June 7, 2006

Robbed


My partner Laura says the 2-1 loss hurt more than the 13-5 rout, but I don't agree.

I had no problem with Pauley starting the seventh. While six innings of one-run ball was so much more than we expected, he was at 80 pitches and was facing the bottom third of the order. (Rudy Seanez did start warming at the start of the inning. That was Terry Francona's first mistake, since the score was 1-1. This wasn't a case where he was warming someone with a four-run lead that Pauley subsequently lost. (However, getting Jonathan Papelbon up at the start of the 7th did not make complete sense. If Pap goes two innings, and it's unlikely he'd go more than that, then a significantly inferior pitcher has to work the 9th. There were no quotes about it in the papers, but maybe Tito wanted Seanez (if necessary) to finish the 7th and Pap to take the 8th and 9th.))

Pauley retired Andy Phillips on a grounder to short and Bernie Williams on a fly to right. Miguel Cairo tapped a meaningless grounder that Pauley was genuinely shocked not to have gloved on the first base side of the mound. Maybe this was the time to pull Pauley -- only because he was likely somewhat distracted by not getting the ground ball. But I was imploring Tito to not pull him after that, to give him another shot at the third out.

Johnny Damon sliced a 1-1 pitch to left and Cairo moved up to second. Al Nipper came out to talk with Pauley. Here is where I would have gone to the pen. Since Seanez was the only warm arm out there, Francona should have brought him in with some margin for error. Third base was open, so even if Rudy tosses a wild pitch, or walks Cabrera, it still wouldn't score a run. ... Pauley walked Cabrera on four pitches. (And then Seanez walked Giambi to force in the eventual game-winning run.)

Pauley:
I just didn't get my glove down far enough and it scooted underneath. It was definitely frustrating. ... If I come up with that, it's 1-1 going to the next inning. ... I was a little bit more comfortable. ... Getting out of the first inning was the biggest thing. That gave me confidence. A moment like this will be there with me the rest of my life.
Mark Loretta:
He threw strikes. He wasn't affected by the crowd. I was really impressed. And he was able to keep getting them out the second and third times through the order, which showed me even more.
Francona:
I'm so proud of him. ... He sunk his fastball, threw off-speed pitches for strikes. He competed. He pitched a very, very strong game. The idea is to win, but you can see how much I thought of him. I left him out there a long time in tough situations.
Re Manny's attempt at a double in the sixth inning, where he tested Damon's noodle and was out by at least 10 feet. I love and defend Manny, but this was pure idiocy. There was only one out, the game was tied, and Wang was at 88 pitches. Francona claimed to like the attempt: "Out of the box, he was thinking all the way. He just came up a little short. I've got no problem with the hustle. He's trying to do something to help us win the game." I don't believe Tito is telling the truth -- he must be doing it to perhaps quiet (good luck!) the Bonehead Manny talk that is sure to follow.

Melky Cabrera's amazing catch in left center on Ramirez's bid for a game-tying home run in the eighth was perfect. He ran a straight route, took a quick look at the wall just as he reached the warning track, timed his leap and snagged the ball securely as it sailed over the fence. "That's the best catch I've made in my life."

Craig Hansen is with the club:
I picked up a changeup in the minor leagues. I feel like that's one of the pitches that is going to help me out throughout my career. ... I feel like I'm stretched out enough to start if they want it. If I have to go into the bullpen, wherever they plan on using me, right now I feel like I'm versatile to either starting or pitching in the bullpen.
Mike Timlin is eligible to come off the DL Saturday, but that won't happen. Francona said Tuesday or Wednesday is probably more realistic. ... David Wells is going to San Diego to get a second opinion from the doctor who performed arthroscopic surgery on his knee last October.

12 comments:

Edward Lee said...

However, getting Jonathan Papelbon up at the start of the 7th did not make complete sense. If Pap goes two innings, and it's unlikely he'd go more than that, then a significantly inferior pitcher has to work the 9th.

Is it more important to use your best bullpen pitcher in the 9th inning, or against the best batters with men on base?

thatdietcokegirl said...

manny is just stupid to have thought damon could not make a throw to second from center. his arm isn't *that* bad, god. to home, obviously that's a different story..but shit even i could have made that throw to second.

i don't think pap should have gone in during that situation in the 7th. you would be asking him to make 7 outs at that point. either that or, as red sock (or is it laura who wrote this entry?) said, you would have to yank him at some point to go with an inferior pitcher had we claimed the lead.

it bothers me that tito has this 'i believe in you' thing with pitchers. because i agree; pauley was prolly flustered having not made that play to get the last out and it was undoubtedly on his mind afterwards. right after damon singles, you take him out. it's a tie ballgame in yankee stadium where we just got our asses handed to us the previous night, you have to leave third base open just incase.

we're missing timlin bigtime.

grunherz said...

I feel as bad after this game as I did after watching that gut punch that was the infamous "Jeter Dive" game in 2004.

