I'm not proud of it. My savior Jesus Christ does not approve. The Red Sox get to me.
All the talk today is about what a genius Francona is and how amazing the Indians bullpen is today, specifically Andrew Miller. Don't believe the hype. Here are the numbers from last night for the Sox and Indians bullpens:
Innings Earned Runs Strikeouts Walks
Red Sox 3.2 0 6 1
Indians 4.1 1 8 1
That one walk by the Red Sox was intentional. How did that work out by Farrell loading the bases with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning? Pretty savvy move, no runs scored. Meanwhile Francona left his top two relievers in for the most pitches they've thrown in a game this year. I will forever love Francona for throwing Keith Faulk into a meat grinder in the 2004 playoffs to bring home the title (not sure if you heard but it was the first one in 86 years for the Sox), but are you trying to tell me the Sox are screwed because of how amazing the Indians bullpen is? The Sox' held out just fine there last night with reclamation projects Joe Kelly and Drew Pomeranz. Sure Kimbrel can be a wildcard but the revisionist history of how wrong the Sox were to not lavish $40 Million on Andrew Miller two years ago is a straw man argument at best.
The main culprit last night was our Ace, Slick Rick Porcello. The dude gave up 5 earned runs in 4.1 innings. Before last night the shortest outing of the year for him was 5 innings way back on May 17th. The most earned runs he's given up was 5 in 6 innings of work on June 2nd. This was, unequivocally, his worst outing of the entire 2016 season. Yes Benintendi screwed up in the outfield and the Indians bullpen did its job, but this was Porcello putting his team and manager in a terrible position. The Red Sox didn't need an Ace performance from Rick Porcello last night. Even a slightly below average start by him this year and the Sox have a 1-0 series lead. Here's hoping he figures it out.
Until Next Time,
The SAHD
