NEWSLETTER
If you squinted, you could see things to like in this game – lots of baserunners, giving up only five runs even though the pitching just wasn’t there, and no quit there at the end. But mostly, there was just a lot to be disappointed about. Failing to knock Andrew Cashner out early when he’d thrown 74(!) pitches through three innings. Jon Lester with another poor outing overall. The bullpen failing to come through. More RISP troubles.
It wasn’t a heartbreaker by any stretch, but it was a bummer of a loss. Disappointing. Yeah. That’s the word.
I saw a lot of folks beefin’ about the pitcher hitting 8th today because Lester twice did nothing with two outs and the bases loaded. I guess it’s fair to be upset that it happened to play out that way today, but changing an overall strategy in response to one game is an easy way to do something stupid. The thing to keep in mind: in those situations, David Ross walked twice to load the bases in front of Lester. Does that happen if Lester’s not the batter behind him? Is Ross suddenly a fantastic hitter against Andrew Cashner if Cashner is actually attacking him full-bore? Or Jonathan Herrera, who would have been in that spot? I say no, which means it’s just as likely that, even if Lester were batting 9th, all that would have changed is having Lester lead off a couple innings. Take a deep breath on single game events, and try to remember the bigger picture. Maybe time shows that pitcher-8 is a bad idea, but the data suggests otherwise, and it should take more than one game to change anyone’s mind.
Anyway, I digress. Disappointments aplenty in this one … well, except one guy …
