4/17 at Cleveland

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

Yea we only scored 3 cause we left the other 117 RISP on without driving them in.

 

I am sure Carp is enjoying his night in the sun and does not give a rats ass about what people post here. However Masterson was not a test for anybody last night.

 

I really would like to see Vic and Ells switch although it is working so good right now that nobody is going to mess with that lineup. As good as it has been I do think it would work better and makes more sense. Vic is not even trying to hit for power and Ells would seem to have a more natural power stroke as long as he is healthy. Vic is certainly fast enough to bat 1st.

 

This statement kind of contradicts itself, don't you think? If Masterson was so callled "batting practice" it should have been a lot uglier than 3-0. They fail to score with bases loaded with no outs TWICE. The middle of the lineup too. I still think Carp sucks and has no use for this team, but jesus christ you guys need to enjoy the production we got.

[Bellhorn04]

This statement kind of contradicts itself, don't you think? If Masterson was so callled "batting practice" it should have been a lot uglier than 3-0. They fail to score with bases loaded with no outs TWICE. The middle of the lineup too. I still think Carp sucks and has no use for this team, but jesus christ you guys need to enjoy the production we got.

 

Heh heh...yes the standards can get pretty high sometimes. Even if you win 6-3 there will be people saying it should have been 10-1.

 

Masterson is a decent major league pitcher. He made some good pitches to reduce the damage last night...or guys missed some hittable pitches...that happens too.

[jung]

Hitters don't hit every mistake pitch a pitcher throws. If they did, the final score would have been 122 to something last night. But you cannot look at Masterson's location last night and say that he offered up much of a test or a challenge as a starting pitcher. He just didn't.

 

I enjoyed it...but I took for what it was as opposed to taking it for what it was not. It's nice that we made Masterson pay for most of his mistakes. There are actually teams of players out there that would not have done as well in spite of Masterson's vulnerability last night. Those teams are going to find their way to the basement of their respective divisions cause if you can't take advantage of a guy throwing the way Masterson was throwing last night, pack it in cause you are all done. Even if you can pitch some you are all done.

 

The other thing that is being undervalued is the comfort zone you get hitting with a lead. Why we would miss this one is also beyond me. We got a healthy dose of how much more difficult things get for hitters when you are constantly playing from behind. Well the opposite is just as true when you are always playing from in front. That is why the Ells/Vic combination has been at least from the everyday player perspective and particularly Vic, so much a factor in the team's early success.

 

The two most critical guys for the Sox so far have been Lester and Buch, without question. But I would stick two everyday players into the mix of three through six when trying to value contributions to this early success. Third through sixth for me would be Vic for the way he has set the early table and for the way he has played in the field. Uehara for the way he has come in and shut down mid/late inning efforts by the opponent, Bailey for the way he has closed and Ells for the same kinds of contributions that Vic has made but somewhat less effectively. I might be tempted to insert Taz where I have Bailey cause it is not like Bailey is coming into too many tense situations closing so far.

 

Vic and Ells have pressured the opposition almost from jump street in every game and have allowed the Sox to jump out to early leads. In fact they have jumped so far out early that they are taking opponents out of their game plans before they can even implement them.

 

As I stated in a different post and thread, the Ells/Vic combination have been about as effective as Jeter/Ich was for the Yanks, except Ells and Vic are about 50 years younger. In fact that is also in part why if I had my druthers, I would switch Ells with Vic. Both are fast enough to lead off. Vic is really trying to copy the way Jeter now hits whether Vic knows it or not. That is why I would switch him with Ells. As long as Ells remains healthy his power numbers will be better than Vics. The only dif would be that Ich may have better bat control than Ells has and you might be more effective in the hit and run with Vic remaining in the 2 spot. However the 2011 version of Jeter was not faster than the other three guys in the discussion. Vic is faster as is Ells. Ells slugging % is better than Vics so far but Vics OBP is better than Ells. No surprises in either case.

