(4-5) ATHLETICS 2, (3-4) SOX 1
Why, in the ninth inning of a 1-0 game, when you have the supposedly excellent-fielding Brian Anderson on your roster and in your dugout, is Scott Podsednik still on the field?
Probably because Ozzie just never thought to replace him for defense, but maybe next time he will, as Pods' noodle arm was directly responsible for the Sox losing a tough one 2-1 in Oakland tonight.
With runners on first and second and 2 out, and a 1-2 count on Todd Walker, Bobby Jenks throws an ill advised offspeed pitch which Walker slaps into left field. Milton Bradley rounds second with what could be the tying run, but a good throw would have had him nailed by about 3 steps. Podsednik's throw was not in the same area code as good, or home plate though. It sailed over AJ Pierzynski's head, and predictably enough, the game was over 2 batters later.
I am sure Todd Walker will have many, many things to say about his game tying pinch hit, as I am sure he has appointed himself club spokesman as he did with the Cubs. What I'm not sure of, but hope to see next time the Sox are in this situation, is for Brian Anderson to be in center field, and Darrin Erstad in left.
The Sox continue to play well, and get really good starting pitching, including an excellent outing from Jon Garland tonight. They are treading water record-wise, though, and it's frustrating. Not a big deal if you think the good pitching they are getting now will continue, but you get the feeling that once the Sox start hitting, the rotation will go back in the shitter. Meanwhile, they make Chad Gaudin look like Johan Santana, blow 2 opportunities to get a guy in from 3rd with less than 2 outs, and lose to fall back under .500 on the season. Now I shall go to bed pissed off.
GAME SCORES- Garland SOX 71, Gaudin OAK 62
AL CENTRAL ROUNDUP
(3-1) INDIANS 7, (5-3) ANGELS 6
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the 2004 White Sox, re-incarnated as the 2007 Cleveland Indians. The Tribe hung on for dear life in this one, with their inflammable bullpen almost coughing up a 7-3 8th inning lead. Inflammable means flammable? What a country! I couldn't really tell what was going on in this game though, because the broadcast just kept showing Bernie Brewer and the Indians Giant Purple Buttplug boofing each other in the Miller Park chalet.
GAME SCORES- E. Santana LAA 23, Sabathia CLE 54
TODAY- ANGELS (Saunders 0-0 4.76, Last Start 41 v. OAK) at INDIANS (Westbrook 0-0, 12.60, Last Start 27 at SOX)
(4-3) YANKEES 10, (4-3) TWINS 1
I watched a little of this game on the Extra Innings package. Let me tell you how you can tell what the Twins are all about just by watching a broadcast of theirs. Watching one of their games is like a baseball clinic. From pitch #1 to the final out it's strictly business, with lots of really good analysis. They've got Bert Blyleven kind of cloistered in the cone of silence as the pitching analyst, and he just scientifically dissects what the situation is and what should be thrown, and then will analyze what went right or wrong in at bat for you afterwards.
I'll compare this to, I don't know, a Cubs broadcast, where they spend 45 minutes each game talking to whatever boob is singing the 7th inning stretch that day, and another 1/2 hour wishing a happy 97th birthday to Hiram Beatwife in Cornpone, IA, and it's obvious that one franchise is about winning baseball, and the other is about appealing to lobotomized yokels.
Anyway, I digress. Boof Bonser got lit up in this game, and it's looking like the Twins are not going to get away with trotting the Bonser/Ortiz/Silva/Ponson axis of shittiness like they planned on.
GAME SCORES- Pettitte NYY 66, Bonser MIN 25
TODAY- YANKEES (Mussina 0-1, 13.50, Last Start 23 v. BAL) at TWINS (Ortiz 1-0, 2.57, Last Start 62 v. BAL)
(4-3) TIGERS 3, (3-5) ORIOLES 1
Let me ax you this, how come it always seems like somebody in the Sox division is playing the Oriole? How many 100+ loss season would the Oriole have this decade were it not for the unbalanced schedule and having the Devil Ray in their division? Is anybody else with me on my conspiracy theory that the Devil Ray and the unbalanced schedule both came into being at about the same time for the purpose of padding the victory total of the Yankees and Red Sox so they can make the playoffs more often?
GAME SCORES- Robertson DET 74, Wright BAL 57
TODAY- TIGERS (Verlander 0-0, 0.00, Last Start 67 at KC) at ORIOLES (Loewen 1-0, 3.60, Last Start 48 at NYY)
(3-5) ROYALS 6, (4-3) BLUE JAYS 3
Zack Greinke can be a Cy Young winner within the next 3 years. If he wasn't a Royal. They should have been playing music from Carmen (the Bad News Bears music) in the Skydome the whole game the way the Blue Jay were playing defense (4 errors).
GAME SCORES- Greinke KC 61, Towers TOR 37
TODAY- ROYALS (de la Rosa 1-0, 1.29, Last Start 67 v. DET) at BLUE JAYS (Chacin 0-0, 4.50, Last Start 50 at TB)
2 comments:
I loved how the ball bounced off Scotty Pods head and not the wall. I'm glad my insomnia kept me up and watching the end of this game.
There is no reason for Ozzie not to play Brian Anderson every day. Podsednik was a career minor leaguer who had one good year with Milwaukee and parlayed that into a nice contract with the Sox. He went back to form last year & will prove to everyone this year that he's still a career minor leaguer. Podsednik doesn't add any offense anyway - we might as well make the defense stronger by getting him out of there.
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