jung

Thank God that did not hurt. WMB looked silly going after that little bounder.

Holy s*** Will for crying out loud

Don't be surprised if Shane gives this RH bat against RH pitcher one more try after tonight if that. I don't think this is a Detroit thing at all. More like the league has figured out what to do and will continue to do it if they seem Shane on the RH side again.

This is not a surprise to me.....

Here comes another interesting match up tonight..Scherzer/Vic....Scherzer looks gassed

Scherzer with memories of the old WMB with that one

Funny how Scherzer has gone after the bottom of the Sox order...gotten him in all sorts of trouble. Used himself up on Ross last time and left himself spread eagled over the desk for WMB. Now he walks Drew...is using himself up on Ross again...HITS HIM.....and.....here comes WMB again.

Beer is just piss in process.

Would like to see what happens when WMB comes up if Scherzer is still there. Probably would like to drill him right in ribs.

Jon throws a solid 7th. That 6th inning was a thing of beauty though.

That was a great inning by Jon. Really a memorable inning when you consider how he came back from a couple bad breaks.

What a dif in Jon once he stopped throwing so many damned cutters. Still throwing it but not like he was. Still don't quite understand why he feels so secure with that pitch. Lately it seems like the only time opponents really pounce on Jon is when he can't find the plate and/or relies too much on the cutter and becomes too predicable.

Don't kill yourself...a professional hitter that misses a middle middle hung slider is on his way back to never gonna' make the big bucks land. Staggered that Scherzer got that far ahead of himself. Punishes Ross with 97 gas and throws THAT to WMB. What makes the game fun though. Scherzer looks brilliant for most of five innings and makes a dunce cap mistake to a guy at the bottom of the order.

Can't believe Scherzer threw that to WMB. Glad WMB got it as missing that mistake would have been bad for WMB I think.

Well typical of the Red Sox, the only way to make it through their system is to hit. If you can field great, that is nice but you have to hit. If you can hit, they will take just about anything in the field. WMB's current problem...not showing all that much at the plate. Then again, if the future is WMB and XB, that is going to be one porous left side of the infield. I suspect, that might be the instigation to move WMB to first and eventually XB to 3rd. That of course will mean that WMB is going to have to show the promise he had previously as a power hitter.

You are forgetting...FO beat Jon to it.

Nobody else has really even tried to come after Vic as you would a guy that should struggle from the right side against RH pitching. They just haven't until most recently. Just think it has taken awhile for the rest of the league to figure out that they need to treat him that way. Nothing else worked! If a player does something unconventional, don't expect MLB to immediately use conventional means to respond. The usual initial response is confusion.....if these guys were rocket scientists they would be....well inventing rockets.

Nava seems to be getting more wood on the ball lately....at least from the left side.

I actually think Scherzer tried to get that pitch on the outer half and missed with it. For the most part the formula for WMB has been to pitch him inside early and outside late. It generally has not mattered if WMB is expected a pitch on the outer half...his tendency has been to chase it farther outside. He seems to be a little better at that since coming back. Has not chased as much. The one mistake you can make to WMB is miss inside.

Seems to me this is another night where the opposing RH starter is going right after Vic like he is a guy that should not be batting from that side. Fister definitely handled him that way yesterday. Been expecting it for a couple of weeks now.

Much better inning for Jon.

Still have not gotten used to Ross being back....

Well this is off to a great start....Scherzer is dealing....Salty only needs to have one sign tonight for Lester and Iggy is bashing balls in gaps....I might as well just slit my wrists now and get it over with!

Jon...Jon...Jon....."Need strike 1...I know cutter......Need to see if I can sneak strike 2 in there....I know cutter.....Gotta' get strike 3....I know....cutter". Hate it when the only solution Jon thinks he has is that damned cutter.

If the "discussion" is whether a Manager would ever start the game with a bullpen arm and continue with them throughout the course of the game as opposed to just starting the game with a starter on normal rest or even short rest I think it an impractical discussion. A Manager is going to start his game with a Starter. He may make a judgement about whether to start his best on short rest or less than his best on regular rest but he is starting the game with a Starter. There is no guarantee what so ever that a top reliever is going to go out there and not lay an egg and all things being equal, the reliever going out to start the game has already been pitching in games and is not fully rested. In addition, in the biggest game your team is going to play all year, you are asking the relief pitcher to go out there and start. Do you actually think relief pitchers are born to be relief pitchers? Every pitcher ever born wants to start. The reason he is not starting is because he is not good enough. So now you expect a Manager to anoint one of those guys to start the biggest game of the year???? How is this hypothetical relief pitcher supposed to prepare for said start? How is he to control his emotions working up to the start? Never happened...never going to happen. Nothing stops the Manager from having a very fast trigger finger on his hook if his starter does not perform. Who he brings in under those circumstances might be an interesting discussion. Does he use up what might be his only real fireman trying to get out of the early jam? Does he trust that somebody else can get him out of the jam saving his fireman for later? If I had to guess I would say the latter and not the former. The original discussion if I understand it correctly is just a discussion with no basis because one of the alternatives offered is not an alternative at all. A Manager is never going to start one of these games with a relief pitcher if he has a rested starter available to him.