Red Sox Report: Sox Official Scorer Overruled By MLB

Red Sox Report: Sox Official Scorer Overruled By MLB

Make it four straight win for the Red Sox. Boston beat the Twins 4-3 last night in Minnesota for their second win in as many nights at Target Field.

Erik Bedard made his second start in a Boston uniform and got off to a shaky start by giving up 2 runs in the bottom of the first on four walks, a single and a sac fly. He settled down after that and finished the night by tossing 5 innings of 3-hit baseball. He yielded only those two first inning runs and finished with 4 walks and 6 strikeouts.

Bedard was in line for a win before Matt Albers came in and blew a 3-2 Boston lead by giving up a run to Minnesota in the bottom of the 6th. Ironically, the Red Sox scored in the top of the 7th allowing Albers to get the vulture-like win by going just 1 inning and allowing the game-tying run.

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I don’t know about you, but that is a rule that I believe Major League baseball should have changed a long time ago. How can a guy who comes into a game and gives up the lead get the win if all he did was hurt his team in his one inning of work? It just doesn’t make any sense.

-Memo to Red Sox official scorer Charlie Scoggins: think before you act and most definitely before you speak! Scoggins really made a fool out of himself this past week when he gave David Ortiz 2 RBI and then took one away at the request of the Cleveland Indians. He compounded the matter by apparently not doing his homework either. If he had watched the replay of the play in question, he would have seen two things: 1.) that third base coach Tim Bogar NEVER put his hands up to stop Kevin Youkilis from rounding third and that Youkilis NEVER broke stride and was fully intent on trying to score on the play.

Scoggins embarrassed himself by agreeing to appear on WEEI’s “Dennis & Callahan” show where he said that the replay clearly showed that Bogar had his hands up trying to stop Youkilis at third and that he would not have scored were it not for a bobble in leftfield. Scoggins was wrong on both counts which is disgraceful. He also appeared to have an ax to grind with Terry Francona and the Red Sox suggesting that they question his rulings far too much.

If he had done his homework, he would have seen that he got the call right the first time. Instead, he changed it hastily at the request of the Red Sox opponent and then made himself look like a fool by trying to rationalize it on the radio. In this day of modern media where everyone has access to just about every play in every game, Scoggins should have known that he would be caught in a lie if he didn’t guess right.

As it turns out, Major League Baseball overruled Scoggins and gave Ortiz the RBI back. Will there be any retribution for Scoggins? Probably not. Maybe the embarrassment of his mistake will serve as punishment enough.

-Jonathan Papelbon worked a quick 1-2-3 9th inning for save #26. He threw just 7 pitches, 6 of which were for strikes.

-Jon Lester (11-5) pitches the series finale tonight in Minnesota.