Those Aren't Beers Next to Him

Typical Pomeranz expression, this time after he left the game, pitching 6 innings of 1-run ball. He looks like that after a win or a loss, and possibly while at home in the winter. This is such a constant expression for him that The Eck said so on the air about a month ago. Anyway, Sox win 6-2 and lower their magic number to 14.

April 23rd, Aceves' Meltdown, 13-0

In a blustery, rainy, cold, and wind-swept Fenway, I saw the Red Sox do their Bad News Bears impersonation to a mostly-empty ballpark that became even more empty, fast.  A few other tidbits from this game:

--Took me more than half an hour longer to get to Fenway because Boylston is still partially closed off.  Not a complaint; just a traffic advisory for fellow fans going to Fenway.  Leave earlier than usual.

--Since I was one of the 200 or so left at the end of the game, in the seventh inning, I was given a free ticket to Thursday's Sox/Houston game.  I'll be there, of course, so look for another blog entry then.

--Aceves gave me a lot of firsts.  First pitcher I've ever seen balk twice in the same inning.  First pitcher I've ever seen commit two errors in the same inning, though one of them was generously scored a hit.  (This was on his throw to first, which he essentially threw into the ground.)  First pitcher I've ever seen in person be late to cover first, and then throw the ball nowhere close to the catcher to get the guy trying to score.  First pitcher to allow a large village of baserunners in such a low number of innings, and then blame his offense for not scoring any runs for him during the postgame interview. 

--Also, he was the first pitcher I've seen in such horrible--but great-for-the-pitcher-- weather conditions walk so many batters.  With the wind blowing in so strongly, and with the air so wet with rain, and with the ball so dead because of the weight of so much water on it, all pitchers know that they can essentially throw a shutout if they just throw the ball over the plate, with just a little bit of effort, and allow the batter to hit the ball slowly to an infielder, or as a dead weight to an outfielder.  Such conditions create a low-scoring, pitcher-friendly game.  All the pitchers have to do is throw strikes.  Aceves refused to do so.  Colon didn't, and so threw a shutout.  Amazing.

--I said before in the first entry this year that Aceves had better watch his act because he was on the Sox's S-list already.  With rookie Alex Wilson pitching pretty well, and with John Lackey coming back this weekend, there really isn't a spot for Aceves and his antics anymore.  He knows this, and it probably led to his meltdown.  That, and whatever goofiness he already has.

--The relief pitcher for this game, Steven Wright, was making his first MLB appearance after eight years in the minors.  He did not impress, either, giving up five runs in about three innings, with lots of hits and walks.

--Aceves's demotion will happen just as much for his remarks after the game, blaming the offense for his loss.

--Speaking of that, the word "demotion," should be used in this case, as sending Aceves down is exactly that, a demotion.  A reality check.  Commentators can choose when to use that word, as opposed to any other phrase, as with Iglesias.  I don't know why this is such an issue for me...See my bullet about this in the last entry.

--The Sox should be able to easily shrug this one off and win the next game, and therefore the series.  I used to play Vintage League baseball, where this sort of score is common.  (In fact, Vintage scores are much, much more lopsided than this.)  You just shrug it off.  It's still just one game, exactly the same as losing 1-0.  In fact, losing 1-0 or 2-1 hurts much more.  Again, a team tries to win every series, not every game.

--Probably I'm just being picky, but I'd like Napoli to walk more.  He has about five walks and twenty-eight Ks, or so.  His OBP is very low.  I know he gets paid more to drive in runs than he does to get on base, but it seems like he's only getting on base when he drives in runs.  This doesn't do much for the hitters behind him, all of whom are struggling.

--Middlebrooks needs a day off to clear his head.  He's playing good defense, though.

--I took a lot of good noir shots of Fenway and its environs with my cell phone.  Yeah, I'm like that.  I'll upload one for the picture for this entry when I get a chance.

--Okay, I didn't post this after the game, like I should've, and so now I can say that the Sox did indeed win the rubber game of this series, and they did indeed demote Aceves.  Nice to see I'm not just making all this up as I go, right?

--Bottom line: Sox are 14-7 and playing well, more with their pitching and defense than with their offense, which isn't doing too badly, either.  And who would've thought that possible this early in the year, after the debacle of last year?

Pressing--Indians 8, Sox 4

--I can't imagine what the team is going through here.  It's 5 in a row now--and the Rays have lost 5 in a row as well--and I was right yesterday: It really will be a race between the PawSox and the BoSox to win their first game of the year.

--I've been on some bad teams in my playing days (ALL my teams really have been bad teams; no correlation to the fact I was on them, of course.), but the difference is that we knew we were terrible, and we didn't exactly expect to win most of our games.  But the Sox were picked to win the World Series by most experts, for God's sake.  There's still time to do so, of course, but they need to win a game now before they play the Yanks.  If you can't beat the Indians, how can you beat the Yankees?

--You can't hit 2 batters and walk another one, down by one late in the game, and expect to win.  Ever.

--The Sox lead the majors in homers allowed.  That won't get it done.

--Before today's game, the Sox as a team were hitting below .200.  That won't do it, either.

--Lester has to show he's the ace by stopping this losing streak.  That's what an ace does.

--No Sox pitcher, starters or relievers, have impressed overall yet.

--The Sox pitchers have the highest ERA in all of MLB.

--I don't think Youk purposely dropped the ball at third.  Bad call by the ump.

--Speaking of which, the homeplate ump. made about 20 lousy ball/strike calls tonight.  Even when he reversed his own call, how do you not see the ball drop and roll at the plate?

--Something annoys me about Jade McCarthy and I don't know what it is.  Though this may be just the losing streak talking.

--Bonds not taking the stand in his own defense is a no-brainer.  Someone that unlikable should never take the stand.  Period.  That was his lawyer throwing the personality white flag.

--Prediction: Bonds guilty on all remaining counts, or almost all of them.  And no jail time.

--Clemens is next.  Though not as unlikable as Bonds, his lawyers have to worry about his arrogance as well.  Fans around here will never forget when Clemens complained to the media in the late 80s about having to carry his own bags across the airport.

--You STILL cannot keep Bonds and Clemens out of the Hall--especially Bonds.  There's just something wrong with keeping the all-time hits leader and the all-time homerun leader out of the Hall.  What else does everyone but the most serious fan go to the park to see?  And Clemens is the Bonds of pitching.  Can't keep him out either.  You can keep them out until their last year of eligibility, but I don't like that, either.  Then it becomes more about the voting writers than about the players, or anything else.  And the writers as pariahs doesn't sit well with me, either.  Many of them aren't exactly saints, as well.  Keep the morality bloodhounds away from the voting process.

--There might be parity in terms of talent across MLB, but not when it comes to attendance.  Remember how the Rays and Braves didn't draw well, in a good economy, when both teams were in the playoffs?  Now, in a bad economy, I worry.  Have you seen the sparse crowds during the highlights across all of MLB?  About 6,500 in Cleveland tonight; I'll be in a Triple-A ballpark tomorrow night with over 9,000 others.  That's sad.  I've seen low numbers in most of the home games shown this week.