August 14, 2006

G117: Tigers 7, Red Sox 4

Shithead List of The Night:

1. Josh Beckett -- Sucking yet again (6-6-5-4-6, 104).

2. Terry Francona -- After a perfect 7th from Seanez (on 6 days rest), he let him pitch the 8th, where he got one out, but allowed 2 singles, 2 walks and 2 runs. Enjoy your nap, Tito?

3. 3B Coach DeMarlo Hale -- For sending Manny in the 8th. Three singles loaded the bases for Lowell with one out, Sox down 7-3. Lowell lined a single to center, Manny waited at second base to make sure it wasn't caught, then ran to third. Hale was waving him in, Ramirez looked back to the outfield in disbelief, but kept going. Granderson was lobbing the ball in to the infield -- of course, Ramirez would be held at third -- but when catcher Vance Wilson began jumping up and down and waving his glove, shortstop Carlos Guillen made a strong throw home and Manny was dead. Then -- after being screwed on a check swing strike 2 call -- Pena struck out and the rally (and Boston's chances for the night) were gone. (Hale also sent Pena home in the 5th, another questionable decision, but the Tigers botched the relay and Pena was able to score.)

Yankees won 7-2 (Sox 2 GB); White Sox winning big against the Royals (Sox would be 3 GB in WC).

***


Nate Robertson (3.82) / Josh Beckett (4.92), 7 PM

Lineups:
Granderson, CF   Crisp, CF
Monroe, LF Loretta, 2B
Young, DH Ortiz, DH
Ordonez, RF Ramirez, LF
Guillen, SS Youkilis, 1B
Casey, 1B Lowell, 3B
Infante, 2B Pena, RF
Inge, 3B Lopez, C
Wilson, C Gonzalez, SS
Also: the Red Sox recalled LHP Craig Breslow from Pawtucket and sent down catcher Corky Miller.

***

Facing the four worst teams in the American League -- Cleveland, Tampa Bay, Kansas City, and Baltimore -- the Red Sox went an unimpressive 6-7. And that included a three-game sweep of the Orioles.

But Boston has closed the gap in the AL East to one game, and now the fun begins.

Before we can obsess on the upcoming five-game series against the Yankees, the Red Sox have three games against the Tigers. Detroit still has the best record in baseball (76-41, 7.5 games better than Boston), but has lost five straight games (including three to the White Sox over the weekend). The Tigers have lost 4.5 games to the White Sox in the standings in the last six days -- from 10 games to 5.5.

Mark Loretta on the Tigers games: "I don't know that they're any more vital than these last three games were. I think if this was September 15, I think you look at it a little bit differently." ... The Red Sox have 46 games left on the schedule.

Michael Rosenburg, Detroit Free Press notes:
In the next three days, the Tigers face Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling and David Wells ... Sounds daunting. Yet for every game of this Boston series, the Tigers' starting pitcher will have a lower earned-run average than his Red Sox counterpart.
Tonight's pitchers were roommates when Robertson was first called up to the Marlins in 2002. (Both pitchers were drafted by Florida in 1999.)

Robertson gave up eight runs and nine hits in 5.1 innings in his only start at Fenway Park last year. ... David Ortiz (batting .229 (8-for-35) in his last 10 games) is 1-for-11 with three strikeouts against Robertson; Manny Ramirez is 2-for-8, Kevin Youkilis is 3-for-7 and Coco Crisp is 6-for-22, with two homers.

Only three Tigers have faced Beckett: Placido Polanco (3-for-16), Sean Casey (2-for-4) and Vance Wilson (1-for-4).

This is the 1,931st time the two teams have played against each other. Boston has a 995-935 edge. ... Boston won two of three games in Detroit in early June.

The Yankees (Johnson (5.03)) host the Angels (Lackey (3.33)), at 7 PM.

18 comments:

Zenslinger said...

Is it possible to feel lucky getting out the first inning with "only" 3 runs scored against you?

Beckett! Damn your hide! Settle down. Even absent the long ball, your making me cry here, buddy.

laura k said...

This is the 1,931st time the two teams have played against each other. Boston has a 995-935 edge.

