I’ve been watching baseball a
very long time and this series has had some things I’ve just never seen
before. However, last night takes the
cake. The Sox looked like they had
gotten an out and were heading to extra innings but an obstruction call allows
the Cardinals to walk-off with a 2-1 series advantage after a 5-4 win a home.
Dustin Pedroia looked like he had
saved the game for Boston. With the
infield in and runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out and
the game tied at 4, Jon Jay ripped a grounder to Pedroia, who fielded it easily
and fired home where Yadier Molina was tagged out by Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
Then Salty saw that Allen Craig
was racing toward third and he fired it over to Will Middlebrooks. The ball was up the base path and into the
sliding runner and Middlebrooks couldn’t field it. He dove and the ball squirted into left
field, and Middlebrooks and Craig got tangled up.
Craig somehow got out of the
tangle and sprinted home where he was out by a mile from a Daniel Nava throw to
Salty. However, third-base umpire, Jim
Joyce, called an obstruction on Middlebrooks which meant Allen Craig was called
safe and the game was over.
Unfortunately, the right call was
made on a very bad rule. The rule, 7.06,
says that with or without intent if the base runner is obstructed, he is
awarded the base he would have gotten to.
I just don’t agree with the rule as Middlebrooks was trying to field the
ball and fell on the ground. He then got
tangled up with Craig and the result was that he gets the base. MLB, to its credit, will revisit the rule in
the offseason and I think it’s important to change the rule to if there is
intent, yes, the runner gets the base.
But if the umpire deems no intent, I’d like to see the ball called dead
and the runner return to the base on which he was on. That would solve ending a World Series game
on an obstruction walk-off.
The call overshadowed a really
good game. With just 6 outs remaining
and the Red Sox trailing 4-2, Jacoby Ellsbury jump started the 8th
with a leadoff single. Shane Victorino
was hit by a pitch, I know, big surprise right and the Sox had 2 runners on
with no outs.
Dustin Pedroia worked the count
to 3-2 and John Farrell gambled a bit and put Ellsbury and Victorino in motion
and it worked as Pedroia grounded out to short that moved the runners into
scoring position with only 1 out. The
ridiculously hot, David Ortiz, was intentionally walked to load the bases and Daniel
Nava was able to get a run in with a fielder’s choice to 2nd. It was a 4-3 game.
Up came the 21-year old Xander
Bogaerts, and again he was calm as could be.
Nothing seems to faze this kid.
He hit a grounder up the middle that took a huge bounce behind the 2nd
base bag and off the glove of shortstop Pete Kozma for an infield RBI single
that tied up the game at 4.
Unfortunately in the top of the 9th,
the Sox wouldn’t do anything and John Farrell stupidly let Brandon Workman hit
with the bases empty even though he had Mike Napoli ready to go. It was Brandon Workman’s first career at bat
and he was facing the very tough Trevor Rosenthal. Workman struck out on 3 pitches. I don’t for the life of me know why he didn’t
make a double-switch there, especially since he removed Workman after one
batter in the bottom half of the inning.
Farrell needs to do a better job at managing in the National League Park.
Offensively, the Sox weren’t all
that good, getting only 6 hits and walking 4 times. They were 2 for 9 with runners in scoring
position and left 6 men on base. Lots of
opportunities were left out there.
Ellsbury went 2 for 5 with a run scored
and Xander Bogaerts went 2 for 4 with a run, an RBI and a triple. David Ortiz was 1 for 2 with 2 walks and
Daniel Nava was 1 for 4 with 2 RBI.
Victorino was on base twice with a walk and a HBP and also scored twice on
the night. Salty also walked once in the
loss and Mike Carp knocked in a run in pitch hitting duties.
Jake Peavy was on the mound and
unfortunately didn’t do anything to turn his postseason numbers around. Peavy lasted only 4 innings giving up 2 runs
on 6 hits while walking 1 and striking out 4.
He just left a lot of balls over the middle of the plate and with the Sox
in a National League ball-park, you need to get some offense going and that
means that if you’re not doing great work on the mound, you’re going to be
taken out of the ball game for pitch hitters earlier than you would like.
Felix Doubront did well coming in
for the early exiting Peavy throwing 2 innings of no-run baseball giving up
just 1 hit and 1 walk. Craig Breslow had
another tough outing giving up 2 runs on 1 hit while failing to record an
out. He faced 2 batters in the 7th
inning giving up a single and then a HBP.
Both runners would come around to score on the Matt Holliday double off
of Junichi Tazawa.
Tazawa pitched 1 inning and gave
up no runs while walking 1, giving up 1 hit and striking out 2. He allowed both inherited runners to
score. Brandon Workman went 1 and 1/3 of
an inning giving up 2 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk and 1 strikeout. He took the loss in the walk-off but it was
Koji Uehara who was on the mound for the last 1/3 of an inning. The run that scored was unearned but he did
allow a hit.
Game 4 becomes very important now
as the Red Sox need to win one to make sure they return to Fenway Park. The Sox will send out Clay Buchholz who is suffering
from arm fatigue and most likely will pitch for the last time this season. He hasn’t been great in the playoffs but he
needs to come up big tonight. Lance Lynn
will oppose him for the Cardinals. He’s
been pretty good this season and the Cardinals don’t seem to have a weak link
in that rotation.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Xander Bogaerts. The youngster had 2 hits, a run scored and
the game tying RBI in the loss. He’s
batting .313 in the playoffs this year and continues to show tons of
poise. I can’t wait to see him playing
shortstop for the next bunch of years.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Stephen Drew. Drew was terrible at the plate again going 0
for 2 with 2 strikeouts. He was pulled from
the game in favor of Will Middlebrooks and although he’s been playing great
defense, Drew really needs to get the bat going. He’s batting an awful .091 in the postseason.
PLAY OF THE GAME
The walk-off obstruction call to
give the Cards the win.
NEXT
Sunday, October 27th, in St.
Louis vs. the Cardinals.
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