I agree, this hasn't been a pretty start to the season. As Theo Epstein said today:
"It's not the time for excuses or sugar-coating it. We've played bad baseball. It's a bad stretch of play and when you do that at the start of the season, it looks even worse. We haven't played well, there are no excuses for how we've played. We haven't played smart baseball; we haven't really played aggressive baseball."
But the GM is confident things will turn around:
"We'll get back to our level. As an organization we have a track record. We have a standard we need to live to up to. One way or another we're going to get there collectively."
I'm trying my best to keep a positive attitude. I was OK with the news that Mike Cameron could be gone for a while; I think Josh Reddick will play well. I'm a little concerned that our other center fielder, Jacoby Ellsbury, joined his elder teammate on the DL. OK, I'm very concerned because I've never heard of his replacement - journeyman Darnell McDonald.
Tonight, they're still playing bad baseball after six innings. Tim Wakefield has given up six runs and Victor Martinez has allowed nine - NINE! - stolen bases. Yikes. Rangers 6, Red Sox 4.
Phillies: Kyle Kendrick, possibly pitching for his career, outpitched Tommy Hanson. In the 7th, Phillies 3, Braves 0.
2 comments:
What a brutal ending! Manuel does it again!! The starting pitcher shuts down the opposition, so what does he do? Bring in the bullpen.
The way Madson has been pitching so far this year, anyone could see that coming. And no, I don't care how many pitches Kendrick had thrown to that point. Send him out there for the ninth, and if he gets into trouble, THEN go to the pen.
Chollie has a history of doing this. He is so hung up on pitch counts. The starting pitcher shuts out the other team for 8 innings, and BAM.....reach a cut off point on pitches and away to pen we go.
We don't have a problem taking out Kendrick. He needs to prove himself over a few starts before you send him out there for the 9th in a 3-0 game.
If he didn't come into the game with an ERA of 18, maybe it's a different story.
Now, if Roy has a 3-0 lead tonight, send him back out there.
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