Walking Ortiz to pitch to Manny?

The first official major-league game of the year, which started at 6 a.m. eastern time in Tokyo, went into extra innings after Oakland A's closer Huston Street blew the save in the ninth, giving up a home run to Boston's Brandon Moss. The Red Sox were up in the top of the 10th, and with a runner on second and two outs. David Ortiz was the hitter, with Manny Ramirez on deck. Oakland manager Bob Geren ordered Street to walk Big Papi and pitch to Manny, presumably because of the righty-lefty theory. Street is a righty, Ortiz hits lefty, and Ramirez hits righty.

Managing in the major leagues is a tough job, and I don't mean to suggest that I could do it better than Geren. But come on. Ortiz was 0-for-4 on the day, and had shown signs of being in a bit of a funk. He has this reputation as a great "clutch" hitter because of a couple of dramatic postseason home runs, but there's no evidence he's been able to carry that through from season to season. And Manny had already hit a two-run double in the game -- and as Tribe fans may remember, he practically sneezes RBIs. Seems to me Geren outsmarted himself.

For those who don't know, Manny doubled off the wall, scoring two (including Ortiz), and the Red Sox took a 6-4 lead. This exposes another flaw in Geren's logic: If Ortiz had gotten the same hit Manny did, just one run would have scored. It being the top of the 10th, that's not insignificant; you'd be looking at a 5-4 game instead of a 6-4 game. Then you could walk Manny and pitch to Mike Lowell if you want. Lowell's not exactly a banjo hitter, but he's no Big Papi or Manny. As it happens, the A's got one back in the bottom of the 10th, but it wasn't enough.

So I thought it was a bad move. I know that's easy to say now that I see how the game turned out, but it's what I was thinking at the time.

I realized another thing as I watched the game. I now hate the Red Sox almost as much as I hate the Yankees. I don't mean that I despise everyone who wears the uniform, of course, but I very, very badly want them to lose.