 

Things are going too good to mess with those two guys at the top at this point. Regardless of what I would like to see, even I would not likely have the guts to switch Ells with Vic at this very moment.

[NYlove4BoSox]

I really would like to see Vic and Ells switch although it is working so good right now that nobody is going to mess with that lineup. As good as it has been I do think it would work better and makes more sense. Vic is not even trying to hit for power and Ells would seem to have a more natural power stroke as long as he is healthy. Vic is certainly fast enough to bat 1st.

 

I agree.

 

Also, it seems like the Bradley project has failed. After seeing him linger at the plate Monday, not realizing that he had struck out, it seems overly apparent that he is not ready. He needs his AAA at bats.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Right now, the Sox have scored an average of 4.92 runs per game. That would be good for 798 runs over 162 games, which would be 3rd best in the MLB in 2012.

 

And this is without Ortiz.

 

Like I said before the season started. This is a playoff team. Get excited.

[BornToRun]

How come we haven't used pedroia as the 4 hitter? He has a history of raking in the cleanup spot.

[SoxFanForsyth]

How come we haven't used pedroia as the 4 hitter? He has a history of raking in the cleanup spot.

 

To be fair, Nap has been crushing lately. Last 6 games: .346 Avg, .885 OPS, 9 RBI.

 

He's also got 16 RBI on the season after only 14 games. Adrian Gonzalez didn't get his 16th RBI last year until May 7th, 28 games into the season.

[BornToRun]

To be fair, Nap has been crushing lately. Last 6 games: .346 Avg, .885 OPS, 9 RBI.

 

He's also got 16 RBI on the season after only 14 games. Adrian Gonzalez didn't get his 16th RBI last year until May 7th, 28 games into the season.

 

Fair point. I was thinking more towards when papi is back. Napoli has been awesome recently though and I have no problem with him sticking in the 4 spot if he keeps it up.

[seabeachfred]

That was uncalled for......but since you want to go there again....

 

You need to sign up for he tv show hoarders......you are like 80 years old fairweatherfred, no need to go down with a stroke. Its just the internet.

 

You trashed Aveves. You can't take it back after he pitches well......actually, I guess you can....you like to change your mind about all kinds of things, we wont go there again though.

 

Fred's wrong again was uncalled for---especially since I said that I believed that Aceves might actually be decent as a starter since that is what he has always wanted to do. You have had a beef with me since I came back on this board, first you questioned my loyalty to the Red Sox, then made cruddy comments about the picture next to my name, then came out with those ridiculous pictures that some ******* made of me through some wierd commuter graphics, then said you enjoyed giving me s***. You stop this crap and I will stop it. You made crude comments and get pissed off when I come back with even nastier ones. Again, stop this s*** and I will be more than willing to reciprocate. i don't enjoy this typeof stuff and I would bet that if we stop this s*** we'd find something or two to agree on.

[seabeachfred]

Middlebrooks looks awful right now. I hope a few hits fall in for him soon before this starts getting in his head.

 

He looks to me like he's pressing. A few hits falling in would be a big help. We may need him to start hitting soon because, keep in mind, Ortiz is usually a very slow starter and he may come back and be very stale at the plate. What then? Do we platoon him and risk getting him mad and hurt the morale of this team? So we need Will to start hitting and hope when Carp gets another chance he shows that last night was not a one trick pony.

[seabeachfred]

Heh heh...yes the standards can get pretty high sometimes. Even if you win 6-3 there will be people saying it should have been 10-1.

 

Masterson is a decent major league pitcher. He made some good pitches to reduce the damage last night...or guys missed some hittable pitches...that happens too.

 

We beat a good pitcher last night and in my opinion we have nothing to complain about and, in fact, should be elated that Aceves pitched well enough to get us a win in a game where we may have been the underdog. That being said, that's now history. Tonight we need Jon Lester to go out there and get us another hat trick. One game at a time.