1.) Tonight's game
The Sox bullpen is struggling. The entire pitching is. Tavarez labored through 5 and 2/3 innings. I was really mad at Francona for not pulling him after five. In the fifth, he was in all sorts of trouble. The bases were loaded and he couldn't buy an out. But somehow, he got out of it. And then Terry sends him back out there. Tavarez, who doesn't have the best stuff anyway, had absolutely nothing and miraculously got through 5 while only giving up 2 runs. ANYONE would pull him.
Well, the sixth starts and Tavarez walks A-Rod. Then, finally, mercifully, someone wakes up Francona or reminds him he's the manager or something, and he gets people up. Luckily, Tavarez got the next guy to ground into a double play, and that was his night.
Lopez came out first, and actually, now that I think about it, he pitched extremely well. 1 and 1/3 uneventful innings. That's what I want out of the bullpen. Uneventful innings.
Okajima, number two on my personal bullpen depth chart, was called out for the 8th. He struggled like there was no tomorrow. He got Damon to start the inning, then Jeter singled, walked Matsui and A-Rod back to back. Posada grounds out to Lowell, who fires to Pedroia to force out A-Rod (more on that in a second...). Posada beats Pedroia's relay to first by a step and a run scored, the first Okajima allowed since his first pitch as a Red Sox was hit a LONG way by Royals' catcher John Buck. Abreu grounded out right after to end the inning. But it was a painfully frustrating inning. Okajima threw a lot of pitches and was behind a lot. It stunk.
Ninth inning: Jonathan Papelbon, number 1 on my personal bullpen depth chart, comes out. Probably not to "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" since it's at New York. He walks the Giambi on five pitches. Canu comes up, and it's a REALLY long at bat. He fouls off everything before finally drawing a walk. I'm really mad now, because neither one of my top two has anything. Melky Cabrera comes up to pinch hit, and strikes out after like 7 or 8 pitches. This at bat was so frustrating, cause normally Papelbon just blows people away. I don't know if he's hurt or if he hasn't been used enough or too much or if it's cause it was a nonsave situation, but something wasn't right. Johnny's up and he hits a slow grounder to Pedroia who takes the sure out at first, runners each advance a base. Jeter comes up, and he strikes out on three pitches (all called strikes), and as far as I know he's still arguing with the homeplate umpire.
Now that I've gotten that off my chest, it's time to realize it wasn't pretty, but it doesn't have to be. Automatic Win Day strikes again.
2.) Why I bean A-Rod.
In the eight, when Posada beat out the double play, A-Rod slid into second to break it up. I have no problem at all with that. However, he didn't get to Pedroia, so he did one of those popup slides, and throws an elbow into Dustin's ribs as he's releasing the ball. It looked like a hockey player checking someone into the boards. Honestly. I'm not sure if that's illegal, but it's dirty. I don't know if the throw would have gotten Posada anyway, but still. A-Rod's a dirty player. He's an excellent hitter and the best defensive shortstop in the majors and an underated defensive third baseman too. He's a fierce competitor, so I'm not taking any of that away from him. But he always does stuff like that. Need I remind anyone of him punching Bronson Arroyo in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS? Also, in Moneyball, former Red Sox catcher Scott Hatteburg said A-Rod always looks back at the signs when he's hitting. Again, probably not illegal, but definately a jerk thing to do. I bean him. The Red Sox never retaliated for the mugging of Arroyo. They've never retaliated for him peaking at Hatteburg's signs. They need to make up for those two things and for him trying to take out Dustin like that. Bean him in the butt. Not to hurt him. Just to send a message that the Red Sox aren't gonna be pushed around.
3.) WRITE IN KEVIN YOUKILIS FOR AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL STAR!
This year, the all star game is in a national league park, so MLB doesn't have a DH voting category. This is so stupid. David Ortiz is the Red Sox DH. He hasn't played the field once. At all. But, Ortiz is one of the faces of the league, so he has to be on the All Star ballet somewhere. Therefore, they put him in at first base.
Problem: Every team gets one rep for each position (beside outfield). This means the Red Sox everyday first baseman Kevin Youkilis isn't on the all star ballet. The so called Greek god of Walks (who isn't even Greek...) is hitting .342 with an OBP .428, 6 HR, 23 RBI and has scored 31 runs. Ortiz is hitting .314, with an OBP of .433, 9 HR, 36 RBI while scoring 30 runs, so the numbers are comparable. Plus Youk plays the field so well (I'd go as far as saying Gold Glove Caliber defense...but then again, I'm campaigning for him...). He hits wherever they need him in the lineup. Now, you're not gonna find a bigger Ortiz fan than me. I love Big Papi, BUT when the team asked him to hit after Manny as opposed to before, he did it, but he complained the whole time because he wasn't getting as good of a pitch quality. After about a week, the team bowed to his wishes and switched them back, knowing Manny doesn't really care where he hits cause he's Manny Rameriz.
Ideal Solution: MLB should allow a DH position right now, and use Ortiz as a pinch hitter. He'd probably only get one at bat anyway as the starting DH in an AL park. Then Youk could be on the ballet for the starting first baseman.
Real World Solution: MLB's not gonna change the rule this late, especially for a relatively unknown player like Youk. Therefore, WRITE YOUKILIS IN! Do it! Jim Leyland would definately take Big Papi as a reserve. But I'm not so sure Youk would be selected, which is such a shame because he truly deserves it.
