Yesterdays 16-11 Red Sox victory over the Yankees was my first chance to hear Joe Buck and Time McCarver butcher a game this year.
Featuring Joe Buck as Dumb
While discussing Johnny Damon Joe Buck claimed that while he looked to be declining when he left Boston for New York his statistics over his 4 years with the Yankees were equal to or even better than his 4 years with the Red Sox. Which is true.
What Buck didn’t mention is that Damon was signed by New York as a center fielder. However, do to age and declining defensive skills* only in is first year did Damon regularly play center field for the Yankees. That’s an important fact that Buck either ignored or was too ignorant to understand its importance.
* Which includes, shockingly, his arm. Damon had a terrible arm in Boston, but I have no doubt it’s now worse. Damon doesn’t so much thrown the ball as shot puts into the general infield area, something I never tire of watching.
The same offensive statistics that would make Damon a plus center fielder make him an average left fielder at best. And since Damon couldn’t play center field any longer, he had no place in Boston. Manny Ramirez, and now Jason Bay, would have kept Damon on the bench.
While it can be debated, I’m willing to bet that if Yankees GM Brian Cashman had known Damon had only a year left in center field he wouldn’t have pursued him as a free agent, and Damon would have returned to the Red Sox and likely become a problem; a huge personality with nowhere to play.
And Tim McCarver as Dumber
After the Red Sox scored 5 in the 4th inning to bring them within a run of the Yankees McCarver claimed (as he often does) that Francona was “rewarding” Becket with a chance for the win (getting through 5 innings with the lead).
By itself this is a moronic comment. Francona doesn’t send Beckett back out in the 5th unless he thinks Beckett can do the job, and dipping into the bullpen in the 5th was something Francona would want to avoid at all costs. Even worse, McCarver’s comment came after Francona claimed in a dugout interview that Beckett had good stuff, but that he came out a little too strong.
Beckett got through the 5th easily, and came out to pitch the top of the 6th now holding a 2 run lead. McCarver couldn’t grasp why Beckett was still pitching when he had his 5 innings complete; when he already had his reward.
The answer? There was no reward! That Beckett came out for the 6th shows that the “reward” theory only existed in McCarvers mind. Francona had allowed Beckett to pitch the 5th because he thought he would pitch well, and he was right. Because of that, it became a no-brainer to bring him out for the 6th.
But Beckett couldn’t get through the 6th, and when Francona brought in a reliever McCarver, still unable to grasp basic logic, too dumb to realize his initial opinion was complete rubbish, moaned:
So much for the reward…
So much for my sanity.