6/15 - Beckett Invades Cincinnati on Father's Day

[redsoxrules]

JD on base again

[redsoxrules]

6-0

[redsoxrules]

COCO! 8-0

[Jayhawk Bill]

FWIW, Ron Kulpa made up for his earlier bias against the Reds, expanding the strike zone to try to get the game over.

 

So far it hasn't seemed to help the Reds too much...

[TheKilo]

Even Pedroia hits a HR. Helps when he's playing in a ballpark more his size.

[jacksonianmarch]

I see the sox decided to piss on the reds today.

[ksushi]

On the NESN angles' date=' I had no idea why Youk let the ball go past him. :dunno:[/quote']

 

This was posted way long ago, but the hardest ball to scoop as a first basemen is the softly thrown ball that bounces far in front and waist high. The softer the throw, the tougher the scoop, generally. Just thought I'd chime in with somethin'

[ksushi]

Seriously though, I just wanted to point out that Jacoby is blossoming into an extremely productive major leaguer. We are spoiled rotten at this point. We have so many quality rookies coming out of our farm system and contributing right away, and whats more is that they are continuing to contribute in subsequent seasons after their debut, not just getting hot out of the gate. Our system does a great job of showing our prospects how to make adjustments over the course of a season and it is showing. Papelbon, Lester, Ellsbury, Hansen, Delcarmen, Masterson and Pedroia (note: having a down year, maybe the hamate hasn't completely healed, or his approach needs tweaking but his quality of AB's has drastically improved over the last month, I don't see this stretch last for much longer) have all become quality major league players worthy of starting on a championship team. That is an unreal thing. Look at the season Jacoby is having. Great on-base ability, great swing, has an invaluable effect on pitchers when he is on the base paths. I would probably argue that base-stealing doesn't doesn't add a lot to a team over the course of a season, but what I saw today made me realize that in a close game his ability to take over the bases is unreal. A great piece of hitting gets him on first base and two pitches later, there is, standing on third. Brilliant.

 

Man, we're spoiled.

[jacksonianmarch]

not a lot of players come up and contribute right away like this. It typically takes some time for players to hit their peak. For some reason, these kids are coming up and making seamless transitions. They'll all hit their bumps eventually, but kudos to the FO for getting the job done.

[ksushi]

All the kudos belongs to the exceptional player development staff. The way they teach these players to adjust to their competition is unbelievable. It is already ingrained in them by the time they hit the major leagues that the adjustment process is a constant one in baseball and that their games have to constantly be evolving, and that is why the transition has gone so well, and that is what is keeping these guys from hitting the prolonged slumps that usually mark the early stages of a players career.