Felger & Mazz: On Andrew Miller's Control Issues, "Dice-K's Better Than That"
Felger & Massarotti opened Thursday's show reveling in their receipt of the Bruins Championship DVD, remembering in particular Nathan Horton's well-publicized Pour-Gate.
Felger set the table for the open of the show with two questions: is Andrew Miller a train wreck and is it time to bench J.D. Drew in favor of Josh Reddick? Mazz answered the Miller question with a "yes, but," pointing out that while the Red Sox are 5-1 in Miller's six starts, Miller has an atrocious 3:15 K/BB ratio in his three starts against American League opponents. Between starts against offensively anemic teams like San Diego, Pittsburgh, Houston, and Baltimore, it is fair to say that Miller has not exactly been facing the upper echelon lineups so far. Felger added that in his only start against an above-average offense in Tampa, Miller did not even make it out of the 3rd inning last Friday night. Caller Jake chimed in just to say that Miller is not going to have to be a factor during the playoff run assuming the Red Sox have Lester, Beckett and Buchholz healthy to pitch.
Felger then moved on to the next topic, a lightning rod issue here in Boston: J.D. Drew. Does Mazz believe it is time to play Josh Reddick full-time given his torrid offensive run with the big league team so far? To Felger's utter dismay, Mazz unequivocally stated that he would start J.D. Drew in RF given Drew's past playoff heroics throughout his career including a grand slam in Game 7 of the 2007 ALCS against the Indians. Mazz did concede that he would have a short leash with Drew should he falter in Game 1 to put in Reddick immediately in Game 2. Felger even accused Mazz of illicit activity that has led him to his ridiculous assertion about Drew.
Caller Ross called in to discuss the disparity between playing a team like the Cleveland Indians instead of say, the Texas Rangers, making the Red Sox winning the AL East all the more urgent. The tandem continued to discuss how the potential league realignment could make winning the division in future years a way to avoid an extra Wild Card series like that of the playoff format.
Felger finished the segment, posing two questions for Mazz for the remainder of the show. Tune in to Felger and Mazz to hear the entire discussion and weigh in with your thoughts on the matter.
