Several rockets hit off Matt Clement in the second inning -- when Toronto scored five times -- and two miscues from E6dar Renteria mean the Sox are now 2-1 when I see them at Skydome.
The atmosphere was further ruined by a party coordinator type-guy pumping up the crowd and giving away t-shirts and gift certificates between innings, like you'd expect at a minor league park. No spin-your-forehead-on-a-bat-and-try-to-walk-a-straight-line though, unfortunately. I can't recall if they did this kind of crap the other times I was there.
Keith Foulke also had a rough inning, facing eight Jays in the seventh, walking two and allowing a hit and run. Chad Harville mopped up.
Who the hell is Scott Downs?
Papi hit his 41st tater of the season, a solo shot to right center. He also singled and walked, and has reached base eight times in the last two games.
Kevin Millar doubled and hit a sac fly, but he also looked (yet again (or still)) like ass in the outfield. Man, we need some outfield depth -- stat. (Good news on Damon's MRI.)
Roberto Petagine got his one AB of the week, struck out, and had Tito wondering why this guy is so rusty.
The Yankees routed Tampa 17-3 and are 2.5 games oot. They trail Cleveland by one game for the wild card.
Wells / Towers at 7:00.
Tito can manage -- last year's ALCS showed that. He does doze from time to time, though.
ReplyDeleteNo idea what's going on with Foulke. Give him mostly low-lev innings for awhile, please. Glad to see they are so high on Papelbon.
Edgar leads OC in batting average (.279 to .259), on-base percentage (.336 to .312), slugging percentage (.384 to .365), runs created (72 to 55.9), RC/27 (4.52 to 4.13), and EQA (.260 to .252).
In the field, ER has a slightly better range factor (4.31 to 4.29), but OC has a better zone rating (.849 to .820).
I'm not worried about Renteria. He makes more dough than OC ($10 to $6 this year), but (a) it's not my money and (b) he is clearly a better ballplayer.
(Jeter's getting $19.6 ... talk about a GM getting hosed.)
As good as OC is in the field, if he had stayed, everyone in Boston would be bitching about his tendency to channel Shea Hillenbrand at the plate.
ReplyDeleteRenteria is the better player, and I'm so incredibly tired of having to explain that to people. Thank you, Redsock, for pointing out those stats.
Renteria's making $10M -- either he's a little overpaid or Miguel Tejada is underpaid.
ReplyDeleteI have been very hard on Renteria at times this season, but his bat has shut me up over the last several weeks.
He's definitely an asset at the plate, but honestly, watching him lead the league in errors all season makes me wonder how the hell he ever got a gold glove, let alone two. He seems to make some amazing plays that few other SS could get to, let alone get an assist on, but then boots a routine groundball, ole's it, or throws the ball into right field.
Losing Kapler for the season really hurts. I was so happy to see him back in a Sox uniform.
Being overpaid and being bad are not the same thing. Renteria's definitely overpaid- I think the Sox FO has shown that they're willing to overpay in certain situations, especially when there's one positional name on the market that's so far above the others (Tek, Edgar, for example). But Renteria has been quite good, independent of his salary. The errors and rough fielding is a problem, as is his troubling drop in UZR and RF, but the offense is where basically every projection should have put him, which is to say among the top SS's in the game.
ReplyDeleteI've read what you've written and, while I respect your opinion, I still can't see why sox fans shouldn't be a little peeved not getting what we were hoping for with Renteria. We weren't just hoping for the offensive numbers (which don't come close to Tejada's) and are not even in the ballpark on the defensive side -- which is something I think most Sox fans have really come to hope for given their defensive problems over the last couple of seasons. Not to mention, as overpaid as you might have called Tek before this season, that title is pretty weak given his league leading performance this season.
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