Dan Haren was dominant on Sunday in Chicago. He came into the game (3-0) with a .78 ERA. So needless to say, we had our work cut out for us. We saw vintage Mark Buehrle, getting into trouble early, displaying damage control, while scattering 4 runs and 10 hits over the course of 7 innings. The offense struggled against Haren, unable to do anything until the 7th inning. We strung together some hits, put up 2 runs and had 1st and 2nd with 2 outs. Juan Pierre was at the plate and Angels manager Mike Scioscia elected to go to his bullpen for some help from Francisco Rodriguez. Pierre proceeded to swing at the first pitch, (a questionable decision at best) grounding out to short.
Fast-forward to the bottom of the 9th. Quentin leads off with a double, Rios walked, AJ lays down THE PERFECT sacrifice bunt, bringing Alexi Ramirez to the plate. Now as I've posted before, I am not a fan of Alexi Ramirez as a hitter and he displayed exactly why that is during his at bat in the 9th. Ok, let me just say, if I'm going up there in the 9th with the tying run on 2nd base, I'm ONLY swinging first pitch if 2 things happen: 1. Its a fastball 2. Its in my wheelhouse.
Alexi let it fly on a change up at his ankles first pitch. Strike one.
Next pitch, fastball at his shins, lets her fly, strike 2.
At this point the at bat was over, next pitch, fastball above his eyes, swing and a miss.
Just about the worst at bat someone could put together in that situation. I mean you have to be selective in that situation, you don't swing first pitch at anything BUT a fastball. You need to put the ball in play, striking out on 3 pitches is the worst thing he could have done, at least take a pitch, make the guy throw a few pitches, battle up there. Just an awful at bat. Then Vizquel walks, and Pierre improves to 0 for 5 on the day with a game ending fly out to left.
Sox fans, we are NOT playing smart baseball right now. We have put together some of the most brain dead at bats in key situations on this home stand, Quentin green lights it on a 3-0 count with the tying run 90 feet away and a pitcher on the mound with control issues ( Friday night). Pierre swings first pitch (right after a pitching change) in the 7th to totally kill our threat (Today, Sunday). That’s not Pierre's game, he needs to take pitches, work the count, make the pitchers work, get his pitch and slap a base hit. Then Ramirez swings at everything in the 9th, putting together another one of his stellar at bats.
The good news is, the bullpen has been lights out these last few games. The starting pitching has been good enough to win (minus Floyd yesterday). Now the offense is slumping.
I’m going to continue to beat this dead horse without mercy and say, try not to get to frustrated. Its still early, we're closer to hitting the groove. The Defense FINALLY did not record an error today and like I said before, the bullpen has been settling in, the starting pitching has been consistently good. Now we just need to offense to break out a little bit and it will all flow.
I'll leave you with this, sometimes gifts come in strange packages. The last time the Sox were swept at home by the Angels.... 2005. We all know how that season ended.
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