- There were eight games around the major leagues tonight, all were won by the home team.
- I had a rather long post -- well long for a game thread anyways -- written highlighting the trap of a game the Sox were walking into Monday. Unfortunately, as I stated in the comments, my complete inability to properly operate a laptop computer resulted in what you see directly below this post. Some of the things I highlighted...
- Ervin Santana, formerly Johan Santana, is a really good young pitcher. But, you know that now.
- The Sox have sucked on the west coast. While Anaheim hasn't been quite as bad as Oakland lately, the Sox have won just 13 times there in the last 10 years.
- There might be some let down after the big Cubs series.
- The thing that really upset me about this game was that, as a team, the Sox appeared to have absolutely no plan against Santana. It was like they all got together before the game, watched his now infamous SportsCenter moment,(giving up the cycle to the first 4 batters he faced) and started fighting each other to get to the bat rack.
- I really wonder 1) if we even have advance scouts in the minor leagues, and 2) are they the same as the ones we've had the past few years? We have a history of being baffled by guys we've never seen before. If we don't have advanced scouts, maybe we should get some. (I'm available) If we do, maybe we should get some new ones. (I'm available)
- The only hitter who looked like he had any sort of plan against Santana was Tadahito Iguchi. So what does Iguchi do in the ninth, when it appears that Santana may have lost his control? He swings at a 3-1 pitch out of the zone for a week grounder back to the pitcher. We're down 4 runs, needing baserunners, and Iguchi is swinging at a 3-1 pitch. In other words, there's not a single hitter who I can praise for their effort Monday. You all Timo'd.
- You want to make a pitcher comfortable? Put Timo Perez, Juan Uribe, and Joe Crede back-to-back-to-back. Just yesterday, I commented on how terrible Uribe and Crede have been for the last week. I expected one of them to get a break today, with Pablo Ozuna or Willie Harris subbing. Instead we got the inexcusable Timo Perez in center field. It's bad enough to have Timo's bat in the line up, it's another to have his "glove" in center field. I don't think I can objectively evaluate his defensive play last night, but I know he should never start in center over both Rowand and Podsednik.
- The lone bright spot for the Sox was Jon Garland. -- Now I'm just grasping at straws. -- Garland didn't look that great, actually. He was relying on his curveball and change up much more than in his other outings, and he had problems keeping the ball down in the zone. I say that Garland was a bright spot because despite being erratic with his control and obviously not having his good sinker, he got the tough out and kept the Sox in the game. Nobody's going to have their best stuff all 35 times they take the mound on the season. The key is keeping your team in those games where you don't have "it." Garland did just that, but the offense let him down.
- It appeared like Luis Vizcaino was concentrating on throwing more fastballs tonight. The results were the same. Sooner or later they have to give somebody else the ball. There's no reason for him to have more innings pitched than anyone else out of the pen.
Juan Uribe did his part to make sure we never have to see Vizcaino again. After Viz had given up a HR to Benji Molina, Uribe threw away a ball into the Sox dugout that appeared to take out the bullpen phone. Sox starters will have to go the distance the remainder of the series.
- As pissed off as I was at the loss, it was really refreshing to see the joy of Santana's face when he recorded that final out. All of his teammates cam out for hugs and back-pats. Santana was smiling ear to ear.... It would have been nice for #41 to have had that experience on Sunday.
- Mike's Baseball Rants has a nice post about the Sox and what their hot start may mean.
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