7th Inning Nightmare

Hee hee hee, hoo. Hee hee hee, hoo. I can't believe that they need almost 10 hours to teach pregnant women how to breathe and to discuss having a baby. Childbirth classes are no fun. The last thing I wanted to see was the "video." I know I'll be seeing it live and in person soon, but, ewww. Delivering the placenta has to be the grossest thing I've ever seen. The only thing that comes close to topping it was the 7th inning of today's Yankees/Red Sox game. Talk about images I want to forget.
The Sox half of the 7th inning ranks up there with one of the worst half innings I've ever seen. Abreu totally misplays a very catchable fly ball. I guess the thought that Bobby's gets shy around the wall is true. Cano screws up an easy double play and instead of a tie game, the Yanks are now down a run and Doug Mientkiewicz was knocked senseless. Man that was scary. The way his head jolted when Lowell's thigh collided it with it. That was brutal. I knew right away he was laid out. It was a pretty ugly sight. Jeter then blows a routine inning-ending double play with his Bucknereqsue play. Proctor has no choice but to throw low and away since he can't go inside and he can't find the plate and next thing you know a 1 run Yankee lead turns into a 5-run deficit. Horrible all the way around. In all likelihood, if Abreu makes the play on Ortiz, I'm writing a much different post. But he didn't and that's the way the cookie crumbles.
I missed the first half of the game due to the all day childbirth class, so I missed a lot of the beginning. I missed Lowell's shoulder shimmy on Cano. I'll discuss that further down. I got back in time to see Posada chase the ever so great Curt Schilling from the game. Yeah. he's not all he's cracked up to be. Unfortunately, neither is Moose. Not his best outing. The weird thing was I was awake for Lowell's HR but fell asleep for Varitek's. I doze off for 5 seconds and the game's tied. Horrible.
I've already read quite a few posts on Mike Lowell's body check into Robinson Cano. I got to see the replay a few times on the post game show and on Baseball Tonight and I've concluded that it was a ******* play. A lot of people cried foul when A-Rod gave an elbow to Pedroia after sliding into second. I've seen that happen in a many a game, by many a player. I've never seen a player stop dead in his tracks in the middle of the baseline, get into a crouch and give a player a body check trying to break up a DP. Had Lowell been in motion at the time he cross-checked Cano, I'd have no issue with it. But he laid in wait and gave Cano a hit he didn't expect. When a player slides into second to break up a double play, odds are good that it's going to be a hard slide. I'm sure Pedroia has had plenty of practice dealing with that and I'm sure it's happened several times throughout his playing career. I doubt he's had practice running at a stopped runner and getting body checked trying to make a tag. Perhaps A-Rod's elbow was a little much. Lowell's body check was a little over the top. To me, what Lowell did isn't playing hard baseball. It's not like he ran over a guy in the middle of the baseline. It's within the rules of the game but it's a ******* play. He took a cheap shot at an unsuspecting player. Like I said, guys know a hard slide is coming at the second base bag. The great thing is Cano made the play so Lowell's effort was basically for nothing. Ask yourself this question if you disagree: What would you have said if A-Rod had bowled over Bronson Arroyo in the 2004 ALCS instead of slapping at the ball? I don't know one Red Sox fan that would have called that a fair play had it gone down that way. And the difference there would have been that A-Rod was running and Arroyo was stationary. Imagine if A-Rod stopped running, Arroyo charged him, and A-Rod threw a shoulder. Sox fans would have tore the place down. Sooner or later, somebody somewhere is going to get clotheslined WWE style.
No word yet on Mientkiewicz. Hopefully he's alright. Unfortunately for the Yanks, Roger's first start will be pushed back. Good thing is he doesn't start collecting pay until he steps on the field. The Yanks might have just saved a little dough.
Enjoy your night.
J