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Post by bigpupp on Sept 11, 2016 17:27:26 GMT -5
He did not give him the steal sign on the field.
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Post by thelavarnwayguy on Sept 11, 2016 17:29:04 GMT -5
Lot's of guys emerged this year to give us a good team. We all know it could have gone in a different direction. I like our chances at this point. Look through the lineup. Pedroia really is stepping up and among the league leaders in average again. Mookie achieving superstar status. Ortiz putting up ridiculous numbers. Hanley now being the player we hoped we would get. JBJ showing way more pop than anyone should expect from a guy his size. Bogaerts with another solid season. The all important bit part players like Leon and Young doing their jobs.
If we can just get 2-3 solid starters cranking in the playoffs I like our chances. We may not have the top starters in baseball on the roster but if we can get 2-3 of them at near the top of their game we have a good shot. This team can hit and play decent D. I think we can cobble together enough relief capability to survive. We have a real shot.
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Post by jmei on Sept 11, 2016 17:35:44 GMT -5
He did not give him the steal sign on the field. I don't read that quote as saying that Holt ran on his own. They can highlight something in pre-game meetings and then also give him the sign to steal.
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Post by bigpupp on Sept 11, 2016 17:41:36 GMT -5
He did not give him the steal sign on the field. I don't read that quote as saying that Holt ran on his own. They can highlight something in pre-game meetings and then also give him the sign to steal. I don't see how you can logically come to that conclusion, but I'll just drop it.
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Post by jchang on Sept 11, 2016 18:16:50 GMT -5
Even with a 3 run lead, Kimbrel still makes it interesting. I recall at least one game in which papelbon walks 3 to load them, then get 3 SO. He didn't look concerned at all, so I suspect it was all for drama. Was this in his walk year?
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Post by jimed14 on Sept 11, 2016 18:18:27 GMT -5
I don't really have a huge problem with trying to steal home. I mean if it worked, who would be complaining? He'd probably get some praise for being gutsy.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Sept 11, 2016 18:20:55 GMT -5
^ Regarding the Tazawa stuff, Koji not being able to finish the inning is no excuse. Had he failed to get through, Kimbrel would have been the right move. I was fully expecting Tazawa to be up and throwing. They, like Toronto, had burned through just about every option and there were still two innings to go. Kelly pitched yesterday, and they weren't about to put Scott in there, so it made sense at the very least to have him prepped as a last-ditch contingency. I simply can't see Kimbrel going more than 20-25 pitches and that's what 1+ innings would probably mean for the guy. He seems to lose his effectiveness after that.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Sept 11, 2016 18:46:23 GMT -5
That was a huge and badly needed win - a difference maker.
It was a scary win, but a win nonetheless. The offense cranked. The bullpen did the job although Kimbrel doesn't inspire a lot of faith. Clay melted down again. At this point if the Sox got far enough E-Rod would be the choice to be the #4 starter assuming Wright can't come back.
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Post by brianthetaoist on Sept 11, 2016 18:57:26 GMT -5
Evan Drellich evandrellich 15m15 minutes ago Text from a scout: “for all the (expletive) John gets about bullpen management that was great" Yeah, it really was a well-managed bullpen game under not ideal circumstances with Clay getting blasted so early. Farrell was aggressive where he needed to be, and even the use of Noe Ramirez actually looked better than I thought when I saw him out on the mound at the beginning of the inning.
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Post by brianthetaoist on Sept 11, 2016 19:12:53 GMT -5
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Post by GyIantosca on Sept 11, 2016 19:17:54 GMT -5
Is it me or these road trips that were suppose to kill this team actually made them stronger. That's a good sign of a young team to win on the road. I know all the reporters want to focus on the close games but they always fail to mention this especially in the second half of the season.
Also the Blue Jays still have to go out west one more time. Angels and Seattle.
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Post by Don Caballero on Sept 11, 2016 19:48:37 GMT -5
I don't see how you can logically come to that conclusion, but I'll just drop it. I agree with you and I also think that Farrell did the right move sticking up for his player. That's why I like him and why his guys play hard for him.
