Red Sox / Blue Jays - Game 4

The Red Sox won 6-5 last night behind the solid starting pitching of Bronson Arroyo and an offense that went 9-34 with 2 HR. Trot Nixon hit one of the HR - so hopefully that gets him off the snide.

Two areas continue to be a bit of a concern for the Red Sox:

1. Edgar Renteria's slow start. He went 0-4 last night and is now just 2-17 for the season. He's a career .267 hitter in April - so a slow start doesn't seem to be anything new. I guess we just have to be patient. Meanwhile Orlando Cabrera is also just hitting just .167 (2-12) - so maybe a slow start is some sort of Columbian tradition.

2. Keith Foulke had some struggles last night and so far his ERA for the season is 9.00. I'm not worried about Foulke but I am intrigued with what the possible cause of the rash of closer problems might be. League wide - all the closers seem to be having problems.

I happen to think that Toronto is really a team on the rise. I think JP Riccardi has done a very good job in putting the pieces in place to field a young competitive team. They may not be in the hunt this year but next year when they get some cash to add some mid-level free agents I think they will contend for a playoff spot.

Riccardi is smart enough to grab some Millar, Mueller, Ortiz type players and I'm bothered by people who take shots at him for the job he has done so far. These are the same people who criticize Toronto for letting Carlos Delgado go. Having one or two big names on a roster does not a winner make. Oh and just for comparison sake here's what Delgado has done so far compared to what his replacement, Eric Hinske, has done:

Hinske: .333 BA / 2 HR / 4 R / 4 RBI / 1.301 OPS
Delgado: .375 BA / 0 HR / 1 R / 3 RBI / 1.000 OPS

I'd expect Delgado to outpace Hinske over the long term but I think it will be close enough to more than justify the huge difference in salaries. One last Delgado thought - I always thought of him as sort of a Mo Vaughn type player and I'd expect maybe one more excellent season, one mediocre season and then one season where Marlin fans all complain about his huge contract.