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Post by jt44 on May 15, 2013 18:28:10 GMT -5
Well atleast it resulted in that pic making its way into this thread. Made my day a little better.
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Post by grandsalami on May 15, 2013 18:43:53 GMT -5
4-42 with RISP
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Post by bluechip on May 15, 2013 19:32:01 GMT -5
That was a nice half inning.
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Post by jmei on May 15, 2013 19:33:31 GMT -5
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Post by ray88h66 on May 15, 2013 19:35:15 GMT -5
We needed an inning like that.
sarasoxer, you knew you were wrong and said so, good enough for me.
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Post by fenwaythehardway on May 15, 2013 19:40:00 GMT -5
Clearly this team lacks TEH CLUTCH, because the alternative is that it's just a fluke, and when has that ever happened in baseball?
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Post by brianthetaoist on May 15, 2013 19:46:54 GMT -5
Not watching this game, but from what I see on Gameday, I shudder to think how many times Don Orsillo mentioned how long Jon Lester had to wait before pitching in the third ...
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Post by mredsox89 on May 15, 2013 20:56:19 GMT -5
Jon Lester, the stopper. For as bad as he was last year, he's done just about everything he could to try to prove it was an aberration, not the norm WMB, an actual MLB hitter? ? Finally putting together a full week of hitting
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Post by fenwaythehardway on May 15, 2013 21:21:14 GMT -5
WMB, an actual MLB hitter? ? Finally putting together a full week of hitting I'm not good at math, but I'm pretty sure that Middlebrooks's strikeout to walk ratio in the last week is infinity. Which is not a good ratio.
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Post by bsout2 on May 15, 2013 21:25:15 GMT -5
WMB, an actual MLB hitter? ? Finally putting together a full week of hitting I'm not good at math, but I'm pretty sure that Middlebrooks's strikeout to walk ratio in the last week is infinity. Which is not a good ratio. He makes me want to cry. He took that pitch and played it opposite field over the fence with ease. The power is there, can he please just develop a little but if patience at the play?
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wcp3
Veteran
Posts: 3,833
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Post by wcp3 on May 15, 2013 21:34:20 GMT -5
I think the Red Sox should try having 8-run innings at least once a game. That would make a lot of their recent problems go away.
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Post by marrcus on May 15, 2013 21:42:25 GMT -5
Two games no walks for Lester. That keeps things uncomplicated. Glad he got the support nobody else seems to be getting with the big 3rd.
Nice to see Napoli/WMB get extra bases but this mid-lower part of the order is still limp.
I don't remember what I picked TB but whatever it was it was too high. Price is off this season and I'm not talking about tonight's strain.
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Post by mredsox89 on May 15, 2013 21:43:15 GMT -5
There are for sure serious problems with WMB's approach. But he was going through a stretch where he was K'ing regularly and not walking at all, in addition to not even making decent contact, let alone hitting for power. The past week he's been spraying the ball all over with XBH power. It's a substantial improvement at least from two weeks ago
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Post by bluechip on May 15, 2013 22:28:30 GMT -5
There are for sure serious problems with WMB's approach. 151 PA's to go along with five walks. There are players who swing at more stuff outside the zone than Middlebrooks, but most of them make contact on a much higher percentage of the pitches outside the zone that they swing at. Being terrible at making contact outside the zone, and a tendency to swing at stuff zone... it's not really surprising to see the result is no walks and many strikeouts. The only players who have a worse contact rate on pitches outside the zone who swing at more pitches than WMB (31.5 % 0-Swing% and 49.5 % O-Contact%): Ryan Howard (34.7% 0-Swing% and 39.3 % O-Contact%), Pedro Alvarez (35.8 % 0-Swing% 40.8 % O-Contact%) and Lyle Overbay (32.9 %0-Swing%, 48.1 %O-Contact%) Michael Morse (34.4 % 0-Swing% and 49.0 % O-Contact%). Matt Kemp has a worse contact percentage, and is swing at the same number of pitches outsize the zone.
