New poster,
For what it's worth, I was listening to ESPN today at lunch. Dan Patrick and Peter Gammons were talking about this.
Both were backing Ozzie. Patrick did say he got carried away yelling at him, but also wrote it off saying that's ozzie. Both were adamant that nailing Blalock was not a wrong move. Neither blamed Oz either for sending a kid to do the job. Both were critical of the kid, though I would not say they were bashing him.
IMHO, several can be ripped.
Vazquez for not nailing someone earlier, after the first time. I said he knew, which I personally question, but should have stepped up and nailed someone prior to the warnings.
Oz. Not for sending the rook to do the job, but for losing his control so bad. I have no issue with the rookie being giving the dirty job, nor for sending him to the minors (where he was going in a few more days anyway), but no boss should be ripping their people in front of the world. That's poor management.
Tracy. I read the arguments that he "tried". I don't think so. I also read that he doesn't have the best control. BS. It's one thing to say a pitcher doesn't have the control to hit the strike zone when trying to pitch to a guy, but another to say he can't hit a guy. It simply should not be that tough to hit a batter. If he tried, he did so so timidly, he deserved to get ripped. More to the point, he should have kept trying until he got the job done.
Umps. A Warning to our bench? Please.
Sox hitters. How about getting pissed off, and showing up Padilla by taking him deep.
I think there is plenty of blame to go around, but I do think Tracy showed fear when asked to do a job, and have no issue with him being sent down.
