Game Story: Salvaging Something.

by Allen Chace on Jul 28, 2008 3:50 AM EDT in Game Stories

Hells yes.

Summary:

Lester sacked up, and it was on a night in which the Yankees rang up 9 hits against him: Sure a few were kind of squibbers so to speak, but mostly it was good hitters taking good swings at some of 'his' pitches. He still limited the Yanks to 2 runs in 7 innings of work while striking out 8. Also, he's grown 3 inches according to Orel Hershiser.

There's not a day that's gone by since it happened that I haven't been pleased that Sidney Ponson is on the MFY roster. The above pictured David Ortiz hit his first HR since returning from the DL, and also added a long sac fly to RF. He looked himself, for sure.

Manuel did what Manuel does. Hitting and hitting and hitting. His near-HR that Melky Cabrera tracked down deep in the triangle looked awesome off the bat, and as often noted, would've been out in basically all parks but ours. If tonight didn't remind you that we would be a lower-performing team minus Manny Ramirez, then I don't know what will.

Good to see MDC back on the hill tonight. I was concerned his injury was going to turn out more serious than first reported.

Player of the Game:

via d.yimg.com

F' you, for thinking I wouldn't sack up and stop the skid tonight.

Comment of the Game:

If Terry wants Cora fresh, leave him on ice. -ecoli

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Comments

Lester is amazing.

I remember when Jon T. Lester stood for “4-Pitch walk.” Now it stands for “4-0 in starts after Red Sox losses.”

Throughout last night’s broadcast, Hershiser repeatedly said that we’re watching the transformation of a young pitcher in Lester’s performance. I disagree – the transformation happened weeks ago, on April 29th, when Jon “We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Santana” Lester showed up and shut down Toronto for 8 straight innings. Despite a few bad outings between now and then, he’s really become a force in our rotation.

Remember when Lester couldn’t make it past the 5th inning? Now he’s pitched two CGs, is routinely going 7 or more, and is 6th in the league with 139 innings pitched.

Remember when Lester couldn’t keep down teams, and we all doubted whether he’d ever live up to his #2 potential? Now he’s a legitimate ace, ranked 6th in the league in ERA. He’s also an extreme groundballer, third in double-plays (according to the broadcasters) and possessing a 1.45 groundball:flyball ratio (which is very good). He leads the pitching staff in value over replacement player at 31.6, better than Dice-K and Beckett.

by 0157H7 on Jul 28, 2008 11:54 AM EDT reply actions