Who knew? Jim Leyland is a fan of alternate realities.
After refusing to answer questions on the subject, and despite all the proper things being said by Leyland and Rick Knapp, it looks like Benoit will no longer be Joaquin to the mound in the 8th inning.
Who will replace him has not been specified. In light of yesterday’s rainout, it would make sense to bump Porcello back one day, move Coke back to the pen to be the 8th inning guy, and bring up Andy Oliver to take over Coke’s rotation spot next time around.
Yet, there he is, Phil Coke, today’s starter. He is a lefty, which is useful against Boston’s lefty-heavy lineup. But this is the 2nd time Rick has been skipped in the rotation; and, plus: Porcello vs Youkilis. C’mon, who doesn’t want to see this? At any rate today will feature Phil Coke vs the suddenly hot Clay Buchholz, weather willing.
Today’s Player of the Pre-Game: Al Alburquerque
With Coke starting, Captain QuerK stands a good chance of being the 8th-inning guy du jour. A good outing against the Red Sox could make it tempting to leave him there.
Today’s V-Mart Returns to Fenway Lineup:
- Austin Jackson CF
- Scott Sizemore 2B
- Brennan Boesch LF
- Miguel Cabrera 1B
- Victor Martinez DH
- Jhonny Peralta SS
- Alex Avila C
- Ryan Raburn RF
- Brandon Inge 3B
Ugh, we needed that.
Still tied at 0 – 0. Coke with just 68 pitches thru 6 innings.
Inge taking one for the team! That ball impinged on the batter…
Looks miserable out there.
And out comes the tarp
Coke with another strong start, while lowering his ERA to 3.88. Outside of 2 ugly starts, he’s been a rather excellent 4th/5th starter. With the exception of one start, he hasn’t allowed any homers either. His pitch counts have been consistently low also, so there could be more meat on the bone as the season progresses. Man, I hope they don’t move him back to the pen like they are predicting at Bless You Boys.
Let’s hope this is an audition.
When is Al’s turn?
Nevermind, too late…
Situational pitching in the 8th? WtH?
Yeah, that worked out well…I’m glad we brought out the Ace Schlereth to shut down that inning….man alive….
I take that back.
Shocking Leyland makes the wrong move again. He subs Perry to the lefty vs lefty match up. That makes sense. He doesn’t sub the lefty for a righty when a right handed batter comes up. That old man needs to make up his mind. I believe Leyland has absolutely lost his mind.
but there was a lefty coming up after him. He made the right move. Salty sucks. Boston got lucky. That is all.
Schlereth is just plain awful, he has lost this game for this team and Leyland will probably keep him in for a learning moment, even though we still have a chance to win this game.
i dunno to keep daniel in or not, i dont think it was terrible, maybe considering his recent downswing. but the result is obviously disheartening
AlB you’re 8th inning guy.
What possible reason is there for Leyland to let Schlereth pitch to the right hand bat after he walks Crawford? Help me out folks — I’m a little slow.
it might not be the best play,but salty sucks too. it wasnt terrible, it was just very questionable
i dont want to support the decision per say, but leaving the young kid in, to maybe help grow within a role, with 2 outs vs a bad hitter. its just trusting the kid, over making the more sound decision to bring in al.
I forgot to mention the constant mistake of hitting 3 guys who are in their second season of Major League Baseball at the top of the line up. I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed but I do know that I would want my 1st or 2nd best hitter (Victor Martinez) batting 3rd. Boesch has proven time in and time again he needs to hit 6th or lower. He is not a number 3 hitter at this point in his career. He may be in another year.
Putting your best base runners at the top of the order is usually common sense. Any of them can score from 1st base if Cabrera puts the ball in play. Having a gimpy guy (like VMart or Ordonez) clogging up the bases in front of Cabrera isn’t something I’d ever recommend.
I would recommend the name Partyfrog. I love it.
partyfrog is +++ cool name.
I am currently working on Partyfrog, the Video Game, which hopefully will be ready for release in time for the Christmas market.
RALLY
I’m not sure if the guy I bring in for the pinch-runner is the guy who just got picked off in his first major-league game
Alex Avila, step out of the car, and put your hands where I can see them.
*your
K-Burn
10 strike outs to 1 walk. Good job line up.
Tough game. Thats why Papelbon is Papelbon.
What a lame way to lose. Poor bullpen management and poor plate discipline. That run should have came home.
Oh, and it is time for the K-Burn experiment to come to an end. He has shown that he is not ready to be an everyday player. We can’t afford to have two guys hitting .200 in our lineup and, honestly, Raburn is more expendable than Inge.
Losing 1 to nothing on the road, in that crap weather isn’t lame. The team had a chance to win going into its final AB. Having your team in that position to win that late in the game is all you can ask for.
As for Raburn, 150 ab’s is not much of an opportunity. His next 150 ab’s, he might just hit .300 or better. You just never know. He’s always been a slow starter that heats up in June and is great down the stretch. If he’s 100% healthy, he should be playing. This is a good time for him to figure out how to hit in April/May.
this is kinda how i feel. its a strong red sox team at their park.
we left 13 people on base, compared to the sox 7.
dont blame schlereth fully. he might have gave up a 2 out run, but the tigers had every opportunity to win this game. thats how i felt with my previous comments too but couldnt put it into words. him blowing one run in this kinda game isnt some death sentence or terrible managing.
a road game in fenway you need to perform better than putting all the blame on some second year player late in a tie game. sorry but thats the way it is, this line up is too good to cry about daniels performance. dont leave 13 people on base.
he blows this game in a 4-4 spot maybe its a fair diss. 0-0 is not his fault
you want to win on the road, let alone at a premier american league opponents park. score some runs
was there any doubt with the swinging strike for strike two he was gonna whiff on strike three?
No, hence why he should be benched. He has been given his chance as a starter.
win streak spoiled me a bit. 2 rain outs and 2 losses now, so many days without a win. vamo
I don’t recall any team ever winning a game w/o scoring a run – so for those searching for a reason why the Tigers lost, look no further than missed opportunities at the plate – i.e. they had a runner at third with 1-out on at least two occasions.
As for Leyland’s bullpen moves, this time he probably got it right, Coke had to be pulled because of weather/delay, so he brought in righty Perry to face two righties (and surprisingly got both of them out), so JL brings in lefty Schlereth to face lefty Cameron (walks him), and Saltimacchia is a switch hitter (batting .174 against lefties), so the proper move would be to leave in Schlereth to pitch to him.