8/2 vs. The Twinkies

[Palodios]

That will be too late.

 

Its already too late.

[Station 13]

Stupid game. No breaks for our side. Lester pitch well.

 

Middlebrooks look better and better since July.

 

Aceves is no closer. He is just an above average reliever.

[a700hitter]

Its already too late.

I'm trying to cling to some hope.

[kapsis21]

I'm trying to cling to some hope.

 

I cannot believe you said that. Or I didn't get your sarcasm

[a700hitter]

I cannot believe you said that. Or I didn't get your sarcasm

If I had zero hope, I wouldn't watch. It's baseball. Anything can happen, but I am not expecting it to happen.

[SemperFi Sox]

Football is back this Sunday!!!!

[SoxSport]

Why was Aceves in? Everybody knows closers get bombed when they pitch in a non-save situation.

It happens many, many times.

 

This is a.500 team, take it or leave it.

 

Lowe would fit in the bullpen-- not as a starter. Many forget he started off his Red Sox career as a closer. And a good one.

[SoxSport]

Football is back this Sunday!!!!

 

Will the Giants suck in the regular season again, and then beat everybody on the road in the playoffs again--and win the Super bowl? Nah. They only do that every 5 years--and just when they play the Patriots in the Super bowl.

[redsoxbeatz]

Football is back this Sunday!!!!

 

First pre-season game this Sunday? I rarely watch the pre but this year...

[Bellhorn04]

It's the Fortune .500 Red Sox.

[a700hitter]

We are so used to our starters getting completely trashed that many fans think Lester pitched a really good game. He did not. He pitched an average game for an ace. If he had pitched a good game for an ace, he would have matched that kid on the Twins and shutdown the Mauerless Twins lineup. I realize that you can't win by scoring 0 runs, but an offensive approach is much diiferent in the late innings if you are down only by a run. Being down 3 runs elininates the usefulness of small ball. It takes away the threat of bringing the tying run to the plate every time you get a baserunner.

 

Lester did not pitch a good game for an ace. It was an average game. The teams that we are battling against have multiple starting pitchers with ERA's in the 3's. Even the O's I believe have a couple of starters with under 4 ERA's. Until last night. The Angels had 2 starters with ERA's under 3. Their average outing is better than what many are calling a good outing by Lester. Don't get me wrong. It was not a bad outing. It just wasn't a good outing for an ace. The steroid era is over. Pitching ERA's are down. Yes the offense did not perform last night, but neither did the pitching. Giving up 5 runs to a Twin team without Mauer is a bad job. The offense has bailed out poor pitching many times this year, but the pitching has almost never bailed out the offense.

[Bellhorn04]

Lester did not pitch a good game for an ace. It was an average game. The teams that we are battling against have multiple starting pitchers with ERA's in the 3's. Even the O's I believe have a couple of starters with under 4 ERA's. Until last night. The Angels had 2 starters with ERA's under 3. Their average outing is better than what many are calling a good outing by Lester. Don't get me wrong. It was not a bad outing. It just wasn't a good outing for an ace. The steroid era is over. Pitching ERA's are down.

 

The best ERA among our starters is Doubie's 4.37, excluding Morales who has a 3.42 but only 26.1 IP. Pretty hard to get around a fact that ugly.

[SoxFanForsyth]

We are so used to our starters getting completely trashed that many fans think Lester pitched a really good game. He did not. He pitched an average game for an ace. If he had pitched a good game for an ace, he would have matched that kid on the Twins and shutdown the Mauerless Twins lineup. I realize that you can't win by scoring 0 runs, but an offensive approach is much diiferent in the late innings if you are down only by a run. Being down 3 runs elininates the usefulness of small ball. It takes away the threat of bringing the tying run to the plate every time you get a baserunner.

 

Lester did not pitch a good game for an ace. It was an average game. The teams that we are battling against have multiple starting pitchers with ERA's in the 3's. Even the O's I believe have a couple of starters with under 4 ERA's. Until last night. The Angels had 2 starters with ERA's under 3. Their average outing is better than what many are calling a good outing by Lester. Don't get me wrong. It was not a bad outing. It just wasn't a good outing for an ace. The steroid era is over. Pitching ERA's are down. Yes the offense did not perform last night, but neither did the pitching. Giving up 5 runs to a Twin team without Mauer is a bad job. The offense has bailed out poor pitching many times this year, but the pitching has almost never bailed out the offense.

 

8 IP, 3 ER is just ok for Lester. I was happy with his outing because of how he's thrown this year, but if it was Buchholz out there that allowed 3 earnies over 8 IP, I would be much more "meh" over it.

 

Lester has not been a good SP by any means this year, but it's also been exacerbated by the fact that he actually is getting unlucky via his BABIP (.324) and his strand rate (63.8%). I'm not sure if he can do anything to correct these problems, or if they will just normalize over time. I do know, though, that the 3rd run that was scored last night was on a change up about 4 feet outside that Doumit likely didn't see because he looked like he was flailing at a pinata with his eyes closed.

 

Still, though, there's no excuse to not beat the Twins who are throwing a journeyman at you.

[Station 13]

Lester gave up bleeders. If he was bad, he would get taken deep over the monster. Couples of 2B were just past 1B/3B bags that kick around. Nothing you could do about that. He held down the Twinkies as he should. Luck plays in into baseball as well.

 

The real challenge for Lester is holding down the Rangers next week. If he can't do that, this team is in deep water for the next couple of years with Lackey and Beckett still around.

[a700hitter]

Lester gave up bleeders. If he was bad, he would get taken deep over the monster. Couples of 2B were just past 1B/3B bags that kick around. Nothing you could do about that. He held down the Twinkies as he should. Luck plays in into baseball as well.

 

The real challenge for Lester is holding down the Rangers next week. If he can't do that, this team is in deep water for the next couple of years with Lackey and Beckett still around.

An ace would tear through that lineup without Mauer.

[SemperFi Sox]

First pre-season game this Sunday? I rarely watch the pre but this year...

 

hall of fame game.