The sixth inning was the pivotal one last night. Things went from
bright to ugly real fast, but my mood was for some unknown reason
light. No drugs were involved.
Shall we, pardon the pun, rehash it?
The Jays were down 4-1 after 5 innings. Frank Thomas led off the sixth inning with a fly ball that struck the Monster in straight-away left about 4 and 1/2 feet up. Manny was playing in, but could have caught the ball easily, I thought, had he not misjudged it, and Hurt ended up at second. Glaus doubled down the line to score him. Overbay worked the count (as he did all night, adding substantially to the wear on Matsuzaka), and eventually grounded out to first moving Glaus up. With the infield creeping in, the next batter Aaron Hill golfed one over the Monster to even the score. After Gregg Zaun flew out to center, John McDonald came to the plate.
Should they send up Stairs or Clark to pinch-hit? On the one hand, it's only the sixth inning and you might need of them later. There were 2 outs and nobody on. On the other hand, you're not likely to need both of them late with this lineup. I'd have pinch-hit with Clark. The magic has gone from John McDonald's bat, and he is returning to his career averages at lightning speed.
After McDonald grounded out, Dustin McGowan returned to the mound in the bottom of the inning.
If you put together McGowan's facial hair with Reed Johnson's, you would almost have a ZZTop/rabbi look. But seriously, should they pull McGowan? He has thrown 99 pitches and given up long homers to Ortiz and Hinske and was obviously not sharp, plus he's just had a long rest on the bench. Gibbons doesn't trust Frasor in this situation and wants to give McGowan a shot at the win. When will they ever learn-pitchers do not win games, teams do.
Mike Lowell led off the inning with a hump-back liner to right-center. Jason Varitek followed him.
Varitek looks like a demented fairtyale character with the old school red socks above the uniform. "...and the wolf huffed and he puffed and was about to enjoy a lovely pork dinner when Jason Varitek arrived and beat him senseless with a baseball bat, thereby adding one more creature to the endangered species list".
Instead of beating the wolf senseless, Varitek took it out on the baseball, driving a McGowan pitch about 460 feet into the right-center field stands beyond the bullpen. Exit McGowan, enter Brian Tallet. After Eric Hinske struck out, Julio Lugo laid down a nice bunt for a hit.
How can Julio Lugo not succeed in Fenway? He has the power to knock quite a few balls off the wall and over it. He bunts. He reaches on infield hits. If he doesn't hit .260 or better over his time there, I will be shocked.
With Crisp up, Tallet seems to be more concerned with Lugo at first than the hitter. "He's going to walk him", I tell my father who has been commenting that none of the pitchers in the game seemed to have very good control. He had a point. Crisp walks, Pedroia follows with a single to drive in one. A Manny Ramirez sacrifice fly and a Kevin Youkilis RBI single makes the score 9-4.
Manny Delcarmen comes on, and looks great in disposing of the Jays. He apparently went on a strength training program during the off-season, and has added a little extra zip to his fastball. It is too bad that this news generates raised eyebrows, rather than admiration.
I discovered this weekend that "selig" means "blessed" or "ecstatic" in German. This might not be news to you. But, the whole idea of "Bud Selig" translating to "Ecstatic Beer" is appealing. Hence, "major league baseball teams are revenue generators for cities, whose residents ought to support the teams by agreeing to huge tax hikes to pay for new stadiums", Ecstatic Beer said. Or to look at it another way, I must have been drinking quite a few Bud Seligs to enjoy last night's game.
Litsch vs. Beckett in about 15 minutes. Enjoy the game.
Shall we, pardon the pun, rehash it?
The Jays were down 4-1 after 5 innings. Frank Thomas led off the sixth inning with a fly ball that struck the Monster in straight-away left about 4 and 1/2 feet up. Manny was playing in, but could have caught the ball easily, I thought, had he not misjudged it, and Hurt ended up at second. Glaus doubled down the line to score him. Overbay worked the count (as he did all night, adding substantially to the wear on Matsuzaka), and eventually grounded out to first moving Glaus up. With the infield creeping in, the next batter Aaron Hill golfed one over the Monster to even the score. After Gregg Zaun flew out to center, John McDonald came to the plate.
Should they send up Stairs or Clark to pinch-hit? On the one hand, it's only the sixth inning and you might need of them later. There were 2 outs and nobody on. On the other hand, you're not likely to need both of them late with this lineup. I'd have pinch-hit with Clark. The magic has gone from John McDonald's bat, and he is returning to his career averages at lightning speed.
After McDonald grounded out, Dustin McGowan returned to the mound in the bottom of the inning.
If you put together McGowan's facial hair with Reed Johnson's, you would almost have a ZZTop/rabbi look. But seriously, should they pull McGowan? He has thrown 99 pitches and given up long homers to Ortiz and Hinske and was obviously not sharp, plus he's just had a long rest on the bench. Gibbons doesn't trust Frasor in this situation and wants to give McGowan a shot at the win. When will they ever learn-pitchers do not win games, teams do.
Mike Lowell led off the inning with a hump-back liner to right-center. Jason Varitek followed him.
Varitek looks like a demented fairtyale character with the old school red socks above the uniform. "...and the wolf huffed and he puffed and was about to enjoy a lovely pork dinner when Jason Varitek arrived and beat him senseless with a baseball bat, thereby adding one more creature to the endangered species list".
Instead of beating the wolf senseless, Varitek took it out on the baseball, driving a McGowan pitch about 460 feet into the right-center field stands beyond the bullpen. Exit McGowan, enter Brian Tallet. After Eric Hinske struck out, Julio Lugo laid down a nice bunt for a hit.
How can Julio Lugo not succeed in Fenway? He has the power to knock quite a few balls off the wall and over it. He bunts. He reaches on infield hits. If he doesn't hit .260 or better over his time there, I will be shocked.
With Crisp up, Tallet seems to be more concerned with Lugo at first than the hitter. "He's going to walk him", I tell my father who has been commenting that none of the pitchers in the game seemed to have very good control. He had a point. Crisp walks, Pedroia follows with a single to drive in one. A Manny Ramirez sacrifice fly and a Kevin Youkilis RBI single makes the score 9-4.
Manny Delcarmen comes on, and looks great in disposing of the Jays. He apparently went on a strength training program during the off-season, and has added a little extra zip to his fastball. It is too bad that this news generates raised eyebrows, rather than admiration.
I discovered this weekend that "selig" means "blessed" or "ecstatic" in German. This might not be news to you. But, the whole idea of "Bud Selig" translating to "Ecstatic Beer" is appealing. Hence, "major league baseball teams are revenue generators for cities, whose residents ought to support the teams by agreeing to huge tax hikes to pay for new stadiums", Ecstatic Beer said. Or to look at it another way, I must have been drinking quite a few Bud Seligs to enjoy last night's game.
Litsch vs. Beckett in about 15 minutes. Enjoy the game.
