I must admit that Junichi Tazawa impressed the hell out of me last night. In the 1st inning of his 1st Major League start, Nick Green's errant throw spoils a potential inning ending double play. Tazawa kept the damage to a minimum, and cruised once he got out of the inning. He was cool as a cucumber, going 5 innings, and truly earning his first MLB win.
In a game that had multiple ejections, Mike Lowell made perhaps the biggest statement of all. He replaced the ejected Youkilis, and went 2 for 3 with a pair of homers. He hasn't been playing much lately. He's had 7 of the last 22 games off. And I don't think he's too happy about it. Honestly, I think he should be sat in order to keep him fresh, but not as often as he's been benched. His bat is so much better than Varitek's.
The whole beanball thing? Well, that was just one of those baseball kind of things. I'll give credit to Rick Porcello for the nice takedown on Youkilis. And I can't blame Youk for charging the mound after getting hit yesterday, and already seeing Victor Martinez thrown at.
Hopefully, it's all settled now.
The Yankees came behind to beat the Jays 7-5. The Indians shutdown the Rangers 5-0. The Rays were shutout 6-0 by the Angels. So the Sox now have a 1.5 game cushion in the Wild Card.
The Tigers send Amando Galarraga to the hill to face Josh Beckett Wednesday night. Beckett hasn't allowed a run in 14 innings.
Source:
ESPN.com
Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Elise Amendola
Kevin Youkilis is a joke. Pretty hilarious that he charges the mound and the pitcher takes him down even though the pitcher was trying to back away. Youkilis is your typical meathead, acts all hard and tries to scrap but ends up looking stupid. In fact, the only thing funnier than "Youk" getting shown up is watching him play left field.
ReplyDeleteShow me another Gold Glove first baseman who can also play a very good 3rd base, and even left field in a pinch. Oh, and who also hits .311 with 20 HR so far. Stop hating.
ReplyDeleteNone of that takes away from the fact that his tough guy act was completely exposed when he got owned by a 20 year old who didn't even want to fight. I'm sure in his off hours Youk sits around in his Affliction or Tap Out gear watching hours of MMA and thus thinks he is some kind of hard ass when in reality the only hitting he can do is with a bat. The guy is a huge meat head and that's all there is to it. I'm sure once the benches cleared he was probably giving the typical meat head line, "hold me back bro, hold me back!"
ReplyDeleteOh, and by "in a pinch" do you mean "to the detriment of his team?" Because I'm pretty sure that's what went down over the weekend.
ReplyDeleteBy "in a pinch" I meant that the Sox had no outfielders, at least none that could hit. You could be a complete hater, or at least give him credit for being versatile in his ability/willingness to play 1st, 3rd, and LF. But no, apparently you're too simple to be capable of hating someone while also praising them for something else. You're criticizing a first baseman for not playing the outfield well. How would other 1Bs do in left field?
ReplyDeleteHe was told to to a job that he's not qualified for and I should praise him for being versatile? Maybe he should get a trophy for trying his best like they do in little league. His boss told him what to do and he went out and tried to do it. Big deal, that happens every day.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, I just thought it was funny watching him flail around in the outfield like a girl scared by a bee especially in light of his buffoonery last night.