Sunday, May 8, 2016

Week The Fifth: May 1-7, 2016: How I Was Ron Kulpa'd Into Submission

Sunday began the week with a completed sweep, an 8-7 win over the Yankees after another rough outing from Price. After an off day, Tuesday brings us to the City of Big Shoulders and a 4-1 loss to the White Sox, a decent outing from Steven Wright ruined by a sad four hits off of Jose Quintana. Wednesday featured a return to form, a strong effort from Buchholz and 3 RBI from the Large Father in a 5-2 win. Thursday gave us another strong offensive performance, homers from DP, Hanley, and Shaw powering a 7-3 win. Then came Friday's 3-2 defeat in New York, which sort of deserves its own paragraph, and then a rather routine 8-2 loss to the Yanks on Saturday to finish out a 3-3 week.

Friday's game began with a 2 run first inning, followed by single runs in the 1st and 2nd for the Bombers, resulting in a 2-2 tie after 2. There matters stood until the 7th, where Aaron Hicks, of all people, homers off of Porcello to give the home side a 3-2 advantage. Then came the ninth inning. Singles from Josh Rutledge, Dustin Pedroia, and Xander Bogaerts loaded the bases with one out off of lefty closer Andrew Miller. This brings David Ortiz to the plate, and the sublime turns into the ridiculous. With 3 balls and one strike, Miller throws one of his ridiculous sliders, which McCann catches in approximately the right hand batter's box, which is called a strike. It wasn't, but it was at least arguably one, making the count 3-2. Ortiz complains, rightfully, and John Farrell comes out to reinforce and echo Papi's views, and gets excused for the rest of the evening. Miller's 3-2 pitch is outside, and absurdly, ridiculously low, and, of course home plate umpire Ron Kulpa calls it a strike. Either pitch could have been a game tying ball four, and the second one inarguably was. It was unprofessional, unethical, and the greatest argument for robot umpires since Eric Gregg last roamed the Earth. Disgraceful.

No comments:

Post a Comment