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8/17 vs Yankees

RedSoxfanforlife305
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rjortiz First Round Pick

rjortiz

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For me at least, it's not just the 8 game slide, it's the complete and utter incompetence at the plate when facing any left handed pitcher. I thought "ok, they faced Price and Moore. Fine, I understand struggling against them"

 

But then it's Chen, Buehrle, Pettite, Oborholtzer, guys you've never heard of in your life. It's Ortiz OPS'ing .727 vs LHP when he OPS'd .985 against them last year. Johnny Gomes OPS'ing .730 vs LHP. Victorino OPS'ing .756. Napoli OPS'ing .761. Even Ross, who is supposed to spell Salty vs LHP is only OPS'ing .728.

 

Hell, we've had 3 hitters OPS over .800 vs LHP this year, and 2 of them aren't on the team anymore (Iglesias .842, Snyder .964). Pedroia (.890) is the other.

 

That's a massive, massive concern. As soon as the SP goes out, this team just gets absolutely pummeled by LH relief pitchers. And why not?? They have nobody who can even sniff a mediocre line against them outside of Pedroia.

 

It's funny, when the season began and we had Pedroia, Ortiz, Napoli, Middlebrooks, Gomes, Ross, and then the bullpen of Uehara, Taz, Bailey, Hanrahan, etc, all anyone said was "There are two things this team will do well, hit LHP and close out games late". And those are the two biggest struggles (though Uehara has been MVP worthy).

 

I think you'll see some of those numbers normalize over the last 38 games of the season, plus we'll get Ross back and Bogaerts up in September who should help mitigate those problems. Also, our .713 OPS against LHP is about average. I think it's just magnified because of four straight poor showings against southpaws.

 

I guess you could also look at it from the perspective that only about 25% of games are started by LHP. We'll face more righties down the stretch, and we've been excellent against them.

Edited by rjortiz
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SoxFanForsyth All-Star

SoxFanForsyth

Old-Timey Member
Posted
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I think you'll see some of those numbers normalize over the last 38 games of the season, plus we'll get Ross back and Bogaerts up in September who should help mitigate those problems. Also, our .713 OPS against LHP is about average. I think it's just magnified because of four straight poor showings against southpaws.

 

I certainly hope it normalizes. Ross should be a good boost, because Salty is OPS'ing .590 vs LHP this year. Even with Salty's .730 OPS, that's a 140 point boost.

 

Like you said, the biggest boost this team could get would be from Bogaerts replacing Drew vs LHP. Not sure what the hold up is on bringing him up. I guess roster slots are hard to come by, although with Bogaerts and Middlebrooks, do you really need Brock Holt? Bogaerts can be your util guy on the left side and Drew can spell Pedroia if need be at 2B with Bogaerts sliding to SS (and in the case that Pedroia hits the DL, you can replace him with Holt).

 

Just don't understand the thinking really, particularly with the exaggerated struggles vs LHP in the 2nd half.

VA Sox Fan Boston Red Sox

VA Sox Fan

Old-Timey Member
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Napoli is injured. Plantar fascia:

 

The new lineup:

Ellsbury CF

Victorino RF

Pedroia 2B

Ortiz DH

Carp 1B

Nava LF

Drew SS

Saltalamacchia C

Middlebrooks 3B

jung Worcester Red Sox

jung

Old-Timey Member
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Posted

I did not know Naps was also injured. I thought they would have wanted to keep Naps out of this game. Thus I thought the injured or at least gimpy Vic decided to man up. But I guess in reality they are both gimpy...great!

 

I am amazed at how much I agree with SFF lately. I do agree with him that we need a shot in the arm sooner rather than later. We simply do not have the same guys contributing to the way this team develops offense. Some of them are no longer even here now. Yet I just do not see this as a bash the opponent to death offense....watch how teams start to focus even more on controlling Ortiz now that we are in crunch time.

 

You can be a team of plodders who bash the ball or you can be a team of speed demons that dink and dunk you to death or you can be a bit of both, which is what the Sox have been. But you cannot be neither....which is sort of where they are right now. It is an offense without much identity at present.

a700hitter Cooperstown

a700hitter

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted

Nice inning by Lackey. We need him to come up big today. He's got the fire in the belly. I just hope that he has enough left in his arm to take us down the stretch.

 

BTW, what is it with major league pitchers and throwing to bases? I'll never understand that.

Thunder MVP

Thunder

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Kiss...my..ass.

 

Ortiz apparently asked Ells for some hitting tips. He can't avoid that first pitch lately.

 

Whenever Ells swings at the first pitch, it's a ground ball to the right side.

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