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Post by Jonathan Singer on Oct 27, 2013 13:21:14 GMT -5
10/27 Red Sox (RHP Clay Buchholz 0-0 5.40) vs. Cardinals (RHP Lance Lynn 2-1 5.40) 8:37 pm ET, FOX/WEEI World Series Game 4Season SeriesDid not meet How they got here?Red Sox 97-65 AL East Champions, Beat Tampa Bay 3-1 in ALDS, Beat Detroit 4-2 in ALCS Cardinals 97-65 NL Central Champions, Beat Pittsburgh 3-2 in NLDS, Beat Los Angeles 4-2 in NLCS Playoff History2004 World Series - Boston won 4-0 1967 World Series - St. Louis won 4-3 1946 World Series - St. Louis won 4-3 MLB StandingsRed Sox Hitting StatsRed Sox Pitching StatsMLB ScoreboardMLB TransactionsWeatherSeries Thread Disclaimer: The SoxProspects Moderators will be somewhat liberal in policing the Red Sox "Series" Threads. Some of the Ground Rules are applied loosely in here, as we understand that there is a tendency to want to react (or overreact) to every play of a Sox game with one line reactionary posts. Those posts are okay in the Red Sox Series threads to a point - we certainly appreciate the passion. Just try not to overdo it, and try to maintain some semblance of reason. In addition, please don't let those type of posts spill over to other more substantive threads, where they may be deleted. -The Management
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Post by thelavarnwayguy on Oct 27, 2013 13:39:19 GMT -5
Please God, give us at least Nava and Ross.
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Post by thelavarnwayguy on Oct 27, 2013 13:42:00 GMT -5
May I remind you oh heavenly one, that Salty is striking out in 59% of his AB so far in the post season. And in that line you had early on where you were passing out intelligence, baby Salty was picking his nose on aisle 3.
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Post by thelavarnwayguy on Oct 27, 2013 13:43:14 GMT -5
And while you are at it give our illustrious manager some smelling salts. And an assistant coach who can play NL style baseball.
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Post by thelavarnwayguy on Oct 27, 2013 13:48:17 GMT -5
We can absolutely still win this thing guys. We have the better team. I think we've got a great GM. I'm not so sure any more about the manager but we absolutely should be able to win this thing. All we are asking for is 5 good innings from Buchholz today. St. Louis has a pen which has some wear and tear on it also. I don't think we see Martinez again today and their closer has pitched 2 days in a row also. If we do some damage to their starter early and get him out of the game before the 6th, which is entirely possible given his recent performances, we probably will finally see Shelby Miller. This series could turn on how that works out.
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Post by mattpicard on Oct 27, 2013 14:10:52 GMT -5
No need to make 4 consecutive posts in under a 10 minute window!
Hoping to see a tweaked lineup tonight. Against Lynn, and another game still remaining in St. Louis against Wainwright, you can classify this one as a must win.
CF Ellsbury LF Nava 2B Pedroia DH Ortiz 3B Bogaerts RF Victorino SS Drew C Ross P Buchholz
Defense is pretty important, as we've seen first-hand this postseason. Do we dare give Napoli a start at third (and put X at short)? The lineup could certainly use Nap's presence in that 5-hole, but considering Lynn and Buchholz's abilities right now, I take my chances on our (Nap-less) offense hitting the weakest starter we're going to face in the entire playoffs, and putting out our best defensive alignment to help Buch.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Oct 27, 2013 15:02:31 GMT -5
For the Red Sox to win today, they'd need to absolutely jump all over Lance Lynn - I mean like hang a 5 spot in the 1st or 2nd inning and pray Buchholz could give them 5 innings and allow no more than 2 runs and hope the lead is big enough that even the bullpen/defense can't blow it.
The lineup needs to hit - everybody - Victorino and Drew need to be involved. The problem is I keep hearing how Kelly and Lynn are so hittable. Kelly was so hittable he had a 2 hitter into the 6th inning. Can't let that happen today. The Sox need to score runs like there's no tomorrow.
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Post by FenwayFanatic on Oct 27, 2013 15:03:59 GMT -5
No need to make 4 consecutive posts in under a 10 minute window! Hoping to see a tweaked lineup tonight. Against Lynn, and another game still remaining in St. Louis against Wainwright, you can classify this one as a must win. CF Ellsbury LF Nava 2B Pedroia DH Ortiz 3B Bogaerts RF Victorino SS Drew C Ross P Buchholz Defense is pretty important, as we've seen first-hand this postseason. Do we dare give Napoli a start at third (and put X at short)? The lineup could certainly use Nap's presence in that 5-hole, but considering Lynn and Buchholz's abilities right now, I take my chances on our (Nap-less) offense hitting the weakest starter we're going to face in the entire playoffs, and putting out our best defensive alignment to help Buch. I agree. Middlebrooks looked really bad at third. I may have been wrong about starting Middlebrooks at 3rd and Bogaerts at short in the world series. Him and Breslow really hurt us that game.
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Post by mattpicard on Oct 27, 2013 15:08:55 GMT -5
CF Ellsbury RF Victorino 2B Pedroia 1B Ortiz LF Nava 3B Bogaerts SS Drew C Ross P Buchholz
I'm more or less happy with that. I knew that once Victorino hit that grand slam, it was going to prolong/erase Farrell moving him out of the 2-hole. Without Napoli playing, it's defensible. Nava and Bogaerts behind Papi - as opposed to just one of them - is a big difference in terms of creating runs with the middle of the order.
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Post by James Dunne on Oct 27, 2013 15:53:40 GMT -5
That's pretty close to my perfect Red Sox no-DH lineup. I'd actually probably swap Xander and Nava but that's just being nitpicky.
