Sorry Kevin Gregg… you don’t get close calls

When Cito Gaston took Kevin Gregg out of last night’s debacle in the SkyDome (or whatever the hell it is called now) Gregg showed that he had a lot of balls.

He went over and started jawing with umpire Angel Hernandez about a ball four call against John Jaso that walked in a run. Hernandez said “Go back to the dugout” a few times before tossing him. (I always found it odd when players who were already out of the game get tossed, but that is neither here nor there.)

Gregg also had a lot of balls during the inning. As in throwing balls out of the strike zone. The guy comes into a ball game that the Blue Jays need to win. A Blue Jays win would pull them to within 2 1/2 games of the division lead (and stay a game back of the Yankees for the Wild Card.)

Toronto held a 2 run lead… and what does he do? With one out, he walks Upton, who steals and goes to third on Gregg’s bad throw. He walks Crawford. He walks Longoria.

It’s safe to say that he didn’t exactly have great control.

So Gregg might forgive Hernandez for not giving Gregg the benefit of the doubt on close calls.

In fact the one out he DID get was because Angel Hernandez didn’t grant Carlos Pena time when he requested it.

So Jaso walked… making it FOUR WALKS in an inning for a closer. Then Zobrist doubled home three runs and the Rays took the lead.

But seriously, the ball that Gregg was complaining about, as Harold Reynolds pointed out on MLB Network, was a ball! It would have been a border line strike. Maybe a Jon Lester or an Andy Pettitte or Tim Lincecum would have got the call… but not a closer who already had logged 3 walks that inning.

Umps are human and sometimes the borderline calls go to reputations.

But here we are again with Kevin Gregg!

He torpedoed the Marlins pennant hopes in 2008.

He was a disaster for the Cubs in 2009.

And here he is blowing key ballgames for the Blue Jays in 2010.

This signing never made sense. I said it in February and I am saying it again now.

Lackey better send Victor a thank you note

When the Sox were losing 4-0 in the 5th and had left 39 men in scoring position over the first 4 innings (that number might not be right) I started the draft of my Sully Baseball post in my head.

It had something to do with how sucky John Lackey has been and how we always hated him with the Angels and how we are going to continue to hate him with the Sox.

Then Beltre homered.
Then Martinez got a hit, and another hit… until he got 5 hits in all and the Sox won by 5.

And Lackey got the WIN!
Remember how I talked about how unfair Zack Grienke low win total was?

I wonder how he feels knows such a mediocre Lackey performance landed in the W column!

Either way, it was a come from behind win against a first place team. The Sox have had a bunch of those recently.
And I’ll take them!

Let’s update the tally.

DODGED A BULLET GAMES – 18

April 4 – 9-7 win against Yankees (On Opening Night, the Red Sox overcome a 5-1 Yankee lead with a game tying HR by Pedroia and a go ahead passed ball.)
April 10 – 8-3 win against Kansas City (Beckett out pitches Zack Greinke and nearly gets decapitated by a line drive.)
April 14 – 6-3 win in Minnesota. (Okajima gets Morneau to pop up with the bases loaded in the 7th and Papelbon wiggled out of a 9th inning jam.)
April 20 – 7-6 win against Texas. (Darnell McDonald introduces himself to Boston with an 8th inning game tying homer and a walk off hit in the 9th.)
April 21 – 8-7 win against Texas. (The Red Sox were down 4-0 early only to win it on Youk’s 2 out 11th inning double.)
April 23 – 4-3 win against Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 3-0 lead but win it on Adrian Beltre’s bases loaded walk.)

April 24 – 7-6 win against Baltimore. (The Red Sox score 6 in the 7th and hold off a late Baltimore comeback attempt.)
April 26 – 13-12 win at Toronto. (The Sox blow an early 5-0 lead but hang on for dear life in a slugfest.)
April 27 – 2-1 win at Toronto. (Buchholz holds the Jays down for 8 but it takes a bases loaded walk in the 8th to go ahead.)
April 28 – 2-0 win at Toronto. (Daniel Bard wiggles out of trouble in the 8th to help Lester shut down the Blue Jays and finish the sweep.)
May 4 – 5-1 win against the Angels. (Juan Rivera misplays Jeremy Hermedia’s 2 out flyball into a 3 run game winning double)
May 5 – 3-1 win against the Angels. (Papi and Beltre homer and the Sox hang on despite squandering many potential rallies.)
May 6 – 11-6 win against the Angels. (Dice-K puts the Red Sox in a 4-0 hole before they even bat. The Sox bats respond.)
May 10 – 7-6 win against the Blue Jays. (Sox blow an early 2-0 lead, take advantage of some errors and hang on.)
May 18 – 7-5 win in New York. (Sox climb back from a 5-1 hole. A day after hitting a walk off homer, Marcus Thames drops a fly ball to start the winning rally for the Sox.)
May 25 – 2-0 win in Tampa. (Big Papi supplies all the offense as Papelbon wiggles out of a 9th inning jam.)
May 29 – 1-0 win against Kansas City. (Zack Greinke holds the Sox to one run, but they make it stick)

June 1 – 9-4 win against Oakland. (Lackey puts the Sox in a 4-0 hole but Victor Martinez goes 5-5 and the Sox score 9 runs late.)

TEETH GRINDER GAMES – 15

April 6 – 6-4 loss against the Yankees. (Scutaro’s error leads to the winning run.)
April 7 – 3-1 loss against the Yankees. (Sox leave the winning run on in the 9th only to lose on Granderson’s 10th inning homer)
April 9 – 4-3 loss in Kansas City. (Bard coughs up the lead, denying Wakefield a win.)
April 17 – 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Sox can’t score with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 11th… lost it in the 12th.)
April 17 – 6-5 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Red Sox comeback falls a run short, leaving two on in the 8th)
April 25 – 7-6 loss to Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 4-1 lead, leave the winning run on second in the 9th, let up 3 in the 10th and could only score 2 in the bottom of the 10th)
April 30 – 5-4 loss in Baltimore. (Tejada ties the game with a 2 out 8th inning homer and wins it with a bloop in the 10th)
May 1 – 12-9 loss in Baltimore. (Dice-K and Wakes get pounded, wasting 2 homers from Ortiz and an early 4-1 lead.)
May 2 – 3-2 loss in Baltimore. (Varitek is thrown at home trying to score with 2 outs in the 8th. Sox get swept in the 10th.
May 12 – 3-2 loss against the Blue Jays. (The Sox rally in the 9th comes up a run short and Kevin Gregg gets an ugly save.)
May 15 – 7-6 loss in Detroit. (The Sox blow a 6-1 lead and lose it on a 2 out bases loaded walk in the 12th.)
May 17 – 11-9 loss in New York. (The Sox come all the way back from a 5-0 first inning hole to take a 9-7 lead in the 9th… but Papelbon lets up a 2 run game tying shot to A-Rod and a 2 run walk off shot to Marcus Thames.)
May 21 – 5-1 loss in Philadelphia. (Big Papi’s bid for a game tying 9th inning grand slam is caught at the warning track.)
May 27 – 4-3 loss to Kansas City. (Dice-K walks the go ahead run in and lets another score on a wild pitch as the Royals no name bullpen shut down the Hot Sox.)
May 28 – 12-5 loss to Kansas City. (Sox blow a 3-0 first inning lead to be blown out in Fenway.)

Back up to +3.

Daisuke Matsuzaka versus Ben Sheets today… what a great pitching match up (provided it was 2008!)