Junici Tazawa's debut not an ideal one

[NYgiantsfan5689]

Junici Tazawa's major league debut didn't go as planned. Think about this one for a second:

It's your first day in the majors. You've barely even met your catcher Jason Varitek. It's Yankee Stadium. You're in a Red Sox uniform. You're in the 2nd game of a 4 game series. Your team is 3 1/2 games out of 1st place behind none other than the Yankees. Fast forward 5 hours. It's the bottom of the 14th inning. Every other bullpen pitcher has been used except you. The phone rings in the bullpen and the pen coach calls your name. You're the guy. You warm up and go out to the mound. You are a young gem out of Japan. Who's the guy you are asked to face first? None other than Japanese baseball legend Hideki Matsui. O, I forgot to mention, it's a 0-0 game.

Fast forward 1.2 innings. You leave a curveball just a bit high and Alex Rodriguez crushes it to left center for a walk off home run.

How ya feelin? Pressure? Just a little.

What do you guys think? Do you think Francona made the right decision by bringing in Tazawa in such a pressure situation? Or should he have gone to a starter and left Tazawa's major league debut for a less pressure situation?

[DravenX]

He might as well get use to it. He is a in the major leagues and is a Red Sox.

[Hammer]

which starter should he have gone to... penny on 2 days rest, buchholz who goes tomorrow, or arguably your best in lester? tazawa had to go, and he had to go until the game was over, on either side.

[livedeliberate]

Not a Sox fan, but I agree with DravenX. He needs to get used to it. I don't think it was just A-Rod's homerun skills that let him pop that ball - Tazawa had a serious lack of confidence in his debut.

[ljshorty89]

Even harder than that, he's a righty....the first 9 batters he would have to face were 5 lefties, Jeter, 2 more lefties(switch hitter Tex included), then A-Rod