Rooked
On a night when Julio Lugo did everything he could to give the game away defensively, and JD Drew reverted for the first seven innings to being, well, JD Drew, Boston's rookies came up big. The AL East champions saw the rookie tandem from the far East, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima, combine for seven innings and two earned runs.
Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury combined for three of Boston's eleven runs, with Pedroia knocking in five. In the seventh Ellsbury made a play on a ball hit to the triangle in center that normal mortals wouldn't have been able to run down, and then one helluva diving catch for the first out of the ninth. Way for the rooks to stand up and be counted.
Realistically, though, this game may well have turned on the call of a certain third base coach that might find himself collecting unemployment in Cleveland this winter.
Kenny Lofton likely would have scored from second on the hit to left in the top of the seventh inning, tying the game up. There's no telling how that might have changed the dynamic of the late innings when the Sox came to bat. That's the kind of mistake that gets coaches fired.
Instead of a tie game, the wheels fell off in the eighth as the Indians imploded.
Adjusted...
For those keeping track - through seven games Tom Brady has 27 touchdowns. The new adjustment for the pace he's on? 61 for the season.
He's gotta slow down, right?
Stumble It!
5 comments:
Agreed Kevin... The bottom line is the Red Sox proved why they are the Red Sox and the Indians proved that they are not big game players yet. Our best players (Fausto, CC, Hafner, Grady) were largely bad while our other guys struggled trying to carry them. Yeah I think I can easily say that Joel Skinner (the Indians 3B coach) is not a very well liked man in Cleveland right now. Kenny should have scored on that play, and possibly have Guttierez at second to avoid the double-play. Who knows... it is what it is... Another year for the tribe to not get it done.
They had a helluva year - it was like they just ran out of gas after game four. They'll be back nest year.
I was worried about that game even after Dusty's HR. Tito went Grady and left Oki in too long. Dusty and Lugo missed a DP. Paps came real close to coughing up a 3 run HR with 2 outs. Despite themselves the Indians simply would not quit when most other teams would have.
When Lugo double cluched on the DP ball, I have to admit I was worried.
Skinner and Wendell Kim can get together and start a "Hated 3B Coaches Club".
I think as long as the Indians don't over-react, they'll be in good shape for next year. What killed them was a lack of post-season experience. They tightened up.
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