A picture is worth a thousand words, right? In Manny’s case, I’m guessing a couple of those words began with a capital “F” and ended with “A-hole.” The called third strike that led to Manny’s ejection was just one of the many plays the umpires got wrong last night. Rookie ump James Hoye called Manny out on what the replay showed to be a check-swing. The problem was that he never checked with the first-base ump, but made the call on his own. Manny had a few words, and Hoye compounded his own f–k-up by giving Manny the heave-ho. New guy’s gotta show he has stones I guess.
Later in the game, Mike Lowell was called out on a foul tip into the catcher’s mitt. The replay clearly showed the ball actually bounced into the mitt. Again Hoye refused to confer with the guy that had the best view – the second base ump.
With the Sox down by one in the sixth, Jeff Mathis “doubled” to deep left and would eventually end up scoring the insurance run. Replays showed that the ball Mathis hit was foul. It was also the hit that knocked Curt Schilling out of the game.
The return of the Schill looked to be a triumphant one after the first few innings. In the fourth, Vlad hit a high-bouncing comebacker that Curt tried to snare with his bare right hand. Yeah, the one he pitches with. The ball appeared to hit him squarely on the tip of the index finger. “The one next to the thumb” as Don and Jerry pointed out. A few batters later, Schill had given up two runs and the game was tied.
On his morning interview with WEEI, Schill admitted to having trouble with the splitter late in the game – it was the pitch that Mathis hit the phantom double and the pitch that Izturis homered on in his at-bat prior to Mathis. Could have been a sore finger. Could have been Schill going to his bread-and-butter and getting beat. Curt’s next start should give us the answer.
The ejection of Manny put Brandon Moss into the game playing left and batting clean-up. Moss showed all the signs you would expect from a young rookie. He looked extremely nervous playing left, bobbling a ball that ended up being a sac fly. Would they have run on Manny in that situation? He also took a bad route to a deep line drive, and ended up at the plate in the ninth with two on and two out against K-Rod. I think most of us would have preferred Manny there as well.
Tonight, Tim Wakefield looks to score his 14th win of the season. With the lead down to six games, we need Timmy. And a few more runs, please.