I love when two old, original teams meet like this - both still wearing uniforms our grandfathers would recognize.

I'm hoping this is an ALCS preview.

Not the current performance, of course, just the teams. Is there some kind of rule that the Tigers always have to have a man on 3rd??

allan said...

every time beckett has a shitty inning or start, i recall reading that he pretty much thinks all of schilling's prep work is way over the top -- and i get pissed.

allan said...

bottom of the 1st: "and the red sox strand a pair".

laura k said...

"and the red sox strand a pair"

Don't drink on that, you'll pass out by the 5th inning.

allan said...

top 3rd: beckett walks craig monroe for the second time tonight.

monroe now has a grand total of 21 this season -- he had not walked twice in a game all year, until now.

THROW STRIKES, YOU IDIOT!

allan said...

Beckett continues to suck on a night when we need innings -- and CI homers in NY, 2-0 Chokers.

laura k said...

It's 3-0, I turn away to do some work, come back, it's 5-0. Doncha hate that?

laura k said...

Hey, Angels are coming back at the same time we are. NYY-LAA now tied 2-2 in the 7th.

allan said...

YOOOOOOOOOOOOK

5-3

(and the angels tie it up 2-2)

allan said...

Yook with a bomb off the Volvo sign above the Monster Seats in LCF.

allan said...

noreiga in now. first app since 8/8 in KC.

laura k said...

I know he's been better lately, but it still scares me to see him.

I'm on my way home. The score better be at least tied when I get there.

Zenslinger said...

Speaking of rough first innings, Petey helped himself to 6ER on only 4 hits and a walk. How? HBP-Balk-HBP.

Strained right calf.

allan said...

FUCK YOU TITO.

allan said...

but more importantly:

fuck you beckett.

learn to pitch, you clown.

Jim said...

I'm tempted to put this on the on-field brain-trust (Hale sending Manny, Tito not quitting while he was ahead with Seanez), but jesus, these guys have given up 23 runs in 3 games. That shit has to stop.

Anonymous said...

A cameo from zeke, who was last heard from two months ago as he was being carted away in a strait jacket. How was Bellvue, Zeke? Do tell.

As for last night, Hale takes the bullet previously reserved from Sveum (and rightly so) for waving Manny home in the 8th and killing the rally. Tito actually speaketh the truth - if it's been 114 games since Hale became a factor in any game, the guy has done a pretty good job.

As for Beckett, has there been another guy in recent years whose hype has consistently exceeded his results? In the biblical context of "to those to whom much is given, much is expected", you have to wonder if this guy is on the verge of becoming our very own Jeff Weaver, melting down when the spotlight shines brightest.

With the credentials he brought to this team from the NL (i.e., 2003 WS MVP; Game 7 winner in Yankee Stadium) and the big contract extension bestowed on him by management earlier in the year, you wonder when he's going to step up to pose a serious challenge to Schill at the front of the rotation instead of mimicking Jason Johnson at the back of it.

Instead, as we enter crunch time, last night's shitty performance shows that he's become the horsehide version of the cautionary language to mutual fund investors (...past performance not always indicative of future results..).

It's clear that teams have scouted him well as evidenced by Granderson's laser 3B on the first pitch of the night. On a night when we needed at least 7 strong to shore up our Cabbage Patch bullpen, he coughs up 3 right out of the gate and another 2 in the 3rd, consistently missing location and pitching behind in the count.

With a an ERA of 5.74 since the All-Star break, the guy just plain sucks right now. While he succeeded in not padding his MLB-leading gopher ball total last night, in his seven losses this season he's posted a 12.00 ERA, giving up 44 earned runs in 33 IP.

Yes, Seanez sucks and Tavarez is his evil twin, but we've come to expect that. While Theo looks himself in the mirror and wonders if perhaps he should have given up something to improve the 'pen, he should also face one other sobering fact:

Josh Beckett is on the verge of becoming to Boston what Chan Ho Park was to Texas or Weaver was to the 2003 Yankees (and 2006 Cardinals) - a guy that just can't deliver the goods when his team needs him most.