Boston Red Sox 5, New York Yankees 7
I accept no responsibility for last nightThere are some who might think that Alex Rodriguez’s home run in the seventh inning, the one that made the difference in this loss, is the direct result of my taunting A-Rod here yesterday. Others might conjecture that the Red Sox lost because I told Robin after Wakefield gave up his third run in the third that everything was ok because Wake doesn’t give up more than three runs an outing (which was almost true last night). Still others might decide to pin the blame on my saying that A-Rod won’t hit a homerun when he came up in the seventh with two men on because that would blow the game open and that’s too clutch for Mr. March. Silly me, I could say…except that because
- I’m a blogger and a fan and more importantly,
- because I have absolutely no effect on what goes on during a ball game on the field,
- Wakefield
Except that blaming Tim Wakefield for a loss is like holding someone’s sweet old grandmother responsible for a murder: it’s monstrous and most people, including myself, won’t stand for it. Besides, why blame Timmy when you can blame - The Offense
Sure, the Yankees might have established the lead from the first at-bat of the game, but that doesn’t mean the Boston bats have to lie there and take the abuse. Thirteen men left on base last night, more than half of them by the fourth inning. By the end of the night, the Sox were something like two for thirteen with runners in scoring position, which is the baseball equivalent of laying on the ground in front of the bully and asking him not to hurt you too much, because you’re not going to land any of your punches. Did Boston knock some runs in? Sure, mostly after Wakefield left the game, when the Sox starting taking pitches again, like they usually do. I feel like there’s a correlation here somewhere between Wakefield outings and pitches taken. I don’t know if it’s of any value, though. - Francona
So, Tito, why did you leave Wakefield in to face A-Rod after walking Jeter and Sheffield? From your quote in today’s Globe, it sounds like you had one of those, “well, everything’s gone pretty well against A-Rod so far and dear God I don’t want to go to the backside of my bullpen tonight” moments:“He had handled Alex tonight,” Francona said. “That’s probably the hardest thing for me, not necessarily tonight but in all the games because Wake is going to walk people but it doesn't necessarily mean he’s losing it. Right there I wasn’t comfortable with the results, but I was comfortable letting him face him.”
To be honest, if Wake came out in the seventh, we were probably looking at Julian Tavarez giving up the homerun anyway and then I’d get to make a Tavarez bullet point, too.
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