here to start.....I guess the 6th inning since that was the entire game right there. Zobrist started things off by bouncing a single over Rolen's head, a fluke really. Iwanmura reaches on a bunt single, could have been called out or safe...was extremely close. Crawford gets a swinging bunt that follows the first base line. Doc watches the ball roll along the line then picks it up feeling it's foul. Crawford is ruled safe at first and Doc is steamed....totally and completely steamed, you could have fried an egg on his forehead. Doc wasn't happy even before this because the strike zone had been small and changed from batter to batter.
To me, this is where Cito should have got himself thrown out. Doc was so mad I'm amazed he could pitch. Cito should have been out there yelling to take some time and to let Doc cool off a bit. Next batter Carlos Pena pops up and it falls between Scoot and Lind in left. One runs scores. Doc strikes out Hinske, then on the 10th pitch of the at bat Longoria hits a grand slam and the game is over. And Doc's mood doesn't improve.
Doc strikes out Cliff Floyd, Upton singles. Then Navarro, in the bush league play to end all bush league plays bunts for a base hit, and he's damn lucky Doc didn't just fire a pitch at him when he was at first. Doc got Zobrist for the final out of the inning to finally end what might have been the most frustrating inning of a terribly frustrating season.
Anyway the Fangraph:
As you can see the game was over by the end of the 6th.We did get 4 in the 9th and had the tying run at the plate but then Rolen has been awful at the plate in July hitting .149/.245/191 this morning.
The less said about the plate umpire the better. And there isn't much to say, he was awful. Cito, again is reminding me why I hated him years ago. Why in the world would you have Scoot out there and why why why would you have him bat second. It seems like the move of someone that has no clue how an offense works. Players need to get on base. Scoot doesn't. Why he hates Eck is another good question. Eck's defense isn't that much worse than Scoot and he knows how to get on base some. And in the sixth Cito needed to rant and rave and get thrown out. But he's calm and cool and shows no passion.
Jays of the Day? No one. But honorable mention to Brad Arnsburg for going out to 'talk to Carlson' but really just waited for the umpire to come to the mound so he could rant for a moment a bit and get thrown out. The strike zone, all game long, moved around and for Carlson it shrank to almost nothing, much like it had been for Doc at various times during the game. Also honorable mention to League for plunking Navarro....it had to be done.
Suckage Jay? Oh hell, throw a dart....Rios went 0 for 4, looking lost at the plate. Wilk only 0 for 2 with 2 strike outs (he got pulled for Mench so couldn't go 0 for 4). He's a major league outfielder like I'm a NBA center. Or pick any of the other batters. Well, Scoot was 2 for 4 so don't pick him but pick any of the other 8 guys.
Long enough rant yet? Oh well, frustrated. We were just one game short of .500 two days ago and things seemed to be improving. Now we are 3 games below and we can't beat a team that was on a 7 game losing streak before they were lucky enough to face us. Tomorrow John Parrish (I thought it was going to be Litsch, but I guess they changed their minds) goes up against Edwin Jackson. We need a win streak and we need it to start now. We also need JP to get off his hands and make some improvements to this team. It isn't good enough and if he doesn't do something it won't be good enough next year.