Giving Runs Back; FSN Mediots

Has Curt Schilling had the bad habit this season of allowing runs in the inning after the Red Sox score (often tying the game or taking the lead)? I don't know if that is accurate -- I'll have to check linescores -- but it seems that way. It certainly was true yesterday.

3rd inning: Julio Lugo hits a two-run home run, breaking a 0-0 tie.

4th inning: Gabe Kapler homers in the top half (Rays 2-1), Schilling allows a one-out home run to Jonny Gomes (3-1).

6th inning: Kapler singles in a run (3-2), Schilling pitches a 1-2-3 inning.

7th inning: David Ortiz homers to tie the game (3-3), Ty Wigginton crushes Schilling's first pitch for a solo homer that unties the game (4-3).

Then, of course, the roof fell in in the 8th inning, as Tampa scored five times off Mike Timlin.

FSN's morons were especially morony: In the 3rd, two batters after Lugo's blast, Schilling hit Rocco Baldelli on the left elbow. Joe Magraine noted that it was only Curt's 2nd HBP of the year "which ought to tell you something ... he's probably not happy about that home run".

According to Migraine, if a control pitcher like Schilling hits someone, it's probably on purpose. And a pitcher who hits a lot of batters is likely throwing at them. So all HBP are intentional. Very good, Joe.

Both announcers were annoyed at what they perceived as Schilling getting strikes called on pitches wide of the strike zone. All the replays showed that calls were legit, but that didn't stop them from complaining, even as the evidence contradicted what they were saying as they were saying it. Soon, they began whining in shorthand -- "Schilling gets another one".

As expected, when Rays relievers got the exact same pitch called a strike, like the 1-0 pitch to Lowell in the 8th, they praised the reliever for hitting his spots.

Likewise, Migraine moaned early in the game about Schilling getting strikes called on pitches at the letters (true, not often called these days, but within the rule book strike zone). So when Lowell was rung up in the 8th on a pitch at the letters, Migraine noted that the Rays got a gift, right? [crickets chirping]

Good news: Cleveland 19, Yankees 1.