July 26, 2016

Tweets, Chirps and Squawks vs Tigers





Drew Pomeranz  had a nice bounce back effort as he went toe to toe with Tigers' ace Justin Verlander in a 6 inning duel. The only blemish for Pomeranz was a two run homer by Jose Iglesias in his final frame of work  Unfortunately,the Red Sox offense took the night off as they were shutdown by Verlander, managing only 5 hits and a run. This also became obscenely evident against the Detroit bullpen in the eighth. Boston loaded the bases with no one out, and it seemed they might break through. However, they only managed one run on an RBI single by Sandy Leon who is now batting .500 with RISP. Both Bryce Brentz and Brock Holt struck out and Mookie Betts grounded out to kill the rally.

The "Fire Farrell" crew was out in force on Twitter after some questionable decisions especially centered around his bench management. He pinch hit for Travis Shaw with Bryce Brentz, and then allowed Brock Holt to hit against a tough lefty in Justin Wilson. My pondering was where was Aaron Hill? Hill is a seasoned right handed bat, and even though he has been running cold, his experience seems to outweigh Brentz's 4 "A" tag. Farrell was looking for a big blast, but Brentz hasn't really demonstrated that with any regularity. Heck, Shaw already had an RBI in the game and owns 11 XBH in his last 15 hits, but maybe you use Hill for him and try Brentz with Holt as they also match up from a positional perspective as well. Defensively, Farrell also had first base open in the eighth with a Detroit runner on third and first base open facing Victor Martinez. V-Mart is a notoriously good hitter at Fenway, but he elected to have Buchholz pitch to him which cost Boston a critical run late.

This game also featured the return of Joe Kelly in his new role of "Gas Masterson" out of the bullpen. He was clocked at 101 mph as he was airing the ball out with regularity, but his offerings continue to run pretty true. After giving up a lead off triple to Justin Upton in the seventh, he looked as though he may wiggle out of trouble facing the bottom part of the Tigers' order. It was not meant to be as light hitting catcher James McCann singled through a drawn in infield for the eventual winning run. I'll give Joe a mulligan here as it was his first time out of the pen this year in the Bigs. As far as Buchholz, he was victimized by a passed ball by Sandy Leon putting a runner in scoring position so I'll stand down on bashing Clay. The reality remains that Buchholz is pitching "out of position" in my opinion, and his roster spot needs to be used for a true reliever. Time will tell on this.

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