In one of the odder twists to the current Boston campaign, given what Lackey was going through early on, he has once again started to become a figure of dependability. With three members of the original starting rotation on the disabled list, another trying to work through some knee issues and a pair of replacements getting knocked around in their most recent outings, Lackey has seemingly turned a corner.
With a workmanlike effort in a win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday, Lackey, the man who authored some disastrous starts earlier in the year while wrestling with an elbow issue, is now third on the staff in starts, innings and wins and continuing to climb those rankings as some of his colleagues sit with question marks hanging over their respective heads.
In the 9-5 victory over the Rays, Lackey overcame a rocky first inning in which his defense did little to help him out, falling one out shy of picking up his sixth quality start of the season. He allowed just one run (on a Matt Joyce solo homer) and struck out seven over the final 4 2/3 innings of the outing.
Lackey is 2-0 with a 2.19 ERA and 14 strikeouts against just two walks in his last two starts.
“We’d love for him to get hot,” manager Terry Francona told reporters after the game. “That would be one of the best things that could ever happen to us.”
Indeed, Lackey’s teammates have said all year long how much he means to them, and how much of a boost it would be if he was able to rediscover the form that made him a dependable, if not dominant, member of the staff in 2010.
Lackey’s aware that when it’s all said and done, 2011 will not be his best season from a numbers perspective. That’s just fine. The damage to statistics was done a long time ago. He just wants to be able to compete for his team, something his teammates would never question.
“What happened [in the first half] happened. You can’t do anything about that,” he said. “I’m going to go out there and compete my butt off and try to win every time I go out there.”
That competitiveness was on full display when Francona emerged from the dugout to remove his right-hander two outs into the sixth inning Saturday. Lackey had retired the first two men in the inning before Johnny Damon reached on a rare error by first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and Ben Zobrist was hit with a pitch, Lackey’s 107th offering of the game.
Upon seeing his skipper saunter to the mound, Lackey did not hide his displeasure. Some might see the reaction as a bit much, but when one considers that competitive streak and the early struggles it is trying to erase, it’s hard to blame Lackey for getting fired up at a chance to not go six.
Still, as Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz sit on the sidelines with their respective injuries and Josh Beckett tries to come back from what the team hopes is a minor knee ailment, Lackey has shown signs he is finally settling in. Six of his eight starts since coming off the disabled list in June could be described as solid. The two others were rather horrid, but those may one day be nothing more than bumps on the road to dependability.
