Celts, Pats, Sox: Your Weekend Trifecta
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Here’s three mini columns for your weekend viewing pleasure:
CELTICS – Lost in what has been a fabulous season for the Patriots and a very eventful offseason for the Red Sox is the fantastic play of the Boston Celtics. They’re old, they’re banged up and all they continue to do is win games playing great team basketball.
Owners of a (21-4) record and a 12-game winning streak, the Celts were down to just 9 healthy bodies in their win over Atlanta Thursday night.
No Rajon Rondo. No Shaquille O’Neal. No Jermaine O’Neal. No Kendrick Perkins. No problem. The Big Three has risen to the challenge with Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett all playing very well. Having a healthy Garnett makes a huge difference for Doc Rivers’ team. The veteran forward was just a shadow of his former self a year ago but has returned to form this season.
In addition, Big Baby – Glen Davis has played as well as any 6th man in the NBA and Nate Robinson has proven to be more than an adequate back up for Rondo.
The rest of the NBA had better hope that this aging team isn’t healthy come playoff time because they could go from being a dangerous out to nearly impossible to beat.
PATRIOTS – No one, and I mean no one, had this team going (11-2) through its first 13 games and being as dominant as they are. But there is one very big reason for their success..
In a nutshell, their success this year and their recent dominance can be directly attributed to their ability to both take care of the football and to turn their opponents over.
The Pats have gone 5 straight games without turning the ball over which is an NFL record. Considering the fact that the NFL has been around since the 1920’s, I’d say that’s pretty darn impressive.
Also in the last 5 games, New England has forced 13 turnovers. Their +18 turnover margin for the season is the best in the NFL this year.
You can point to any statistical category you want, but the one that matters most in football is turnovers and the Patriots are dominating in that category.
What will be interesting to see is if they do have a game where they turn the ball over 2 or 3 times if they have the ability to fight through it and win.
RED SOX – Sox’ fans are fired up following all of the big moves made by the organization over the past couple of weeks and they should be. However, the team’s success in 2011 will still come down to their starting rotation.
On paper, Boston’s rotation is one of baseball’s best behind only that of the Philadelphia Phillies. But if 2011 is going to result in the organization’s 7th playoff appearance in the last 9 seasons, that rotation is going to have to perform up to par.{image_3)
Jon Lester has established himself as one of the premier lefties in the game and a true ace. He went (19-9) last season and there is every reason to believe that his dominance should continue this year.
Clay Buchholz is a different story. Buchholz came out of nowhere and pitched like an ace in 2010 going (17-7) with a microscopic 2.33 ERA. Anything close to that would be outstanding for Buchholz and the Sox next season. At worst, you have to pencil him in for 15 wins if he remains healthy.
Josh Beckett and John Lackey are a different story. Both were aces of their respective staffs in Boston and Anaheim before last season and both had very disappointing 2010 campaigns.
Everyone, including Beckett himself, would love to chalk up his (6-6) record and 5.78 ERA last season to injury. Let’s hope so. Beckett needs to remain healthy in 2011 and he needs to win 15+ games this season. If not, the rumblings of him being a power pitcher who is wearing down quickly will continue to grow even though he is only 30 years old.
Lackey is 32 and has been a workhorse for his entire career. While he was the ace of the Angels staff before coming to Boston, most baseball people look at him as more of a solid #2 starter.
Last season, Lackey went (14-11) but his ERA (4.40) was three-quarters of a run higher than his career average. If Lackey can get that ERA down close to or under 4.00, he will get the run support he needs from the Sox’ newly revamped offense to win 15-18 games.
The fifth spot is Boston’s rotation could be occupied by anyone. Right now Diasuke Matsuzaka is the favorite to hold down that spot over the likes of Tim Wakefield. Who the fifth starter is isn’t that significant.
Look around Major League Baseball. Most teams don’t have more than 1 or 2 quality starters much less four like the Red Sox have. Thus, the fifth spot in the rotation isn’t that significant. The only way it would become so is if one or more of Boston’s top four starters were to miss significant time due to injury.
The offense should produce, but it’s the pitching which needs to perform well for the Sox in 2011.
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