If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to a feed of all future entries. [What is this?]
Wade Miley was the perfect pitcher to start 70s Night at Tropicana Field. He looks like he could have been relieved by Bill Lee. Miley pitched fairly well: six and one-third innings, five hits, two earned runs, two walks, and eight strikeouts. But he was out-dueled by Matt Andriese, who held Boston scoreless over six stanzas. Jake Elmore was responsible for the two runs Miley gave up. Elmore’s fifth-inning homer plated Asdrubal Cabrera. I love that the Rays have ersatz throwback uniforms from a decade that didn’t even witness the organization’s existence. But I don’t think the landlords would sign off on the Rays paying tribute to the Pepsi Cola Giants, a Tampa Bay-area Negro League feeder team. I think facing the area’s segregated past should be remembered rather than ignored. Keep increasing your trade value, Alejandro De Aza! Game 76: June 27, 2015 Red Sox34-42 1 L: Wade Miley (7-7) HR: Alejandro De Aza (5) Tampa Bay Rays42-34 4 W: Matt Andriese (3-2)H: Jake McGee (9), Kevin Jepsen (17)S: Brad Boxberger (20) 2B: Evan Longoria (15), Logan Forsythe (15)3B: Asdrubal Cabrera (4)HR: Jake Elmore (2), Rene Rivera (4), Longoria (8)...
Wade Miley was born in 1986. In true Millennial spirit Miley ripped into authority figure John Farrell after he was pulled from the game. Miley lasted four innings with nine hits (three of them home runs) and five earned runs. “But I didn’t walk anyone and I struck out three!” yelled Miley as he stalked Farrell in the dugout. Dennis Eckersley was not impressed by Miley’s behavior. On the positive side David Ortiz clouted a solo homer in the eighth inning. Pablo Sandoval went 2-for-4 with two runs batted in. If these two ailing bats recover perhaps the season can be salvaged. It wasn’t enough for the Red Sox to avoid a series sweep against a divisional rival. Maybe get a few more Red Sox batters sippin’. Off the field Tonya Carpenter, the fan who was critically injured by a shattered bat at Fenway, was upgraded to “good” condition. Game 61: June 11, 2015 Boston Red Sox27-34 5 L: Wade Miley (5-6) 2B: Pablo Sandoval (6), Mookie Betts (12)HR: David Ortiz (7) Baltimore Orioles29-30 6 W: Chris Tillman (4-7)H: Brad Bach (4), Chaz Roe (1)S: Zach Britton (17) 2B: Adam Jones (10), Delmon Young (6)HR: Jones (10), Nolan Reimold (1),...
The Oakland Athletics reached deep into their bag of tricks in their attempt to win the series opener at Fenway. In the seventh they called upon switch pitcher Pat Venditte to keep Oakland in the game and he pitched two excellent innings, allowing just one hit, walking none, and striking out Blake Swihart. It was particularly interesting how Venditte faced off against Swihart as the catcher is a switch hitter. Venditte indicated he was going to pitch right-handed which prompted Swihart to bat lefty, requiring a helmet change. Major League Baseball even has Official Baseball Rule 5.07(f) for Venditte: A pitcher must indicate visually to the umpire-in-chief, the batter and any runners the hand with which he intends to pitch, which may be done by wearing his glove on the other hand while touching the pitcher's plate. The pitcher is not permitted to pitch with the other hand until the batter is retired, the batter becomes a runner, the inning ends, the batter is substituted for by a pinch-hitter or the pitcher incurs an injury. In the event a pitcher switches pitching hands during an at-bat because he has suffered an injury, the pitcher may not, for the remainder of...
If you are a rookie pitcher you want to have your debut against the Boston Red Sox or Texas Rangers. Eduardo Rodriguez won his premier game handily and Rangers rookie Chi Chi Gonzalez followed suit. Gonzalez’s line was five and two-thirds innings pitched, two hits, five walks, and two strikeouts. I wonder if Jerry Remy pronounced Gonzalez’s name like Les Nessman did. Wade Miley was bested by Ross Ohlendorf in a milking contest and his bad luck carried into Saturday. There was also a cow milking contest in Anaheim. What is with this spate of animal husbandry games? Did minor league event coordinators get promoted in the majors and bring in their ideas? John Farrell summarized Saturday’s outing succinctly. “That was an ugly game.” Dustin Pedroia shared similar thoughts. “We really didn’t do anything,” he said. “We played terrible. No energy. That was bad. You guys watched it, there’s really nothing you can say. We were bad.” Game 50: May 30, 2015 Boston Red Sox22-28 0 L: Wade Miley (4-5) 2B: David Ortiz (9), Mike Napoli (5) Texas Rangers25-25 8 W: Chi Chi Gonzalez (1-0) 2B: Elvis Andrus (9), Robinson Chirinos (9), Leonys Martin (9)...
