Empyreal Environs

Game 79: July 2, 2005
Blue Jays (41-40), 4
Red Sox (46-33), 6
BS, L: Pete Walker (3, 3-2)
W: Mike Timlin (3-1)
H: Alan Embree (3)
S: Keith Foulke (15)

Dave McCarty in the NESN pre-game and postgame shows brought a smile to my face. So far he strikes the balance between Bob Tewksbury’s knowledge and Gary DiSarcina’s personability. There is life after baseball.

Some only vaguely baseball related notes that I took down as I watched the game:

• Michelle Damon’s In Style segment featured Wade Miller’s wife Amy, who is now 6 months pregnant and looking to stay cool and comfortable, yet fashionable, for the summer months. Their daughter Hunter stole the show, however, running around the shop and making faces in the mirror.
• I hate catcher’s masks that are structured like hockey masks. Gregg Zaun’s in particular, because he looks like he intentionally ornaments it, like how some people detail their cars. You’re not a goalie, you’re a catcher.
• Orsillo made fun of Trupiano’s shirt. I don’t usually mind Trupiano’s fashion choices, but this time it was warranted. An almost obscene blending of pink and green, it screamed Jimmy Buffet fan.
• Various Red Sox players continue to wear titanium necklaces produced by Phiten. The Phiten site needs to be updated; not only does it still show Randy Johnson, which is not a ringing endorsement, it also presents him as a Diamondback.
• Birds suck. This year’s Blue Jays are like last year’s Orioles.

Jerry Remy mentioned that Trot Nixon is hitting lefties better this season than any previous season, but it’s probably only because he’s only permitted to hit against the lefties he hits well. Looking back at 2003 and ignoring 2004 because it was an injury year, Nixon had 441 at bats, 96 of which were against left-handed pitchers, yielding a rate of approximately 22%. This year has shown a more marked platoon strategy with Jay Payton; he has had 222 at bats, 29 of which have been against southpaws, or 13%. His batting average against lefties so far is .276 compared to .219 in 2003 and his on-base percentage is .382 versus .296, but I submit it is because Terry Francona only lets Nixon see lefties he can handle.

This game seemed to follow the same script as the first game of the series with the Jays taking the early lead and shutting out the Red Sox until the 4th inning, when Varitek hit a sacrifice fly to plate Ortiz, who had walked to lead off the inning and reached third on a Ramirez single. The next inning saw another run in the form of Ortiz’s line drive RBI single that advanced Renteria and scored Damon, cutting the deficit to 2 runs.

Mueller just missed what would have surely been a bases-clearing triple in the 6th had the ball not bounded into the right field stands. His ground-rule double came with bases loaded, a situation that Mueller thrives in; he’s batting .615 with 14 RBIs. His 2 RBIs tied the score.

Red Sox pitchers kept their end of the deal by shutting out Toronto from the 5th inning forward, despite some inconsistent home plate umpiring. Wells, who relies on borderline calls to go in his favor, got disgusted with Larry Poncino’s judgment. With 2 out in the 7th inning, Wells jawed with home plate umpire. Being the veteran that he is, Poncino cut Wells slack, only to have second base umpire Chris Guccione overstep his authority by throwing out the lefty. Note that the rookie umpire that ejected Wells is does not have his biography on the major league umpire’s website, although his name is there because he is a call-up. The only biographical information I could find on Guccione was his page on the Pacific Coast League site. Wells said in the postgame press conference, “We get sent up and down, the same thing should apply [to umpires].” It might be time for Guccione to go back to umpiring between the Albuquerque Isotopes and the Las Vegas 51s.

In the bottom of the 7th, Oritz singled to center to lead off and Manny regained the lead with his 2-run home run that no one, including Ramirez himself, thought would get out of the park. It would be the team’s 22nd come from behind victory. Although Foulke went 1.1 scoreless innings with 1 strikeout, he appears to have not yet regained his full confidence and composure that served him so well in the past.

Rubber game today against past and potential Cy Young winner Roy Halladay and Bronson Arroyo, a match-up that I’ve taken to calling the Gunslinger versus the Singer because, well, I’m lame like that.