I work weekends, so I taped this afternoon's 12-5 loss. But I doubt I'll be watching very much of it on Monday morning.
David Wells allowed six runs and nine hits in 6.1 innings. He surrendered back-to-back-to-back home runs in the third inning -- three bombs by Vernon Wells, Corey Koskie and Shea Hillenbrand in the space of six pitches. ... The last Red Sox pitcher to give up three consecutive homers? Wes Gardner, against the White Sox on July 9, 1988.
After those shots gave the Blue Jays a 5-1 lead, Wells retired nine of the next ten batters (and he picked off the one guy that reached). In that time, tied the game, thanks to a three-run homer to deep center from David Ortiz in the sixth and a bases-loaded groundout from Trot Nixon in the seventh.
Wells had thrown only 69 pitches in six innings, but after giving up a double to Alex Rios to start the bottom of the seventh and striking out Gregg Zaun, Brad Mills pulled him. Not watching the game, it's hard to say whether it was a quick hook or not. Managing in front of my computer screen, I probably would have left him in.
Brad Mills: "At that time, I thought Mantei had a better chance at getting the hitters I knew they were going to pinch-hit with. And mainly with strikeouts at that time."
Mantei allowed singles to his first two batters, but thanks to Manny Ramirez throwing out a runner at third, he avoided further damage. So the score was 6-5 with two innings to go. Not so bad. ... But the Red Sox went down in order in the eighth. In the bottom half, the first six Blue Jays reached base against Mantei, John Halama and Blaine Neal: single, walk, single, HBP, single, grand slam home run. Then Boston went meekly in the ninth.
Also: Wade Miller's next outing will be Wednesday for Greenville (A). ... Kevin Youkilis may get a start at third base tomorrow; Johnny Damon may need another day off. ... Matt Clement / Ted Lilly at 1:00.
Watching the first 3 innings of the game, then the next 3, you would have sworn you were watching two separate Wells outings. First 3 - couldn't find his spots. Next 3 - dead on. Watching the game and seeing that double, I said to myself 'he'll be stranded'. Wells' pitching was that good. Taking him out of the game was the absolute wrong thing to do. Wells was so suprised to be pulled out of the game, he didn't have time to get pissed.
ReplyDeleteThen, I said to myself - it's only April.