August is not starting well for the Sox:
Frank McCourt must die.
That is all.
McCourt is certainly not going to go into the history books as one of the great owners.
We’re at the 2/3rds point, so I guess now the races are starting.
Looking at the AL East… wow, whaddya know, same as always. The Red Sox and Yankees are buying their way to the pennant again, the Orioles are dead meat (every year people say they’ll get better and every year they stink) and the Blue Jays are better than people thought but not good enough.
The disappointment is Tampa Bay, who were in the thick of things and now are being caught from behind by Toronto. The Rays can still pitch, but they can’t score.
I’m on board with the Carlos Beltran trade, but I think the Giants made a mistake picking up Orlando Cabrera and sending Brandon Crawford down. I know, Crawford hits only slightly better than I do, but this team has been winning with pitching and defense, and both have gotten worse in the past week.
Of course, the pitching situation might improve if they have the guts to bite the $40 million bullet and release Barry Zito. I’ve got nothing against the guy, but he’s done.
Looks like he stubbed his pinky toe or something - he went on the wink-wink DL before the game tonight, and coincidentally, Sanchy is ready just in time. But yeah, I ranted a little at the end of the July thread - send him to his living room for the next 2 1/2 years.
Joe
Despite getting Beltran, I think the Giants were trade deadline losers.
2 of their top 3 hitters (Buster Posey, Freddy Sanchez) got knocked out for the season, and they did not fill either of the resulting 2 black holes in the lineup.
(the black hole at SS is a result of Sanchez being gone, as Keppinger would have moved to SS)
Say what you will about the Giants offense last year, but they didn’t have huge dead stretches in the lineup, and averaged a home run per game (good for 10th in MLB). There is no reason to be optimistic about their chances this year.
Rubby De La Rosa looks like he is probably going to need Tommy John surgery.
sigh
There goes the third pitcher in the rotation for 2012. See you in 2013 Rubby. Good luck.
The Indians, and particularly Asdrubal Cabrera, are having an awesome August so far!
Two homers for A-Cab last night, plus Hafner and rookie Jason Kipnis. Won against the Red Sox 9-5. First time we scored 9 since June 1!!
Hopefully August and Sept won’t go on like our June and July did.
9-6, actually. You must have missed the run that Pure Rage Perez gave up on one of the weirdest doubles I’ve seen in the 9th.
Still, a great win. And I’m guessing you were listening on radio, but Kipnis put one hell of a swing on that homer last night. He is going to be a fun one to watch.
NAF1138, the prospects for next season are looking pretty damn bleak, aren’t they? I think I’m going to enjoy watching Dee Gordon run around for a while, though. In other news, Jonathan Broxton’s rehab has hit a snag. Can I just be the first to say “boo hoo”?
HA!
I don’t know what is going to happen next year. 1st base is a black hole, 3rd base is a black hole, Catcher has a couple of plus defenders in AAA but is an offensive black hole, LF is a black hole, and now the #3 starter of the future is hurt and everyone else is too far away to be any help. Kuroda is likely to retire at the end of the year. Maybe if there is an ownership change some free agents can be brought in, but right now it’s looking like 2012 might be worse than 2011.
Kewshaw is looking like a Cy Young contender though, and Kemp is in the Triple Crown hunt so at least there is something to look forward to.
Saggy diaper time:
Oh, Tim Bogar. You got very lucky in that the throw was off line and Saltalamacchia made a great slide, but you almost ran into an out with Dustin Pedroia standing on deck. Good result, bad decision.
Also, I wasn’t particularly thrilled that in the course of the walkoff celebration, Salty was punched in the stomach by Paps and somebody from the dugout accidentally knocked Ellsbury over backwards and then fell on him. Ortiz managed to pick him up before he was also stepped on, but something really bad and stupid could have happened. I’ve thought walkoff celebrations needed to chill out ever since what happened to Kendry Morales last year.
The second-place Cardinals took one from division-leading Milwaukee tonight in a game that featured a beanball or two, an unrelated ejection, a good defensive play and extra innings.
Early on, Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia hit a 3-run homer (the first of his career) to break open the 3-3 tie and capping the Cards’ 5-run inning. The Brewers’ Yuniesky Betancourt came back with a 3-run dinger of his own in the sixth, and the home team added a go-ahead run as well.
In the top of the 7th, the Cards led with singles by recent trade acquisition Rafael Furcal and Jon Jay before Brewers reliever Takashi Saito hit Albert Pujols in the wrist he broke earlier this season. The best the Cardinals could manage with a bases-loaded no-out situation was one run to tie the score after Matt Holliday grounded into a double play that scored Furcal and Lance Berkman grounded out.
Still, that was better than the Brewers could manage in their half: Cards’ reliever Jason Motte plunked leadoff hitter Ryan Braun in the ribs with the third pitch. Motte was pulled (but not ejected) for Marc Rzepczynski, who walked Prince Fielder on four pitches. That was the end of his night, as Lance Lynn came in and promptly played pinball bumper for an infield single by Casey McGehee to load the bases with nobody out. Lynn held it together though, and managed a popout, a groundout and a strikeout to end the threat.
