just 10 in 2006 and 18 in 2007 and combined for a 5.72 ERA during those two dismal years. Despite those poor numbers and the fact that the Sox really don't need another fat guy on their team (I'd think that Manny and Papi had that market cornered), the Sox are hoping that they'll be able to work with Bartolo while he continues to rehab his shoulder and elbow injuries.