Dice-K Not O-K

I've been accused by a couple people of being a little too hard on Dice-K. Well, Sunday night the guy allowed six runs and eight hits. That's six runs. And eight hits. Is that really what we (again with the "we") paid $103 million for? That's the kind of performance I expect from Julian Tavarez — not the guy who is supposed to rewrite the rules of how major league pitchers pitch. I stand by my opinion that the guy shouldn't need this much run support. If he's really all that, he should be lights out from the start. Strikeouts, schmikeouts. That's not the stat that really matters in the end. It's wins and losses. And even though he got the win on Sunday, as Jon Miller and Joe Morgan both said on ESPN after the game, he needed "considerable help." It's the morning after Dice-K's first start against the Yankees, where he recorded the win, and we're not even talking about how well he pitched. What does that tell you? Perhaps more discouraging is that with each start, Dice-K is getting worse and worse. Soon it'll be tough to make excuses about "the line" and how his performance was still impressive despite the loss.

I'm not saying Dice-K has to be Superman, or that he has to pitch a perfect game every time. But he should be more of a sure thing (like Jonathan Papelbon is in the bullpen), and shouldn't be the losingest pitcher on the staff. It's only April, I know, and if Dice-K gets better I'll change my tune. But right now, I'm just not impressed.