The more they stay the same (like the Yankees in the World Series). But the blame is landing square on the shoulders of Boston Manager Grady Little. From Pedro Martinez's Posse:
Dear Grady,It was clear from the first game when you started the lesser Giambi against the TB lefty that you had no clue how to manage this team. However, one would think that after 162 games you would eventually get a feel for your team. One would be wrong. This loss can only be blamed on you. Pedro was done after the second Giambi home-run. That pitch was a meatball. There was absolutely no reason to send Pedro out in the eighth. I realize he wants to compete. Ignoring that faux pas, you must pull him when he's in trouble even if he says he wants to keep pitching. Grady, you blew it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of the big guys, Tom Boswell, has similar thoughts:
The second-year manager froze at the switch, leaving his exhausted ace Pedro Martinez on the mound in the eighth inning before a howling Yankees throng Thursday night. With a 5-2 lead and only five outs left to grab the American League pennant, Little ignored a bullpen that had allowed only one run in 161/3 innings in this postseason.Instead, as the baseball world watched in disbelief, Little stayed put as Derek Jeter doubled, Bernie Williams singled, Hideki Matsui doubled and, finally, Jorge Posada doubled to tie the score at 5.
By the time Little finally waved to his bullpen -- which performed brilliantly for the next 22/3 innings -- the lead and, eventually, the pennant were gone.
Tonight, Grady Little said this:
Red Sox = Cubs with a better winning percentage
It strikes me as not even so much of a bad decision by Grady Little as an abdication of responsibility. After seventeen years, the debate still rages on whether Clemens asked out of game six of the ’86 World Series or whether John McNamara pulled him. There’s no way a guy like Pedro says, “No, I’m done,” in a situation like that—it’s practically an affront to his manhood. It felt like Grady just couldn’t handle the pressure of making the decision himself.
(And when he finally did pull Pedro, I don’t understand the reasoning behind intentionally walking Ruben Sierra with two out and a runner on second, though it ended up not mattering. Just terrible all around.)
Yeah. I really can’t understand Grady’s press conference. He should have gotten up and said “I should have pulled Pedro earlier.”
Yeah, all we kept saying in the stands, even though it would be to the Yankees’ demise most likely – was “why aren’t they pulling Pedro?”
It just seemed odd. He had decent stuff, but he wasn’t bowling them over or anything. It was surprising that with the solid bullpen that the Sox had put up against the Yankees earlier in the series that Embree, Timlin, and Wakefield didn’t show up earlier. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions, and taking Pedro out would have been step one. Go Yanks!
I guess it was still worth it to see Clemens get the gate in the fourth and Wells give up that bomb to Ortiz.
Go Fish.
I posted something similar this morning about the key element of most Greek tragedies (which the Red Sox saga certainly qualifies as): hubris.
In contrast with Little, look how Torre managed his pitchers. Near perfectly. Dammit.