No Sleeping!

I made it to the eleventh. But, I just couldn’t bear to watch any more after that. In hindsight, I’m glad I got out when I did. It was nice to simply wake up this morning and see how it finally ended then it ever would have been forcing myself to see the end of it.

When there’s a game like that, there are always two sides to the coin. There’s the obvious problem that a collection of Rays pitchers not named Shields or Price kept the Red Sox scoreless for almost two games worth of innings. On the flip side, the Red Sox kept the Rays scoreless for almost two games worth of innings. How about we try to focus on that side of the coin for a while.

I can’t say enough good things about the new ESPN broadcast team. Even if I do have to now figure out which pitch was just thrown on my own. But, I did have one complaint about their analysis from last night. I don’t remember the inning. But, Pedroia led off with a double. Adrian Gonzalez then lofted the first pitch he saw to left field for the first out. They were all over Gonzalez for several innings about the waste of an at-bat. They were amazed that such a pull-hitter would fail to hit the ground ball to the right side to advance Pedroia to third. How dare he hit a flyball in that situation. Especially to left. Especially on the first pitch. I’m going to disagree with them on that one. Adrian Gonzalez is the MVP of the league at the moment. He’s the league’s leading hitter, and RBI guy. It’s not his job to advance runners for other batter to drive in. It’s his job to drive them in. So, he doesn’t go to the plate looking for a ball inside he can ground to second. For Adrian Gonzalez, grounding the ball to second is NEVER getting the job done. Driving the ball in the gap is getting the job done. So, if he sees a pitch that he can drive, he needs to swing at it. If that pitch comes on the first pitch, so be it. Is it any better if he flies out to left on the second pitch? Third? Which pitch is OK to fly out on? He did the best eh could. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out the best.

Is it just me, or do the Sox play extra innings on Sunday night a lot? They always seem to have to show up in another city in the wee hours and play a game on Monday night running on nothing but Dunkin’s. And, naturally, the Rays play the Yankees tonight. So, in one of the few games the Yankees will play against a quality team, they get an advantage. Tonight was supposed to be a road game against the defending AL East Champions. Instead, they get to rest in Tampa all night, while the Rays have to play a game until 2 AM. It figures.

Welcome back Carl.