Peavy/Garza update and thoughts

Matt Garza finally had an outing worth talking about and its about time.  Garza went 4 innings, giving up 1 ER and striking out 3.  Garza had been throwing just fastballs his first 3 outings and today he decided to mix in other pitches.  Prior to yesterday's outing, Garza's command had been sub par at best. He had pretty much been awful, but today he broke out his wicked 12-6 curve ball and worked in his other pitches as well.  The season seems to be approaching outrageously quick. No quicker than usual, but pretty damn quick nonetheless.  Garza needs to start getting it going a la Ryan Dempster and Big Z who have both been outstanding. I know spring training does not mean anything but Garza needed to have a good outing and get going. The only way this team has a chance is if we get out to a hot start.  This team needs to be atleast 5 over by the end of April in my opinion because that schedule contains 12 games against the worst teams in NL last year in the Pirates, Astros and D-Backs.  Gotta get those W's and without Garza pitching well, this team doesn't have a chance.

Jake Peavy also pitched yesterday in what has to be seen as another step for him moving forward.  While the stat line was not great, Jake did get some good results.  He was able to throw breaking balls without pain and get through a full four innings.  I previously wrote how I think the Sox should tread slowly and I think waiting until mid April is the right way to go as far as getting Peavy on the mound.  The Sox can go without a 5th starter for a couple weeks as the schedule set up perfectly for them to miss his spot in the rotation and not skip a beat.  Any start that Peavy gives the Sox is going to be a plus this season coming off the type of injury he is recovering from.  The Sox with or without Peavy can be competitive in this division, but if Jake can come back at full strength and give them 20-25 starts, I think he probably adds 4 or 5 more wins to their season total, which could be the difference between first and second in the division.