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5/22-5/24 Red Sox @ Angels Series Thread
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Post by notstarboard on May 24, 2023 13:12:34 GMT -5
Sputter? Are we really going to call what they've been the first two months sputtering? They're on an 86 win pace despite no Trevor Story and half their rotation puking on itself the first 6 weeks of the season every other day. I don't mean to pick on anyone individually, but the sentiment I've seen in various places that we should consider this season a "bridge year" or that we should be thinking about selling pieces off before we've even reached Memorial Day - when the team is actually winning games! - drives me insane. Worth noting the team hasn't even played the "soft" part of its schedule yet. Per Sean McAdams last Friday, "they have six games with Kansas City, six with Oakland, three with Washington, three with Cincinnati and three with Colorado. That’s 21 of the remaining 119 games -- or roughly 19 percent -- against teams expected to finish last in their respective divisions." They have lost 2 games thus far against the now 27-23 Angels. Won 2 out of 3 against a SD team that's under .500. Won 2 out of 3 against the .500 Mariners Swept by the under .500 Cardinals. 1-1 against a good Braves team. Won 2 out of 3 against the under .500 Phillies. Swept 4 games against a Toronto team that has a similar record as you. Their May hasn't exactly been a gauntlet.They unfortunately play in a division with NY, Tampa and Baltimore and will have more games against them. The Angels series is a bad series to lose if they're hanging around all year. Ignoring the fact that a number of these teams are more dangerous than their record suggests (e.g. the Cardinals started 10-24 but are 12-4 since 5/7), we've still gone 11-9 in this stretch. That's an 89 win pace. The only bad series have been the current LA series and the St. Louis series, during which we easily could have won 2 of 3 if not for Kenley blowing back-to-back saves.
Sale, Paxton, Bello, and Houck all have their stock trending up and Whitlock is expected to re-enter the rotation soon. Duvall, Story, Schreiber, Mondesi, Arroyo, Chang, etc. are currently injured and are likely to come back in the coming weeks/months. There are tons of reasons for optimism right now.
Yes, the bats have been dead the past few games, but we're still 4th in the majors in runs scored. That's just how west coast swings go sometimes. A .500 west coast trip is usually considered a win and we could not be closer to .500 after 5 games.
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Post by incandenza on May 24, 2023 13:13:08 GMT -5
They just seem like underachievers, except for when they beat the hell out of the Red Sox last year, which perhaps made them appear to look like a juggernaut they really weren't. They're very talented but somehow the results just don't seem to match up. Their exit in the postseason last year seems to sum it up. Checks standings: who we talkin’ ‘bout? They made the playoffs last year: there are guys on here who see that as a victory. I don’t count them out. Vlad, Bichette, Springer, solid guys like Merrifield. It seems early for obituaries. Underachieving is, obviously, a relative term: it means they've tended to do poorly relative to expectations. No one's writing an obituary, but people keep predicting them to be a juggernaut, or at least one of the top 2-3 teams in the AL, and they keep not being that.
And they themselves have taken a push-all-the-chips in approach, which I am grateful for because they probably only have a few more years of competitiveness before they start to slip, thanks to having traded prospects away and sinking big resources in starting pitchers that, other than Gausman, keep not quite working out for them. Springer's also on the downswing, and with the salary bumps coming the Nepo Babies' way I don't know how many more big FA acquisitions they have in them.
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Post by incandenza on May 24, 2023 13:21:29 GMT -5
The Red Sox are 0-3 in their last 3 games, a 0-win pace.
But they're 4-3 in their last 7 games, a 92-win pace.
But they're 5-9 in their last 14 games, a 58-win pace.
But they're 13-9 in their last 22 games, a 96-win pace.
But they're 26-23 overall, an 86-win pace.
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Post by julyanmorley on May 24, 2023 13:43:54 GMT -5
Tyler Anderson 6.25 xFIP this season, that's a good deal worse than Kluber even. Wasn't he another guy we offered the best deal to? Bullet dodged
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Post by incandenza on May 24, 2023 14:00:26 GMT -5
Tyler Anderson 6.25 xFIP this season, that's a good deal worse than Kluber even. Wasn't he another guy we offered the best deal to? Bullet dodged There were rumors the Red Sox were interested in him but the Dodgers offered him the QO and then he weirdly rejected it only to sign a 3/39 deal. I doubt the Red Sox had any interest after the QO offer.
I think the other guy besides Eflin and Eovaldi who they made the highest offer to was Heaney. He had a rough first start but since then has a 2.98 ERA and FIP/xFIP in the 4.25 range. Sigh.
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Post by julyanmorley on May 24, 2023 14:06:00 GMT -5
Maybe what I am remembering is we gave him the best offer the year before when he ended up with the Dodgers and had a good season
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Post by incandenza on May 24, 2023 14:36:22 GMT -5
There's some low-key significance to the game tonight: it'll decide the season series between the two teams, and therefore which team would win the tiebreaker for a wild card spot, if it comes down to it. (If I'm understanding the tiebreaker procedure correctly...)
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Post by redsoxfan2 on May 24, 2023 14:39:30 GMT -5
They have lost 2 games thus far against the now 27-23 Angels. Won 2 out of 3 against a SD team that's under .500. Won 2 out of 3 against the .500 Mariners Swept by the under .500 Cardinals. 1-1 against a good Braves team. Won 2 out of 3 against the under .500 Phillies. Swept 4 games against a Toronto team that has a similar record as you. Their May hasn't exactly been a gauntlet.They unfortunately play in a division with NY, Tampa and Baltimore and will have more games against them. The Angels series is a bad series to lose if they're hanging around all year. Ignoring the fact that a number of these teams are more dangerous than their record suggests (e.g. the Cardinals started 10-24 but are 12-4 since 5/7), we've still gone 11-9 in this stretch. That's an 89 win pace. The only bad series have been the current LA series and the St. Louis series, during which we easily could have won 2 of 3 if not for Kenley blowing back-to-back saves.
