posted on Monday, August 25, 2008 2:11 AM
by
Jim
EDDINGS!
I normally wouldn't encourage grown men (or women) to watch professional wrestling, but in A.J. Pierzynski's case, I'm all for it.
Pierzynski pulled the equivalent of a heel move on the basepaths
Sunday afternoon, initiating the weakest of contact from Willy Aybar and drawing an interference call from good friend Doug Eddings. Like a villain who always manages to befuddle the ref in time to smack his opponent with the ringside bell, Pierzynski once again suckered Eddings with inspiration drawn from desperation.
On Baseball Tonight, the consensus was that runners are encouraged to try to draw contact in a rundown situation, and
Pierzynski basically said the same:
"First of all, it was bad baserunning on my part," Pierzynski said. "I
shouldn't have went -- horrible baserunning. But I was just looking for
somebody to get close enough and luckily he did."
But I don't know if anybody else on the Sox could pull it off with the grace -- dare I say the élan -- of Pierzynski. Considering he was running on the infield grass, he was probably out of the baseline before it even got to the point of who bumped who.
Nevertheless, Pierzynski will add another city to the list of places he won't be welcome, through no real fault of his own. The list, as far as I know:
- Tampa: See above.
- Los Angeles: Game 2 of the 2005 ALCS.
- San Francisco: For the worst trade of the young century.
- Minnesota: I guess it's because he plays for the Sox, but also supposedly mocked Mike Redmond's eminently mockable "Smell 'em" celebration.
- Oakland: Killed them in the 2002 ALDS.
- Chicago's North Side: The game-winning homer and the Michael Barrett incident.
- Cleveland: Stepping on Aaron Boone's back.
Other cities join in, but those are the only teams who have a real right to gripe. In a way, I almost feel sorry for them because they'll never know the splendor of an A.J.-aided victory. I haven't laughed that hard in a while.
(Hat tip to
Vegas Watch for the screen grab.)
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While the Pierzynski play will draw most of attention, it only happened because of some bad defense and questionable decisions by the Rays and Joe Maddon -- which was pleasant to see considering the way the Sox handed out runs early on.
The Sox defense made Mark Buehrle record extra outs, something he evidently hates doing. A Nick Swisher error that should've ended the inning allowed Rocco Baldelli to hit a two-run homer in the first. Pierzynski himself let a third strike bounce off his wrist, setting up an Akinori Iwamura single.
Buehrle did pitch around Orlando Cabrera's indefensible error, but then Carlos Quentin took a circuitous route to Carlos Pena's sky-high fly ball, which ended up bouncing on the warning track and scoring the go-ahead run.
But Tampa allowed the "what if" game to start an inning before Pierzynski ever became a factor. What if:
*Shawn Riggans actually held on to Ben Zobrist's throw from left field? It would've ended the game, as Anderson was out by plenty if Riggans wasn't handcuffed.
*B.J. Upton hadn't lolligagged after catching Carlos Quentin's flyball? Upton has a strong arm, so Pierzynski likely would've been dead meat at second had Upton shown any sense of urgency after making the catch. Instead, he spent far too long with his back to the infield, which gave Pierzynski enough time to advance.
*Tampa infielders hadn't thrown the ball five billion times on a rundown with one of the slowest runners in the league? That should really be a two-throw deal, especially since Jason Bartlett started out with Pierzynski right in front of him.
*Joe Maddon let Dan Wheeler pitch to Jim Thome instead of walking him to bring Alexei Ramirez to the plate? I probably would've taken my chances getting Thome to strike out or ground into a double play -- something he's done 12 times this season -- instead of putting Ramirez, a great contact hitter, in a situation where Wheeler has to throw him strikes.
Meanwhile, every call the Sox coaching staff made in the late innings worked, from using Bobby Jenks for two innings to pinch-hitting Paul Konerko for Juan Uribe to sending Brian Anderson.
While Anderson should've been out by 20 feet, Cox made a great call, because the Sox were
1-for-28 with runners in scoring position against the Rays this season. Cox had two options:
- Send a good runner and hope the throw isn't perfect, or:
- Bank on the Sox getting two consecutive hits with RISP.
I'm happy to see he was justified, because he would've been the recipient of undue criticism had Riggans held on.
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Moving on -- like that'll be easy -- the Sox have a chance to pick up two wins for the price of one against Baltimore tonight with the continuation of the
suspended game from April 28.
The Sox could make at least one adjustment for the day
if Dewayne Wise goes on the DL. It's worth noting
Lance Broadway didn't pitch as he was scheduled to in Charlotte Sunday, with the Knights instead going ahead with a bullpen game.
If Broadway gets the call, the Sox will have plenty of arms to make up for the doubleheader. Everybody but Bobby Jenks is available in the suspended game, since the other reliever used -- Scott Linebrink -- is on the disabled list.
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Minor league roundup:- Charlotte 2, Norfolk 1 (10 innings)
- Joe Crede went 2-for-4 with a strikeout, his first two hits in 12 at-bats.
- Derek Rodriguez allowed the only run during a bullpen game, and he threw 2 2/3 innings.
- Mike MacDougal (3 IP), Scott Sauerbeck (1 IP, 3 BB!), Boone Logan (2 1/3 IP) and Franklyn German shut down the Tides.
- Robert Valido went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
- Jacksonville 2, Birmingham 1 (6 innings)
- Aaron Poreda allowed both runs (one unearned) on four hits over five innings, striking out five.
- Stefan Gartrell had both the Barons' hits.
- Kannapolis 6, Greensboro 4
- Jordan Danks went 3-for-4 with a double, triple and RBI.
- Brent Morel went 3-for-4 and homered for the second time in three games. He also stole his fourth base.
- Jorge Castillo also had three hits and a pair of RBI; Christian Marrero doubled twice.
- Levi Maxwell lasted eight innings, allowing three runs on five hits and four walks, striking out three.
- Bristol 2, Pulaski 1 (10 innings)
- Andrew Garcia hit for the cycle, capping it with a walk-off.
- Gregory Infante allowed one unearned run over 5 1/3 innings, allowing four hits, two walks and K'ing four.
- Murillo Gouvea struck out five over 4 2/3 shutout innings of relief.
- Helena 8, Great Falls 6
- Kent Gerst went 2-for-4 with his fourth triple, an RBI and his 11th steal.
- Lee Fischer had two hits and two RBI; Tyler Kuhn also had a multi-hit game.
- Matt Wickswat was the only Voyager pitcher to throw well, tossing 2 2/3 shutout innings.