Beckett Struggles... Again
If anyone thought the game was going to go the way it went last night, you are simply lying to yourself. Just as the announces kept saying, "This game has it all." Anything that could have happened in the game it did. We had two Aces struggle, tons of long-balls, misplayed fly balls, bad plate calling, past balls, oh and a walk off sac fly to win the game for the Rays.
But lets not let Beckett off so easy. This is twice in a row that Beckett struggles that ultimately causes us the game. If it wasn't for all the big at bats, we would have been smashed. Beckett's has simply lost his dominance. He doesn't look the same out there. His fastball is weak, his breaking pitch doesn't break, and his cutter can't cut through air. What is happening with Beckett? Is it that time of the month. Well I have news for Beckett... It's October pal, we can't have that sh*t. We need him to pitch the way he is capable.
He also needs to know when he has had enough. He scapegoated his pitching performance based on the Boston bats. That is not fair to the rest of the team. Tito should have known better. This is not the first time Tito has done this. He loves for our pitchers to get to that dreaded 5th inning to have a chance at the win. But despite someone's composure and past results, as a manager, you need o pull them and let the bullpen work. Our bullpen has been great this postseason. Why not have the faith and use them?
It gets worse. Our bullpen is holding their own; matching everything Tampa is throwing at us. Pap throws 18 balls and gets pulled... Why not let him get as batter or two in the 11th? We had 2,3,4 hitters in the 12th... No. We decide to go to Timlin. He hasn't pitched in like 16 days, and wasn't even on the roster last week. Why didn't we go with Paul Byrd? Once again, he has playoff experience! He has been here before. Despite the bad plate calling, Timlin should not have been in there because he was not ready which showed itself on the field.
So this loss is probably owed more to egos than to poor play. We left Beckett in to get him a possible win, or maybe to boost his confidence going into Game 6, or maybe because he wanted to stay in and that was that. We put in Timlin because he is a long-time Red Sox period. Terry Francona is smarter than that. He has easily outcoached Scocia and was out coaching Maddon until the 11th.
Maybe I'm being greedy... wanting 2 wins coming back to Fenway. It is unusual. The norm is what happened to the Dodgers. You are to protect your home field in the playoffs. We were able to steal one and we now have the upper hand. But now the Rays have a bit of momentum and we had the chance of shutting it down completely. We have to hope for a GREAT game in Boston on Monday night. We need to get the point accross that we will win it here. We will not return to Tampa and that last night was simply a fluke.
Let's Go SOX!!
But lets not let Beckett off so easy. This is twice in a row that Beckett struggles that ultimately causes us the game. If it wasn't for all the big at bats, we would have been smashed. Beckett's has simply lost his dominance. He doesn't look the same out there. His fastball is weak, his breaking pitch doesn't break, and his cutter can't cut through air. What is happening with Beckett? Is it that time of the month. Well I have news for Beckett... It's October pal, we can't have that sh*t. We need him to pitch the way he is capable.
He also needs to know when he has had enough. He scapegoated his pitching performance based on the Boston bats. That is not fair to the rest of the team. Tito should have known better. This is not the first time Tito has done this. He loves for our pitchers to get to that dreaded 5th inning to have a chance at the win. But despite someone's composure and past results, as a manager, you need o pull them and let the bullpen work. Our bullpen has been great this postseason. Why not have the faith and use them?It gets worse. Our bullpen is holding their own; matching everything Tampa is throwing at us. Pap throws 18 balls and gets pulled... Why not let him get as batter or two in the 11th? We had 2,3,4 hitters in the 12th... No. We decide to go to Timlin. He hasn't pitched in like 16 days, and wasn't even on the roster last week. Why didn't we go with Paul Byrd? Once again, he has playoff experience! He has been here before. Despite the bad plate calling, Timlin should not have been in there because he was not ready which showed itself on the field.
So this loss is probably owed more to egos than to poor play. We left Beckett in to get him a possible win, or maybe to boost his confidence going into Game 6, or maybe because he wanted to stay in and that was that. We put in Timlin because he is a long-time Red Sox period. Terry Francona is smarter than that. He has easily outcoached Scocia and was out coaching Maddon until the 11th.
Maybe I'm being greedy... wanting 2 wins coming back to Fenway. It is unusual. The norm is what happened to the Dodgers. You are to protect your home field in the playoffs. We were able to steal one and we now have the upper hand. But now the Rays have a bit of momentum and we had the chance of shutting it down completely. We have to hope for a GREAT game in Boston on Monday night. We need to get the point accross that we will win it here. We will not return to Tampa and that last night was simply a fluke.
Let's Go SOX!!
Leave a comment