Born to Play (the blame game, that is)
When he says “Born to Play”, apparently he means the blame game. Red Sox 2nd baseman Dustin Pedroia took aim at the Fenway park infield and groundskeepers in explaining a costly miscue that happened in Sunday’s Angels-Red Sox ALDS game. He said:
In the eighth inning, with runners on first and second, and one out, the slow-footed Kendry Morales hit a hard grounder toward the hole between first and second.
Pedroia hustled to his left, but the ball bounced up on him. He could only knock it down and throw Morales out at first. Both runners then scored on Juan Rivera’s single.
Two costly runs that Pedroia knows would not have scored if he fielded the grounder cleanly.
“It took a bad hop,” Pedroia said. “Our infield (stinks). It’s the worst in the game.”
Pedroia was obviously peeved, but did not back away from his statement.
“I’m not lying about that. That is true. I think about those things. That stuff upsets me,” Pedroia said. “My job is to take 1,000 groundballs a day. Other guys’ job is to get the field perfect so we can play baseball.”
Correct me if I’m wrong, but the Angels played on the same field, no?
No word if he blamed the weatherman for the 11 MPH winds and 52 degree game time temperature, but I’m sure he’ll get around to it.
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10 Responses to Pedroia blames infield, groundskeepers for Sox loss
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TIQ IQ
WOW… MVP Most valuable Pouter… Did someone steal this guys lunch money when he was little?
I had this story open in my browser to write about tomorrow, so I am glad you tackled it. He is so gritty!!! Blaming the grounds crew is so tough!!!!
I blame the creators of Yankees stadium for not making the foul line down left field a little bit closer to the out field so that the Mauer’s ball really would have been foul… Can a Red Sox player do anything but complain or live in 2004?
I was going to do it this morning, but I thought the Saunders thing was way more important. Also, I’m always a bit hesitant to focus too much on Sox players on a Yankee site, but this one was just too juicy.
BTW-It’s confirmed, Saunders is now listed as the Game 2 starter. I think that’s a huge mistake, unless Kazmir’s hurt. But apparently he’s healthy enough to go in game 4.
If we win Game 1, I think Games 2 and 3 are lopsided in our favor.
I had just posted this on Saunders in the other one… It’s not because Kazmir is hurt it’s because he has a career ERA of 5+ at Yankee stadium and only has good numbers against us at Tropicana… Weaver has a 5+ ERA against the Yankees in his career and Saunders and Lackey are the only ones with success against us when it comes to pure numbers…
Derek Jeter career (including post season) Vs Joe Saunders is 7-15 and Alex is 7-14 so both of our righties in this line up have good histories against Saunders but no one else in the line up has had much career success against the guy.
Joe Saunders in 2009
4.60 ERA, 186 IP, 202 H, 29 HRs, 64 BBs, 101 Ks, 1.43 WHIP and 9.8 H/9
AJ Burnett in 2009
4.04 ERA, 207 IP, 193 H, 25 HRs, 97 BBs, 195 Ks, 1.40 WHIP and 8.4 H/9
Burnett actually gets a break as far as I am concerned because he could have been caught up in a pitchers duel with Weaver but with Saunders on the hill if he just pitches his game and executes the plan he should be able to go 6+ IP and pick up the win because Saunders isn’t blowing people away and he pitches to contact which means even if he keeps the line up off guard to start eventually they should be able to break out and get enough hits to win.
More on that…
Sabathia Vs Lackey
Burnett Vs Saunders
Pettitte Vs Weaver
Gm4. Sabathia Vs Lackey/Kazmir
Gm5. Burnett Vs Saunders/Lackey
Gm6. Pettitte Vs Weaver/Saunders
Gm7. Sabathia Vs Lackey/Weaver
It seems we have the advantage in Burnett Vs Saunders and you might call Weaver Vs Pettitte a draw but Steve is right if CC beats Lackey it could set it up for a 2-1 or 3-0 lead.
This afternoon we found out the Yanks are going with a 3 man rotation and Angels 4. So as of now they should be as follows:
Game 1-Lackey vs Sabathia (Edge Yanks)
Game 2-Saunders vs Burnett (Edge Yanks)
Game 3-Pettitte vs Weaver (big edge Yanks)
Game 4-Sabathia vs Kazmir (Even, if Kaz is healthy)
Game 5-Burnett vs Lackey (Even)
Game 6-Saunders vs Pettitte (Edge Yanks)
Game 7-Weaver vs Sabathia (ginourmous edge Yanks)
I’m sorry, I think the Angels are set up for a quick exit.
I think you are a little to confident Steve… Sabathia is better than Lackey but John is a gamer and can come and do work real quick. If Burnett doesn’t win he will be the scapegoat of this series for sure, but I have a hard time finding Pettitte a huge advantage over Weaver, they have 5 guys hitting over .300 against Pettitte so they hit him harder average wise than we hit Weaver that one could go either way.
“Two costly runs that Pedroia knows would not have scored if he fielded the grounder cleanly.”
That says all you need to know.
BAWW BAWW BAWW Who’d he blame for the Sox only scoring 1 run in games 1 and 2?