With every eye of the baseball world watching... Francisco Rodriguez blows it again. And he is the worst baseball player on the face of this planet. He came in with a 2-1 lead. Then he faced 5 batters. All of them scored. Here is a special lesson for those new to baseball. In order for 5 runs to score in the bottom of the 9th inning when the visitors are leading 2-1, a grand slam must occur; a walk-off grand slam to be concise. Good God in heaven...This is truly the classic we have all been waiting for.
Ok, ok, enough giggles. I'm sorry but it's quite late (early) and sometimes my only remedy from the New York Mets is silly humor. Onto the game advertised. I must say, I should probably start taking down little notes, little tidbits during games so I can better write the blog later. It was almost 6 hours ago when Josh Beckett of the Sox and A.J. Burnett of the Yanks began their utter domination of two powerhouse lineups. That's a long time. So here, in bullet-point form, in no particular order, are my thoughts of tonight's phenomenal display of baseball (for real this time.)
- Burnett and Beckett were really, really, really good. They say good pitching beats good hitting. But it takes some truly special pitching to beat good hitting in a miniature-sized ballpark. A park that yielded multiple homers in game one of the series that would be pop flies at Citi Field. But hopefully not at Luis Castillo. (I'm sorry. I'm bitter. I hate the Mets.) But those two former Marlins really put on a show tonight in the Bronx.
- Pedroia/V. Martinez/Youkilis/Ortiz: 2-20, 6 K. Eesh.
- Jeter/Damon/Teixeira: 1-20, 5 K. Goo.
- Beckett and Burnett were GOOD. So were the bullpens.
- Watching a game on the YES network is brutal. First off, they air the unbearable Johan Santana/CC Sabathia Subway commercial with no regard for viewer sanity. Santana says Zee Zee instead of CC and it takes him 9 syllables to say 'chipotle.' It doesn't work. Second, Micheal Kay sounds too fake trying to make the classic witty line. The "long night's journey into day" bit on the game-winner just didn't work. When you listened to a play like the JD Drew game-saving catch, it's real emotion, real announcing that's good. He's gotta stick to that. Genuine always beats cute.
- JD Drew is a Rock n Roll Jesus. I don't bestow Kid Rock's valiant nickname on any old schmo. Drew is one of my favorite players in baseball and I will defend him until the end. Hopefully soon, all the "14 million dollar grand slam" and "14 million dollar catch" gags will end and the Nation will say "Hey, he's not Youk or Pedroia, but we got pretty much a five-tool player out there in right for us. We Red Sox can drop $14 mil on that. How much did we give Dice-K again??" Just ask the Yanks if they'd like a lefty like Drew for their old, decrepid outfield corps.
- The Red Sox were in deep, deep trouble when they didn't score in the top of the 15th. It was a baseball miracle that the acclaimed Junichi Tazawa survived the 14th, when both the hits and the outs by the Yankees were lasers. With those big boppers were coming up, compounded with the lead off hit by Jeter, the clock struck 12 for the Nation. (Actually, it probably struck 12 about 2 innings earlier. But you get the point.)
- A-Rod is still A-Rod. He's hitting .260 on the year, he was 1-6 in the game up to that point, but the man is still A-Rod. Similar to how Ortiz can still show the ability to be Ortiz.
- I hate the Yankees. I do. Believe me. But I didn't want that Victor Martinez pop fly to right field to go over the fence. This pitching brilliance didn't deserve that. I know the ballpark was quite unkind to the Sox on Thursday night, but the baseball purist in me is saying two wrongs don't make a right on this one. I know it sounds incredibly foolish to say. But Beckett and Burnett were the story of this game, and God forbid the media focused on the 270 foot-homer that was the only run scored.
- It really sucks to be the road team in a game like this. Everytime your team goes scoreless in an extra inning, the home half of the inning is one big ulcer. Especially with the Yankees tonight, who just knocked on the door so many times. I felt bad for the fans. Well, until a few minutes later when Francisco Rodriguez put a weedwacker to my soul. Then I kinda thought how good Sox fans have it. (Sorry, that was the last Mets attack.)
Actually, I'm a Mets fan. Call it a lose-lose situation.
I still cant get over that the Red Sox came all that way last night and brought in Tazawa in the 15th, a 23 yr old kid making his major league debut....what a bad decision. I know they had to keep the bullpen somewhat fresh for the next two games against the yankees, but that was just pushing it.
ReplyDeleteConor although I loved your "DREW!" text message after that catch, something was not right in that the play was supposed to be game-saving and swing the momentum the Sox's way...maybe something about the one JD Drew fan remaining jinxing it for the team that's inexplicably paying him $14 million a year. Thanks bud.
ReplyDeleteYes I realize this is a ridiculously late post, but I've been slacking on reading the blog and haven't realized how much you've been talking about the Sox.