As luck would have it, the Red Sox came to town yesterday, so I had a good chance to see their Manny-less lineup. I'm still unconvinced as to whether this was a good move for the Sox. Case in point: yesterday's game, 9th inning.
The Mexicutioner is pitching, of course, so I've already chalked up another win for the Royals. However, leading 4-2, Coco Crisp leads off with a single. J.D. Drew then strikes out on a check-swing with a full count. Had he held up, it would have been ball four. Dustin Pedroia comes to bat and bloops a ball into left field, but because the outfield was playing deep, guarding against a double, the ball drops for a single. So, now it's men on first and second with one out.
A few weeks ago, the man at the plate would have been Manny Ramirez (who has historically man-handled Kansas City pitching). Instead, up comes Big Papi, David Ortiz. Trust me, I'm not glad to see him up to bat in this situation either, but at least it wasn't Manny with Papi still on deck. Soria coerces Ortiz to ground out to the first baseman, and the runners move to second and third, but now there are two outs. The next batter is Kevin Youkalis, who is intentionally walked, bringing up Jason Bay, the man the Sox got in return for Manny Ramirez. With a two-run lead, two outs in the ninth, and the bases loaded, I was practically giddy that the batter was Jason Bay instead of Manny.
As it turned out, Bay hit a soft ground ball between short and third, and Alex Gordon and Tony Peña Jr. collided, so he actually earned an RBI single. Now the lead was down to one, with Sean Casey at the bat. Strike one, strike two, and then, everyone knew what was coming, including Casey. Soria let fly his 65 mph looping curveball. Casey launched it into right field, but right at Mark Teahen, who made the third out.
Not having Manny Ramirez in that lineup changed its dynamic just enough for the Royals last night. Hopefully they'll be able to take advantage again tonight and tomorrow night. Personally, I'm hoping that it affects the Sox so much that a Central team can sneak in and steal the wild card, keeping both the Yankees and the Red Sox out of the playoffs. What would FOX do if that ever happened, huh?
have you ever seen teh red sox line up? obviously not, cause ortiz was always 3rd and manny was always 4th.
ReplyDeleteso your "but at least it wasn't Manny with Papi still on deck" comment is completely false. it was also ortiz up with manny on deck, thats why ortiz always had so many walk off hits, because of manny
My mistake. The point is, either way, minus Manny in that lineup, the Redsox didn't have the 1-2-punch they had come to rely on in those situations. But, I'm sure you got the point.
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