First off, Gagne was horrible.
Francona and Tek's pitch selections were worse.
Yeah he gets squeezed on the Thomas AB, and I do think Gagne had a legit beef there. The basehit to Hill should have been the end of his night, because Papelbon should have been up if needed. Of course, he wasn't.
The AB to Stairs might have been the worst pitch calling sequence I've seen all year. Gagne has had recent success changing speeds and relying on his off speed stuff and spotting his fastball. When he struggled, it was the opposite. So what does he throw to Stairs?
Fastball - foul
Fastball - foul
Fastball - ball
Fastball - ball
Fastball - ball
Changeup - ball
Why wait til 3-2 to throw the f***ing changeup? He fooled Rios badly earlier in the inning on a change then curve, but Gagne and Tek continued to pump fastballs in there. For all the praise Tek gets for calling a game its like he's never seen Gagne pitch before.
Francona takes Delcarmen out after three pitches. Awesome pen management.
I'm trying really hard to stay positive. It's getting increasingly difficult. I haven't read the gamethread but undoubtedly there will be some bashing of JD Drew for not catching that ball, but at least he's playing with a shredded shoulder unlike our favorite slugger, Manny Ramirez.
I'll be glad when we ship Manny out this offseason for $.50 on the dollar. I'll take Ellsbury in left over Manny right now anyways.