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October 19, 2004

Series returns to NY

Wow, what a game! Incredible job by Wakefield, Ortiz, and all the bullpen. I was also again incredibly impressed with the effect Dave Roberts had on the game, in as a pinch runner in the one vital inning. Without even stealing a base, he completely discombobulated Tom Gordon and did at least half the work in getting Nixon a single, allowing him to reach 3rd and score the tying run on Varitek's sac-fly. Just looking at him and the leads he takes one sees why he scares the pitchers so much. The only thing I think the Sox really did horribly wrong was Pedro hitting number 9 hitter Cairo to load the bases and let Jeter bat in the inning - absolute disaster and Jeter unsurprisingly made him pay for it. Pitch the lead 4 guys inside and chance hitting them but against the bottom couple of guys, just go after them and if they beat you, so be it, but most of the time it won't happen.

I have also been incredibly impressed by Francona's use of the bullpen in the last two games. Only a couple of moves have I questioned at all (like bringing in Myers in both games) but even these have worked reasonably well. Torre has been using his bullpen by the book while Francona has been doing what it takes to win and throwing out the book.

Now, its up to Schilling and his ankle. If he pitches well tonight, we should definitely be favored to make it to game 7. If he doesn't, we are in deep trouble given the shallowness of the bullpen after the last two games and only stand a chance if the offense really wakes up. Hopefully we'll get both!

Also, credit where its due to Loaiza who I thought we would destroy, but did an incredible job, making it into a 4th inning with no backup at all. He took the loss but did an incredible job.

Oh, also, a related issue about bullpen, particularly closer, use. I really think that teams should be more willing to use their best bullpen pitcher (usually the closer) earlier in the game than they do. Lets take a hypothetical pitcher who could 100% get 3 strikeouts but only 3 outs per game. Wouldn't you want to bring that pitcher in with the bases loaded (even in like the 6th inning) and nobody out rather than simply coming on at the start of the 9th? This way he not only shuts the other team down for an inning but almost certainly also saves several runs. Since obviously no pitcher is that good, when to bring a guy in is a more complex decision than that but, if I had a Rivera, I would quite willingly bring him in as early as the 6th if the situation called for it.

Posted by aarondf at October 19, 2004 11:54 AM

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