The Genius Maker #87

The main thing to take out of this game was that Garcia was not sharp; he simply can’t be walking guys and it was great to see Montero and then Romine get some time behind the plate (this is excellent for them). What I saw form limited action was that Montero has a very strong arm and threw a strike, however, his receiving skills are not smooth and his footwork and blocking ability was weak. His release on the throw was a little on the slow side, but overall throw was fine. His blocking ability was poor and he simply let too many balls go by him; especially letting one go through his legs which is a sin for a catcher.

The game itself was very tight and we caught a break with some poor defense by their CF’r who is usually excellent. Soriano, Robertson and Rivera closed out the game holding onto a 1 run lead. Soriano struggled again and has been very disappointing, but Robertson was sharp and Rivera only allowed a Baltimore chop single off the plate.

Two Michael Kay comments that made me shake my head (you wonder why I don’t listen too often). First was Kay stating that the pop up that was caught by Nunez was not an assumed play and wasn’t easy so the infield fly rule should not have been called. Without getting into too much detail, Kay has no clue what he is talking about…it was a popup and was routine; just because Nunez and Tex communicated horribly doesn’t change the fact it was a pop up. Second issue was when Romine was calling for a fastball outside and then inside with Rivera on the mound by putting down a “1” and hitting his thigh on both sides before wiggling the "1" for the Rivera 2 seamer inside…Kay said he was calling for the throw to 1st base. No he wasn’t! He called for the fastball in and out before Rivera asked for the 2 seamer running inside. The throw to first base is usually the thumb out like a hitch hiker and usually it is side ways. Sorry, but I had to get that off my chest because items like that should not be said if you don’t know what you are talking about (and I don’t really have an issue with Kay in general)

Boston lost so the Yankee lead is the largest all year and TB has given themselves a shot by sweeping the Red Sox who have lost 5 in a row.