Simply put, last night was ugly. Ugly because of the inconsistent umpiring that found the Rays scratching at the eight ball all night. Ugly because John Jaso couldn’t stop a breaking pitch in the dirt if his life depended on it. Ugly because “Big Game” James had what outwardly seemed to be a “decent” start.
To be fair, the lingering questions related to Shields start could and should be directed to home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt’s calling of the game. Was Shields start really that terrible? Yes and no. Yes, because he gave up walks, hits, and runs. However, when you look at the Normalized Strikezone Plot (below) you get a good idea that Wendelstedt called a very inconsistent game which aided the Red Sox, and arguably gave them the advantage over the Rays.
Marc Tompkin of the St. Petersburg Times by and far explains the plot much better than I ever could:
“The key to look for are the red squares, which are pitches thrown by Boston pitchers that were outside the zone but called strikes. The green squares are pitches thrown by Boston that were called balls. The red triangles are pitches thrown by the Rays that were called strikes (and there don’t appear ot be any outside the zonbe), the green triangles balls.
By a rough count, there are a half-dozen pitches Maddon had a point with – especially the red square furthest to the right, which was the pitch B.J. Upton was called out on in the fifth.”
Wendelstedt’s calls gave the Red Sox at least a one run advantage which, in the end, was enough to give them the edge over the Rays. Conversely, his calls against the Rays, most notably he calling Upton out looking on what was obviously a pitch well outside in the fifth, took away scoring opportunities in the form of base runners…base runners that could have turned the tide in the Rays favor. Admittedly, the Rays did have ample opportunities to score, especially when you consider that they only scored three runs on eight hits and four walks. Still, there will always be the questions of what if, had Wendelstedt called balls and strikes more consistently.
The Rays undoubtedly need to win both today and tomorrow in order for them to go into NY two games back in the race, and to still find themselves the hunt for a post season berth. Today Jeff Niemann takes the mound against Jon Lester who was knocked out of the game early last Saturday in the fourth inning after having thrown 111 pitches. Niemann, who pitched complete game victory in his last start against Boston at home, needs to be on his game today. The Rays will again need to take advantage of Lester early. Starting lineups below. As always, Go Rays!
Tampa Bay Rays (83-67):
Jennings LF
Upton CF
Longoria 3B
Zobrist 2B
Damon DH
Rodriguez SS
Kotchman 1B
Guyer RF
Lobaton C
Niemann P
Of note: Rookie Jose Lobaton will get the start instead of John Jaso or Kelly Shoppach. I don’t know how I feel about this. Shoppach, though he couldn’t hit his way out of a paper bag, by and far has better defensive skills than either Lobaton or Jaso. Though you’d expect Shoppach to go O’fer at the plate, you’d assume his defense would save runs as opposed to Jaso who let at least three pitches go by him last night, or Lobaton who’s largely unproven at this level. Am I crazy in thinking this????
Boston Red Sox (87-63):
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B,
Gonzalez 1B
Ortiz DH
Reddick RF
Saltalamacchia C
Crawford LF
Aviles 3B
Scutaro SS
Lester P