Postgame Shot Of Joe: Sox Were Much Better
Uncategorized August 28th. 2010, 6:51am
Bad calls, stupid mistakes and unaggressive hitting aside, the Rays didn’t beat themselves 3-1 on Friday, the Sox stuck it to them.
Joe hates those kinds of losses. It sucks to have to admit when you just weren’t as good, especially with ace David Price on the mound.
What drove Joe insane is Carlos Pena and B.J. Upton with their bats on their shoulders in the eighth inning down two runs. How exacly was Pena fooled by a fastball into a feeble check swing?
Swing the damn bats.
Sean Rodriguez did his best B.J. Upton impression getting picked off second/caught stealing third with two outs in the fifth inning. And Upton later rounded third like a high school kid and got thrown out at home in what was the game-changer. Though Joe knows the real issue was the Rays’ feeble bats in the face of Jon Lester.
On the upside, Joe was fired up to have Price legitimately throwing inside to David Ortiz. It’s about time, and Joe hopes to see that continue through the series and beyond.
How was that game not sold out? Not even 30K?
Tonight’s not a must-win game in Joe’s eyes, but the Rays can’t get swept. So it’s as good a time as any.
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For me, that was this season’s most dispiriting loss. It revealed some chronic problems: 1. Price really hasn’t been dominating since the All Star break. He usually manages to minimize the damage, but he is often pitching out of jams. 2. We could speed up games by simply stipulating that Shoppach will strike out, and skipping his at-bat. I never thought I’d be missing Navarro.
And for some specifics of last night: I blame Foley for the out at home plate. Unless Upton ran through a stop sign, it was up to Foley to see how quickly McDonald got to that ball. And after Martinez hit that convincing home run his first time at bat, did Price really throw him what seemed to be a very similar pitch in the 7th inning for another home run? There was no one on base — why did Martinez get any pitch at all he could get his bat on?
Probably the biggest CHOKE job of 2010….more to come?
Until the Rays get it in their head..the Red Sox/Yankees intimidate them!
Also without CC…. and Longo taking the choke (3 strikeouts) the Rays have NO ONE else to depend on…Bartlett ok… but gone in 2011…
Hopefully management noticed what a “no CC Rays lineup” can’t do….
Watching pitches…strikes called… has to stop…where did it come from?
Sheldon? but Zo and Aybar looked discouraged and lost…Upton, Pena and Shopp always have been….hitting help….where?
With all the injuries the Sox have, the Rays should be able to handle them. Instead they handle us, which to me doesn’t make much sense. I know Carl was out of the lineup (which does hurt), but that’s no excuse.
Now thankfully this was only the 1st game of a 3 game series, but if the Rays continue to make dumb decisions and swing like little leaguer’s, they’ll probably get swept. So they better come out tonight with a whole different mind frame if they want to have a chance to win.
Wake up Rays!
Just sayin- if we get a nice lead tonight, I’d love to see a fast ball to the ribs of V Mart for that acting job last night. He, his team and the unpires should all be embarrassed by that.