June 6, 2006

G56: Yankees 2, Red Sox 1

9:56 PM -- I am pissed. Seanez? Rudy Seanez?? It's 1-1 in the 7th inning and Francona thinks Noriega is our best arm? Are you shitting me?

Basic progressive baseball thought (which the Red Sox claim to subscribe to) tells you to go with your best pitcher with the game on the line. Francona couldn't have forseen Pauley loading the bases (DP was as shocked as anyone that he didn't field Cairo's grounder), but the score was 1-1 -- Tito's got to have quality arms getting warm.

Pauley pitched his heart out -- way beyond anything I could have hoped for. ... Manny got robbed of a game-tying home run in the eighth by Milk Dud in left (and screw you, Johnny, for the excessive celebration).

And thanks a ton, Nixon-Varitek-Lowell, for making Rivera work so hard in the ninth -- five pitches.

***

7:00 PM -- Craig Hansen is with the team (last outing: 72 pitches on Friday). Jermaine Van Buren was optioned back to Pawtucket. Also, Francona said Keith Foulke (back stiffness) was examined by the Red Sox medical staff; the team "may be forced into making a move".

***

David Pauley, who turns 23 next Saturday, is visiting New York City for the first time -- he was a bit of a tourist yesterday -- and he'll be on the Yankee Stadium mound tonight.

Pauley says his greatest challenge will be
controlling myself under pressure, being able to pitch my game and stick to my game plan. I learned you've got to be able to hit your spots all the time. Mistakes up here get hit and they get hit hard. I got tedious and tried to make too good pitches, and balls were getting hit hard. ... It's tough to put where I am in the back of my mind, but I have to look at this the same as any other start.
Last night, the Yankees battered Red Sox pitchers for 11 hits. It was their 12th straight game with at least 10 hits -- a new club record, breaking the old mark of 11 (May 21-31, 1937).

New York and Boston have changed places atop the East for three straight days. How about four?

David Pauley (12.46) / Chien-Ming Wang (4.82), 7 PM

8 comments:

Danie said...

And not shake off Tek.....

Edward Lee said...

If ever there was a spot to start warming up Papelbon before the 9th inning, the 7th inning of tonight's game was it (error, two base hits loading the bases for Jason Giambi).

thatdietcokegirl said...

off with melky cabrera's fat head.

thatdietcokegirl said...

could johnny have celebrated that catch any more in the outfield? asshole.

and yeah, seanez should not have come in with the bases loaded. that is just a tough spot for any pitcher, late in the game when it's tied. wtf, tito.

thatdietcokegirl said...

(3 posts in a row)

i know, i swear trot pops up everytime he faces mariano. can we just have a sit down and study the cutter-physics please? thx! ;(

Mulceber said...

Damon is one of those people who you either love or hate, usually depending on whether or not he's on your team.

Damn, that game was so frustrating, Pauley pitching so well but with the error, and Manny getting robbed. If the rest of my week weren't going so well I'd be sooooo depressed right now. -Mulceber

Anonymous said...

Tonight's painful defeat at the hands of the MFY begs a renewed debate on one of the most pressing questions of our time: do the Red Sox win because of Terry Francona or in spite of him?

After pitching his ass off for 6 2/3, Pauley came up empty on Cairo's simple inning-ending grounder. With Damon coming to the plate, Tito then let Pauley pitch to him, a decision I did find logical and defensible with two bases open and the way the kid had pitched.

However, when Damon singled to put runners on 1st and 2nd, the only guy who should have been trotting to the mound was Francona, whereupon he should have asked for the pearl, slapped the kid on the ass, and thanked him for a job well-done.

Instead we got the Nip, who pushed his glasses off his nose, trotted out to the mound, and whispered a few words of inspiration in Pauley's ear, words that inspired a four-pitch walk to load the bases for Giambi.

Instead of coming into a two-on/two-out situation with 3rd base open, Seanez was instead given a bases loaded situation with no place to put Giambi, whose subsequent BB on a full count brought in what proved to be the game-winning run.

As Seanez then rebounded to send Slappy down on strikes (once again proving his mettle for coming up little in the clutch), we could (and should) have come out of the 7th with the game tied at 1-1.

Instead, we exit the 7th down 2-1, Cabrera channels Jim Edmonds to rob Manny in the 8th, and Rivera sets the side down in the 9th to cue Sinatra.

In an important series against a team forced to press so many members of their JV into service, we've dropped the first 2 games of this 4-game set, making it four straight that the MFY have taken from the Sox and 5 of 9 this season.

Beckett shitting the bed last night was the night for Terry to take one off, as the game was over in the 2nd inning. However, with a stunning, unexpectedly solid 6 2/3 from Pauley in the books, and an opportunity to steal a game no one expected BOS to win, Tito once again fiddled while Rome burned.

Hidden among the detritus of Tito's latest Grady impersonation and the associated loss in G56 is that two of the organization's best arms - Papelbon and Hansen - were relegated to nothing more than spectator status in a game where one or both could have played a key role in an important win...

Why, Tito? Why?

allan said...

Note: I often hated Damon when he was on my team (this usually happened when he was in the field).

Tito gets the L in this one, as Seanez gets the mound during crunch time and Pap sits on his ass.

Once again (as always), Seinfeld is appropriate: Opposite, Tito, do the opposite!