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Puckering: Sox/Rays Postmortems

Matt Joyce and Ben Zobrist homered, with the go-ahead shot coming off of the plainly obvious mole Rayfael Soriano (how could we NOT SEE that coming), and the Tampa infield turned their third triple play in team history, a bases-loaded 543 off the bat of Russell “Headlong” Martin. Seriously Russell, I know Brett Gardner claims it is faster, and for him, maybe it is. You ain’t Brett Gardner.

Meanwhile, Boston pitchers Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon needed 25 and 28 pitches respectively in the incredibly intense eighth and ninth innings to squeeze past Baltimore at Camden.  Rookie catcher Ryan Lavarnway and Baltimore backstop Matt Wieters were the stars for their teams at the plate and in the field.

Boston will pitch Jon Lester on three days rest in Baltimore tomorrow, while Tampa will pitch David Price, also on three days. Regardless of your allegiance, one can only hope for more of the same. As for the Yankees part, perceiving a pinch or a pound of Machiavellianism makes for more than a little fun. Gametime is 7pm Wednesday night. See you then.

35 replies on “Puckering: Sox/Rays Postmortems”

Crazy end to a crazy season. Both Bard and Papelbon struggling yesterday was frustrating as a fan, though to Baltimore’s credit they had a few amazing at-bats in the 9th.
It’s going to be a LONG day at work.

Also, I know it’s looking ahead just a bit too much, but if the Sox and Rays play a one-game tiebreaker tomorrow who pitches for the Sox? Looks like we’re stuck with Lackey, unless we want to send Beckett out there on 2-days rest.

I am in the utter HELL known as massive-proposal-preparation with a due date/time of midnight tomorrow night so I have barely gotten to peak in on the action the last 24 hours and willbe even less available tonight. but suffice it to say that the 9th inning of Bost-Balt last night was fantastic stuff. Papelbon was throwing bullets, going right after guys, and there were close calls, near-disasters, and great plays throughout. And the O’s somehow started griding ABs like the Sox and Yanks lineups. This is just fantastic stuff.

Looks like last night’s Sox game did nothing to show how they will have any success at all in the postseason, which they aren’t making anyhow.
All it did is raise questions about why Ryan Lavarnway was sent down after his earlier successful audition and then stowed on the bench while the Sox expired.
So the takeaway from last night was simply another pointed indictment of team management.

The times for the Friday games are out: The Rays/Sox will play in the 5:07 game, and the Yankees will play in the 8:37 game. Well if the Sox do somehow make the playoffs at least I won’t have to miss work to see the game.

Also SF, I think you’re way off regarding Lavarnway. He played DH in 6 of the 7 games when he was first called-up because he was filling-in for an injured Ortiz. Ortiz has a .985 OPS since returning, and switching one of your catchers in August/September while in the playoff hunt (and while your rotation is struggling) is a bad idea.

I think the question is not so much who will pitch for the Sox on Thursday but who will carry the load tonight. We cannot assume a miraculous return to form from Lester and the bullpen has worked a lot recently.
I’m not expecting any help from the Yankees tonight so unless the Sox get halfway decent pitching there will not be a game on Thursday.
Should there be one though I fully expect the Sox to give the ball to Darnell McDonald.

PBE, that’s because by all accounts it’s going to be all the non-playoff roster pitchers pitching tonight.
Sox going after Chen to pitch Friday? He’s scheduled to pitch tonight, so I guess we will know shortly. Interesting move.

If the Sox are really trying to add another pitcher the Yankees should certainly try and block that. Harang and Chen should both be Type B FA’s at the end of the year. Might not be a bad move to try and stop those moves from happening. Granted they’d acquire them for no reason other than to be great big d*cks, but hey all’s fair…At the very least drive up the price!

Ath, Saltalamacchia is hitting .162 in September with 27 Ks and 1 BB. You are saying that getting Lavarnway some ABs at the expense of Salty wouldn’t have made sense? Salty has been dreadful, picking the worst month to slump so badly. The past couple of weeks it sure seems that the Sox could have used a better bat in his stead.

Hahahaha. Just further showing how little chance these Sox have, if they make the playoffs then their starter may be an emergency pickup named Bruce Chen.
How low these Sox have sunk.
Just miss the playoffs already, what’s the point?

I don’t care what Salty’s offense has been like lately, my point was regarding the effect on the pitching staff. Granted (using hindsight) it certainly couldn’t have hurt since the Sox played so poorly in the last month, but every pitching coach in the country would have been laughing at Tito if he made that move a month ago.

I caught a break today. A sentencing hearing on a murder conviction this afternoon probably will be delayed, so that’s a relief.
But I’m dealing with other weirdness so other than my co-worker who is a Cardinals fan I’m able to keep my mind off baseball.
And I have a commitment at church tonight, so I won’t get home until the 7th.
…
Listening to WEEI on my lunch break. Callers are:
* Suggesting that Miller should start tonight over Lester
* Wondering why Reddick (2 for his last 21) isn’t playing
Honest to God, the two worst things for baseball are ESPN and sports talk radio

I’m not necessarily against Lavarnway catching tonight, I just think it’s horribly retroactive to say the team was “mismanaged” by not having Lavarnway catch more over the last month.

My understanding is that Lavarnway isn’t a particularly good catcher, although he’s getting better.
The Sox haven’t played any throw-away games, which would have given him a chance to start a few games behind the plate.
What seems reasonable to me is that he probably should have had a few more pinch-hitting opportunities and late-game appearances behind the plate.
…
Ordway now pushing the idea of Bruce Chen starting Thursday for the Sox. Or Ted Lilly.

RED SOX
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Ortiz DH
Gonzalez 1B
Lavarnway C
Drew RF
Scutaro SS
Crawford LF
Aviles 3B
LHP Jon Lester
ORIOLES
Andino 2B
Hardy SS
Markakis RF
Guerrero DH
Wieters C
Jones CF
Reynolds 1B
Davis 3B
Reimold LF
RHP Alfredo Simon

The biggest tragedy in all of this is that, as a Virginia resident, I’m blacked-out from MLB.tv and have to watch the O’s coverage. Gary Thorne is probably my second most hated analyst behind that White Sox guy who says “He gone!” after every strikeout.

but every pitching coach in the country would have been laughing at Tito if he made that move a month ago.
I wasn’t thinking that Tito should have had ESP and slotted him in for the month, but the last week to ten days it might have made some sense considering the struggles of both pitchers and the offense. That he festered until yesterday seems a bit unfortunate.

“Gary Thorne is probably my second most hated analyst behind that White Sox guy who says “He gone!” after every strikeout. ”
He and Jack Edwards must have went to the same broadcasting school! :)

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