Red Sox - 000 010 030 0 - 4 7 2 Twins - 110 002 000 3 - 7 7 2John Farrell picked Matt Barnes to pitch the bottom of the 10th inning because the manager was presumably saving his closer, Craig Kimbrel, for a Very Important Save Situation. When that scenario next arises, Kimbrel should be quite well-rested, since the earliest it can happen is fucking Tuesday night.
Barnes allowed a walk, a single, and Max Kepler's three-run home run to dead center field - and the Red Sox lost a game in frustrating fashion while a much better reliever pitcher sat on his ass in the bullpen.
This slavish devotion to the idea that a closer MUST be used when the team has a lead on the road is pure stupidity. And I thought it was contrary to the philosophy of the organization, which is to use your best available relief pitcher when the game is on the line in the late or extra innings.
Chris Young cut Minnesota's early lead in half with a solo home run (#6) in the fifth.
Boston tied the game in the eighth when two runs scored on a throwing error and another run came across on David Ortiz's double play grounder. The Red Sox stranded the potential go-ahead run at third base when Jackie Bradley struck out.
Young opened the ninth with a single, but pinch-hitter Travis Shaw bunted into a double play and Sandy Leon flied out to left.
Junichi Tazawa (in because Kimbrel was being "saved") retired the first two Twins in the bottom of the ninth, but Eduardo Nunez fouled off six pitches while working an 11-pitch walk. He stole second on the first pitch to Robbie Grossman - who eventually fouled out to third.
Xander Bogaerts (he went 10-for-15 in the series) singled with two outs in the 10th inning - and stole second base - but Ortiz struck out.
Then Farrell brought in Barnes - and the game went straight down the shitter.
Porcello: 7-5-4-2-5, 112; only one of the four runs was earned.
The Red Sox are off tomorrow - their third day off in the past eight days - before beginning a homestand against the Orioles (3 games), Mariners (3), and White Sox (4). Toronto beat Baltimore 10-9, so the Red Sox and Orioles are tied for first, at 36-26.
Betts, RFGame Notes:
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Young, LF
Rutledge, 3B
Vazquez, C
Xander Bogaerts leads MLB with 92 hits this season, while his .358 AVG ranks #2 behind Washington's Daniel Murphy (.374).
In 47 games since 4/20, Bogaerts has posted a .399/.446/.581 batting line (81-for-203, 16 doubles, 7 home runs).
Bogaerts is the first Red Sox ever to record at least four hits and a home run in consecutive games.
He is also one of only three shortstops ever to record 4+ hits and 3+ RBI in consecutive games, joining CLE's Lou Boudreau in 1948 and TEX's Alex Rodriguez in 2003.
Bogaerts is only the second Red Sox SS in 100 years to record 4+ hits in consecutive games (also Johnny Pesky, 5/4-6/46).
No Red Sox in the last 100 years has had three consecutive 4+ hit games at any position.
Sandy Leon is the first player in Red Sox history to record a hit in each of his first five plate appearances of a season.
7 comments:
David Ortiz, on X:
"That kid is on another level. He's on top of his game like nothing I have ever seen before. His shit is way too good to believe. The way he's playing, he's the best shortstop in the game -- by far. I'd throw my boy against anyone right now in the big leagues."
I did something stupid this week: I got into a Facebook argument with Yankee fans. The content of it was very strange, and I'm curious if anyone else has heard this weird point of view.
I made what I thought was a very innocuous comment when the Yanks/Sox rivalry came up. I said I thought it wasn't what it used to be, that there just wasn't as much emotion behind it right now as compared to 2003/4. This seems incredibly obvious, especially in the context of The Bar, where ten years ago every Sox-Yanks game was a major event. Two different Yankee fans, my acquaintances from The Bar, took issue with my assertion. Their logic goes like this:
Sox fans claim that the rivalry is over because, since we have won more World Series recently than the Yankees, we want to quit while we're ahead. It's more or less like the kid who says "I'm not playing any more" and takes the ball home with him. The real reason for this is to attempt to cover up the fact that the Yankees won 27 championships and are so much better a team historically. We pretend that ending The Curse makes us equal, and so are being assholes when we say the rivalry is over.
Now, I never said the rivalry was completely over, and wrote many rational, calm responses (which were ignored). I'm not so much trying to drag the rest of you through the pain of my utter stupidity in entering into this exchange, I'm just wondering: have you run into this?
Never heard of that. In fact, my assumption was that both Sox fans and Yankees fans felt similarly--that the rivalry hasn't been the same for a while.
Maybe Yankees fans are feeling extra defensive because they don't want to acknowledge how crappy their team looks both today and going into the future. After all, if the rivalry was as strong as ever (in their minds), then by default, that would make their team relevant.
And of course rational, calm responses were ignored. The internet is a terrible place for actual discourse or persuading of minds, despite the net's unearned reputation as this great communication tool.
I'm not going to try to figure out the mind of the average MFY fan, so I don't know how NY fans felt about the rivalry before 2004 versus after. I will say that winning in 2004 and then winning two more titles has changed things for me. Losses - even ones to NY - don't get me down and don't burn in me like they did 12+ years ago. But I still want to see them lose every night.
Also, the rivalry varies depending on how the two teams are doing. If both teams are fighting for first place, then the games take on an added intensity. When only one team is any good or when both teams suck, then things are not so fierce. And the players change, although some of them are clearly douches: Teixeira, McCann, maybe Gardner.
When was the last season both clubs were battling for the division? 2011 was the last time both teams finished within 10 games of 1st. So it's been a little while.
I made the bold assertion that it was meeting in the playoffs (and meaningful end-of-season games) that drove the rivalry. This was considered more craven "rivalry denial".
Maybe Yankees fans are feeling extra defensive because they don't want to acknowledge how crappy their team looks both today and going into the future.
It was kind of the opposite. One complained that they hadn't been to the playoffs since 2012. I reminded him that they went to the playoffs last year, and he argued bitterly that the Wild Card game wasn't really the playoffs.
Allan is right - the L don't burn so much now , because Success has a way of creating complacency , even though you don't want it too ....... Once you have won it all , it changes your perception of things , think of those poor Cubs Fans !!!!!!! We used to be like them....... The other thing to consider is that Yankee fans now look at the Sox differently...... For decades we were Losers , now for years we been Winners - Success has its own way of "creating" hatred....... Right now on the "hatred meter" so to speak , they almost certainly hate us more than we hate them........ Currently we have a Playoff Run to worry about , on the other hand they have a handful of fixtures against the Red Sox !!!!!! NUF CED
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