Let’s talk about Quade, who personally cost the Cubs Games 2 and 3 and tried his hardest to cost them Game 1. I said before the series that they can’t give Konerko anything to hit, and CAN”T THROW HIM A FASTBALL. What happens? First at-bat in Game 1: fastball, 2-run HR, and a 3-0 Sox lead. First at-bat in Game 2: fastball, solo HR, and the Sox win by one. Was Quade doing any scouting prior to the series?
I went to Game 3. Let’s talk about gifts before we talk about Quade. In the inning where the Sox scored the winning run (the 4th run), DeWitt muffs an easy groundball by Pierzynski for a force at second, which would have ended the inning with no runs scoring. Even after he booted the ball, he picked it up and could have thrown out Pierzynski by 10 feet, but DeWitt never looked at first and just held the ball! Then, with the bases loaded and a 1-2 count, they hit Lillibridge to force in the winning run. All gifts. Just like when the Sox squeezed and Davis held the ball instead of throwing out the runner at first.
Now, back to Quade. Cubs have the tying run on third with one out in the 8th, and Koyie Hill up. Hill grounded out to first his first at-bat, and then waved at 3 pitches the next two at-bats, never getting close to making contact and looking terrible. He’s a bad hitter to begin with. As soon as he came to the plate, I said they must be squeezing, as no one would ever let Hill hit away in that situation. You could even do a safety squeeze, as Campana on third might be the fastest guy in baseball. What does Quade do? He lets him hit away, and he waves at 3 pitches, striking out. All they needed was contact. Many times on the Sox postgame show, Chris Rongi (sp?) talked about how stupid it was for Quade to let Hill bat and not bunt or pinch-hit Soto. The Cubs are playing the worst baseball in both leagues, are pitching minor-league guys (Davis) due to injuries, have other injuries, and the Sox had to eke out two one-run wins at home solely because Quade gave them both games.
A general comment: Mark Buehrle. Whether or not it’s legal, what Buehrle does is cheating and completely unsportmanlike. Just because they haven’t yet changed the rule to prevent what he does doesn’t mean it’s not wrong. When a batter steps in and wants to take some half swings as they all do, Buehrle starts his windup when the batter starts his first half swing, which is very unsettling. Batters can’t get out of the batter’s box to collect themselves and think about the next pitch, because if they do, he’ll do the same thing. So, they have to stay in the box and take those swings while he’s getting the sign for the next pitch. I don’t know why this is allowed and why teams don’t complain. You could say it’s legal and everyone could do it, which is true, but it’s against the spirit of the game and is terrible sportsmanship in my opinion. If I was a batter, I’d step out on every pitch, rub the pine tar against the bat, adjust my gloves, tie my shoes, etc., and make a mockery out of this. When the ump told me to stop it, I’d let him know I’d stop it when Buehrle gave me a fair chance to prepare for each pitch.