Ugly
The Red Sox lost to the Yankees 15-9 in an ugly game that lasted over 4 hours. When you’re starting pitcher can’t make it out of the 3rd inning you’re doing well just to stay in the game.
Buchholz got hit hard in the 1st and when he wasn’t (the 3rd) weak popups were falling in. Still, even in a subpar outing he looked more polished with better pitch command than Lester. He’s exciting to watch.
Middle relief is the weakest part of Boston’s game, and with a starting pitcher yet to go 8 innings this year it’s being exposed almost nightly. Hopefully a Crisp for middle relief trade is on the horizon. This would allow Ellsbury to get more playing time and hopefully become a more consistent hitter from the lead off spot (0-5 last night).
On the bright side Wang returned to form as expected. He’s a good pitcher, but last weeks 2 hitter was an anomaly.
Something that got lost last night was Yankee catcher Chad Moeller’s slide into second on the Lugo error. Umpires generally allow a runner to leave the baseline as long as touching 2nd could reasonably be accomplished. Moeller was 2 feet from the bag. If the umpires aren’t going to call that play then it’s anything goes.
Even worse was Joe Morgan’s excuse that the Umpire would hear it from Yankee fans if he made that call; the correct call. He’s a professional umpire; the crowd shouldn’t even come in to play.
Forget about this one and move on. Tonight, Beckett vs. the Ghost of Mussina.