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Post by larrycook on Sept 11, 2016 22:58:10 GMT -5
Fantastic win! Great road trip.
This team just keeps fighting. You got to love their spirit!
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Post by soxfansince67 on Sept 11, 2016 23:03:48 GMT -5
Boston road record 39-32. Best in the AL. Time for some home cooking, though...should be a very entertaining home stretch!
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Post by burythehammer on Sept 12, 2016 6:01:12 GMT -5
Evan Drellich evandrellich 15m15 minutes ago Text from a scout: “for all the (expletive) John gets about bullpen management that was great" Yeah, it really was a well-managed bullpen game under not ideal circumstances with Clay getting blasted so early. Farrell was aggressive where he needed to be, and even the use of Noe Ramirez actually looked better than I thought when I saw him out on the mound at the beginning of the inning. I'm not a Farrell flogger but let's be honest, you or I could manage a game like that when you have twenty relievers in your pen.
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Post by jmei on Sept 12, 2016 6:06:46 GMT -5
Yeah, it really was a well-managed bullpen game under not ideal circumstances with Clay getting blasted so early. Farrell was aggressive where he needed to be, and even the use of Noe Ramirez actually looked better than I thought when I saw him out on the mound at the beginning of the inning. I'm not a Farrell flogger but let's be honest, you or I could manage a game like that when you have twenty relievers in your pen. I disagree. It's not about the number of relievers used, it's about which relievers should face which batters, and I thought he did a fairly good job of that yesterday.
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Post by ryan24 on Sept 12, 2016 6:27:03 GMT -5
You guys are a tough crowd. Kind of reminds me of when I lived in philly and went to the phillie games. Mike Schmidt HOF player consistently hit 30 hrs, knocked in a 100 and scored a 100. Also a gold glover at 3rd. Getting booed for not getting a hit every time when they had runners on base in a close game. Yesterday's game was fun and even had my stomach going. Looks like you all need to stock up on tums and get some valium. Looks like a FUN September.
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Post by soxfansince67 on Sept 12, 2016 8:30:42 GMT -5
It's all good in Beantown (at least, that's my view from Raleigh!).
Some good news this AM - looking at overall WAR (from the ESPN site) - Mookie sitting at 8.2 (how does Trout keep that lead?) Most surprising - Sandy Leon, our Sandy Leon - 28th in the AL with only a little over 200 AB at 3.0! JBJ at #16 at 4.9.
Lots of surreal elements to this roller coaster ride of a season...but aren't we having fun!
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Post by brianthetaoist on Sept 12, 2016 8:53:42 GMT -5
One of the most surprising things to me has been how much power JBJ has to the opposite field. He doesn't just get a couple of oppo home runs just over the fence; he hits no-doubters. Outside of truly elite power hitters like Manny, Papi, etc, I can't remember anyone on the Sox who could do that.
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Post by sox fan in nc on Sept 12, 2016 9:39:45 GMT -5
THIS TEAM IS NOTHING WITHOUT BIG PAPI!!! This is my point (on the Trumbo/EE thread). You can't just rotate guys in and out of this DH spot (Shaw/Sandoval, ect). You need this threat. Papi has probably won us half a dozen games or so on his own. Hanley is a good bat for 1st base. Ideally a LHH power hitter would work, not sure if one is out there. EE would hit 50 HR in Fenway.
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Post by bluechip on Sept 12, 2016 9:43:45 GMT -5
Edwin absolutely crushed that ball. What was the exit velocity? Hanley's exit velocity yesterday: 112.8 (highest exit velocity of the day) EE's top exit velocity yesterday: 111.1 (third in MLB yesterday). As an aside, on 9/3/16 Hanley hit a ball with a 116 mph exit velocity.
