Thanks to late inning heroics by David Ortiz the Boston Red Sox took game 1 by a score of 4-3 before losing the nightcap to Justin Verlander 3-0. The Sox take 3 out of 4 in Detroit & now return home for a 6-game homestand against the White Sox & Athletics.
Some thoughts about yesterday's doubleheader:
- I'm glad we won game 1. However, after the Ortiz home run, why did Tito rush to get Pap up to pitch the 9th when Bard was warm & ready? He could have started Bard & brought Pap in if things went astray. It worked out as Pap got the Tigers 1-2-3 in the 9th. Sometimes I think that this whole closer role takes precedence over common sense.
- Is Jose Valverde the goofiest looking closer in the game? I'm glad Ortiz hit a game-winning jack off of him. His antics on the mound after every out are getting old. I saw his act in Arizona when he was the closer there. Someone will charge the mound after him or put on a good display rounding the bases after he gives it up. Big Papi was too classy to show Valverde up yesterday, but somebody will.
- I'm a fan of Adrian Gonzalez. One of his many excellent defensive plays that he makes routinely might have gone unnoticed in game 2. On a deep ground ball to first base he fired a perfect strike to Josh Beckett covering first to beat a runner by a step. All you pitchers out there & all you first-basemen out there know how hard a play that is on both ends.
- Are you like me - surprised when Beckett, Lester or Buchholz give up a run now? Each mound appearance by the big 3 is a shutout waiting to happen. When Buck gave up 3 & Beckett 2 it seemed like 5 or 6 runs had scored. These guys are pitching well enough to win every time out there, even though neither got a win yesterday.
We start the week in first place with 30 wins. A good homestand with a day off on Thursday should keep us there to start the month of June.
No comments:
Post a Comment