This series against the cellar-dwelling Athletics has been much more difficult than it should have been. The first game was an extra-innings victory, the middle game a rout for the home team, and this game a taut pitchers’ gem. Wade Miley held Oakland scoreless. He overcame the leadoff man reaching base four times, including a leadoff triple by Marcus Semien in the third. Coco Crisp reached base without an out two times. He worked a walk in the first inning. In the fifth inning he tallied his first hit of the season and bowed when the crowd cheered for the long-awaited event. What he hasn’t done with his bat he has made up for with his glove. Your browser does not support iframes. Daniel Nava was Miley’s favorite batter. He singled in Hanley Ramirez in the second inning. Six long innings later Nava sent a ground ball single up the middle. Dustin Pedroia followed with a single to Semien. In his haste the shortstop sent the ball into the stands. This is quite the accomplishment considering the size of Coliseum’s foul territory. Your browser does not support iframes. Next up are the Seattle Mariners. They sport a similar record to...
The Red Sox should fire hitting coach Chili Davis. This is the first game this season that the squad had been shut out and obviously things need to be shaken up. As we can see the dismissal of Juan Nieves has turned around the pitching staff. Wade Miley went six innings with eight hits (including two homers) and four earned runs. He only walked one batter and struck out eight, on the somewhat positive side. The Red Sox were soundly beaten but they prevailed in challenges 2-1. In the third inning Xander Bogaerts was called out at first but replay showed he was safe by a hair. Mookie Betts smashed against the wall trying to catch Jose Bautista’s deep fly ball. Perhaps the collision caused the ball to drop back into the field for a triple rather than a home run. Bautista went on to score on Edwin Encarnacion’s single anyway, but Robbie Ross, Jr. doesn’t have a home run on his ledger. The Blue Jays won a challenge in the seventh when Allen Craig seemed to beat out Ryan Goins’s outstanding throw. The replay officials overturned the safe call. And that’s why Craig is headed for Pawtucket, not his...
This team was constructed to bash its way to victories, not rely on pitching excellence to triumph in close games. Perhaps Wade Miley was tired about hearing how the Red Sox pitching staff had no aces? Miley was visibly angry when John Farrell pulled the pitcher in the sixth inning with two outs on the board. Miley had allowed Brandon Guyer a single and then proceeded to load the bases by walking Logan Forsythe and Evan Longoria. While I appreciated the passion that Miley displayed, Farrell’s decision to bring in Alexi Ogando to get Desmond Jennings out was the right one. Jennings grounded into a force play, an outcome you could foresee with his three-year splits against left- and right-handed hurlers: .273/.359/.454 compared to .238/.309/.371. What you might not have imagined was Pablo Sandoval’s leaping snare of Steven Souza, Jr.’s liner. Forget Kung Fu Panda, he’s Air Panda. There are many storylines to weave with Ryan Hanigan: player with local connections as an Andover High School graduate, former Rays catcher, horse breeder, and dog fancier. But most importantly for this game was his single in the third inning as it was the catalyst for the only run of the evening....
Most people associate April 15 with the Internal Revenue Service deadline, but in baseball circles this day commemorates Jackie Robinson’s major league debut in 1947. In supposedly post-racial America we need to remember not to backslide into bigotry. Robinson said, “There’s not an American in this country free until every one of us is free.” These days with the killings of African Americans by police officers and the suicides of transgender people too frequent we need to replace the word “free” with “safe.” In Boston, from now on April 15 will be One Boston Day. Two years ago Boston was shaken to its core by the Boston Marathon bombing. A week ago Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found guilty on all 30 charges he faced. Soon he will be sentenced and the death penalty is a possibility. I don’t typically support state-sponsored execution, but for him I make an exception. This is Wade Miley. He lasted just two and a third innings while relinquishing five hits, seven earned runs, and three walks. Miley struck out one batter, though! This is Robbie Ross, Jr. He pitched two innings of relief and surrendered three hits, two runs, and a base on balls. Just kidding....
If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to a feed of all future entries. [What is this?]
Photo courtesy of the Boston Public Library’s Sports Temples of Boston.