Drew Pomeranz On Rough Red Sox Debut: 'That's Not Me Out There'
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Drew Pomeranz could not have had a worse debut in a Red Sox uniform. Perhaps it's good to hit rock bottom early rather than later.
Pomeranz is obviously not as bad as he looked in the fourth inning Wednesday night when he allowed seven straight baserunners and five runs without making an out before being mercifully pulled from the game by John Farrell. But he set an ominous tone for those who questioned or criticized Dave Dombrowski's decision to trade top pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza to acquire him.
Despite looking visibly shaken on the mound after allowing five runs in what some fans at the Fenway concession stands may have missed, Pomeranz did not sound as unnerved when he spoke to reporters after the game. He's forgetting about Wednesday night's debacle and is already look toward his next outing against the Detroit Tigers.
"I take it one day at a time and by tonight, I'll flush everything. That's not me out there," said Pomeranz.
While Pomeranz admitted that he "just felt a little off" after a 13-day layoff between starts, he held himself accountable for what he deemed poor fastball command in his disastrous fourth inning.
"I was going along pretty good in the first three [innings]," said Pomeranz. "I made some bad fastball location pitches and they made me pay for it.
"I was a little off with my rhythm and timing tonight and my fastball kind of kept shooting back over the plate, and that's never good against guys any time in this league."
It's often appropriate to evaluate the resolve of a pitcher not by how they pitch on good nights, but by how they respond to bad ones. The fact that the Red Sox scored enough runs to overcome Pomeranz's poor outing doesn't mask the overuse of the bullpen, which Pomeranz looks to make up for in his next outing.
"It's frustrating; I've been in the bullpen, I know what it's like to be one of those guys. I take that to heart," said Pomeranz. "I feel bad running those guys out there that much and that early, but I'll get out there in five days and I'm going to do my best to get them back. They picked me up. ...Everybody that came in did a really good job, so it's my turn to pick them up next time."
As we've learned from presumptive "ace" David Price repeatedly saying he will get better as he continues to struggle with his consistency, talk is cheap. Pomeranz can say he will pick his teammates up, but he will need to go out and actually do it to earn the confidence of Red Sox Nation. He promised that wasn't him; he'd better be right.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
