Sox Thoughts - Later Lopez!

Okay well he’s not techically gone, but I have to say I am very pleased with that Daniel Bard has taken Javier Lopez’s spot on the roster.  I’ve mentioned time and time again that I’m sure Lopez is the nicest guy in the world, but he isn’t reliable to have on the mound.  Bard, on the other hand, is going to be very exciting to watch when he makes his Major League debut – as long as his debut isn’t at 1:00am Eastern Time. 

That’s right, we’re on the West Coast for the next week.  The only good thing I can say about this is that hopefully I’ll be able to watch both the Bruins AND the Red Sox without having the luxury of NESN plus on my television.  Bruins – let’s try to avoid both elimination AND overtime tonight, please.

Back to the Bard – I’m excited about watching Bard pitch for other reasons besides him taking Lopez’s sport.  I saw Bard pitch on NESN last summer when they were broadcasting the AA Portland Seadogs game.  Although Bard was having control issues that night (which kept him in AA for the remainder of the season) he was throwing as fast as 98 mph the night I was watching.  When watching Bard come out of the bullpen for the Sox, get ready to see some heat, but remember he’s new and might still have some of those control issues yet.  Although I’d love to see Bard flourish in the big leagues, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him go back down to AAA before the All Star Break. 

In any event, we’ll get to see how Justin Masterson does on the mound after struggling in his last start (6.1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 3 BB, 6 K).  If he does struggle again tonight, hold back your concern folks.   It just may be that he’s a bullpen guy and that he’s not comfortable being in the rotation yet.   At the same time he might be our guy for another start anyway, seeing as Dice-K isn’t due to join the Sox again until May 19^th.  (Good news is he tossed four shutout innings on Sunday).

Seeing as I only have seven hours to prep for the game tonight, I better get crackin’.

Keep the Faith!