Post by Admin on Aug 8, 2016 18:28:13 GMT -5
www.bostonherald.com/sports/red_sox/2016/08/silverman_david_prices_problems_continue_to_bewilder
Another uninspiring start from southpaw
Credit: AP
LOS ANGELES — The Red Sox lost all three of David Price’s starts on their 11-game road trip.
Price was pretty good in the first two starts, but in the third, he wasn’t nearly good enough.
Last night against the Dodgers, Price lasted just five innings and allowed six runs (three earned) and five walks while striking out just three. He received and deserved the loss in the final game of a long road trip that tilted the register to 5-6 for the Red Sox.
For somebody who was supposed to carry the team on his shoulders way more often than not, and way, way, way more often than he actually has — 9-8 record, 4.34 ERA after 24 starts — Price stood in the visitors' clubhouse at Dodger Stadium after the 8-5 loss giving another in a long line of despondent postgame interviews.
Price certainly is not expressing an ounce of satisfaction with much of this inconsistent and unreliable debut season with his new team.
He also cannot express clear answers for what’s going wrong. Nobody seems to be able to. It’s becoming more and more bewildering to watch and listen to.
“That’s the worst that I’ve commanded the baseball in a game in a long time. I made some really good pitches and then didn’t make some good ones,” Price said. “They waited me out, had some good takes. That’s part of it.”
Price pitched splendidly the first three innings but then the fourth began with a Justin Turner home run. Then three baserunners got on, aided and abetted by an error by third baseman Brock Holt. A two-run double by Rob Segedin — yes, that Rob Segedin, making his big league debut — put the Dodgers on top 3-2.
There was still plenty of time left for the Red Sox to mount a rally, or Price to simply clamp down on the Dodgers lineup — or, heaven forbid, a combination of the two — but neither occurred.
The fifth inning featured two more walks, another error, this one a bad toss by shortstop Xander Bogaerts, and another two-run hit, this one a single from notorious Red Sox killer Rob Segedin. Three more Dodgers runs were enough to make Price’s day a short and tidy five innings and 100 pitches long.
“I always expect to win; absolutely, that’s part of it,” said Price, who has won just once since the All-Star break and one other time since May 24. “The first 10 starts of the year I was terrible and won a lot of baseball games. Then I started throwing the ball a lot better and just good things weren’t happening.
“That’s part of it. I’m going to continue to work and continue to put everything I have into this game and I expect to get good results.”
Manager John Farrell placed his customary emphasis on the positive first before conceding the obvious that Price’s performance was not up to snuff.
“Certainly the walks built up in the fourth and fifth innings,” Farrell said. “I thought he had very good stuff and cruised through the first three. I still thought he had very good stuff even in the fifth inning, missed with a couple of I thought borderline pitches with (Yasmani) Grandal and then Segedin.
“Still, to get to that point, any time you give a team an extra out, and in back-to-back innings, it’s going to come back to haunt — and today it did.”
Farrell wanted to keep the emphasis almost anywhere but on Price’s performance. He preferred to look at the three starts as a whole, without focusing much on the ultimate result, which were three losses.
“Actually he’s in a position to win both games, the first two of the three starts on this trip,” Farrell said. “Coming into today I thought he pitched very well, his last two times out 15 innings pitched with four runs allowed, and that was in the final innings of the game in Seattle for the four runs in that ballgame.
“Anytime you’ve got your lead guy on the mound, you’re looking to take away a win. That wasn’t the case, we’ve given a couple of games away defensively, that came back to bite us.”
Whether or not Price is good or not, the Red Sox have been losing his starts. When a poor start combines with a loss, the look is unflattering . . . like Price’s entire season.
Another uninspiring start from southpaw
Credit: AP
LOS ANGELES — The Red Sox lost all three of David Price’s starts on their 11-game road trip.
Price was pretty good in the first two starts, but in the third, he wasn’t nearly good enough.
Last night against the Dodgers, Price lasted just five innings and allowed six runs (three earned) and five walks while striking out just three. He received and deserved the loss in the final game of a long road trip that tilted the register to 5-6 for the Red Sox.
For somebody who was supposed to carry the team on his shoulders way more often than not, and way, way, way more often than he actually has — 9-8 record, 4.34 ERA after 24 starts — Price stood in the visitors' clubhouse at Dodger Stadium after the 8-5 loss giving another in a long line of despondent postgame interviews.
Price certainly is not expressing an ounce of satisfaction with much of this inconsistent and unreliable debut season with his new team.
He also cannot express clear answers for what’s going wrong. Nobody seems to be able to. It’s becoming more and more bewildering to watch and listen to.
“That’s the worst that I’ve commanded the baseball in a game in a long time. I made some really good pitches and then didn’t make some good ones,” Price said. “They waited me out, had some good takes. That’s part of it.”
Price pitched splendidly the first three innings but then the fourth began with a Justin Turner home run. Then three baserunners got on, aided and abetted by an error by third baseman Brock Holt. A two-run double by Rob Segedin — yes, that Rob Segedin, making his big league debut — put the Dodgers on top 3-2.
There was still plenty of time left for the Red Sox to mount a rally, or Price to simply clamp down on the Dodgers lineup — or, heaven forbid, a combination of the two — but neither occurred.
The fifth inning featured two more walks, another error, this one a bad toss by shortstop Xander Bogaerts, and another two-run hit, this one a single from notorious Red Sox killer Rob Segedin. Three more Dodgers runs were enough to make Price’s day a short and tidy five innings and 100 pitches long.
“I always expect to win; absolutely, that’s part of it,” said Price, who has won just once since the All-Star break and one other time since May 24. “The first 10 starts of the year I was terrible and won a lot of baseball games. Then I started throwing the ball a lot better and just good things weren’t happening.
“That’s part of it. I’m going to continue to work and continue to put everything I have into this game and I expect to get good results.”
Manager John Farrell placed his customary emphasis on the positive first before conceding the obvious that Price’s performance was not up to snuff.
“Certainly the walks built up in the fourth and fifth innings,” Farrell said. “I thought he had very good stuff and cruised through the first three. I still thought he had very good stuff even in the fifth inning, missed with a couple of I thought borderline pitches with (Yasmani) Grandal and then Segedin.
“Still, to get to that point, any time you give a team an extra out, and in back-to-back innings, it’s going to come back to haunt — and today it did.”
Farrell wanted to keep the emphasis almost anywhere but on Price’s performance. He preferred to look at the three starts as a whole, without focusing much on the ultimate result, which were three losses.
“Actually he’s in a position to win both games, the first two of the three starts on this trip,” Farrell said. “Coming into today I thought he pitched very well, his last two times out 15 innings pitched with four runs allowed, and that was in the final innings of the game in Seattle for the four runs in that ballgame.
“Anytime you’ve got your lead guy on the mound, you’re looking to take away a win. That wasn’t the case, we’ve given a couple of games away defensively, that came back to bite us.”
Whether or not Price is good or not, the Red Sox have been losing his starts. When a poor start combines with a loss, the look is unflattering . . . like Price’s entire season.