Tracking the July to August west Coast Trip

[bosoxmal]

Final game of the trip, we have wasted some great opportunites. The Orioles are folding, but the Jays are winning steadily. The Rays look like they might send the mighty Yankees back to NY with their tails dragging. Is today's game a must? No, but Wright has to get something going. Sticky day in sunny California. We can take 6 of these 11 games, and not fall out of it. Any thoughts?

[oldtimer]

Final game of the trip, we have wasted some great opportunites. The Orioles are folding, but the Jays are winning steadily. The Rays look like they might send the mighty Yankees back to NY with their tails dragging. Is today's game a must? No, but Wright has to get something going. Sticky day in sunny California. We can take 6 of these 11 games, and not fall out of it. Any thoughts?

 

The team looks lethargic. The offense, once a strong point, is having trouble generating runs. Do we expect our pitching to give up zero runs for us to compete? Not very realistic. We don't seem to have energy out there. Is there any way to turn things around? Is Farrell part of the problem? I am in the camp that doesn't believe trading away the strength of our minor leagues away for a starting pitcher makes sense.

[mvp 78]

You were saying?

[d-money]

Need to try and get 3 out of 4 from the mariners. The best we have done this year's splitting with teams.

[Kimmi]

If we can return from this west coast trip winning 6 of 11, I will be okay.

[cp176]

My rememberer isn't working very well. i cannot remember seeing an August schedule worse than this one.

[bosoxmal]

Probably not, but looking back over the first half of the season, the other AL East teams had similar trips.

 

"Stiff upper lip", as the London footballer might say!

 

I have a feeling, we might be OK and do a little better than 6-5!

[bosoxmal]

We can all read the numbers. You name it. OPS, RBi, doubles, SB, whatever. They tell us the what but not the when. Am I right when I repeat, "as Betts goes, so go the Sox." Am I biased? I hope not, but it seems like every game we win, Betts is in the Pivotal Points discussion. I guess I could wear myself out pulling up every game, and seeing how many we won when he went "o-for" and compare them with games where he either homered or had multiple hits. And a lot of those games have been on the road! Yes, I think we'll go 7-4 on this trip.

[greenwell]

We can all read the numbers. You name it. OPS, RBi, doubles, SB, whatever. They tell us the what but not the when. Am I right when I repeat, "as Betts goes, so go the Sox." Am I biased? I hope not, but it seems like every game we win, Betts is in the Pivotal Points discussion. I guess I could wear myself out pulling up every game, and seeing how many we won when he went "o-for" and compare them with games where he either homered or had multiple hits. And a lot of those games have been on the road! Yes, I think we'll go 7-4 on this trip.

 

Baseball-reference does list splits for in wins and in losses. Betts is 1.029/0.695 ops in W/L, but that's seems pretty standard, Bogaerts is 1.021/0.648, Ortiz 1.205/0.831 and Bradley Jr. is 1.118/0.628.

[bosoxmal]

I know he numbers exist, but I have no idea what they mean. You say Betts is pretty standard. They all look pretty standard, I guess. But, it's the when part of those games. Wins and losses. It has come to the point where, late in the game, it is not Bogaerts or Bradley we're waiting to come w/2 on, it's Betts. His hitting with men in scoring position must be much better than the other three.

 

The last two nights are typical of what I mean. 2 on, 2 out, score 3 zip, he comes up with a base hit, and the "Lift" to the team is obvious. Last night, 1-1, 8th inning. Bang! No way they are going to lose this game. He brings "something" to the team that Yaz and Williams did. We all know that Papi had it also. I think Betts is even helping him hang on!

[Maxbialystock]

I know he numbers exist, but I have no idea what they mean. You say Betts is pretty standard. They all look pretty standard, I guess. But, it's the when part of those games. Wins and losses. It has come to the point where, late in the game, it is not Bogaerts or Bradley we're waiting to come w/2 on, it's Betts. His hitting with men in scoring position must be much better than the other three.

 

The last two nights are typical of what I mean. 2 on, 2 out, score 3 zip, he comes up with a base hit, and the "Lift" to the team is obvious. Last night, 1-1, 8th inning. Bang! No way they are going to lose this game. He brings "something" to the team that Yaz and Williams did. We all know that Papi had it also. I think Betts is even helping him hang on!

 

Your view of Betts is mostly in the eye of the beholder. In fact, it was the Pedroia dinger in the 9th that drove in the 3 runs. Betts single was good and kept the rally alive, but Pedroia was the man. For most of this season, in case you haven't noticed, the man has been the old fart Ortiz.

 

That said, anyone who isn't rooting for and loving what Betts does is blind. He is having a great year and doing it in a tough spot, leadoff, where he is 2d on the team in rbi's and 1st in runs scored. Plus he plays that tough RF position. I would never question anyone who picked Betts as the team MVP.

[bosoxmal]

All true. And I see more than that in this young man. What happened last night was nothing short of a disaster, but I think it will only make him more determined than ever. If I had to use one word I would say, "energizer."

 

As an aside, I think he and Shaw have gotten to be VG friends. Interesting in that Shaw looks cool, calm and collected while Mookie can't wait to yell, "let's play two". Yep, come to think of it, he reminds me a lot of Ernie Banks!

[sk7326]

We can all read the numbers. You name it. OPS, RBi, doubles, SB, whatever. They tell us the what but not the when. Am I right when I repeat, "as Betts goes, so go the Sox." Am I biased? I hope not, but it seems like every game we win, Betts is in the Pivotal Points discussion. I guess I could wear myself out pulling up every game, and seeing how many we won when he went "o-for" and compare them with games where he either homered or had multiple hits. And a lot of those games have been on the road! Yes, I think we'll go 7-4 on this trip.

