Following along with Gameday at work, the middle innings were about as tense as you can get without having any audio or video contact with the game.
Matt Clement had nothing this afternoon. After a nice first inning, he walked the first two guys in the second before striking out the side (26 pitches that inning). He set down the first two Yankees in the third before giving up: double, home run, walk, walk, single, walk, double. He was left in at least one (if not two) batters too many. He threw a total of 83 pitches in 2.2 innings.
Jeremi Gonzalez came in and after allowing a single, which scored the inning's sixth run, retired eight of the next nine Yankees. He closed the door long enough to give the bats time to come back. Which they promptly started doing with solo home runs by Bellhorn (in the 3rd) and Ramirez (in the 4th). Two runs in the fifth made it 6-4, but that was as close as Boston got.
According to the SoSH game thread, Dale Sveum screwed up royally in the fourth. With Mirabelli on first and Millar on second, Mueller grounded a single to center. Bernie Williams, whose arm is worse than Damon's, threw towards third, conceding Millar's run. Except Sveum held Millar at third. Mirabelli rounded second on his way to third, and was tagged out trying to get back to second.
So Sveum's screw-up -- which shocked the Yankee radio announcers, who actually said Millar had scored (that's how sure of it they were) -- cost the Sox a run and an out. One note: Mirabelli might have been in trouble even if Millar scored; it's not clear to me whether he could have made it to third ahead of Bernie's throw.
I bitched about Sveum all last summer, and I can't believe we are forced to go through this shit again. Fire this moron! ... The Sox were getting to Randy Johnson, too. If Millar scores and Mirabelli isn't tagged out, Boston trails 6-3, with two men on and one out.
Boston closed to within 6-4 after five innings, but did little else after that. Mirabelli walked to start the sixth and Damon singled after two were out (28 games!). Varitek walked to lead off the eighth, but was stranded there. That was the offense for the last four innings.
Schilling pitched the ninth, retiring Matsui, Giambi and Williams on eleven pitches. It sounds like he was more relaxed and threw with a little better velocity. ... Anyone who actually watched the game, feel free to chime in.
With the exception of Clement, everything was actually kind of clicking today, the baserunning notwithstanding.
ReplyDeleteI know Sveum's taking the fall, but from where I stand, it looked to me like Mirabelli just had his head down and was hauling ass...I don't think he saw what was going on. He should get some of the blame, I think.
I listened to the game on the radio.
ReplyDeleteIn the 4th, John Sterling announced that Millar had scored and Mirabelli was tagged out in a run-down between 2nd and 3rd. Sterling couldn't figure out what Mirabelli was doing - and only then saw Millar standing at third. It sounded like he fell off his chair in shock.
Then Sterling thought Millar had stupidly held up himself. He was ripping Millar for incredibly bad baserunning, but of course I knew what had happened.
Soon someone told Sterling, too. He kept repeating, Bernie can't throw anyone out, I can't believe Sveum didn't send Millar, oh did the Yankees just get a gift from Dale Sveum, you can send anyone on Bernie's arm... and words to that effect.
In what other profession could a guy be as bad as Dale Sveum and still keep his job?
I mean, besides the White House.
I don't think you can use "Mirabelli" and "hauling ass" in the same sentence.
ReplyDelete:>)
Good point...if anyone's ass defies hauling, it'd be Dougie's.
ReplyDeleteI watched the whole game. I don't think Mirabelli can be faulted at all. Anyone with a brain knows Bernie just can't play CF worth a darn anymore. When the Sox saw that he was in CF, in fact, they should have been doing everything possible to hit balls his way and shake him up. I've seen too many Yankee games this season (living in Yankeeland), and Bernie has been atrocious whenever he's played CF, especially at Yankee Stadium. (That's why Cabrera got called up.) At any rate, when Mirabelli was running, he could see what's going on in CF, so naturally he figures Sveum has sent Millar. Who wouldn't think that? I fault Sveum entirely. And yeah, Johnson was off his game (again), and the Sox failed to take full advantage of it. This was one the Red Sox could (should) have won if a) Clement hadn't been left in too long; and b) they'd get rid of Sveum.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.survivinggrady.com/2004/08/being-dale-sveum.htm
ReplyDeleteCompletely Dale's fault. He basically tackled Millar so he couldn't score. That guy is an Anti-Red Sox coach. If I was the GM, he would have been fired LAST year.
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