Spritzing: Cards-Sox Gamer I

The start of the game is on a weather delay, but it looks like this game is going to happen. Comment here on all your Red Birds/Red Sox action.

St. Louis
C. Izturis ss	.244
S. Schumaker rf	.307
R. Ludwick lf	.305
R. Ankiel cf	.251
T. Glaus 3b	.260
C. Duncan 1b	.234
Y. Molina dh	.295
A. Kennedy 2b	.250
J. LaRue c	.194
K. Lohse	3.77
Boston
J. Ellsbury lf	.281
D. Pedroia 2b	.274
J.D. Drew rf	.327
M. Ramirez dh	.295
M. Lowell 3b	.275
K. Youkilis 1b	.305
C. Crisp cf	.260
J. Lugo ss	.275
K. Cash c	.236
T. Wakefield	4.19

Comments

[SF]

LFRS sacs in Manny, 1-0 Sox.

[SF]

Bowling pins!

[SF]

That's twice in five innings the Sox have had the sacks full with 1 out, and they have one run to show for it. Very frustrating to watch.

[SF]

And, the leadoff double for the Cards. Pre-dic-ta-ble.

[SF]

LFRS throws away a routine grounder for error #155332 on the season.

ENOUGH OF THIS GUY, THEO, OK?

[SF]

LFRS follows with another throwaway turning the double play, simple relay to first.

This guy shouldn't be allowed into the parking lot tomorrow. He's a fucking joke of a player.

[SF]

Ells saves Wake with a leaping grab in left. Two down.

[SF]

Wake guts through six, two runs, one of them almost entirely on the bozo at shortstop. Not sure if Wake comes back out, and if he doesn't it's a tough night when you give up one earned at home and leave the game with a deficit.

[SF]

Wow, two outs from the Sox on like, what, -5 pitches? Terrific fundamental baseball tonight.

[attackgerbil]

Does Lohse not remember he is pitching to Lugo?

[attackgerbil]

Shut your face, Gerbil. Lugo goes yard over the monster to tie the game.

[SF]

Wow. LFRS redeems himself tonight with his first homer in literally 9 months.

I still hate him.

[SF]

LFRS with the double bonus: he clears the pitcher. Er, Cash, I mean.

[SF]

What the hell was that call on 2-1 to Cash? The ball was about 8" low and a foot outside.

[SF]

And, the whiff. At least it is tied.

[attackgerbil]

That 2-1 was a joke. I just came away from three hours of those shit calls watching Runge butcher the zone at the Stadium.. it appears Culbreth is on the same page in Fenway. I guess that's one way to speed the game.

[attackgerbil]

LaRue took that liner for a ride. What a thwack it made off the board.

[SF]

Wake back out for the seventh. MDC warming in the pen.

Jason LaRue continues to wear out Wake, a wallscraper single starts the inning. Be on the ball here, Tito.

[SF]

Gerb:

Manny struck out with the bases loaded in the fifth, they then did the "K-zone" thingy (which we all know has its foibles) but the first two strikes against Manny, both called, didn't come close to the zone. Nowhere near.

[attackgerbil]

Wow.. Wakefield and Lowell doing some sort of interpretive dance on that bunt. Nice job by Lowell to make the out.

[SF]

I think the Sox should stop wearing green - it's CAMOUFLAGE for God's sake.

And there's the two run jack, typical Wake meltdown on one pitch. WTF is SKIP SCHUMAKER?

Thanks for paying attention, Tito. What, the bullpen isn't able to come in after an off-day?

[attackgerbil]

Oof.. Wake gives up a two run dinger to Schumaker.

[SF]

I mean, seriously, Wake hasn't got it. He didn't have much of it last inning, now he loses one inside to hit a guy. Still, no mound visit, no hook. Sleeping manager, again. The Sox have three at-bats left, what is Tito trying to do, make them incidental?

[attackgerbil]

I find the green unis on the sox exceptionally ugly, in just about every way. It's funny, because despite my allegiance, I think the Sox normal Unis, both road and away, look great.

[SF]

Look, you want to honor the Celtics, fine. Put their mugs up on the Diamondvision. Invite them along and give them unlimited Fenway Franks and brewskis. But green unis? No. You've got to draw the line somewhere. What's next, letting KG pitch the eighth?

[SF]

Actually, maybe KG should have pitched the seventh.

[attackgerbil]

> both called, didn't come close to the zone. Nowhere near.

SF: Both teams were shaking their heads, sometimes barking, at Runge. One of the more infuriating games I've recently watched regarding the umpire changing the flow and course of the game, and very quite possibly, the result based on the safe call when Molina had the plate blocked with his glove yet Runge thought Cabrera somehow avoided the tag, but whatever.

