A team which is 40-68 is under pressure, of a kind, to find new and agonizing ways to lose: The Lynx lost 7-6 (boxscore, play-by-play) to Norfolk tonight after rallying from four runs down and blowing a bases-loaded, none-out chance vs. vs. Tides reliever Tim Kester (7-8) in the ninth inning.
Who needs fiction: After Kester pitched out of the jam, Norfolk manager Gary Allenson -- who'd seen the tying run come in on a bases-loaded walk in the eighth -- got ejected, and his team rallied to win the game. The dread leadoff walk did in Lynx righty Yoel Hernandez (1-2): He put Cesar Crespo on and he came around on a sac bunt, a groundout and a two-out hit by Norfolk's Jason Dubois.
Too bad for the Lynx. It was a helluva comeback, with Chris Roberson clouting a three-run homer off Norfolk's Steve Green in the seventh after the first two batters of the inning were retired. The Lynx had two on and none out again in the eighth, but Dusty Wathan got a two-out hit and eventually scored after two walks. An inning later, they couldn't score with the bases full and none out. Strange game.
In the context of John Gibbons' bonehead ejection tonight in the Jays' loss, Allenson's ejection is a good primer in when a manager should get run. Allenson went out to argue after his team had barely managed to preserve a 6-6 tie after being up by four runs with seven outs to go. That seems to be one of the time when a manager gets tossed to let his players know he believes in their ability to win the game, that it's not lost and they can get over the gumption traps. It's the basketball coach's mindset: A coach doesn't get technical fouls, he takes them. Ultimately, it worked for Allenson and the Tides.
It's an all-lefty matchup tomorrow night with the Lynx' Fabio Castro (4-3, 2.78, 1.48 WHIP) slated to start vs. the Tides' Garrett Olson (8-6, 3.15, 1.05 WHIP).
Meantime, Todd Delvin of The 500 Level has some warm memories of his time with the Lynx -- which included an encounter with a future Jay who's having a power outage in 2007.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
The Lynx are bad, easily the worst record in the IL but I'm a fan til the bitter end, on that note....the Phillies traded for Lohse, gotta think that he will replace Durbin in the rotation. Will Durbin come here or will they move him to the pen and demote Geary?
Bourn & Victorino left tonite's game with injuries, if both or either goes on the DL who's next in line? Too late to get Thurston back? How close is Werth to returning? If the Lynx lose a couple of position players ( Burnham? Roberson? ) to the Phillies bench it could get really ugly here for awhile.
If Bourn or Victorino goes on the DL, that definitely takes another outfielder away from the Lynx... Roberson would have to be the one to go up.
Geary's got more of a track record with the Phils as a reliever... Durbin's had a lot of walks (17 in 29 innings) and that might sour the Phils on making him pitch in relief at the expense of Geary.
Post a Comment