Red Sox - 400 002 220 - 10 16 1 Tigers - 020 000 000 - 2 4 0First of all, the bullpen did not suck. After Rick Porcello (7-4-2-2-8, 105) departed, Heath Hembree and Fernando Abad each pitched one inning and each retired the Tigers in order, with Abad striking out two of his three batters in the ninth.
David Ortiz and Jackie Bradley hit two-run home runs in the first inning to get the Red Sox off on the good foot. Boston scored twice in the sixth on four straight singles, with Andrew Benintendi and Dustin Pedroia getting the RBI. Hanley Ramirez drove in four runs with a pair of doubles in the seventh and eighth innings, finishing the night 3-for-5.
The Blue Jays lost to Cleveland on Tyler Naquin's inside-the-park walk-off home run (right after Jose Ramirez had homered to tie the game at 2-2), so Boston is 0.5 GB. (In Baltimore, four of the first five Orioles batters in the first inning hit home runs - previously unprecedented in major league history - but the Astros ruined their night by winning 15-8.)
Pedroia, 2BBoston and Baltimore are both 1.5 games behind Toronto. The Orioles host the Astros and the Blue Jays are in Cleveland.
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Betts, RF
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Leon, C
Holt, 3B
Benintendi, LF
Alex Speier, Globe:
Why is there such an extreme disconnect between the public view of Red Sox manager Farrell – at least the loudest one – and that of the Red Sox organization? ...
Indeed, as much as there have been games where Farrell’s bullpen management has caused members of the organization to scratch their heads – if not throw rocks at their televisions at times – there hasn’t been any serious internal conversation in the Red Sox organization about changing the manager. Barring an extreme event like a 10-game losing streak that decimates the Sox’ postseason chances, there isn’t going to be, at least not for the rest of the season.
I think it speaks to the irrationality of people defending Farrell's use of Tazawa yesterday that the very same situation could come up again tonight, and Farrell could use Tazawa AGAIN, and it would still jibe with all the reasoning as to why it was a good idea to use Tazawa last night.
ReplyDelete1) Tazawa is a professional athlete. He has to "sac up" there. He HAS to. (And if he's used tonight, he "has to sac up" again tonight. And if he fails, we can blame his lack of manliness.)
2) Farrell doesn't throw the pitches. The player's determine the game's outcome. Thus, he can literally make any on-field decision, and he's off the hook regardless of logic or outcome.
3) The other bullpen arms aren't sure-fire guarantees. They weren't yesterday, and they still won't be today. Thus, use Tazawa again tonight in a high-leverage situation.
4) Ziegler has had just as many bad recent performances as Tazawa. (This means you have to willfully ignore the context of those failures. The ball that Benintendi lost in the lights, etc.)