Red Sox Notes: Lowrie in a funk; Matsuzaka's walks & wins; Papelbon's pirate name

As mean as it is to say, Red Sox Nation rejoiced when Julio Lugo was put on the DL and Jed Lowrie was called up to help out at short... but Lowrie went 0-4 in his first game back and he and the Sox could be victims of bad timing here...

After batting .348 in May and .3087 in June, Lowrie was just 6-34 (.176) before the call up, knocking his average down to .268... the exact same BA as Lugo.

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After Matsuzaka's maddening 5 walk, 7 strikeout performance yesterday, I had to look and see if anyone else was having success while walking this many guys... this is what I found:

Matsuzaka: 57 walks - 10-1, 2.65 ERA, 77 SO, 16 GS
AJ Burnett: 57 walks - 10-8, 4.96 ERA, 126 SO, 20 GS
E. Volquez: 56 walks - 12-3, 2.29 ERA, 126 SO, 19 GS
R. Dempster: 50 walks - 10-4, 3.25 ERA, 104 SO, 20 GS

These four starters have managed to defy the odds and post winning records an respectable ERAs despite walking 50+ batters through the first half. The have a combined record of 42-16 (0.72 W%) and a 3.19 ERA.

The other 15 starters with 50+ walks have a combined record of 88-110 (0.44 W%) and a 4.60 ERA.

One interesting aspect of this list however is that it includes six 100+ strikeout pitchers... Daiuske only has 77, a far cry from the 123 he had at the break in '07, but he still posts the best winning of group (10-1, 0.90 W%).

Bottom Line: Watching Matsuzaka pitch has become as frustrating as trying to hit that final cup in your 10th straight game of beer pong, but he's winning games, and as long as he continues mix in the K's and the insanely low BAA (.202) he should keep winning games.

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Lastly, Center Field caught Jonathan Papelbon revealing the "pirate names" of he and his bullpen mates...