Jon Garland pitched well last night, only making one mistake in the second, giving up a 2 run homer to Brad Wilkerson. He was charged with a third run after two outs in the seventh when Jeff Nelson came in and gave a double that scored Gary Matthews Jr. from first.
The bullpen again had issues last night and again they were not give any help from Ozzie. With the scored tied at three in the eighth Ozzie pinch hit for his best outfielder, Brian Anderson. Mackowiak came to bat with two outs and a runner on first.
This is not a situation where there is a high probability of scoring a run so I didn't see the necessity of taking Anderson, and his defense, out of the game. I'm not sure how much your chances of scoring increase by hitting Mackowiak in this situation. But I knew after Anderson left the game there was almost a 100% that a game changing ball would be hit to his replacement in center field.
I don't know if BA gets to Matthews Jr. drive to the center field wall that scored the winning run in the ninth, but he had a better chance of making the catch than Mackowiak.
The Sox offense better start pounding the ball because it doesn't look like the team is going to get a lot of help from Ozzie and the bullpen in close and late situations.