5/17 vs. Milwaukee Brewers - Game 1

[VA Sox Fan]

Way to go Papi! I hate not seeing this game. Cleveland sucks!

[Cocos Disciples]

Hey cool 4-0.

[The Prodigy]

Good Play

[The Dustball]

Nice slider by Dice-K to get Fielder there. So far so good today for Matsuzaka, only 1 walk compared to 3 K's.

[Jayhawk Bill]

I like leadoff doubles.

 

***

 

[tangent]If anybody wants my blueberry muffin recipe, PM me. Offer ends at the end of the game. [/tangent]

[ORS]

Ran up to the store to refill the propane for the grill (I wanted to do it earlier, but try getting a 4 y/o and 2 y/o girl ready in any kind of time), good to see Papi playing yardball while I was gone.

 

Lugo's an idiot.

[The Prodigy]

These guys really need to shut up

[ORS]

There has to be some kind of mechanical flaw in Ellsbury's swing for him to popup to SS as frequently as he does.

[The Dustball]

HAHAHAHA The ump talking to Lugo was hilarious

[The Dustball]

I'm really impressed with Matsuzaka today. He's mixing up his pitches, working very efficiently and thankfully not walking many guys. I really am starting to think that Dice-K's struggles last year were due to getting used to the strikezone and the different style of baseball played over here in the US. I like this new, good Dice-K.

[The Prodigy]

That was good hitting got to give it to him

[The Prodigy]

he was out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jayhawk Bill]

I'm really impressed with Matsuzaka today. He's mixing up his pitches' date=' working very efficiently and thankfully not walking many guys. I really am starting to think that Dice-K's struggles last year were due to getting used to the strikezone and the different style of baseball played over here in the US. I like this new, good Dice-K.[/quote']

 

No sooner said than Dice-K gives up a hit to the #8 hitter and hits the #9 hitter.

[The Dustball]

******** call right there. Its gonna cost Dice-K more pitches.

[Jayhawk Bill]

he was out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Dana DeMuth owes Boston an out.

[ORS]

So, when do they start calling the "attempt to avoid getting hit" rule? Kendall leans in and lets it hit him worse than Biggio ever did. Oh, and Hall was out.

[a700hitter]

How does the ump miss that call at 2nd. It was right in front of him. The guy's foot was a good 6 inches away from the base when the tag was applied and the runner thought he was out.

[The Prodigy]

That was a strike, i mean come on he owes us>..

[a700hitter]

The effin inning should be over.

[The Dustball]

Dana DeMuth owes Boston an out.

 

And he owes Dice-K 10 pitches.

[The Prodigy]

at a boy

[ORS]

At least it only cost him about 10 pitches. He's at 80 through 5. A quick 6th and he could give 7 in the first half of the double dip.

[ORS]

That said, they need to run Soup from the game this inning, and get into that weak 'pen.

[The Prodigy]

Way to hustle Ortiz!!!!!!\

 

 

 

 

He is so slow

[The Dustball]

That said' date=' they need to run Soup from the game this inning, and get into that weak 'pen.[/quote']

 

Not only to help win this game, but to gas the pen for the next two games as well.

[ORS]

Need a dagger shot here, JD. Knock him out.

[Jayhawk Bill]

There has to be some kind of mechanical flaw in Ellsbury's swing for him to popup to SS as frequently as he does.

 

I ran reports on POPUP% (IF/FB %) for all AL batters with 150+ PA and all Boston Red Sox. AL POPUP% ranged from 21.9% for Mark Ellis to 1.5% for Delmon Young, with a median of 7.6%. For the Red Sox, here are the stats:

 

[table]NAME | POPUP%

Joe Thurston | 57.10%

David Ortiz | 13.00%

Mike Lowell | 10.60%

Coco Crisp | 10.30%

Jacoby Ellsbury | 9.30%

Jason Varitek | 7.00%

J.D. Drew | 6.90%

Kevin Youkilis | 6.00%

Dustin Pedroia | 6.00%

Alex Cora | 5.60%

Manny Ramirez | 3.40%

Jed Lowrie | 2.80%

Julio Lugo | 0.00%

Sean Casey | 0.00%

Kevin Cash | 0.00%

Brandon Moss | 0.00%

Jonathan Van Every | 0.00%[/table]

 

Flaw? Yeah, he's worse than average this year, and he was a bit worse in 2007, but it's not enough for me to worry about given his high LD%.

 

We can't all be Manny Ramirez.

[ORS]

Ahh, fack, the weak dribbler to the right. Patented JD at-bat.

[ORS]

I ran reports on POPUP% (IF/FB %) for all AL batters with 150+ PA and all Boston Red Sox. AL POPUP% ranged from 21.9% for Mark Ellis to 1.5% for Delmon Young, with a median of 7.6%. For the Red Sox, here are the stats:

 

[table]NAME | POPUP%

Joe Thurston | 57.10%

David Ortiz | 13.00%

Mike Lowell | 10.60%

Coco Crisp | 10.30%

Jacoby Ellsbury | 9.30%

Jason Varitek | 7.00%

J.D. Drew | 6.90%

Kevin Youkilis | 6.00%

Dustin Pedroia | 6.00%

Alex Cora | 5.60%

Manny Ramirez | 3.40%

Jed Lowrie | 2.80%

Julio Lugo | 0.00%

Sean Casey | 0.00%

Kevin Cash | 0.00%

Brandon Moss | 0.00%

Jonathan Van Every | 0.00%[/table]

 

Flaw? Yeah, he's worse than average this year, and he was a bit worse in 2007, but it's not enough for me to worry about given his high LD%.

 

We can't all be Manny Ramirez.

Do player's typically popup to the same part of the field regardless of their rate? That's what I'd be curious to know. I didn't mean to suggest he pops up at an alarming rate, but when he does it's typically to the SS. That, to me, suggests he's doing something to account for this tendancy.

[Jayhawk Bill]

You know, the Brewers' sluggers do well when thrown fastballs grooved through the lower half of the strike zone.