ROLE REVERSAL

Bad start from Schilling, some confusing pitching decisions, and some poor hitting combined for a 7-3 Sox loss. Schilling looked pretty bad at times. He looked good in the first then things started to unravel. If Manny didn't make that catch on Damon's fly out, that's two runs and the inning continues.

One singular pitch stands out. The 3-2 to Matsui with 2 outs in the 5th. It wasn't deceptive, it was just a ball. It had no chance of tempting Matsui to swing at it, whatsoever. Matsui took it for ball 4, then Posada homered and made the game unreachable for the Red Sox bats.

A few questions for Mr. Francona. Normally, I try to avoid nitpicking managerial decisions, but there were a few tonight that baffled me.

1. What the hell was Varitek doing batting 6th, ahead of Mike Lowell. Coming into the game, Tek was 5 for 47 (.106) against Mussina with 23 strikeouts. 23! Not surprisingly, Tek went 0 for 4. He looked foolish with a looking strikeout to lead off the 2nd. In the 3rd he has a bases loaded, 2 out situation and grounded out softly to third. In the 6th with a man on 1st and 0 out, he hit a very soft groundball that was too soft to turn a double play. Tek should have been moved down in the lineup, and Lowell moved up.

2. Why was Willie Harris in the lineup? The explanation was Harris's history against Mussina (5 for 13 with 3 doubles). Also, he is a better defensive center-fielder than Pena and Schilling is a fly ball pitcher. I don't agree with the decision to start him, though. With Gonzalez, Crisp out, and Varitek effectively owned by Mussina, you've got three holes in the lineup already. Throwing in Harris risks having a 4th. He's batting below his weight, which is impressive because he is listed at 170 pounds. Harris is batting .111, WM Pena is batting .320. Pena is 11 for his last 28 (.393) and he was taken out of the lineup for a player who is 2 for 18 on the season.

3. Why didn't Francona pinch hit for Harris in the 6th? At that point, the Sox were down by 3 with a runner on base and 2 outs. Outfield defense is much less consequential when down by 3 runs, and Pena is much more likely to get an extra base hit to knock in a run and get in scoring position for a possible 2 run inning. Harris was already 0 for 2, and didn't look that good in his previous at-bats against Mussina. Why not pinch hit for him, giving Willy Mo 2 at-bats in the game and giving yourself a better chance to score multiple runs?

4. I don't understand the pitching decisions AT ALL. Granted, it didn't end up mattering, but what the F**k was Mike Holtz doing in a 3 run game?????????????? Holtz went from pitching against the Ottawa Lynx and Syracuse Sky Chiefs, to matching up against guys like Bernie Williams and Johnny Damon. What was Francona thinking? Use a AAAA (not a typo) pitcher that's been up and down with several clubs in a 3 run game? Then, he decided to use one of our good pitchers when it became a 4 run game. I guess Timlin wasn't good enough to pitch in a 3 run game in the 6th, but a 4 run game in the 6th and he can go in. Of course, we could have used Foulke for 2 possible innings if we didn't use him in the 14-3 game.

The Man of the Game is Jason Giambi who went 2 for 4 with a homer, 2 RBI, and a run. Since he did steroids, his Man of the Game will have an asterisk next to it.

The B*tch-Goat:
Schilling: 0.6 - 5 IP, 6 ER
Holtz: 0.1 - 0.1 IP, ER
Varitek: 0.2 - 0 for 4, 4 LOB, K
Francona: 0.1 - Holtz, Harris, Tek batting 6th