Thursday, July 15, 2004 |
It's The Washburn & Erstad Show! Angels 8, Red Sox 1
Mistake. Anyway...
Of all the AL teams I have a hard time watching the Angels beat, the Red Sox tops the list. Our good friend Becky is a Sox fan, having grown up in Boston; rooting against the Sox feels like rooting against her, a very unfriendly thing to do. The Angels have a job to do, and so do the Red Sox; it's a zero-sum game.
Just after the game started, I had a feeling that Erstad would have a good game. Instead of my usual disappointment when those kinds of flashes happen and then don't pay off, it happened and Ersty homered, driving in two. 2-3 at the plate tonight, with three RBIs is a fine game, but I won't get too excited; remember, this is the same guy Scioscia had to cover for with some "productive out" BS earlier in the year, back when his average was closer to .230. Look, just so they get it straight, they're paid to hit; doubles and homers count as hitting, sac bunting doesn't, capish?
As expected with a score this lopsided, the offense clicked, with the help of a gift bloop single the Sox should have caught. Figgins had a great night at the plate as well, driving in three, and 3-5 on the night; 3-5 on the night also was Eckstein, who narrowly missed homering himself on a well-hit double. Only once did I have to raise the spectre of forcibly reeducating Figgins -- and really, the whole team -- with my Bad Baserunning primer; clearly, they don't read my blog, or they would have known not to send Figgins to second on what was really a long single. Gabe Kapler's weak throw on an earlier play at second mitigated the ill-spent out (i.e., the gamble was defensible), but somebody needs to relearn the difference between dumb and aggressive.
But the real star of the show was Wash, who continued his streak of hot pitching. 7.0 IP, 3 K's, and 7 groundouts vs 11 flyball outs, including two double plays, all very mysterious for Wash, who's normally closer to 2:1 flyball outs to groundouts. It made me think that he's pitching the Sox much differently than he normally does. Whatever, it's working, just like it did against the Chisox in his complete game shutout.
Meantime, Derek Lowe struggled every single inning against the Angels. Whether you're a Sox fan or just a proponent of a trade that brings him to the Dodgers, his outing tonight was scary. Most of the hits against him weren't cheapies, and none of them were the sort of thing that made you think oh, Izzy would have had that. Lowe tonight appeared all of the weakened pitcher facing career-ending ineffectiveness.
Tomorrow, Pedro Martinez vs. Escobar. Escobar shouldn't try too hard, nor does he need to; mostly what he needs is run support. What got him into trouble in Toronto was the burden of having to be perfect on the Astroturf, just like his starts this year with the Angels have declined in quality whenever he's put too much pressure on himself. We can't count on lightning striking twice with Pedro.
re: Lowe... yuck. why would anybody want that guy. it's not like he's a Weaver with great mechanics but just not the right milieu. Lowe is done.
so glad Pedro is going tomorrow. ESPN for some reason showed Pedro pitching sat. v. Colon, the one game I can attend this weekend, and that would have pretty much guaranteed a loss for me heh.
mattkew
: 7/16/2004 02:49:00 AMNewer› ‹Older
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