October 21, 2007
Oops!
The Red Sox make their first fielding mistake of the night. Lugo goes back into left on a pop up, calls off Ramirez, then drops the ball. Lofton winds up at second, the tying run.
Update: Gutierrez lines one right over the third base bag for a hit. Skinner holds up Lofton at third, thinking the carom off the wall was going right to Manny. Okajima then induces Blake to hit into a 5-4-3 GDP to end the inning. It's the first time they've retired Blake tonight. A bad call by an ump cost the Indians a run the last time Lofton was up, and now a conservative call by the third base coach may have done the same. I don't think you can fault Skinner too, much, however. That was a tough one to call.
Lugo needs to send Joel Skinner a fruit basket this offseason. He just saved Lugo's career in Boston.
That carom seemed to send the ball right to Manny Ramirez... I don't know if Lofton would've been able to score.
Are you joking? There was no play on Lofton at home if he rounds the bag hard. You can and should fault Skinner, he has a job to do, and he blew it. There's no point in crying about it, but pretending it was nobody's fault is a bit dishonest.
Now that I've seen the simultaneous replay, yeah, I've gotta agree that there's no way Manny would've made that play. Bad call by Skinner.