Blue Jays - 000 002 002 - 4 6 1 Red Sox - 001 012 02x - 6 11 1I was able to watch only through the middle of the fifth, so I missed the Red Sox re-taking the lead (Thanks, J.D.!)and holding on for the win.
Andrew Benintendi led off the bottom of the first. The first pitch of the day to the first Red Sox batter ... and NESN failed to show it. NESN had the graphic of the Red Sox lineup on the screen for too long and so when they cut to the game, Benintendi was already watching his foul ball go into the stands.
Why do I have any hope NESN will ever improve? That is clearly impossible. ... If NESN did not have a monopoly on showing Red Sox games - if there was some healthy, American business competition - then the marketplace could decide. Fans could have the option of watching a more competent network.
The Red Sox ran into two outs on the bases in the third. Blake Swihart singled, went to second on Christian Vazquez's groundout, and scored on Jackie Bradley's double. Benintendi singled and Boston at men at first and third. Benintendi tried stealing second on the first pitch to Xander Bogaerts. He looked out live, but umpire Jordan Baker called him safe. The Blue Jays challenged the call and it was rightly overturned.
Bogaerts was still batting when a 1-2 pitch got behind catcher Luke Maile. Bradley sprinted home. Maile threw to pitcher Sam Gaviglio, who had run in to cover the plate. Again, Bradley looked out and (again) the umpire (Jerry Layne) called him safe. The Blue Jays challenged the call (again) and it was overturned (rightly, again).
Benintendi, CFAn unusual scheduling quirk: Four of the Red Sox last five games have been day games: Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and today.
Bogaerts, SS
Martinez, LF
Devers, 3B
Nunez, DH
Holt, 2B
Swihart, 1B
Vazquez, C
Bradley, RF
Jere, from the JoS Gamethread:
ReplyDelete"NESN's 'live' overhead shots of Boston today are from 2014 at the latest. Today's giveaway? Missing buildings!"
One more NESN beef:
ReplyDeleteOne nice feature of a day game during the work week: Sox in 2. I'm settled back, enjoying the time-shifted Fenway sunshine, a 2-zip lead, a perfect E Rod outing into the fifth, and...
The Freakin' Screen Crawl.
I'd forgotten to tape off the bottom of the TV, and NESN "helpfully" drags me back into the present and the final score. One might think some network higherup would realize that viewership suffers as a result of a little Too Much Information. Then again, it's really just one more symptom of the generalized NESN TMI syndrome: poorly timed interview segments, overly zoomed closeups. Yep, all of a piece.