Angels Win a Tough One: Jason Varitek - Still Bad At Baseball

David Ortiz shows his frustration after striking out  in the bottom of the 9th. (AP Photo)

If last night proved anything, it proved that the ALDS match-up between the Red Sox and Angels is going to be a good one. I have to give the Angels credit here - on a night where their greatest slugger was out of the line-up (Vlad the Impaler) they still found a way to score enough runs off of two of Boston's best pitchers (Beckett & Wagner). They came from behind late, got a key bloop hit (this sounding familiar?), and most importantly for them - they were able to instantly erase the stench & bad karma that surrounded the previous nights game. So props to the Angels. They ended our winning streak, won a tight game in Fenway, and were able to grab some momentum that may very well carry over into the playoffs.

What left a bitter taste in my mouth with this game is the past ball on strike three from Jason Varitek, which ended up tying the game at 3-3 for the Angels. This is the second night in a row this has happened late in the game on a key third strike with Varitek, and it seems pretty unacceptable and Little League to me. We all know and unfortunately accept that V-Tek can't hit his way out of a wet paper bag anymore as he's now hitting a Michael Jordan-like .212 in 345 AB's. Pathetic. I'll give him credit for having productive AB's even though he's not getting hits I guess, which is evident with his .317 OBP. However - that's not going to cut it for me. We all know he "calls a great game", but if you can't hit a baseball, can't throw out a runners stealing bases, and can't stop key pitches from going through your five hole in a playoff atmosphere then what exactly are you doing to help this team win games? Maybe he's distracted because Nick Green's now tapping Heidi Watney, who knows.

I understand V-Tek's a good leader and is a calming force for our pitchers, however, does that ball get past V-Mart or even Dusty Brown for that matter? Tek's been an all-time great for the Sox, no doubt about it, but he looks like a dead-man walking out there, and you just pray he doesn't do something like last night to cost us a playoff game.

Comments

[Kris]

can't disagree with the woeful batting average, but I am giving him passes (no pun intended) on both of those passed balls. each time, the ump was directly in his way, and made no attempt to get clear. last night, tek's circuitous route to the ball was because he knew the ump wasn't going to move. so, while it sucks he let those balls through in the first place, it's really on the ump to move his ass clear of the path of the ball...

BALLS!

[Derek Hixon]

I don't really care where the ump was in either of these cases, because the matter of the fact here is that he let the ball go through his own two legs for a total of four unearned runs in two nights. We can't pull a Scioscia there and say it's the umps fault ;-) This one's all on V-Tek, our former Gold Glove catcher, our former power-hitting catcher, and our current aging captain.

[Kris]

a bad call on a pitch, and impeding a player from getting to the ball are two very different things. guys get called out for interference...

regardless, he doesn't usually let too many through, so it was somewhat surprising. so I'll split the difference and give him a pass on one, instead of two...

let's hope v-mart gets some time behind the plate this weekend...