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Red Sox vs. Rays 2021 ALDS Gameday Thread
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Oct 11, 2021 23:37:10 GMT -5
What an aggravating, scary, joyous and exhilarating win.
Enjoyed the hell out of the 5 run 2 out rally. Dumb move by Cash. McClanahan needed more rest and wasn't sharp and he kept him in too long.
But when the Sox failed to tack on I got worried the Rays would get back in it. Houck wasn't too sharp and Franco is awesome. And when it got 5-3 I got nervous. Josh Taylor calmed me and I knew the Sox would hit Fleming but when X snuffed that rally I got anxious again and Brasier was awful, the 2nd straight day the pen blew an 8th inning lead. I guess Robles was unavailable.
But Whitlock saved the day with his backing up a terrible throw by Renfroe and his clutch pitching. So underrated, he was awesome. And then the Sox scratched out that run with good fundamental baseball, astute managerial decisions and help from Yandy Diaz, the Sox had the perfect guy up at the plate and he delivered a clutch sac fly that made my night. Have no idea why they don't have a ALDS MVP award but he was it.
And the best part was sharing the stress and anxiety of the 8th and the joy and celebration of the 9th with my 9 year old son. What a great night. Thank you 2021 Red Sox.
One last note...of the 4 teams in the AL East who exceeded 90 wins...it's the Red Sox who are the only team left standing. As Joe C says, "Can you believe it?"
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cdj
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Posts: 14,583
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Post by cdj on Oct 11, 2021 23:48:38 GMT -5
Wander may have been the best player we run into
He puts the fear of god into me more than anybody in awhile
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Post by philsbosoxfan on Oct 11, 2021 23:54:47 GMT -5
They really missed Morton here. Even a Kyle Gibson pickup would’ve helped imo, they just felt like trying to pay the bill coming just short on change Maybe even someone like Glasnow.
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Post by taiwansox on Oct 11, 2021 23:54:55 GMT -5
Wander may have been the best player we run into He puts the fear of god into me more than anybody in awhile The other bonus is that the Astros haven’t seen Houck yet this year. Their lineup does scare me more though 1-9, it’s going to be all about whether or not we can outhit them
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Post by benzinger on Oct 12, 2021 0:01:23 GMT -5
Wander may have been the best player we run into He puts the fear of god into me more than anybody in awhile The other bonus is that the Astros haven’t seen Houck yet this year. Their lineup does scare me more though 1-9, it’s going to be all about whether or not we can outhit them The Astros basically toyed with the Sox during the regular season. Those games were probably the worst they looked all year. Both teams have killer lineups, but the Astros’ pitching was lights-out against the Sox, as well. Meanwhile, I am not counting out the White Sox yet. I’m hoping they can force a game 5 so at least both teams are worn down a bit before the ALCS. Neither of those teams are much fun to face, but the Astros are definitely a tougher matchup for the Sox.
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ericmvan
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Supposed to be working on something more important
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Post by ericmvan on Oct 12, 2021 0:12:57 GMT -5
12 hits in this game. The team's post-season batting average so far is astronomical. And against two of the best staffs in the AL. There have been so many historically great offenses that have completely underachieved in the playoffs like the 95/99 Indians, the 03 Sox, the 18 Astros, etc. Yet this team is just killing the ball against really good pitching, baseball is kinda great. Cognitive bias: you're remembering the exceptions. I did a study of post-season success (I know I've told this story before!) just before I was hired by the Sox that found no correlation between offense and success up to a certain level of offense, but a really strong correlation for the elite offenses. You can sum up the results as "good pitching actually does beat good hitting, but truly great hitting beats all pitching."
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Post by incandenza on Oct 12, 2021 0:13:50 GMT -5
The other bonus is that the Astros haven’t seen Houck yet this year. Their lineup does scare me more though 1-9, it’s going to be all about whether or not we can outhit them The Astros basically toyed with the Sox during the regular season. Those games were probably the worst they looked all year. Both teams have killer lineups, but the Astros’ pitching was lights-out against the Sox, as well. Fun fact: Danny Santana, Marwin Gonzalez, and a still sucky Bobby Dalbec combined to go 2 for 46 in games against the Astros. Kyle Schwarber, meanwhile, didn't appear in any of those games.
