Monday, April 04, 2005

Pedro Robbed of Victory


It seems like an annual tradition that Pedro gets screwed over by his bullpen on Opening Day. This time, Braden Looper blew the lead. Pedro had a solid day going 6, allowing 3 ER off 3 hits and striking out 12 Reds.

Round 1: Loss


What a display of great baseball and pathetic baseball on the same stage. I know it isn't the end of the world, but the Sox did not look that good tonight. Everyone seemed a little off except for a few players. The top 3 of the lineup went a combined 0 for 12 with 4 Ks, Mueller went 0 for 3, and Bellhorn struck out 3 times and left 4 men on base. The Sox made 2 errors and had to use 7 pitchers.

For anyone who doesn't know, after every game, I reward a Man of the Game (MOTG) and a Bitch-Goat. The MOTG is simply the player on either the winning or losing team who stood out the most and had the best game. The Bitch-Goat is "rewarded" to players who contribute to the Sox losing. There is 1 Bitch-Goat point per game but it is divided into tenths. If I feel a player/manager/coach/umpire is partially responsible for a loss, they will get 0.1 or 0.2 B-G points. If a player is very responsible for a loss, I will give them 0.7 or 0.8 or even 1.0 B-G points. Both MOTG and B-G will be kept track of and at the end of the year, a Man of the Season will be determined and the biggest Bitch-Goat will be determined.

For this game, Hideki Matsui was the Man of the Game. His 2 run HR in the 8th sealed the victory for New York. His catch in the 2nd of a ball destined for the seats stopped the Sox from gaining any momentum and allowed Johnson to get into a groove. He went 3 for 5, scored 3 times, and knocked in 3 runs. He was a big part of the Yankees 3rd inning rally which was where they won the game, in my opinion.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
David Wells: 0.4 - couldn't throw strikes or pitch 5 innings
Blaine Neal: 0.2 - allowed the Yankees to build on their lead
Johnny Damon: 0.2 - Error, 0 for 4, K
Edgar Renteria: 0.1 - 0 for 4, K, 2 LOB
Manny Ramirez: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2 K

The Sox play New York again as Carl Pavano goes against Matt the Missile Clement Tuesday night in the Bronx.

The Celtics are starting to slip into a troublesome area. If they don't shape up, they may lose the divisional lead. If this happens, they either won't make the playoffs or will come in as an 8 seed pitting them against Miami.