The Cards managed to load the bases with one out in the eighth, but catcher Yadier Molina, who had doubled to start the baserunning, was forced out at home. Pinch hitter Ryan Theriot struck out to end the inning.
With the score still tied in the bottom of the ninth, the Brewers made two quick outs before putting the next two runners on. Furcal then made a nice running, backhand grab to rob Filipe Lopez of the game winner and send the game to extras.
Leading off in the top of the 10th, Cards catcher Yadier Molina got ejected after being called out on strikes and arguing about it (and will likely be suspended for a game or three). The umpire wiped his face a couple times leading to speculation that Molina spit on him, but it’s unclear from the video whether it was intentional.
The Brewers threatened after Kyle McClellan hit Nyjer Morgan to lead off the inning and Morgan eventually reached third base. McClellan got Braun to ground out to give the Cardinals another chance.
In the top of the 11th with two outs, Holliday legged out an infield single to shortstop, then stole second, his first steal of the year. Berkman put a single into left field, scoring Holliday from second and giving the Cards the lead.
The Brewers managed one hit in their half, but otherwise went quietly. They’re 2.5 games up on the Cardinals. The teams play again later today.
Wild, wild game.
Also, former Cardinal Brendan Ryan, now with the Mariners, made the A’s look silly. He hit a grounder to the left side which shortstop Sogard hustled to and threw to first, but Ryan beat the throw. He walked back to the bag after overrunning first and noticed there was no one covering second, so he sprinted down there. Without a throw, he made the turn…and no one was covering third, so he took that base as well.
And the “somebody from the dugout” seems to have been Clay Buchholz, he of the aforementioned back fracture. Brilliant! Guy with broken vertebra slams guy with recent history of broken ribs. You can’t write the stupid any better.
When he gets to third, you can see him look towards home, but the A’s had woken up by then.
Followed by the expected Appeal.
Tim Wakefield didn’t get his 200th win, because yet again, Francona hasn’t figured out that he really cannot go beyond 80 pitches without something awful happening. His OPS against shoots over 1.000 at that point. Of course, the game ended just fine.
So Wakefield had his 45th birthday yesterday. When he made his major league debut in 1992:
-Terry Francona was just shy of 33 and in his second year of managing in the minors
-Theo Epstein had been legally an adult for 3 months
-Jason Varitek, who is the second oldest guy on the roster, was in his sophomore year of college
-Tonight’s walkoff hero, Jacoby Ellsbury, was in 3rd grade
-Josh Reddick, the youngest guy on the roster, had just turned 4
OLD.
:mad:
I’m going from being frustrated to being angry. Two months ago they were flirting with .700, and if they lose tonight they will be below .500. Start hitting the ball, goddammit.
I was at the game last night, and it was damn frustrating to see. After Wakefield finished the sixth with around 95 pitches, I hoped he would be done and we’d see a nice Albers-Bard-Papelbon 1-2-3 knock-em-dead for the close save. Instead, Tito leaves him out there to give up the tying run… and then puts in Randy fucking Williams (he of the 8+ ERA) to get the final out, denying Wake even the chance of getting his 200th win should the Sox score in the bottom of the inning.
I can’t be too annoyed considering it worked out all right. Williams pitched well enough to go 1.1 scoreless despite erratic control, then Papelbon pitched a perfect ninth. As frustrating as Paps can be at times, he’s really fun to watch when he’s got his good stuff.
Of course, come the bottom of the ninth, and here comes Midseason Clueless Tito again. You’ve got Reddick, Scutaro, and Ellsbury due up. Lefty pitcher on the mound. Reddick is batting .409/.458/.591 vs lefties this season… admittedly in only 24 PAs, but still. Kid can hit lefties, dammit. But nooooooo. Tito fears the LOOGY Menace. Must put in righty. Must! So he goes with pitch hitter Darnell McDonald, who is hitting .200/.302/.418 vs lefties.
McDonald grounds out to 2B. Shocker.
Scutaro grounds out to the pitcher. Nice quick reaction from Joe Smith on the play. Ah well.
At this point, my friend and I are resigned to extras. We figure we’ll have a good shot at the bottom of the 10th with Pedey, Gonzo, and Youk coming up. Our thoughts are already focused on hoping that Bard will pitch a scoreless top of the 10th.
Ellsbury takes a called strike.
I note out loud that Smith’s throwing low in the zone consistently. No chance Ellsbury’s taking him deep when he’s hitting his spots like this. Even if Ellsbury gets on (he’s 0-4 on the night so far), we probably aren’t scoring him. 10th inning heroics it is.
As the words leave my mouth, the Earnest Ragging Principle kicks in and Ellsbury takes a huge swing on a fastball from Smith. BAM, POW, home run to dead center. Game over, and Ellsbury’s the walk-off hero for the second night in a row (and the second time in his entire MLB career)!