I vowed after watching that game that if I ever met Michael Kay in person, I'd do something on the fringe of legality to physically harm him.

The sunny side of this observation was the Red Sox avenged that game in 2004.

Boy, did they ever.

Kyle said...

Yeah, I thought the Bill James philosophy and the Theo/Tito philosophy was to use your best pitcher with men on base to kill a rally. That's why James has argued against the "closer" role. I tend to agree.

Paps in that situation. Its worth the risk.

Tito had just hoped Pauley would get that third out and he wouldn't have to use Seanez in that inning.

Just can't expect to win too many games when we only score 1 run.

Edward Lee said...

i don't think pap should have gone in during that situation in the 7th. you would be asking him to make 7 outs at that point. either that or, as red sock (or is it laura who wrote this entry?) said, you would have to yank him at some point to go with an inferior pitcher had we claimed the lead.

Instead, we had an inferior pitcher giving up the game-winning walk to Jason Giambi, and Papelbon never got into the game.

Tito had just hoped Pauley would get that third out and he wouldn't have to use Seanez in that inning.

Having Pap warm up after the error would have been the perfect time. If Pauley gets Damon out, great -- then Pap pitches to Giambi and A-Rod in the 7th. If not, then Pap pitches in a big spot in the 6th and maybe a couple extra batters.

You can't do this all the time because it's tricky to get a reliever warming up at the right time, but against a division rival, with the bullpen ailing, I think we all agree that we do not want Seanez pitching in that spot.

Jere said...

"the infamous "Jeter Dive" game in 2004."

Or as I call it, "the Pokey reese MUCH better catch than Jeter's fake dive which they told us was the 'difference' between the yanks and the (actual champs that year) Red Sox" game.

"if I ever met Michael Kay in person, I'd do something on the fringe of legality to physically harm him."

Sounds like something I'd say...

laura k said...

Or as I call it, "the Pokey reese MUCH better catch than Jeter's fake dive which they told us was the 'difference' between the yanks and the (actual champs that year) Red Sox" game.

Funny how I remember SOSHers falling all over themselves saying they wish their SS played like that. Prefacing it with how much they hated Jeter, of course. But Red Sox fans didn't think it was fake at the time.

I'm proud to be a Red Sox fan, but damn I'm glad I'm not afflicted with this sickness.

Jere said...

Every Sox fan I know thinks it was fake! Then again, I don't go to SoSH. One step, two step, three step, DIVE!

If you look at the Pokey catch, you'll see hit the wall right after catching the ball. But you'll never see it, because they only show the Jeter one!

allan said...

Nope. I was in the game thread that night. Almost all of the people who bothered to post anything said it was a damn good catch.

Jeter was running faster than Pokey so that was why he couldn't stop as quickly.

CI is overrated -- in fact, he was recently voted most overrated player by his fellow players -- but it was a good catch.

allan said...

Tried to access the July 1, 2004 Game Thread at the old SOSH, but couldn't do it. It might not exist anymore. ...

This is what I posted here back then (7/02/2004 2:57PM):

"And that catch of Nixon's popup and dive into the seats by Jeter was incredible. Of course, we know he did it only because Pokey had made a somewhat similar tumble on Lofton back in the 5th and he didn't want to be upstaged. ... It pains me somewhat to say it, but the contrast between Jeter's face first header into the crowd (judging from how quickly he was swollen and bruised, he must have hit the metal arm rest between two seats) and Garciaparra's clear indifference during the most exciting game of the year was very telling. And incredibly disheartening."

That was pretty much the general feeling that night, as I recall.

Also, posted 7/03/2004 1:12PM:

"Laughter Is The Best Medicine.
Honestly, what else is there to do? Doesn't it seem like the last Red Sox win was about 2 months ago? These recent losses have passed from infuriating to heartbreaking to absurd. ...

"Where do we go from here? Well, this glutton for punishment is going to swig some more of Terry's Kool-Aid -- "When we do good, it will feel that much better." -- and get back on the Bus. With any luck (or perhaps a lot of luck), we'll be shaking our heads in November about that crazy week back in early July that had us at our wits' end."

HA!

Jere said...

You say "nope," but I don't know what that's referring to, since I said I don't go to SoSH, which implied that what they were saying over there, I don't know, but everyone I talked to thought, like you said, he was just trying to outdo Pokey, and the dive was a little over-the-top.

And I'd quote myself from back then, but it's just the same thing I'm saying now.

allan said...

My comment about Pokey was semi tongue-in-check.

All my "nope" meant was there was not only one view Red Sox fans had of that play. I think most of us can separate our feelings about Jeter and the rare good hit or catch he makes.

I thought I downloaded the game from mlb -- I would check both plays -- but I don't seem to have it on a CDR anywhere.

Another sad part of that whole episode was that Nomar took about 5 days to come out with his "I stayed on the bench because that's where I was for most of the game and I didn't want to jinx our luck" excuse.