It has not looked good for the Sox the last two days, but Vogt has inexplicably mismanaged his bullpen at the end of the last two games. He leveraged his closer in both games in the 8th inning when they were up by 4 and 5 runs, respectively. He then had to panic and put his second ace starter in to get the last couple of outs last night (and he got hit relatively hard, though right at people). It was a really puzzling management of resources there.
If Burke can go out and attack the weak Cleveland hitters (not falling behind in the count like we have been) and pitch around 5 innings, I think the Sox win.
As for Venable, I though he left in Fedde a touch too long last night. Fedde fired the baseball into the upper deck after he got out of the 4th inning to chants of his name. I figured we would see the bullpen go from there in the 5th inning on. Venable left him in the game and Fedde proceeded to allow a homer, a sharp line out to Center and a single in the fifth. After that the bullpen collapsed allowing a homer to Ramirez and whatever you call the 6th inning. It seemed desperate to bring in Taylor in the 6th inning in a tie ball game.
Hopefully the off day will help clear the minds of the pitching staff. They are on fumes, but if they can throw strikes, Cleveland will have to string 3-4 hits together to score runs. We have the right guy on the mound and a, relatively speaking, non-intrusive environment road game in a winner take all. Let's get it done and face the Rays next week!
