Game 140: UGLY

Final Score:

Boston Red Sox 4, New York Yankees 8

Conversation in Tito’s head, prior to pulling David Wells in the sixth:

Tito: Boomer’s looking pretty tired; he’s had a rough night (9 hits, 5 earned runs, 2 walks) and I’ve got Chad Bradford waiting in the pen…should I pull him now?  Even though the Yankees scored this inning, it was because Manny looked like a retarded goat in left, there’re two outs and Boomer did just get out Matt Lawton without problems…and now they’re booing him.  Hehehehe…loser.
Stat-mind of Tito: Terry, I’m not gonna lie to you – you should take out Wells now.  Jeter’s coming up, it’s a righty on righty matchup…exactly what you have Bradford in that bullpen for.  It’ll be perfect.  Do it.  Do it.
Tito: Ok, ok, fine, I’ll do it.

[Francona pulls Boomer, who has the “don’t mess with my cake” look on his face.  Bradford comes in to take his place.  After a 10 pitch at-bat, Jeter, who’s 2 for 8 with 2 walks against Chad, works a walk.  Even in this first at-bat, it’s pretty clear Bradford’s ain’t gonna fool anybody with his stuff tonight.]

Tito: Well, that didn’t work out so well.  Too bad I didn’t warm up anybody else…Bernie Williams is up now.  That might be bad…
Stat-mind of Tito: Hmm, you might be right on that one, cuz Bernie’s a lefty and Bradford’s about as good against lefties as Michael Brown is at heading up disaster relief.  Still, even if Williams gets on, A-fraud and the Juice Machine are both righties…no problems.  And yeah, Bernie may be 3 for 4 against Bradford, but that’s not a big enough sample size to prove anything.

[Williams ups his record against Bradford to 4 for 5 by hitting a single, scoring Robinson Cano, who was on third.  6 – 3 Yankees.]

Stat-mind of Tito: Riiiiiight.  Didn’t see that coming.  Still, righty on righty, Terry.  No problems.

[Alex Rodriguez singles.  Derek Jeter scores and Bernie Williams goes to second.  Bradford may actually be cowering on the mound at this point.  7 – 3 Yankees.]

Tito: Ok, screw you, stat-head…if I don’t pull this guy now, they’ll be burning me in effigy across New England tomorrow.

[Mike Myers replaces Bradford, gives up a run on a single to Matsui before getting the final out on a fly ball to right field.  8 – 3 Yankees.  Red Sox fans everywhere wonder why the manager’s brain seemed to check out once again when a timely hook was needed.]

While tonight’s game was not one I expected Boston to win – Aaron Small’s perfect record with the Yankees didn’t seem ready to die yet – I did expect them to play a lot better than they did.  4 errors by Boston (although I think a closer examination of the quality of play might make it more like 6 errors), 1 unearned run, 10 men left on base, failing to take advantage of a bases loaded situation in the seventh, another screw up by Sveum and Tito’s aforementioned gaffe all contributed towards a game that Boston handed to New York far too easily.  

The thing that really bugs me about tonight, even more than the rest of the team looking like Little Leaguers: the misusage of Bradford.  As Michael Kay noted, Francona has 10 pitchers in his bullpen.  TEN.  In a dangerous hitting situation with a batter against whom Bradford has two statistical disadvantages, why do you even think of keeping the same pitcher?  Having that many pitchers available means you can use one pitcher for one or two batters and if necessary, go to the next pitcher who has the best chance of getting the out.  

We’ll get ‘em back tomorrow, assuming the Sox calm themselves down and start playing smart: Schilling versus Chacon at 1:20.  GO SOX!!!

tags: baseball | red sox | terry francona | chad bradford | david wells