Sale, Paxton, Bello, and Houck all have their stock trending up and Whitlock is expected to re-enter the rotation soon. Duvall, Story, Schreiber, Mondesi, Arroyo, Chang, etc. are currently injured and are likely to come back in the coming weeks/months. There are tons of reasons for optimism right now. Yes, the bats have been dead the past few games, but we're still 4th in the majors in runs scored. That's just how west coast swings go sometimes. A .500 west coast trip is usually considered a win and we could not be closer to .500 after 5 games.
That's a fair point all around. I'm not exactly writing them off either, but this wasn't exactly a great series to blow and potentially get swept by. The Red Sox did win 3 out of 4 against them, but a sweep makes them 3-4 to someone they'll be battling for the Wild Card. It just seems that so far every time they're rounding the corner they end up losing another series and back to ~.500 baseball. I do love what I'm seeing from Sale and Paxton and if they can stay healthy and one of Bello, Houck, or Whitlock get hot this could be a really good rotation, but the odds of losing Sale and/or Paxton is also pretty significant. I guess a long winded way of saying I'm still at wait and see, but a bit discouraged. They should cleanup on KC, Detroit, Oakland, Cincinnati, but I also don't know how I feel about climbing back because you beat up on teams everyone beats up on.
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Post by redsoxfan2 on May 24, 2023 14:40:55 GMT -5
There's some low-key significance to the game tonight: it'll decide the season series between the two teams, and therefore which team would win the tiebreaker for a wild card spot, if it comes down to it. (If I'm understanding the tiebreaker procedure correctly...) I'm struggling to remember if there's a play-in game that would be hosted in LAA or if the Red Sox season would be over in the event of a tie should they lose today.
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Post by julyanmorley on May 24, 2023 15:19:40 GMT -5
Mitch Haniger was a popular offseason target. He is off to a .200/.225/.306 start. The Giants gave him 2/28 plus a $15.5 player option for his age 34 season. I think we made him an offer that didn't seem to be competitive.
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Post by Oregon Norm on May 24, 2023 15:29:24 GMT -5
Well, so much for the strong offense, at least these last few games. Great to see the starters really pick it up but how about something with the bats to match that effort? Frustrating.
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Post by blizzards39 on May 24, 2023 16:01:30 GMT -5
There's some low-key significance to the game tonight: it'll decide the season series between the two teams, and therefore which team would win the tiebreaker for a wild card spot, if it comes down to it. (If I'm understanding the tiebreaker procedure correctly...) I'm struggling to remember if there's a play-in game that would be hosted in LAA or if the Red Sox season would be over in the event of a tie should they lose today. No play in games. Tonight’s game decides the tiebreaker if the Sox and Angels should be tied say 90-72 for that last wildcard spot.
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Post by chrisfromnc on May 24, 2023 20:13:35 GMT -5
Bold prediction…the Red Sox score eight or better tonight as the bats come back to life (grimaces closing his eyes trying to will it into existence).
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cdj
Veteran
Posts: 15,646
Member is Online
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Post by cdj on May 24, 2023 20:22:39 GMT -5
Refsnyder gonna set the tone
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Post by soxfansince67 on May 24, 2023 20:34:49 GMT -5
These spells happen - Red Sox have seemed to have challenges with the bats on west coast trips (and Texas!) for years. This too shall pass.
Looking for a fun game tonight.
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Post by soxfansince67 on May 24, 2023 20:43:51 GMT -5
GIDP are becoming alarmingly inevitable. Something has to change with the batting approaches.
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Post by notstarboard on May 24, 2023 20:49:28 GMT -5
Big Maple is a stud
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radiohix
Veteran
'At the end of the day, we bang. We bang. We're going to swing.' Alex Verdugo
Posts: 6,582
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Post by radiohix on May 24, 2023 20:50:44 GMT -5
Entering today Yoshida is 3rd in MLB in GB%.
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TearsIn04
Veteran
Everybody knows Nelson de la Rosa, but who is Karim Garcia?
Posts: 2,940
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Post by TearsIn04 on May 24, 2023 20:53:10 GMT -5
As the Angels came to bat in the bottom of the first, their broadcast showed the OPS+ numbers for the starting 9 with an explainer by the announcer. Only two guys were above 100 and I don't have to tell you who they were. A few of the other seven were way below 100.
To me, that's as solid a piece of evidence as I've seen that their baseball ops group is atrocious. They're wasting the prime of two generational talents.
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TearsIn04
Veteran
Everybody knows Nelson de la Rosa, but who is Karim Garcia?
Posts: 2,940
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Post by TearsIn04 on May 24, 2023 20:56:58 GMT -5
But of course we have KKH hitting fifth with a 73 OPS+.
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Post by notstarboard on May 24, 2023 21:01:16 GMT -5
Umpire steals two strikes from Wong in quick succession and ends up destroying the inning. Fabulous.
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radiohix
Veteran
'At the end of the day, we bang. We bang. We're going to swing.' Alex Verdugo
Posts: 6,582
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Post by radiohix on May 24, 2023 21:02:19 GMT -5
When it rains it pours SMDH
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Post by chrisfromnc on May 24, 2023 21:05:00 GMT -5
Bad decision to try to score there. That worked once in a 12U game.
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Post by wildsox on May 24, 2023 21:07:58 GMT -5
Wow. This ump
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Post by notstarboard on May 24, 2023 21:08:01 GMT -5
This umpire needs to be fired into the sun, holy crap
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