John Danks didn't have it Wednesday night. From the game's very first pitch, it was clear he didn't have his good control or anything capable of putting hitters away. In fact, he induced just 3 swing-and-misses on the night. Of particular trouble was the location of his changeup, which he routinely left up, never once throwing it for a strike below the belt (as illustrated below).
All of his pitches were up. I wasn't able to see anything wrong with his mechanics, but I'm no pitching coach. If it was any of the other starters, I might be worried. But Danks has been, by far, the most consistent starter the Sox have run out to the mound this season; he's allowed a hiccup here or there. We can overlook the inability to get Juan Castro out for one day.
Offensively, the Sox weren't able to mount much of a threat against Radhames Liz. In hindsight, it's funny--well not funny, but not ironic either--that I deleted a two sentence line from the BUO post stating that Liz is the type of pitcher that the Sox would either destroy or get completely shut down by, with no middle ground. I removed it because I thought it sounded a little SSHish, a little too absolute.
I'd argue that 2 runs with 5 walks against 3 strikeouts is somewhere in the middle ground, but Liz was effectively wild, allowing just 3 hits. And the lone home run he allowed was of the solo variety. With Danks struggling and then replaced by a poor excuse for a pitcher, it felt like the Sox got dominated, and made for yet another snoozer of a game.
As for that poor excuse for a pitcher, Lance Broadway, let's steal a line from Denny Green; he is who we thought he was.