I don't think Napoli could play third, particularly with a fringe-average shortstop like Bogaerts flanking him. Maybe he could start there for a game in July when a day off is needed somewhere and you can take the risk that every single guy in the lineup will bunt for a single down the third base line, but not down 2-1 in the World Series. I've been defending Drew pretty rigorously this postseason, but he looked really out-of-sorts at the plate last night. In the regular season I'd totally give him a day or two, but we got a pretty clear view of the defense without him in there last night and it wasn't pretty.
There's been probably too much talk about how this postseason has affected the free agent status of Drew and Saltalamacchia - my take is that the answer should be "barely at most." But in terms of trade value, I think Middlebrooks has taken a pretty serious hit. He was awful in the first half, pretty good August to mid-September, then bad again from mid-September onward. He's looked bad offensively and defensively in the postseason. A month or so ago I thought the Sox might try to deal him this offseason based on his youth, power, and solid second half, but I don't see that happening.
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Post by thelavarnwayguy on Oct 27, 2013 15:56:04 GMT -5
As bad as Middlebrooks looked yesterday, he has not looked bad in the field overall. And Drew has had plenty of time to succeed and he hasn't been getting it done. He is basically an automatic out in the lineup now and if we didn't want Iglesias for that reason, why would we want Drew now?
Nava, Ross and Middlebrooks would get another shot from me. We have tried Drew for 44 post season AB now. It's time to preview next year's left side of the infield.
Victorino has as much experience as any of our players hitting against Lynn, and he is 1 for 2. I'd keep him in the 2 slot as tempting as it is to slot Nava there.
Lynn does give up some hits and he does walk people at a significant rate. Just a wild guess here but it would maybe be possible that he is a nibbler? If the Sox stick to their standard approach it may well work against Lynn, unless we have last night's ump again...
Since the beginning of the division series we have seen one hard throwing RH pitcher after another. A ton of 96 mph fastballs. In that time frame Drew has been 2 for 29 with 2 singles and 15 strikeouts. He's striking out over 1/2 the time against these types of pitchers.
Lynn isn't the same type of fastball dominant pitcher we have been facing but he still throws fastballs 55% of the time. 14% sliders and 10% curves. Average velocity of 92.5. Lots of ground balls. It's a tough call between Drew and Middlebrooks. I'd still lean to Middlebrooks but Drew probably gets the call.
To me, tonight's game could be more of a slugfest. This could be a wild one. I'm expecting a classic.
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Post by Don Caballero on Oct 27, 2013 16:01:06 GMT -5
I don't want the Red Sox to win it because it's the World Series. I want them to win it angry because of last night's bullshit. And because I hate the Cardinals.
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Post by fenwaythehardway on Oct 27, 2013 16:07:33 GMT -5
There's been probably too much talk about how this postseason has affected the free agent status of Drew and Saltalamacchia - my take is that the answer should be "barely at most." But in terms of trade value, I think Middlebrooks has taken a pretty serious hit. He was awful in the first half, pretty good August to mid-September, then bad again from mid-September onward. He's looked bad offensively and defensively in the postseason. A month or so ago I thought the Sox might try to deal him this offseason based on his youth, power, and solid second half, but I don't see that happening. Agree. Kinda tough to sell other orgs on how great WMB is when you're sitting him in favor of a guy who's like 2 for his last 863 postseason ABs.
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Post by stevedillard on Oct 27, 2013 16:36:40 GMT -5
Not worth trying to win after two gut-punch self-inflicted losses in the world series.
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Post by Don Caballero on Oct 27, 2013 16:43:29 GMT -5
Is that some D-Backs vs. Yankees? Boy, those were great games.
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Post by Guidas on Oct 27, 2013 16:51:52 GMT -5
Look at this and prepared to be extremely pissed off:
@pgammo Jim Joyce's view of the obstruction, while looking to see if a fan touched the ball /photo/1
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Post by grandsalami on Oct 27, 2013 17:36:10 GMT -5
Ken Rosenthal ?@ken_Rosenthal 1m Victorino out, Gomes in. Nava in RF, Gomes in LF. Not sure of reason with Victorino. #RedSox
injured....
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Post by theolearyfactor on Oct 27, 2013 17:39:23 GMT -5
The thought of Gomes and Nava trying to cover St. Louis' outfield isn't exactly reassuring.
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Post by grandsalami on Oct 27, 2013 17:41:57 GMT -5
Ken Rosenthal ?@ken_Rosenthal 20s Victorino lower back tightness. Nava batting second, Gomes fifth for #RedSox.
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Post by johnsilver52 on Oct 27, 2013 17:48:05 GMT -5
I'd be interested in seeing Bogaert's actually moved into the 5 hole in this current lineup and bump Nava back. it's nice to see Drew finally kicked back to near the bottom, but try to get Bogey as many AB as they can. he's putting up as tough of an AB as Pedey generally does every time up.
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Post by mattpicard on Oct 27, 2013 17:51:17 GMT -5
Would have considered letting Carp start against Lynn. 5 innings of him over Gomes in left isn't a huge difference. Pretty bad regardless. Oh well, nice to get a break from Victorino's bat either way, despite the significant defensive loss.
Plus, Carp is our left handed weapon off the bench.
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Post by semperfisox on Oct 27, 2013 17:53:04 GMT -5
Ugh Gomes. and he's hitting 5th....haha
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wcp3
Veteran
Posts: 3,842
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Post by wcp3 on Oct 27, 2013 18:37:23 GMT -5
Gomes hitting 5th is beyond idiotic.
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Post by stevedillard on Oct 27, 2013 18:39:28 GMT -5
Best way to ensure he faces a lefty
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Post by Don Caballero on Oct 27, 2013 19:10:25 GMT -5
Godspeed you guys.
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