Sox sweep the Tribe, their first 3+ game sweep of a team that's any good since...well, October of 2004, when they swept the Cardinals, and became World Champions. They have won 9 of their last 10 games (no matter whatESPN says), getting at least 10 hits in each of those wins. Another reasonable start by Miller -- 5+ innings, 1 ER, on two thousand pitches (roughly). Problem is, he left the game with the bases loaded and no outs, and who comes out to stop the bleeding but Alan Embree. Embree looked really good, getting three quick outs and keeping the Sox in the game. But then Tito tempted fate and sent him back out there for the 7th, and (thanks to some questionable defense by Renteria and Millar) the Indians were quickly up by two. No matter -- the Sox offense scored 3 more off the (once-) impressive Cleveland bullpen; Foulke as usual made it interesting; and the Sox won, 5-4. Olerud and Renteria had particularly nice nights, batting in four of the Sox's five runs.
Once again, good starting pitching, great hitting, scary scary bullpen. Orioles and Yanks both lost, again to inferior teams (Kazmir!!!), so the Sox are just 1 back in their division, where they haven't been since April 5. As in, the second game of the season. On to Philadelphia, to (thankfully) finish up interleague play. Phillies are 23-12 at home. Jon Lieber faces Tim Wakefield on Thursday.
[Edit: Sox were 1 game back as late as mid-May. Sure feels longer than that though.]
I am not one to believe that umpires call a game in favor of one team or another, but Sox pitchers got squeezed last night.
ReplyDeleteNot one Sox pitcher got the high strike, and it was consistently called on Sox hitters. Miller made mention of this and then the ump went out and made a scene...Sorry, that is not the umpire's job.
Anyway, I thought Embree pitched very well. Renteria shouldn't have thrown to first...And who knows if Embree gets out of that inning if he is left in...Certainly, Timlin and Myers weren't perfect.
I have to say, now that the series is over, that I was very impressed with Cleveland. The fact that they brought a lot of that team through their minor league system makes me excited about seeing the Sox prospects come on up and play. I know that Cleveland went through some thin years during this process, but I think that this will pay off for them over the next year or two.
Regardless of whether those runs were Embree's or the defense's fault, I think Francona made a huge error leaving him in there for the 7th. He had just pitched the Sox out of a massive jam, which kept the Sox very much in the game. (What's the expected number of runs with bases loaded and 0 outs? Two?) Myers should've come out for the 7th; assuming Sox still won, Embree would have been the hero, for the first time all season. Instead it was just another bad outing.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Cleveland is impressive, but I'm not terribly surprised. Remember, Dino, X, and I all picked them to win the division. And you were like "I don't agree" and I was like "Well too bad" and you were like "You thinks Cleveland is all that, but they're not" and I was like "Oh no you di'nt!" and you were like "Oh yes I did!" and I was like "Let's drink some beer" and you were like "okay" and I was like "drunk" and so were you.
The end.