I would rather have every hair on my body plucked out with tweezers before having to witness anything like that again. If you didn’t know it was over when Tavares came out to pitch, you sure as shit knew it when he hit a batter. How Schilling resists turning into his Everquest character and nut-punching Tavares into submission is a lesson in restraint.
In my booze-clouded opinion, Tito was outcoached in this one. The Twins bring in their closer in a 1-1 game, and Francona mirrors the move with Papelbon. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I don’t like bringing in the closer in a non-save situation. Especially on the road. You wouldn’t do it if it was 5-5 in the 6th, why do it later? Why do it with a suspect bullpen?
The good news is that Schilling was brilliant. Strikeouts aside, he matched Santana batter for batter through eight innings. Rarely do these “marquee matchups” pan out but this one did. It is a shame that neither starter gets a decision. Looking back, I would have rather the game end 1-0 for either team.
But we move on. Clement versus Radke in the battle of the 6+ ERA’s. Put the Red Bull on ice, this could be a long one.