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Post by taiwansox on Oct 12, 2021 0:15:20 GMT -5
The other bonus is that the Astros havenât seen Houck yet this year. Their lineup does scare me more though 1-9, itâs going to be all about whether or not we can outhit them The Astros basically toyed with the Sox during the regular season. Those games were probably the worst they looked all year. Both teams have killer lineups, but the Astrosâ pitching was lights-out against the Sox, as well. Meanwhile, I am not counting out the White Sox yet. Iâm hoping they can force a game 5 so at least both teams are worn down a bit before the ALCS. Neither of those teams are much fun to face, but the Astros are definitely a tougher matchup for the Sox. That said, did it look like we had a chance against the Rays? They spanked us basically every series except the first of the season. They saw E-Rod at his worst (twice) saw Perez twice as well and saw Richards. That plus Andriese in the bullpen. So I wouldnât call those series predictive, but they are 100% more scary than the White Sox. June was a lifetime ago before Kiké emerged and we acquired Schwarber
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Post by philsbosoxfan on Oct 12, 2021 0:16:09 GMT -5
I know an underdog never won one of these series but the Asstrolls/White Sox series is still going on. Worst case is that the winner has lost a day because of the rainout.
I'm rooting for the White Sox, the lesser of two weevils.
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Post by taiwansox on Oct 12, 2021 0:16:54 GMT -5
The Astros basically toyed with the Sox during the regular season. Those games were probably the worst they looked all year. Both teams have killer lineups, but the Astros’ pitching was lights-out against the Sox, as well. Fun fact: Danny Santana, Marwin Gonzalez, and a still sucky Bobby Dalbec combined to go 2 for 46 in games against the Astros. Kyle Schwarber, meanwhile, didn't appear in any of those games. Beat me to it and Marwin ended up joining the Astros, so he has a strong chance at a ring
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Post by soxfansince67 on Oct 12, 2021 0:20:03 GMT -5
Just watched Kiké's post game interview. What a great, incisive, fun 15 minutes that was. Loaded with character. Very honest interview - link below
And the ultimate cool customer, Garrett Whitlock ("what popcorn?")
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Post by benzinger on Oct 12, 2021 0:29:55 GMT -5
The Astros basically toyed with the Sox during the regular season. Those games were probably the worst they looked all year. Both teams have killer lineups, but the Astros’ pitching was lights-out against the Sox, as well. Fun fact: Danny Santana, Marwin Gonzalez, and a still sucky Bobby Dalbec combined to go 2 for 46 in games against the Astros. Kyle Schwarber, meanwhile, didn't appear in any of those games. Ugggh. I thought we all agreed to not mention the name Marwin Gonzalez on here.
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Post by grandsalami on Oct 12, 2021 0:30:12 GMT -5
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Post by grandsalami on Oct 12, 2021 0:31:13 GMT -5
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Post by benzinger on Oct 12, 2021 0:32:26 GMT -5
The Astros basically toyed with the Sox during the regular season. Those games were probably the worst they looked all year. Both teams have killer lineups, but the Astrosâ pitching was lights-out against the Sox, as well. Meanwhile, I am not counting out the White Sox yet. Iâm hoping they can force a game 5 so at least both teams are worn down a bit before the ALCS. Neither of those teams are much fun to face, but the Astros are definitely a tougher matchup for the Sox. That said, did it look like we had a chance against the Rays? They spanked us basically every series except the first of the season. They saw E-Rod at his worst (twice) saw Perez twice as well and saw Richards. That plus Andriese in the bullpen. So I wouldnât call those series predictive, but they are 100% more scary than the White Sox. June was a lifetime ago before Kiké emerged and we acquired Schwarber Totally agree. I didn’t think they had much of a chance against TB. We’ve seen this before in the playoffs. It doesn’t have to make sense, but sometimes teams just click at the right time. Amazing that the Red Sox are the first team to punch a ticket to either LCS. Never saw it coming.
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Post by soxjim on Oct 12, 2021 0:39:12 GMT -5
The Rays scored more runs than the Astros. Look at their OPS+, please. The whole notion that this is a mediocre team is a meme stoked in part by a clueless media, and others who want a silly narrative they can promote. This was good practice for Boston. Tampa is a tough, tough team and they showed it. This may all be true, but that Astros lineup is absolutely terrifying. They had the top 2 batting leaders in the league...and neither of them were Altuve. Outside of a few guys in that Rays lineup, it feels like you can handle them. The Rays are a beast. Whether they are Houston or not - I don't agree one bit about "feels like you can handle them." Where is this coming from? You felt safe these last two games at Fenway? And someone suggested the Red Sox shouldn't have celebrated as much as they did? Huh??? And I hope there are no comments about "being lucky." Us old timers could have heard that stuff often for too many years prior to 2004. Let some other fans complain about being lucky. I won't. Damn glad we sent them home. At home they could eat all the popcorn they want and order all the champagne they can consume for a team that never won a title. But not in our house.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Oct 12, 2021 0:52:27 GMT -5
One last thing. The Sox deserved to let loose and party. They earned it. Anytime you close out a series you should enjoy the hell out of it. You never know how many of those you get in a career so enjoy.