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on Sept 12, 2016 9:43:51 GMT -5
I'm not a Farrell flogger but let's be honest, you or I could manage a game like that when you have twenty relievers in your pen. I disagree. It's not about the number of relievers used, it's about which relievers should face which batters, and I thought he did a fairly good job of that yesterday. Using Ziegler to face the scary HR hitters in the 6th was the sort of obvious move that I thought I'd never see him do. Then he left him in because he only threw 8 pitches (5 extra after Xander's error) to get out of the inning, which is also the sort of thing he would infuriatingly fail to do. He actually used his second experienced closer as a relief ace. Who would have believed that? Planning to have Ziegler face the first 3 hitters in the 7th was the right call. Abad in low leverage against the PH Upton was a better matchup than either Kelly (who I thought he might have lined up next) or Barnes vs. Saunders, since Abad in his career is tough on RHB in low leverage. Barnes over Kelly was an interesting choice, but it's not obvious and it worked. Koji in the 8th was expected, and that it happened to not involve facing either Encarnacion or Bautista was probably a bit of luck. Koji getting Donaldson to hit into the DP was immense. It's been a while since he did something with the traditional JF face-palm, WTF? panache. I know we were all over him for leaving Porcello in too long on August 24th against the Ray, which was only 6 days after he brought in Tazawa against the Tigers (his season low point, IMHO). And I just checked the game logs, and folks thought Pomeranz was left in too long the next day. Was there a clear negative consensus on any of his moves subsequent to that? I had to check the game thread for 8/30, but no one thought Pomeranz should be out of the game before Maile tied the game off of him.
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Post by sox fan in nc on Sept 12, 2016 9:56:04 GMT -5
Anyone but me getting a kick out of Eck continuously called Bautista "Baptista"?
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on Sept 12, 2016 10:13:52 GMT -5
THIS TEAM IS NOTHING WITHOUT BIG PAPI!!! This is my point (on the Trumbo/EE thread). You can't just rotate guys in and out of this DH spot (Shaw/Sandoval, ect). You need this threat. Papi has probably won us half a dozen games or so on his own. Hanley is a good bat for 1st base. Ideally a LHH power hitter would work, not sure if one is out there. EE would hit 50 HR in Fenway. Ortiz has a 3.88 Win Probability Added. Pablo Sandoval has a 1.22 WPA in his career per the same number of PA. So we're facing a 3-win downgrade, once you project out to 162 games. However, 1) If you plug in Encarnacion the same way, it's still a 2.5 win downgrade. I mean, you're seriously saying "Hey, let's just replace Big Papi!" Even if you project Encanacion to be better relative to his career than Sandoval, it's hard to have him as much more than 1 or 1.5 wins better. I may come up with a better guess later. 2) Vs. RHP, Sandoval would play 1B and Hanley would DH. That saves you about 0.5 wins on defense. 3) Over the last three years, Hanley has been 0.9 wins better as a DH, in just 110 PA. How much more valuable is he if he gets 400 PA there? It has to be another 0.5 wins. It could be 1.0 It could be more. 4) Vs. LHP, you'd often have Leon at DH and Hanley at 1B (and sometimes Young at DH, at Fenway where JBJ hits LHP well). Vazquez, your backup catcher, has a bigger platoon split than Leon, so using him primarily against LHP would be smart, even though Leon also hits better vs. LHP. If you sign a DH, you don't get any use of Leon at DH on days he doesn't catch. So now we've reduced the benefit of signing EE to about nothing at all. It might be a downgrade. Furthermore, 5) If you acquire a DH, you have to dump Sandoval for nothing during the winter in order to clear a roster spot for a RH 3B to platoon with Shaw and then Moncada. You wouldn't keep him on the roster, because he'd project to get very little PT and his value wouldn't be going any higher. If, however, you use Sandoval as your 1B and he bounces back nicely (gee, I'm trying to think of a comp for that) and Moncada develops as hoped, you have a very real shot at getting something of value for him and/or only having to eat a small portion of his contract (Hanley's going to be worth $18M this year). 6) If you acquire a DH, you block both Sam Travis and Rafael Devers.
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on Sept 12, 2016 10:16:31 GMT -5
Where is the O's series thread? I've got a cool thing to kick it off with.
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