The big man does it again. I'm speechless. I watched this very entertaining - if at times frustrating - game from the first pitch and it was one of the best of the year. Ortiz hit another dinger in addition to the walk off, breaking the record for most HR and RBI in the month of July in the entire history of the Red Sox. Manny also poked one, as did Willy Mo's tape measure bomb which had to have cleared the Landsdowne Parking Garage. Wells looked poor in his first appearance in two months but that's not totally unexpected under the circumstances. (The crowd seemed to agree as they gave him a healthy affirmative as we walked off despite giving up 8 runs.) But the story of the night, rivalling the walk-off, was the outstanding relief work by Kyle Snyder. He's obviously been roughed up lately but his performance tonight was truly special. He struck out 6 while only allowing 1 hit in 4+ innings. After the flurry of runs that they saddled Wells with early on, this great performance was totally unexpected. He threw some of the nastiest breaking stuff i've seen lately and absolutely deserved the win. This kid has some stellar stuff and if he can become consistent, I'd like to see much more of him.
But Papi! The crowd stuck around for minutes afterwards chanting "MVP" repeatedly. All hometown bias aside, given his accomplishments through the year I don't see how any true afficianado of the game can possibly disagree.
4 comments:
I have to agree AA, Snyder was excellent last night. You know I sort of called this yesterday, though not this specific event. I figure when Wake comes back and if Wells can be semi effective, they should move Snyder to the pen for long relief. If you look at his starts he does fairly well the first 4 innnings then struggles in the 5th. My only concern was mental readiness, but that question appeared to be answered last night, especially in the post game interview. The other thing his appearance did last night was to take the focus off of Wells. I watched the entire post game and didn't see Wells get interviewed once. The focus was on Snyder.
As for Papi, I sat there in disbelief. He came to the plate and I said he can't do it again.....next pitch they were jumping on home plate. It does seem to me, maybe it's just perception, but Papi seems to come up in these situations more than any other player. I have to wonder, as Papi pointed out last night, if it doesn't have to do with the guys in front of him getting on so much. Last night it was Cora and Youkilis. Even down in the order all of those guys have good on base percentages. As amazing as Papi is these come from behinds are a team effort more often than not. The rest of the guys put the ingredients in the pot, Papi is the wizard that waves the wand making the brew become that heady potion of victory!!!!
Good stuff. I need a beating. I went to bed in the 8th, figuring a redux was not possible! ugh. He is a freak. It is amazing how quick his bat is with such a big swing. Snyder was great. He so reminds me of Arroyo. Maybe we have a good middle man now. I think Wells will be good for a few more starts the rest of the year.
JV has a sprained knee and I think he will get a MRI today. I hope he is going to be fine...Hey maybe a 15 DL for him mightbe good? To get rest? Funny seeing Shoppach behind the plate for LA.
Go Sox!
Am I wrong in recalling that Snyder really only had one bad outing...that he maybe only pitched 4 times before last night? That some memories of bad outings are other guys?
I was channel bouncing as usual but I did get to see the end. Unbelievable is right.
I think over all Snyder has pitched well, he had one really bad outing, but he starts to struggle the second time through the order. In the past he's done pretty well in pitching out of it, but if Wake and Wells can come back to the rotation, then I think Snyder is the odd man out. I'd much rather have him in there in the 6th and 7th than I would Tavarez or Seanez. I figure Snyder bridges the gap to get you to the 7th or 8th, then you have Hansen, Delcarmen, Timlin, and Papelbon to control the game from there. But that all hinges on Wells and Wake being healthy and effective.
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