Overheard on tonight's Red Sox broadcast

Bob Costas and Jim Kaat called the Red Sox-Yankees game tonight. Some things to comment on:

Bullpen usage. I love that Bob Costas called out the Yankees - and really the baseball establishment - when he criticized Girardi for bringing in Aceves to pitch with two on and nobody out in the bottom of the eighth. "These are the most important outs," he reasoned, and it only makes sense to use your best remaining pitcher - Mariano Rivera - to get them. The Yankees should have given themselves a better opportunity to keep the lead in the eighth and worry about the bottom of the ninth later. As it turned out, they didn't need to worry about the bottom of the ninth - there wasn't one.

Jason Bay and RBIs. Jim Kaat praised Jason Bay for his ability to cash in the runners on base (Bay is leading the league in RBI). This implies that Bay is the RBI leader because he has taken advantage of runner-on situations better than other hitters. In fact, while he's done well with runners on, the Red Sox - as is typical of their recent history - have put a tons of guys on base for him. You can see a report of RBI opportunities at Baseball Prospectus, and it will tell you this (all figures minimum 150 PAs):

% of runners driven in from first:

• Bay: 11.7%
• Leader (Joey Votto): 16.7%

% of runners driven in from second:

• Bay: 22.6%
• Leader (Brad Hawpe): 35.6%

% of runners driven in from third:

• Bay: 37.8%
• Leader (Pedro Feliz): 65.4%

If you absolutely, positively have to have that runner home from third, you call in Pedro Feliz. Wasn't it on the tip of your tongue?

Bay has done well with runners on, but RBIs are all about opportunity, and Bay has had more opportunities than just about anyone.

(Oh, and I loathe the WEEI nickname J-Bay. The first-initial, first-syllable-of-last-name nicknaming convention was never witty, and had run its course when J-Lo was so christened. J-Bay is pure laziness. You know he's from Trail, British Columbia, right? "Trail" suggests blazer, mix, marker, even trailer or hitch...OK, none of those are worth anything, but at least try, MSM! If you've got nothing - and I'm here to tell you: you've got nothing - go with his actual name.)

Jack Morris. Costas and Kaat threw their support behind Jack Morris as a HOF pitcher, using the typical arguments that he was a great big game pitcher (Exhibit A being this absolute gem). But why no discussion of this game, or this game, or this game?

In those three games - admittedly his three worst postseason starts - his ERA was 10.13. But they still count! I dare you to find three postseason starts that bad for Curt Schilling, or Jimmy Key, or Dave Stewart, or John Tudor, or any number of guys. The mind is programmed for selective memory, and a lot of people have it with Jack Morris.