Reasons why I went to sleep angry last night after watching Game 4 of Red Sox-Angels:1) The Red Sox won, and played that annoying "Dirty Water" Boston song after the game.
2) Buck Martinez announced the game, and he is more annoying than Tim McCarver
3) Mike Scioscia called for a suicide squeeze in the top of the 9th, with Reggie Willits on 3rd and 1 out in a tie ball game.
I'm most angered at #3. Why does anyone think the suicide squeeze is a wise baseball play??? Announcers, writers, fans love it because it's called a suicide squeeze and it's perceived to be "exciting." Yes, it's exciting, but it's also incredibly stupid. Consider the situation: Erick Aybar is up with a runner on 3rd and 1 out. All you need is 1 run to take the lead, which should be enough for Francisco Rodriguez in the bottom half of the 9th. Aybar hasn't sacrifice bunted since August 23rd. If you call for the squeeze and Aybar misses the pitch, the runner from 3rd is dead and there's 2 outs, no runners on base. However, if Aybar fails to drive in Willits, atleast Chone Figgins is on deck and already has 2 hits in the game.
Of course, Aybar missed the bunt, Willits was dead coming from 3rd, and the Angels season was over about 15 minutes later. Everyone praises Scioscia for his "winning attitude", "smallball", and "culture of winning." They should be criticizing the gamble he took with his team's season in the 9th inning last night.
***EDIT***: VegasWatch posted on the same topic Monday night, though I didn't read it until after I posted. Same idea, but VW conveys the situation and boneheadedness more eloquently.
2 comments:
Scioscia cleary with his best Richie Smith impersonation...too bad the bases weren't loaded
You know what's pretty amazing? If Craig Hansen had panned out as planned for the Red Sox, it very well could've been him on the mound last night instead of Manny Delcarmen.
Then it would've been a near recreation of the 2002 Glen Cove-Garden City 1-0 playoff game. All that's missing is the presence of Lar Minicone as Erick Aybar, and Charles Menges as 1st Base Coach.
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