A Split Decision

Yesterday's double-header with the Angels was a mixed bag. It looked for a few minutes, like the Sox had pulled off another miracle come-back. Then Gagne blew another one. Here's the deal. I liked Gagne as a Ranger. But I'm hating him as a Red Sox. That was a pathetic performance last night. Then that umpire made the worst call ever. Youk foul-tipped a pitch on the second strike and the up called him out on strikes, said he missed it. The camera showed over and over that the ball hit the end of the bat and changed direction. Francona was subsequently ejected, as was Youk. They had to pull Youk away from the ump. But, hey. The ump was flat wrong. And I'm proud of Francona for getting tossed on a call like that. I would, too. I've seen Rangers managers not argue calls like that. If I'm a manager and the ump makes a blatantly wrong call, I will get tossed. He needs to know how wrong he was. And frankly, I think the club owner, in this case John Henry, should be able to throw the ump out of his ballpark! Yeah, that's it! Henry should have come down and tossed out the ump. "And don't EVER come back to MY ballpark!!" Yeah.

Oh. I forgot to say that the Sox won the first game in the double-header handily.

Then after that was over, I had to endure listening to Jamie Wright lose a game for the Rangers. On a wild pitch. Egad.

So yesterday, two Red Sox pitchers threw brilliantly, only to have the game lost by another. Well, technically, Kason Gabbard isn't a Red Sox anymore, he's a Ranger. But he pitched very well and got no decision, as it was tied when he left the game. Same happened to Josh Beckett, who is trying to get his 16th win. He may have been behind when he left...can't remember. I just know they were ahead when Gagne took over.

Tonight's game...another knuckle-biter. It's currently the bottom of the 6th, and the Sox are ahead 6-5 after a 6 run fifth. This included a fabulous grand slam home run by Papi!! Everyone knew it as soon as he swung, too. He just watched it go, started trotting towards first, and tossed down the bat, as if to say, "So, there!" Hah!

TTFN, y'all!