[attackgerbil]

Jacoby, my mfrs is on base with a single to left leading off the seventh.

[attackgerbil]

Oof!! Flores, what are you smoking? Four pitch walk, and that 3-0 was comical.

[SF]

Dusty walks. A little bingo started here.

[attackgerbil]

How was that 1-0 pitch to Drew _not_ a strike? Bizarro ump.

[attackgerbil]

LaRussa should be sprinting to the mound.

[attackgerbil]

There he is.

[SF]

First pitch to Drew looked decent, yet called a ball.

The 1-0 is outside, now 2-0.

The 2-0 is high, definitely borderline, and runs the count to 3-0.

Ball eight. Plugged for Manuel.

[SF]

The Sox have had them loaded three times in seven innings now. First two both with one out yielded one run in total. Let's see what happens here.

[attackgerbil]

SF... yeah, typo.. I meant the 0-0 to Drew should have been a strike, but the fact that it wasn't called means that the ump lost all respect for Flores anywhere away from middle belt. He looked really bad in general.

[SF]

Awful. Just awful. This laptop is about to go crashing into my in-laws' floor.

[attackgerbil]

DP by Manny. Surprising to see him do that in that situation. That was just awful placement.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Crap. Needed a little more than that, Manny.

[attackgerbil]

Dribbly 463.

Lowell is behind 0-2. WOW.. layed off a pitch that looked really good over the corner to make it 1-2.

[SF]

It wasn't just awful placement, it was an all-around awful at-bat, hacking away, it looked like Manny made up his mind to swing at both of those pitches no matter what, the first was up and out of the zone the second not much better.

[attackgerbil]

Lowell is disgusted with himself on the K.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Another enormous wasted opportunity.

[attackgerbil]

> it was an all-around awful at-bat

Yeah that's what I saw too, but I don't want to sound like I am goading.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

By the way, my apologies for my outburst in another thread earlier today. Inexcusable.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Culbreath's strike zone usually is questionable. Seems like one or both teams usually is pissed at him when he's behind the plate at RS games.

[SF]

Let's recap: the Sox have had at least six men in scoring position with either one or no outs, and have scored two of them. That's going to lose you games every f*cking time.

The Sox are playing a sh*t game tonight, they've been handed opportunities and seem obliged to let the Cardinals off the hook. I hate watching games like this, they make my blood boil. I'd almost rather have just turned on the computer, seen a big deficit, and gone off to bed, rather than watch this frustratingly bad baseball. I can handle losing to good pitching performances and nice defense, but this has been a sloppy effort from the Cardinals at best, saved only by a woeful effort from the Sox.

[attackgerbil]

> my apologies

I don't know that you need to apologize to anyone, but you apology is accepted by me. Your insight is way too valuable to get bogged down in the mire that sometimes happens around here, IBM.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

K! Is Oki back?

[SF]

And a dinger off Oki. Oki has officially regressed. He's just not that scary anymore.

[attackgerbil]

> seen a big deficit, and gone off to bed

That's how I felt watch the R/Y game. First chance in many days to watch a game front to back, and it was infuriating.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Thanks, AG. I appreciate that. I guess I felt it was necessary because it seemed to catch a few of the regulars by surprise.
I usually ignore that little turd, but I fell for his goading this time. ...

And, no Oki is not back.

[SF]

And now a scorched single to the left side of second, past a stumbling LFRS. Again, the only people that Oki is scaring right now are SFs.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Rosenthal said on WEEI this week that he expects the RS will make a hard run at Colo's Brian Fuentes.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

It's almost like the rain delay and the Celtics party lulled these guys to sleep.

[SF]

Seriously, how is this Cardinals team doing well? Despite tempting fate by saying this, they smack of "we only win games because our entire league sucks ass".

[attackgerbil]

Shumaler looks too much like Brian Austin Green from 90210. He's down swinging at a nice breaking pitch to end the Cards' eighth.

[attackgerbil]

> the rain delay

I think it hurt Wakefield. I was flipping back and forth.. they had bumped the start to 8:05 and he warmed up on that schedule, but then they pushed it back.

[attackgerbil]

Schumaker rather.

[SF]

But Gerb, Wake pitched well! But for Tito trying to squeeze an extra couple of outs from him he would have gone 6 with one earned. There wasn't much reason for Tito to ride him out through seven, frankly. I don't see how the seventh inning (which is the inning that botches his stats) indicates that the rain delay hurt him.

[attackgerbil]

First pitch from Franklin to Youk was both low and away, but called a strike.

[SF]

Well, consistent umping - that first pitch to Youk was definitively off the plate.

And a leadoff single. Let's strand more!

[attackgerbil]

Nice single by Youk.