 

I don't think it's that cut and dried ... but he has been an AL MVP level performer this season. He and Bogaerts have had that level of season - Ortiz has been that level offensively, and Pedroia has been really damn good.

[bosoxmal]

2-2 so far (going into Wed nite game). Bad Day Tues, Blew good lead, and both Toronto and Baltimore won. 2 games behind the top spot.

 

I wish JF would show his rookies when games are out of hand.

 

Is Holt hurting? Last night was a strange time to throw the shaky Italian Kid in there. He must have been petrified.

[oldtimer]

Last night the shaky Italian kid went two for three, while the veterans were held to less. Last nights 3 to 1 loss points out the obvious situation.

 

1. We will run into a good opponent pitching performance and when we do will lose even if we get a good effort from our own pitching staff.

2. Clearly we need to win those games where we have a clear advantage late, like the night before. Opportunities need to be exploited.

 

My speculation is that a failure to win a game we should win is disheartening to a team and can lead to following on poor performances from our hitters. Lets hope we don't go into a tailspin as we are on the road and tired.

[Kimmi]

To me, our lineup just feels so different when we have 2 of our regulars out. I understand the need for resting players. Hanley's wrist injury is coming at an inopportune time, especially if he can't play against the Dodgers and Papi has to play first base.

 

We need to win tonight's game, then take 2 of 3 from the Dodgers. If we can accomplish that, I will consider this road trip a 'success'.

[harmony]

Last night the shaky Italian kid went two for three, while the veterans were held to less. Last nights 3 to 1 loss points out the obvious situation.

 

1. We will run into a good opponent pitching performance and when we do will lose even if we get a good effort from our own pitching staff.

2. Clearly we need to win those games where we have a clear advantage late, like the night before. Opportunities need to be exploited.

 

My speculation is that a failure to win a game we should win is disheartening to a team and can lead to following on poor performances from our hitters. Lets hope we don't go into a tailspin as we are on the road and tired.

On the flip side, Seattle has come back to win two games after two gut-wrenching losses in which the Mariners blew a 6-0 lead (then up 6-3 going into the bottom of the ninth) on Sunday and could not protect a lead against the Red Sox going into the eighth inning on Monday.

 

Every team needs to respond to disappointing losses.

[Bellhorn04]

On the flip side, Seattle has come back to win two games after two gut-wrenching losses in which the Mariners blew a 6-0 lead (then up 6-3 going into the bottom of the ninth) on Sunday and could not protect a lead against the Red Sox going into the eighth inning on Monday.

 

Every team needs to respond to disappointing losses.

 

I tend to agree with Earl Weaver: 'Momentum? Momentum is the next day's starting pitcher.'

[bosoxmal]

And he was the AL Player of the Month for July.

[bosoxmal]

Only one team loses when two opposing pitchers are pitching well. We ar losing thise close games!

[Spudboy]

Only one team loses when two opposing pitchers are pitching well. We ar losing thise close games!

 

This is both profound and apropos.

[Kimmi]

Only one team loses when two opposing pitchers are pitching well. We ar losing thise close games!

 

Our 10 losses since the All Star break have been by a total of 16 runs.

 

That makes for an extremely frustrating stretch, but as I keep saying, it's a better sign for the team than if they were getting beat by larger margins.

[Kimmi]

I tend to agree with Earl Weaver: 'Momentum? Momentum is the next day's starting pitcher.'

 

Weaver had it more or less right. Momentum has no predictive value.

[oldtimer]

Another good pitching performance required in this case to eke out a win in the 11th. A weakened lineup out there with Papi and Hanley out and Brentz in.

[sk7326]

One more win and this 11 game trip ends up "okay".

 

As of right now, the team's season will not end at Game 162. I also think the moves and stuff have left the Sox with a rotation which while not amazing, should give them a competitive start most nights out.

 

The offense issues on this trip don't worry me that much - we are going through 3 historically pitching friendly parks.

[illinoisredsox]

Another good pitching performance required in this case to eke out a win in the 11th. A weakened lineup out there with Papi and Hanley out and Brentz in.

 

Papi hit 3rd and went 1-5 last night.

[bosoxmal]

4 and 4 is not all bad considering the travel, the injuries (although every team has those), and JF's weird lineups. Pedroia has no business in the 4 hole. Consider, he ahd a guy with 22 HRs and 70 RBI leading off and a guy with 12 HR and 46 RBI hitting cleanup.

 

That would be a little bi like, the old Sox having Foxx leading off and Cramer hitting clean up! Yep, going 4 and 4 is not bad.

 

And Papi will get back to his ridiculous normal self when this west coast good bye tour is over.

Edited August 5, 2016 by bosoxmal

[greenwell]

4 and 4 is not all bad considering the travel, the injuries (although every team has those), and JF's weird lineups. Pedroia has no business in the 4 hole. Consider, he ahd a guy with 22 HRs and 70 RBI leading off and a guy with 12 HR and 46 RBI hitting cleanup.

 

That would be a little bi like, the old Sox having Foxx leading off and Cramer hitting clean up! Yep, going 4 and 4 is not bad.

 

And Papi will get back to his ridiculous normal self when this west coast good bye tour is over.

 

Agreed. They scored 24 runs in 8 games and lost both games started by their "Ace". They're lucky to be 4-4.

[Spudboy]

4 and 4 is .500

 

You can't make a move in the standings playing this way.

[mvp 78]

4 and 4 is .500

 

You can't make a move in the standings playing this way.

 

Sure you can! Just don't expect it to be upward movement.