Jm just glad the Sox wrapped it up when they did. No more extra innings and 3 days to rest the pitching staff which is sorely needed. Hopefully the White Sox push it to a 5th game and they and Houston exhaust themselves.
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Post by jchang on Oct 12, 2021 1:02:42 GMT -5
There have been so many historically great offenses that have completely underachieved in the playoffs like the 95/99 Indians, the 03 Sox, the 18 Astros, etc. Yet this team is just killing the ball against really good pitching, baseball is kinda great. Cognitive bias: you're remembering the exceptions. I did a study of post-season success (I know I've told this story before!) just before I was hired by the Sox that found no correlation between offense and success up to a certain level of offense, but a really strong correlation for the elite offenses. You can sum up the results as "good pitching actually does beat good hitting, but truly great hitting beats all pitching." Any indication, 1) for a given level of team offense, is it better to have a few elite or even distribution of talent, 2) is a good mix of L/R hitters, does this not matter
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Oct 12, 2021 1:15:56 GMT -5
It's crazy but the Sox are the only AL East team left standing.
They didn't get to directly eliminate Toronto but their final day 9th inning win over Washington broke the Blue Jays' hearts as they thought they were headed to Fenway for a tie breaking Game 163.
Then the Sox snuff the life out of the Yankees in the Wild Card game and get them started on their winter vacation
And now the Red Sox have walked the Rays off the field and onto their offseason.
Totally unbelievable.
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ianrs
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Post by ianrs on Oct 12, 2021 3:45:53 GMT -5
Just came in to ask, does anyone still doubt Chaim Bloom's wizardry?
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mobaz
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Posts: 2,878
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Post by mobaz on Oct 12, 2021 5:11:40 GMT -5
For all the talk about the Rays' innovative and infuriating approach, the Sox (were forced to) put together some of the most unique paths to 27+ outs that I can remember across a full playoffs series. We can't trust our 1 and 2 starters, we have no setup men or closer, no one was rested and yet we pulled it out.
Meanwhile the Dodgers pitched Max Scherzer for 7 innings and 110 pitches and then went to their setup man and closer. First, BORINGGGG. Second, they lost; coincidence? I think not!
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mobaz
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Post by mobaz on Oct 12, 2021 5:45:02 GMT -5
Probably leftover hype from last night, but I went exploring around here this morning. If you go to Page 76 of this forum (it's the last page on my phone version) there is a short thread exploring the 5/10 year possibilities of the OTHER Dodgers trade (Crawford/AGone/Beckett in 2012). I won't bump it because I'm not a monster. But actually some good takes in there and some prescient thinking.
The answer: 5 managers, 3 front offices, 2 bad seasons and very high draft picks, and yet 2 WS, a rock solid and still-developing manager and Prez combo, and a very fun 2021 team with some financial flex and some excellent minors talent. We did okay!
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Post by cba82 on Oct 12, 2021 6:08:46 GMT -5
You know the fates are smiling on you when Travis Shaw and Danny Santana are part of the series-clinching walk-off rally.
I found Tampa Bay to be a pretty unlikable team. First and foremost I’m happy that the Red Sox won and are moving on to the ALCS, but I’m almost as happy that the Rays got bumped out of the playoffs.
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Post by voiceofreason on Oct 12, 2021 6:09:30 GMT -5
I just watched Cora's post game. If I were a ball player, I would love to play for this dude. He is smart, he connects well, he cares, he plans - and he supports his players and believes in them. I remember interviews with John Farrell - what a contrast. I could listen to Cora talk baseball all day. The Sox are pretty damn lucky to have him. So interesting how this team oscillates from great to bad to great to ..... Cora coming back this season is why I thought they would be good again, he is one of the best in my eyes. Of course the big 3 also had me more optimistic than most.
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ianrs
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Post by ianrs on Oct 12, 2021 6:28:04 GMT -5
The Red Sox got the best player available in the draft the same year they made th ALCS.
Let that sink in.
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