Beckett and Buccholz Left in Too Long

Dad --

Yes, last night's game was a bummer considering how exciting the previous two were. But part of the reason both last night's and Wednesday's games turned into a loss and 12th inning win respectively is for the same reason - both starters were left in too long.

This has been a plague of the Red Sox for as long as I can remember. One of the worst samples being Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS when Grady Little left Pedro Martinez in for the 8th inning. After four successive Yankees hits, they tied the score and won the series in extra innings.

That was 7 years ago and the problem still plagues the Red Sox. Although Beckett was iffy for the first couple innings giving up 4 runs, he settled down by the 3rd. Just in time for JD Drew to make his presence known with a grand slam that gave us the lead. That grand slam seemed to do the trick for Beckett. He didn't allow another run for three innings. But as you've said on numerous occasions, a baseball game is nine. So in the 7th Beckett gave up a bunt, a walk and a home run which tied the game. Thankfully Youkilis hit a double in the 12th for the walkoff, but if Francona had pulled Beckett one batter earlier, the Sox wouldn't have needed 3 extra innings to win the game.

Then the same thing happened last night with Buccholz. But unlike Beckett, Buccholz was cruising from the get go. It was a great pitching duel for the first 6 innings. Neither side could score and Buccholz was performing like he did when he pitched his no hitter. But all pitchers get tired, and with one that hasn't been performing too well as of late, you have to wonder why Francona left Buccholz in when he started to falter.

But wondering is pointless. Francona left him in and the Rangers scored three times. The manager pulled Buccholz after that, but again it was too late. Sure the Rangers didn't score off the relief, but neither did the Red Sox. See, unlike Francona, Rangers manager Ron Washington pulled their pitcher when he started to falter. He had fresh guys come in who were able to keep the Sox away from home plate.

Oh, if only Francona would take a lesson from the opposing teams' managers. Well, today we face the Orioles and hopefully Francona will pull Lester when (if) things start to go south.

Jenn