GAME #46 - FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 - BOSTON RED SOX @ TAMPA BAY RAYS

[Schloicka]

6:40pm

Red Sox

Andrew Triggs (R)

1. Alex Verdugo (L) RF
2. Rafael Devers (L) 3B
3. Xander Bogaerts (R) SS
4. Christian Vazquez (R) C
5. Kevin Plawecki (R) DH
6. Jackie Bradley Jr. (L) CF
7. Bobby Dalbec (R) 1B
8. Michael Chavis (R) LF
9. Christian Arroyo (R) 2B

Rays

Blake Snell (L)

1. Austin Meadows (L) LF
2. Joey Wendle (L) SS
3. Brandon Lowe (L) 2B
4. Ji-Man Choi (L) 1B
5. Kevin Kiermaier (L) CF
6. Yoshi Tsutsugo (L) 3B
7. Nate Lowe (L) DH
8. Brett Phillips (L) RF
9. Michael Perez (L) C


Gametime Temp: 84°F
Chance of Precip: 50%

[Sea Dog 23]

 The Sox must have flat run out of pitching.  Triggs gets out of the 1st unscathed. Matt Hall (19+ era) enters for the 2nd, and RR leaves him in through the 4th, giving up runs in each frame.  Now 4-0 Rays.

[zenjak]

"Who are these &%$#ing guys?" - Indians fan, Major League

[Sea Dog 23]

Hand it to the Rays manager.  He saw we were pitching a righty,  and filled his lineup with all left swingers, a MLB record.  Our meager manager took the bait and in the 2nd inserted a southpaw, albeit the worst lefty he could find in our pen.  Such is life when they are tanking.

From The Athletic,
"The five new guys who pitched in Friday’s 11-1 loss to the Rays, two now have an ERA over 18.00. Of the 27 players who have pitched for the Red Sox this season, only seven have an ERA below 5.00. And one of those is a catcher. Another has thrown less than five innings. Another now works for the Phillies."

[longgame]

They were running wins by pitcher for the team.  A couple with 2, a few with 1.  I've never seen such a consistent lack of talent and performance from a pitching staff.

If Covid had started earlier I could give them the benefit of the doubt that they were betting the season would be cancelled.  Still professional malpractice but still at least an excuse.  There is no excuse for this.  I'll say it again, we knew Sale needed surgery in 2018.  Eovaldi can't stay healthy for more than 6 weeks.   The only surprise on that side should have been E-Rod and Covid.  So they were "prepared" to go into the season with 3 starters and no bullpen.  I just can't get over this and think there ought to be some sort of lack of competitiveness penalty levied on the team.