August 05, 2016

A Timely Seattle Split



It took eleven innings for this pop gun offense to nab a much needed split against a bottom feeder, but damn it, I'll take it! With my eyelids heavy with a mixture of sleep and disgust, I exited the fray after the top of the sixth inning. Drew Pomeranz was less than impressive - AGAIN! He walked 6 batters and threw 105 pitches in only 5 innings. I feared a negative outcome when I awoke to check my phone this morning, but was pleasantly surprised thanks to the heroics of our handy utility man, Brock Holt. A loss would have made sweeping the Dodgers a necessity to salvage a successful road trip, and I really didn't see that as being a possibility. Boston is now 6-3 in bonus baseball, and the bullpen was razor sharp allowing only 2 hits in five innings of work.

The Red Sox attack that was once a dynamic tsunami has slowed to a drain spout trickle as many key contributors have been slumping. During the trip, Boston is 8-50 with RISP, and the offense is averaging only 3 runs per game.David Ortiz is now 4-27 on the trip, and before last night's contest, Xander Bogaerts was 0-11 in the series, and it was only the second time he's gone hitless in 3 straight games. He did have 2 hits last night, so maybe he is beginning to come around. It was also nice to see Travis Shaw notch a couple of hits last night, including a homer of Seattle's lefty starter Ariel Miranda

In contrast to Pomeranz's shortcomings, Porcello was again on point, delivering another complete game in a game three defeat. He allowed only four hits, but the only sticking point was that 3 left the park. Rick has been money on the road though with 5 consecutive quality outings and it was his first loss since May 17th. The only bright spot in the Red Sox offense in Porcello's outing was the first Major League hit by Andrew Benintendi in his first start as a pro.

One thing I'm really looking forward to tonight is listening to Vin Scully. I was hoping for more than one game, but I believe the national networks have the other 2 games of the Dodgers' series. The insipid duo of Dave O'Brien and Steve Lyons has been extremely
grating with repetitive meanderings about Steve Lyons' sweet tooth and idiotic musings such as Lyons' belief that Chicago is in the Eastern Time Zone. I've given this ample time with an open mind but I've now come to the conclusion that NESN dropped the ball in a big way when they showed Don Orsillo the door. For one glorious night on this West Coast trip, I can become pleasantly engaged in the insights from a Hall of Fame broadcaster.

To the Twitter feed from the past two games:







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