Paps Meltdown Dooms Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox took on the NY Yankees at Yankee Stadium Monday night and they were faced with immediate trouble from the start. Daisuke Matsuzaka, shaking off his catcher, Victor Martinez, seemingly on every other pitch, abandoned his "primarily fastball" pitch selection menu that worked so well in his last start, a great one. The Sox were down 6-1 after just two innings but they clubbed 5 home runs and finally caught and passed the pinstripers going into the final frame. And then came reliever Jonathon Papelbon to pitch his signature inning, the bottom of the ninth. Nobody could have guessed what would happen next. Alex Rodriguez smashed a "no doubt about it" two run home run to tie it and after Paps hit the next batter, up came Marcus Thames. Marcus who? He clubbed another two run tater and the Yankees won the game 11-9 and wildly celebrated at home plate. Who could blame them? It was the FIRST TIME since April 24th that Paps allowed a runner to cross the plate. Wait, is that a hot air balloon high up in the sky? No, it's Paps' ERA. Here he is...
“It’s just as frustrating as any other blown save,’’ Papelbon said. “Anytime you go out there and you don’t do your job, it’s obviously frustrating. They were just flat fastballs that weren’t located. Poorly executed pitches on my behalf. When you don’t execute your pitch the way you want to, usually in my situation, bad things happen. As you saw tonight, bad things happen.’’
A two run lead in the bottom of the ninth is DAMN frustrating, Jonathon. I was mad but hey, what's done is done. Sometimes this 2010 Boston Red Sox team looks like they are jelling together and becoming a contender, consistent and successful. Other times, they seem to be a .500 team with ups and downs galore. I can't figure them out yet. The only one consistently playing up to his God-given ability is Pedey Pedroia. The starting pitching is flat, the defense, feted before the season began, is average AT BEST, the 'pen is porous and the offense is here and there. Does that sound like a .500 team to you? It sure does to me.
Have a great Tuesday, the day after. You can click on this post's title for more on last night's debacle and as always, BE WELL. See ya.
posted by Peter N @ 5:39 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
They have got to figure out the pitching to be an above .500 team. Take the decision away from Daisuke and let the catcher call the pitches. He has no confidence, so let the success or failure rest on the catcher and coaches; don't let Daisuke shake off any calls.
Might as well do the same thing with Paps if all he's gonna throw are fast balls - 19 of them and nothing else! His other appearances lately have had a mixture of pitches, so why fastballitis? He was throwing like he was paid off.
On a good note, tell Nadia 'Hi' for me. Thanks Pete.
She's in Mn. but maybe not for long. I will give her your shout out.
Daisuke was SO much more effective relying on his fast-ball and pounding the plate...low.
Thanks, BFW. You're always here and that's great!
It was great to see Paps get a save the day after the "day" after but the Sox seem to be giving up 5ish runs or more every darn game.
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