Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Whiny (L9-6) Season 25-19

Yes, I will whine about tonight's disheartening loss, another painful exercise in mediocre but not average pitching. David Wells had the 'one bad inning' exercise going, but the bullpen again earns the slings and arrows of the Nation. Reid Johnson smashed two homers off Sox relievers, Mike Timlin in the seventh and a walkoff three-run shot off Alan Embree in the ninth to give Toronto the victory.

I've been beating the dead horse about the bullpen for weeks, and also recognize that Terry Francona can only throw what's out there. Timlin has been outstanding overall and Embree inconsistent, but if the Sox are going to challenge, they need a more dominant and consistent relief corps.

My son's statistical analysis shows the White Sox to have a major leg up on grabbing one slot and obviously the AL West runnerup grabs the second. Minnesota, absent the in-division competition existing in the AL East has the advantage for the Wild Card. That means the Red Sox will have to outfight the Orioles (Yes, Matilda) and the Yankees for the final spot.

Farm land. The PawSox beat Norfolk 3-2, with a combined effort from 5 pitchers, including 4 strikeouts in two innings from Scott Cassidy. Cla Meredith took a blown save for Pawtucket.

Portland was rained out yet again.

Wilmington lost to Frederick 2-1 in the Carolina League, with Luis Mendoza taking the loss despite yielding 1 earned run in 7 innings.

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