It Was My Fault
The rational-thinking Red Sox fan (what? they exist!) may be pointing squarely towards the bullpen as the cause of last night’s terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad loss. After all, losing a nine-run lead to the division cellar-dweller takes a special kind of awful to accomplish. The kind of awful that takes a near-magical 2.89 bullpen ERA, and turns it into a 3.24 bullpen ERA in the space of a few innings. We don’t even have FAILHAT to blame.
But I have a confession to make: it was all my fault!
It may have looked like a mini-implosion in the bullpen, but I caused the EPIC FAIL… because I didn’t watch a single pitch of the game. For the first time I can recall, in a very long time, I missed innings 1 through 9 of the Sox game. I didn’t watch pregame, I didn’t watch Smoltz pitch, I didn’t know there was a rain delay, I didn’t see them resume play, I didn’t see the breakdown, I didn’t witness the Balbirds’ celebration, I didn’t watch postgame. I missed the entire thing.
There was a very good reason, to be sure: namely, that I had been working ’round the clock to close a deal, and was running on 2 hours of sleep total from Saturday to yesterday afternoon (seriously!), and then after we finally got the deal done, some genius decided the deal team should GO HAVE A DRINK – instead of, you know, sleeping – and so of course one drink + 2 hrs of sleep in 96+ hours = dead to the world mere seconds after walking in the door at home. Blah, blah, excusecakes.
The point is: I blame myself for everything. So no need to worry yourself into a mess over the bullpen, or storm the SoSH or Globe message boards with questions about the zip on Papelbon’s fastball, or questions about the long relief capability of Masterson or the delivery of Okajima. It was a mere blip on the radar of an otherwise stellar season for the ‘pen that was clearly caused by my failure as a Sox fan.
Either that, or it was Matt Wieters.
After the game a clip showed Pedroia looking into the dugout camera, pointing at himself and saying, “It was my fault. My fault.”
Presumably referring to the team, you know, WALKING OFF THE FIELD AFTER 2 OUTS, and not the game as a whole.
@mhcranberry: Another thing I missed! (thankfully, there’s TiVo)
Look, Pedey can try and blame himself all he wants – but I know it was my failure. It’s nice of him to try and shoulder the blame.
I’ve been blaming myself, because I went to sleep after they called a rain delay. “Bullpen, it’s up to you now,” I said, as I laid my innocent head on my pillow. Can’t leave those boys alone for a minute, I guess…
I mean, we can blame Lugo, right?
I was playing poker last night, and one of the other guys is an O’s fan. At one point I uttered the phrase “Look, it’s 10-2 Boston now, the Orioles are coming back!”
Sorry.
Who else contributed to the loss? C’mon… fess up.
Julio Lugo is a given.
I went to take a shower when the Orioles were making their comeback. “Well, it’s 10-6, but Papelbon can hold ‘em off.”
Whoops.
I was at the gym, talking to the chick on the treadmill next to me about our record against the O’s and how games at Camden Yards are sort of a joke. Cursed. Sorry y’all. C’monnnnnnnnnn Beckett!
I was at the game. We stayed through the rain delay, but then I uttered the words “We could probably just leave, it’s not like they’re coming back.” If it was an official game at this point, I think we leave but we were three outs shy. So we stayed. As a sick punishment from the Gods, I ended up watching the whole thing live and in person.
Bullpen gets most of the blame, but Lugo honestly should get some – he’s so bad at turning the double play at this point and Pedroia opted to try and go 4-3 after fielding a grounder at normal distance (which contributed to the first 5-run inning I believe). If that’s why Pedey took the blame, he’s being far too good of a teammate – Lugo was still on his feet flat after Pedroia fielded that grounder and was somehow CLOSER to make the turn. Terrible.
Not sure who in the bullpen should get the most blame, but if there’s no rain, Smoltz goes at least 6 and cruises I think. So we’ll blame the following:
1. Bullpen (collective)
2. Lugo
3. Mother Nature
Texy, allow me to play Sean Maguire for a minute:
You see this? All this $#!^? It’s not your fault.
It’s not your fault.
No, listen to me. It’s not your fault.
It’s not your fault.
Good Gawd, people!
Look at you! All you guilty souls.
Not watching, giving up…unbelievable.
Now do your penance, pronto, before the game starts.
(I know, easy for me to stay up seeing how I live on the West Coast ;-)
I hope The Commander kicks ass today.
@DC in DC: Good God, DC. I can’t imagine being there. As it was, I had trouble sleeping because I couldn’t stop THINKING about that horror show.
My sister called me to blame Lugo. He’s always to blame.
I have to admit to being a bit freaked when the team walked off the field en masse with only two outs. Bad Baseball Mumbo Jumbo.
I think Julio Lugo needs to have a webpage dedicated that has outlandishly bad statements about him (a la the Chuck Norris/Jack Bauer myths).
Julio Lugo created a cure for the common cold, but dropped while trying to hand it to another scientist.
Julio Lugo helped Amelia Earhart plan her trip around the world. E-6.
Julio Lugo once tried to turn a double play, but accidentally created swine flu.
It was all me.* I went to bed in the middle of the seventh (”We’re up 10-1. This baby’s over.”) Why do I continue to do stuff like that when I know it’s just gonna jinx it?
*and maybe a little Lugo, too.
@DC in DC:
that amelia earhart one is absolutely hilarious.
So, yesterday I followed a bunch of red sox people on twitter. Today, I unfollowed them.
We won today, we lost yesterday. I will stay unfollowed.
I was with mhcranberry watching from the start through the bitter end, so: NOT OUR FAULT.
But, guys, I think we’re overlooking the obvious: BLAME IT ON THE RAIN. /cue video
Also, Texy’s firm is clearly EVIL.
I’ll take some blame too. I told my youngest child… “You can go to bed now it’s 10-2 the bullpen can hold this down.”
I guess collectively you can blame the CenterField followers for the loss. But ssshhhh don’t tell Lugo. I’ll happily let him take the fall.
And @DC in DC: Amelia Earnhart comment is hysterical.
What the hell, team? I go away for a few days and you do this?
This was the perfect accompaniment to my cramps. I went to bed after the game resumed with the safe knowledge of an easy win and woke up in horrors. Lets not duplicate this again, Gentlemen, OK? Note to Texy: You ROCK…always. No worries.