Got to watch the whole Sox-Angels game. Friday night games in California end up becoming for me the equivalent of those Patriot Day games: they start at 10am Singapore time and end at 1.30pm. Mixed blessings today:
Highlights:
-
4-2 over the Angels. Nothing to be sneezed at, and the Angels in the
outfield (ha!) seemed to have inherited the Sox’s weak arms.
-
Kapler flashing bat and glove was great, given Manny’s hammy issues.
-
Pedro making a case for his rest. Did that gun say 96?? Sweet. Why condemn Tito for not reshuffling his rotation when the Y*nk**s started the second half with Contreras and not Vazquez? Plus, I’m a believer that while Pedro can pitch lights-out against the Y*nk**s (can anyone say “17Ks in 1999”?), he tends to get spells of bad luck against them - the Sox don’t really seem to win that many of the games that he starts against them. So I’m not a believer in setting up the rotation that way. Just as long as Wakefield plays them.
-
Leskanic-Embree-Timlin-Foulke looking like the Embree-Timlin-Swilly-Foulke combination of April.
-
The Y*nk**s getting thoroughly embarrassed by Mike Maroth, of all people. Mike Maroth, 20-game loser last season, pitched a 1-hitter complete game. Always liked Maroth - he approached last season with about as much good cheer as could be expected from him in the situation - and great to see a spectacular game. A 90 Game Score
ain’t nothing to be sneezed at (2nd highest in the AL this season): against that lineup you could argue it was the best-pitched game in the AL this season.
-
Jerry Remy thinking that Damon had caught Guillen’s home run, and back-pedalling with an explanation.
Lowlights:
- Ortiz, Ortiz, Ortiz. Big Papi done gone off. Suspension imminent. What do they say about anger management? You can choose whether to be angry or something like that. Serenity now!
- The Twilight Strike Zone (dee-dee-dee-dee) of the ump. The Sox hated it. The Angels hated it. It’s one thing to have a tight strike zone. It’s another to call a pitch in the same location a strike sometimes, and a ball others. Hey, if he can make a generally congenial fellow like Ortiz explode like that, I think we can safely say he wasn’t very consistent.