GRADY LITTLE GOT MUTILATED LATE LAST NIGHT: No, you don't leave a pitcher in for 123 pitches when you've got a bullpen that's allowed one run in 16 1/3 innings at the ready. Pedro Martinez shouldn't have started that inning, and he sure shouldn't have stayed in as the run of doubles started.
"What Johnny Pesky did for relay throws and Bill Buckner did for routine ground balls," writes Thomas Boswell in the WaPo today, "Grady Little did for managing Thursday night in Yankee Stadium."
It's not just Little's fault. Boston's 1-4 hitters -- Damon, Walker, Garciaparra and Ramirez -- batted 3-for-20 on the night, no walks, no extra base hits, no runs.
Also: if you're a cursed franchise, don't start painting the World Series logo on your field until you're actually in the World Series. Is that too hard to ask for?
Yes, all the credit Mariano Rivera, Mike Mussina, blah blah blah, but this was not a game the Yankees could win until Grady Little let them. Both Dusty Baker and Grady Little rode their horses too long in their respective game sevens, and both paid the price.
And so Red Sox Nation, Scratchy to their franchise's Itchy, join the good people of Chicagoland starting tomorrow night to watch the World Series matchup that America didn't want. Or not watch: hey, new episodes of "Hack" and "The District" on CBS this Saturday!
This is why it's better to be a fan of a team that generally gets the heart-breaking over by the end of July.
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