Oakland Athletics (47-43) @ Boston Red Sox (53-35)
GAME: 7:05 PM EDT
TV: NESN
Radio: WEEI 850
RESULT OF PRIOR GAME- Oakland Athletics 15, Boston Red Sox 3 (W: Barry Zito, L: Josh Beckett)
Star of the Game- The A’s batboy
Game Notes: Three straight losses at Fenway is inexcusable. Curt Schilling is the perfect man to end this nonsense. Also, I wanted to point this little tidbit from Rotoworld regarding Beckett’s struggles:
Not to let Beckett off the hook here, but it’s past time that the media starts questioning Jason Varitek’s game-calling abilities. A remarkable number of pitchers the Red Sox have brought in from outside the organization have been disappointments, yet Varitek is almost universally praised for his handling of the staff. Instead of being one of baseball’s best defensive catchers, it’s entirely possible that he’s among the worst. Beckett is now 11-5 with a 5.12 ERA.
I found this point very interesting. I’ve shrugged off any of Varitek’s offensive struggles in past years because of his value behind the plate, but when you look deeper, there have been obvious problems for guys like Matt Clement, Josh Beckett…is Varitek actually overrated as a game manager? Or is this just the AL-NL disparity again? Thoughts anybody?
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