Now Coco gets started with a low-away pitch for a strike. Okay, I'll just leave what happens next to SF's wrath.

[SF]

Or, just hit into a double play Coco and don't strand anyone.

F$*$#*#&*#*#*&#&*!!!!

[attackgerbil]

SF: Regarding Wake, I suppose.

The first pitch to SF's lfrs was a ball as well.

[SF]

I blame this entire game on LFRS. If he makes those plays in the fifth the Sox head into the sixth inning up and with a full rested bullpen, with the Cards bat feeling more pressure and Wake having thrown about 10 fewer pitches.

I don't care about his stinking homer - LFRS lost the Sox this game, at least in my own disoriented and misguided world he did.

[attackgerbil]

Lugo fouls off two payoffs to stay alive. Both good pitches to foul away. The third payoff: fouled off again. Quality at bat here.

[attackgerbil]

The fourth full-count was a fastball outside corner, and he again pushed it off foul. Tenth pitch: taken just (just just barely) outside. Nice job.

[SF]

I predict this at-bat will end poorly for LFRS.

[SF]

Prediction wrong on my part, but for the fact that that pitch has been called a strike for the last three innings.

[attackgerbil]

K zone thing made it look a lot farther out than I thought it was.

[attackgerbil]

> that pitch

was completely surprising to not be called a strike based on the few innings I've watched.

[SF]

Seriously, LFRS just let a pitch go by that has been called a strike about the last 11 times it has been thrown. So was that a good eye, or a bad decision? He should have been rung up, based on what the ump had been calling.

I can't give him credit for anything. Oh, and his homer was wind-assisted too.

[SF]

Man, I really dislike Tony LaRussa.

[attackgerbil]

Okay, that 2-1 was just a bad call.

[SF]

Oh, come on.

[SF]

Add one more to the stranded tally. Moss should have been looking 3-1 there, instead of 2-2. MASSIVE difference in those counts.

[attackgerbil]

> I can't give him credit for anything

Heheheh. But you can take at least a small step back and say that was a pretty good at-bat? Maybe?

Moss got jobbed on the two-one pitch, but that two-two grounding into the 643 was fugly.

[attackgerbil]

> MASSIVE difference in those counts

Yes.

[SF]

In the entire Majors, players with 3-1 counts hit .362. Those with 2-2 counts hit .192.

Thanks, BR!

[attackgerbil]

Blue is not making me happy (in principle) tonight.

Aardsma/Tek the battery for the St. Louis ninth.

Ludwick down quick.

[attackgerbil]

> 643

463 rather.

Absolutely, that 2-1 call by the ump is shit and changes the course of the game. It wasn't close.

[attackgerbil]

Aardsma looked great that inning, and just made Tory Glaus look overmatched on that swinging K.

[SF]

Hey, Tito can chew gum in his sleep!

[attackgerbil]

Tory Glaus is now Tory? I'm a abd ytispt tonight, and Im' ont enve drnuk.

[attackgerbil]

More freaking McCain presidential commercials.

Reform. Prosperity. Peace.

I'm John McCain, and I approved this message.

Wretch.

[SF]

What I can't believe is that I am off duty tonight with the kids, meaning I can "sleep in" tomorrow, and I've just blown my chance at a good nine hour block to watch this travesty of an effort from the Sox.

Oy.

[SF]

Ellsbury apparently needs to get home in time to see Letterman. One down quick.

[SF]

Shouldn't it be "Reform Prosperity", no period? Or is that Bush's slogan right now?

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Rain: suggesting that RS been napping, not really in the game.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

I cannot vote for George W. McCain.
Reform my ass.

[attackgerbil]

I know this is cruel, but look how many times your LFRS ends up in the game notes...

Batting
HR - J Lugo (1, 6th inning off K Lohse 0 on, 2 Out).
SF - J Lugo.
RBI - J Lugo 2 (17).
2-out RBI - J Lugo.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - M Lowell 4, K Cash 1.
GIDP - M Ramirez, C Crisp.
Team LOB - 9.
Fielding
E - J Lugo 2 (16, throw 2).
PB - K Cash.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

this is where we really need a 12-pitch AB from Pedroia.

[SF]

Bad luck for Dusty, lining one foul down the line.

Didn't Ryan Franklin used to stink in Seattle?

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Truth hurts, AG.

[attackgerbil]

> Shouldn't it be "Reform Prosperity"

hehe.. that's good. Cut and paste from the screen.

Dusty ropes a double off the board.

[SF]

Dusty double, tying run at the dish.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Almost ... 8 pitches and a double. Drew up.
JD, we need you.
Now.
As in, right fncking.

[SF]

Dammit, JD hasn't looked so hot tonight.

[SF]

JD missed a cookie right there, and then stares at strike three. Bad at-bat.