I forgot to mention in one of my earlier blogs that Jerry Remy mentioned in his pregame report that the Royals were not going to be an easy team to beat. This is the opposite of what I said at the end of my post after we swept the A's. It looks like the Remdawg was right (as he usually is). Meche really shut us down for 6 innings, allowing only 4 hits and two runs. He didn't look too good in the first inning, as the Sox scraped up a pair of runs, but he got down to buisness after that.
Buccholz....I really don't know what to say. He really seem to have any confidence when he's on the mound and has yet to get a win since coming back from Pawtuckett. I personally would love to see Masterson back in the rotation, but that would leave a hole in the bullpen that would be difficult to fill. I suppose we can wait for Colon to come up, but I don't know how close he is to being ready, not to mention the Sox aren't going to rush him (nor should they).
Also, Ortiz says he felt a "click in his wrist." That scares the crap out of me. Let's face it: without Ortiz this team isn't going to make it to the playoffs. Sort of makes you wish you had another big power hitter...but I won't go there.
On a non Red Sox related note, did anyone hear about the dugout scuffle between Prince Fielder and Manny Parra? It's hard to tell exactly what happened, but in the clip, they show the two talking in the dugout, and then all of a sudden Prince Fielder shoves Parra, and then goes in for another shove. Teamates quickly separate them (it took quite a few to hold off the Prince) and Parra just sat there with little reaction. I know I'm not doing the Brewers any favors by mentioning this, considering they just want to move on like the Sox did after Youk and Manny had an altercation. But it can't be a good thing for the Brewers, who are now 5 games behind the cubs.
UPDATE: I don't know how I forgot to mention the rally in the 9th, but I did. Maybe it was because I was absolutely exhausted last night and I was trying to stay awake for it. But rallies sure are good at waking you up. Anyway, it was nice to see the Red Sox scrape some hits together off such an allstar closer. But in the end, we didn't make it. Honestly, the game should have been over when Jason Bay hit the grounder to third, but we caught a break on that one. As frustrated as I was when I went to bed, I was glad that the Sox showed some effort in the 9th.
Oh yeah, and how about that ridiculous call on Varitek in the 8th? Varitek should have walked, but the ump called what should have been ball four a strike. I can understand missing a call or two, but that pitch was way high. If it's any consolation, the ump was screwing both teams over last night with that strike zone. I'm actually surprised no one got ejected last night because of it.
Post game notes:
-Meche: Although Meche got the win and had a very decent start, he did allow 5 walks. I think it's fair to say that the Red Sox could have done with a little more offense last night. In addition, Meche also recorded 9 Ks.
-Buccholz: Even though he had a terrible third inning, it didn't start off that bad. However, then he started giving up more and more hits and it just became obvious that it was gonna be another typical Buccholz start. Here are his numbers for the night: 6 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 1 K
-Boston Bullpen: Again the bullpen continues to do well. Masterson went an inning, giving up one hit and striking out two. Meanwhile, Lopez got a surprising 1-2-3 inning.
Keywords: Boston Red Sox, Clay Buccholz, David Ortiz, dugout scuffle, Gil Meche, Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers
Comments
Well it seems that most teams are below average when it comes to playing on the road. The only real dominant team in the American League with a terrific road record are the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim posting a 38-21 record. The next closest is in the National League with the Philadelphia Phillies posting a 32-26 road record.
It seems, im more sports nowadays, that playing at home is becoming more and more important. Look at the NBA playoffs for example. It's probably more people are disgruntled and have to let out their frustration when they're at a sporting event. That's the only logical conclusion that I can come to.
If the Red Sox make the playoffs, I hope they can turn it around on the road. But there is an upside to it. Let's just say if they can make it to the World Series and win the first two games at home, then lose the next two then they can win the last two games at home and finally win one in front of their home crowd.
But facing a team like the Angels makes it very hard to win on the road.