Yesterday, I saw the 8th inning of the Sox-Tigers game, with the Tigers up 2-1. I saw Benoit have an easy 1-2-3 8th, striking out 2 of the hitters. I said at the time that he was on that day and needed to pitch the ninth, since it was a relatively important game since the Sox are probably the team that will finish second, and that I had a feeling Valverde would blow it. So, once again, I was right and the manager was wrong. Valverde gave up 2 in the ninth, and the Tigers lost. Today, the Tigers had first and third in the bottom of the 7th, one out, leading 2-1. The Sox hadn’t been scoring runs in a while, and their only run today was in the first inning. Getting this third run in was critical, as one extra run would be huge. There was a lefty batter facing a Sox lefty pitcher. I knew that if they didn’t squeeze they wouldn’t score, and of course they didn’t squeeze and didn’t score. Benoit came in an pitched another 1-2-3 8th, so of course they brought Valverde in for the 9th and he almost blew the game.