He’s so fat, that when people see him walking down the street they say “My God, that guy is SOOOOO Fat!”

(Globe Photo, and you have to love their headline too - Colon Comes Up Big

But who cares? If you ask me, the radar gun was sporadically overclocking last night becuase Colon and Brett Tomko were both hitting 94-95 MPH once in a while and I’m not sure I really believe that one. Most of Colon’s fastballs were coming in around 90 however, which is much more believable.

And he did look pretty good. Granted, it was the Royals who have now scored 4 runs in 3 games here at Fenway, but still. They are (mostly) major leaguers who can hit, and just didn’t.

Yes, Colon actually pitched quite well. Not outstanding, but well. Aside from having some zip on his fastball, he located well too. He threw 74 pitches with 62% coming as strikes. He walked 2 and gave up 6 hits, but nobody hit the ball terribly hard. His 4 strikeouts may not seem like many, but in 5 innings, that is a good start to his ratio this year.

So what should we expect from Fat Boy from here on out? Well, hopefully he can throw more than 74 pitches next time out to start. If I had to guess, the Sox will be looking for about 120 innings from Colon this year, which will probably come in 16-18 total starts. This means he may actually have 10-win potential, though it will probably be more like 7-8. But hey, 7-8 wins from a guy who was unemployed in March is pretty good (Ask the Cardinals how they like having Kyle Lohse this year).

He’s certainly not a real replacement for Curt Schilling, but he could come close. Even if he can bridge the gap between now and Schilling’s return that should come around August, this move will be a success. It’s certainly better than bringing up Kyle Snyder or other rookies for spot starts every week. Trust me, they all aren’t Justin Masterson - you don’t want your AAA pitching staff being a part of the rotation (again, ask St. Louis how that’s been working for them in the past couple years).

Other obvious benefits of having Bartolo Colon on the team include insider information on where the best all you can eat Taco night’s are (and Jacoby Ellsbury won’t even have to steal a base to get them for free), advice on how to pitch with a beer in your hand (missing since David Wells left), and where to buy 56 inch belts. I hear Colon’s store is way better than Schillings!

So far the Red Sox brass look like geniuses by signing tubby since he’s now 1-0, and let’s hope he can keep it up. See you at all you can eat taco night.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 11:09 am and is filed under Game Recaps, General Postings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.