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Post by gregblossersbelly on May 16, 2013 9:07:53 GMT -5
A couple of things I like about WMB since we're always on him about his bb/k ratio. Which is a valid point. But, I do like how he plays defense. Hasn't taken his struggles at the plate into the field like many young players. He makes the bare-handed play routine. I've been worried Youk would land on his head and go into convulsions the last couple of years every time he tried that. And, his toughness in playing thru an injury. Something, the Red Sox have been lacking the last few years. All of baseball, not just the Sox. A veteran with a multi-year contract will usually take a few days off. We've been getting our arse kicked by younger, gung-ho teams like Oakland and TB the last couple of years. They play a harder, more agressive brand of baseball. They have something to prove and are trying to make the bigger bucks our guys already have.
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Post by hammerhead on May 16, 2013 9:14:10 GMT -5
WMB is never going to walk a lot. He reminds me of Shea Hillenbrand without the Dickish nature. He has superb power and if he could just cut down on chasing so many pitches that are obviously balls he would be infinitely better. Even with the good night last night he swung at at least two pitches that were close to 2 feet outside. Not sure how he can fix that, but he's like Vladamir Guerrero without the freakish abilty to crush those bad pitches. I think a more passive approach might screw up his power and that is something he doesn't need.
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Post by jrffam05 on May 16, 2013 9:34:57 GMT -5
Who is pitching tonight? It should be Buch's turn in rotation but ESPN and MLB has Doubrount starting.
I think Middlebrooks plays a good 3B, which is surprising that fangraphs has hiz URZ are -3
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Post by Guidas on May 16, 2013 9:38:26 GMT -5
Felix Doubront is your scheduled pitcher this evening.
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Post by amfox1 on May 16, 2013 9:39:01 GMT -5
Doubront. Lester and Buchholz have been split up, in order to better allow the bullpen to rest up for Doubront and Dempster starts.
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Post by gregblossersbelly on May 16, 2013 10:09:42 GMT -5
Who is pitching tonight? It should be Buch's turn in rotation but ESPN and MLB has Doubrount starting. I think Middlebrooks plays a good 3B, which is surprising that fangraphs has hiz URZ are -3 If he's a minus 3, youk was a minus thirty. He probably doesn't get many pop-outs because of Fenway. There is no accurate measure of defense other than the eyeball test. I don't care what statheads thinks.
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Post by jrffam05 on May 16, 2013 11:53:34 GMT -5
Doubront. Lester and Buchholz have been split up, in order to better allow the bullpen to rest up for Doubront and Dempster starts. This is something I thought teams should of done from the start of the season, never understood why they didn't. Yes I get the idea that you set up you rotation as best to worst, but in that case you are basically scheduling your bullpen for more innings over a 2-3 day stretch. Based on what we knew preseason I would of had the rotation Lester, Doubront, Buch, Dempster, Lackey. (knowing what I know now I would switch Lester and Buch)
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Post by elguapo on May 16, 2013 13:49:55 GMT -5
Who is pitching tonight? It should be Buch's turn in rotation but ESPN and MLB has Doubrount starting. I think Middlebrooks plays a good 3B, which is surprising that fangraphs has hiz URZ are -3 I don't care what statheads thinks. Statheads think you need a larger sample to get a decent UZR reading. It's a stat that cries out for credibility-weighting.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2013 18:25:07 GMT -5
I actually think that the UZR number is a decent indicator of how he's played. Yes he's pretty athletic over there but he has made a few mistakes on easy plays.
A note on UZR. It excludes foul pops so the lack of foul ground in Fenway wouldn't effect UZR. It's greatest weakness in my view is that it doesn't handle shifts very well. A 3b who is standing at the ss position due to the shift versus a lefty gets credit for an out if zone play on a ground ball right at him when maybe he shouldn't.
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Post by bluechip on May 16, 2013 19:08:16 GMT -5
I love the wildest pitches of the week articles n fangraphs. There is no way that pitch by Doubront is not the wildest pitch of this week and every other week. It might have been too wild for pitchF/x to track.
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Post by fenwaythehardway on May 16, 2013 19:57:11 GMT -5
Doubront was ridiculously lucky to only give up one run tonight. He's a disaster out there.
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