The lowly Red Wings snag another one, 6-4, and it had nothing to do with Tony Pena! Too bad, the Red Sox probably could have won if not for shabby relief.
Starter for Pawtucket was Pena, who did pretty well for himself! I mean, he gave up three runs through four innings... With three walks and five hits... But whatever. It's like getting pulled over for speeding but in the middle of everything the cop gets an urgent call and says, "You're lucky I have to handle this other crime!"
Jeff Manship started for Rochester and also pitched four innings, but Pawtucket was unable to score off him. Score ecstasy, that is.
Okay, let's get to the money inning: Inning five. I am so glad this game was televised! Overachiever Jason Repko hits a solo home run off reliever Luis Perdomo at the top to score the first run of the game. 1-0 Pawtucket. Ryan Lavarnway strikes out to end the inning. Everyone takes a short break. Then, bottom of the fifth. Pena still pitching and he walks nine-hole DH Brian Dinkelman to start things off. Then second baseman Tsuyoshi Nishioka singled, putting runners at the corners for shortstop Pedro Florimon. And Florimon hits a fly ball to center! Lin can't get it and Dinkelman scores! Florimon to second on the throw! ZOMG Pena is toast!!!
Enter Daniel Bard, coming in to save the day. Bard is in Pawtucket working on some things. Nobody out, the catcher Rene Rivera batting, two guys on base. So Bard hits him with a pitch, natch. Next guy, left fielder Matt Carson, hits a double to center, scoring Nishioka and Florimon. Oh, dear.
Bard proceeded to hit the next batter, then throw two wild pitches. Carson scored. I watched this whole thing go down on television and it was historically bad. I wanted Bard to just collapse, BK Kim style. But Bard got the hook in favor of Alex Wilson, and the fun came to a halt. Wilkin Ramirez singled off Wilson, but then Wilson set the next three batters down to end the gory spectacle. 6-1 Red Wings.
But Pawtucket was not wholly dead. They still had to tango with reliever Brendan Wise. In the top of the eighth, Pawtucket laid out a slew of singles, leading to an RBI by Che-Hsuan Lin. And then in the ninth, the PawSox almost... Almost!... mounted a comeback. Jose Iglesias led off with a single, and then... Wait, this can't be right. It says Jonathan Hee pinch hit for Repko? A slim, light hitting infielder pinch hitting in the ninth inning for a burly, hairy-chested hot-hitting outfielder? Well, Hee popped out. Nice move, Skip. Lavarnway got on base via a force out, but it erased Iglesias on second. Wise then walked Lars Anderson and Andy LaRoche to load the bases with one out.
Alex Hassan was the next batter, and people want you to know that Alex Hassan is hot right now. So yeah, Hassan doubled, scoring Lavarnway and Anderson. RED ALERT! RED ALERT! GET SOMEONE ELSE IN HERE!!! Exit Wise, enter Caleb Thielbar. Thielbar walked JC Linares but K'd Che-Hsuan Lin to end the game. Jesus.
So my question is this: Who will make a delicious pasta salad for me? As far as Bardamite, I have many questions.
Questions about Daniel Bard:
1. Why does he have to work on his shit with the PawSox? Shouldn't he be rehabbing somewhere, or in extended extended spring training? Or with a single-A team?
2. What, exactly, is wrong with Bard? I keep hearing 'mechanics', but how does that happen? He had mechanics before that were effective... Where did they go? You don't just forget how to pitch. And if you do, aren't there trainers and scouts and coaches that can remind him? Where are the people that helped develop his mechanics in the first place?
3. Is it within the realm of possibility that someone knows something and it's a big secret? Could it be substance abuse? No one ever talks about that in baseball. But it must happen.
everything's good til it goes bad:
1. Word on the street is that Ciriaco's going to Boston. Well, if that happens, Pawtucket will lose most of their upcoming games. FACT.
2. Lin went 3-5. Spears and Anderson were hitless. Will Latimer pitched the remainder of this game and allowed neither hit nor walk.
3. "Many expected that Carson would be the Red Wings’ representative in next week’s Triple-A All-Star Game in Buffalo. Instead, shortstop Pedro Florimon was selected. “It was a little disappointing,’’ said Carson, who turned 31 last Sunday. “It thought it would have been a nice gesture for putting a decent year together. But I’m happy for Florimon.' Instead, the California native will spend the three-day break at a cabin on the Finger Lakes with his wife and two young daughters." - Jim Mandelaro, Rochester paper.
4. "Imagine standing in front of a cannon, and having a cannonball shot at you, that's exactly what it feels like" - A description of Brendan Wise's fastball.
5. Phil Miller has a great story on Tsuyoshi Nishioka! "Nishioka has done little to impress his employers in real major league games, which is why he is spending 2012 in western New York, with the Twins' Class AAA team, rather than in Target Field. It's hardly what he expected when he signed, with great fanfare, a three-year, $9 million contract (plus $5.3 million posting fee) to give up his status as a star in Japan for a spot in Minnesota's infield, but Nishioka shows no sign of bitterness."
6. Also, Chad Moriyama's headline "Tsuyoshi Nishioka Sucks, Is Asian, Tom Powers Makes Fun Of Him With Haiku LOLOL" got me to read about Nishioka. Wonderful.
TONIGHT! More Rochester with PJ Walters and Pawtucket's Billy Buckner. Awesome. I've seen this movie before.
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