Someone teach this guy about positive self-affirmations.
As of this morning, Garrett Crochet is second in all of baseball in innings pitched, fourth in ERA and ERA+, fourth in pitcher fWAR, and third in pitcher WPA. In other words, he has been every bit the ace he was supposed to be when the Red Sox traded a package of elite prospects for his services. But he’s not happy about his performance. In fact, he’s so disappointed with the way he’s pitched so far that he says he feels like he’s “getting away with murder.” (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
But one thing Crochet isn’t disappointed in was the Fenway crowd. He loves pitching in front of the Boston fans. (Rob Bradford, WEEI)
Unlike Crochet, Liam Hendriks doesn’t have a recent track record to assess. It’s been 680 days since he last played big league baseball and he can’t wait to get back on the mound. (Julian Benbow, Boston Globe)
Tanner Houck does have a recent track record to assess, but he’d probably rather not, given that it includes arguably the worst start in the history of Red Sox baseball. He and Andrew Bailey went into the lab following his embarrassing outing against the Rays and they hope they’ve figure some things out, particularly related to pitch location. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)
On the other side of the ball, let’s hope that Triston Casas has figured some things out, too. Last night’s wall-scraper was the first walk-off hit of Cassas’ career. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)
Casas and the rest of the lineup could get a boost from Connor Wong sooner than was originally feared. Alex Cora says the catcher, who is recovering from a broken pinky finger, could return in about two and a half weeks. (Tom Carroll, NESN)
Someday the lineup will get a boost from Roman Anthony, too, though not at first base, despite the clamoring from some parts of the fanbase. But that didn’t stop the WooSox social media team from having some fun with impatient Sox fans. (Jason Ounpraseuth, NESN)