8/3 Benintendi Hype Train vs Seattle

[Jasonbay44]

Cool, Baltimore and Toronto both won again today, looks like were gonna lose more ground.

 

Porcello with another solid start at least.

[Station 13]

Man, this team has been treading water for a long time now. Even with old Dombro making moves, with Porcello pitching great and E-Rod making a nice comeback. Something gets better but at the same time something gets worse, in an equal and opposite reaction...

 

We've been playing short with no LF, and 3 broken relievers for 2 month.

[Jasonbay44]

Last month Seattle and Toronto swapped Drew Storen and Joaquin Benoit in a trade of struggling once-dominant relievers.

 

That explains it then. I swore Storen was on Toronto earlier this year and didn't remember hearing anything about a trade.

[Slasher9]

Ok. Time for runs. Stop playing and start.....playing!

[SoxHop]

Porcello is sure making the first year of the extension look like a brilliant move........

 

Of course after making us all bat s*** crazy mad last year thinking the whole contract was a dumpster fire...

[Jasonbay44]

Porcello is sure making the first year of the extension look like a brilliant move........

 

Of course after making us all bat s*** crazy mad last year thinking the whole contract was a dumpster fire...

 

Yeah, Porcello was a move that I was wrong about. Wasn't a fan of him or the extension, but he's changed my mind and shut me up.

[Jasonbay44]

This dude pitching (Diaz) is absolutely filthy

[mvp 78]

Pinch hit for Leon.

[mvp 78]

Poop

[SoxHop]

Looks like we are going to have to take care of business when we play Toronto and the O's head to head...

[Slasher9]

Fudge

[d-money]

f***ing pitiful. This team wants to dig a hole for itself. Porcello tried his best but it wasn't good enough. This team needs to start f***ing winning games and not splitting them. Now pomeranz has to come up big tomorrow for this team. He's still looking for his first win.

[a700hitter]

The Seattle manager managed the end of the game the way it should have been managed. With one out in the 8th inning with his pitcher hurling a shutout and at 97 pitches in a 3-0 game, he yanked the starter after the #9 hitter got a base hit. He didn't wait for the game to get out of hand. His bullpen had a margin for error which it needed and they locked down the win. It was the antithesis of what Farrell did the night before when he gave away the game. Maybe the dope took some notes. Edited August 4, 2016 by a700hitter

[Station 13]

Ugly. This team can't win close games, and they also give them away at the same time.

[d-money]

The Seattle manager managed the end of the game the way it should have been managed. With one out in the 8th inning with his pitcher hurling a shutout and at 97 pitches in a 3-0 game, he yanked the starter after the #9 hitter got a base hit. He didn't wait for the game to get out of hand. His bullpen had a margin for error which it needed and they locked down the win. It was the antithesis of what Farrell did the nigh before when he gave away the game. Maybe the dope took some notes.

 

2-1's better then 1-2 heading into the 4th game with pomeranz. Pomeranz needs to come up big tomorrow for us.

[moonslav59]

I was hoping Beni got up with 2 on.

 

Oh well.

 

Tough loss.

[Nick]

Benintendi looks to be a professional hitter.....Bryce Brentz? Come on.....Brock Holt?..

Maybe we should send hom down for couple of weeks to get him some more at bats.

He will be fine....he even looks good striking out.

[harmony]

f***ing pitiful. This team wants to dig a hole for itself. Porcello tried his best but it wasn't good enough. This team needs to start f***ing winning games and not splitting them. Now pomeranz has to come up big tomorrow for this team. He's still looking for his first win.

Drew Pomeranz is 3-0 lifetime against the Seattle Mariners with a 1.21 ERA in 11 appearances, including two starts, covering 22.1 innings:

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=pomerdr01&year=Career&t=p

[mvp 78]

The Seattle manager managed the end of the game the way it should have been managed. With one out in the 8th inning with his pitcher hurling a shutout and at 97 pitches in a 3-0 game, he yanked the starter after the #9 hitter got a base hit. He didn't wait for the game to get out of hand. His bullpen had a margin for error which it needed and they locked down the win. It was the antithesis of what Farrell did the night before when he gave away the game. Maybe the dope took some notes.

100%

[mvp 78]

Do you guys think putting Benintendi 9th is the best slot for him? I know Farrell said that he wants Beni hitting right before Betts, but I think my line up (if Hanley is out) would be:

Betts

Pedey

Bogaerts

Ortiz

JBJ

Hill

Shaw

Beni

Leon

 

I'm only putting Hill up that high because I didn't want the lineup to go 3 straight lefties Ortiz-JBJ-Shaw.

 

If Farrell used this lineup, switching Pedey with Holt, Beni would have had a 4th at bat.

[Kimmi]

Our offense is moribund.

 

On this road trip, our offense is averaging 3 runs/game.

 

OTOH, our pitching has an ERA of 2.88. Go figure.

 

Another fine pitching performance gone to waste.

[Kimmi]

As for Porcello, last time out was his best start. Thankfully, he got to pitch against a AAAA lineup that also featured Mike Trout. Seattle has the 3rd most HR's in all of MLB, but is middle 3rd for most other batting stats. Key will be not giving up the long ball. Porcello has not given up a HR over his previous 3 starts. If he can continue that trend, the Sox should win this one.

 

Good call, but you jinxed him.

[Kimmi]

Looks like we are going to have to take care of business when we play Toronto and the O's head to head...

 

We have 9 games left with the Os and 6 games left with the Jays, so we just need to stay within striking distance.

 

Unfortunately, we have losing records against both of them.

[mvp 78]

Good call, but you jinxed him.

 

There's no such thing.

 

Here: the Sox will win another WS in our lifetimes!

 

I just jinxed all of us! We're screwed!

[Bellhorn04]

There's no such thing.

 

Here: the Sox will win another WS in our lifetimes!

 

I just jinxed all of us! We're screwed!

 

So this game thread mojo thing is all a crock too.

[mvp 78]

So this game thread mojo thing is all a crock too.

 

No, that's the one thing that is real. Everything else is an illusion.

[Maxbialystock]

100%

 

Really? You guys should do a little fact-checking now and then. At 97 pitches Iwakura was already over his average of 91 pitches/per game. He has thrown more than 97 pitchers in 4 of his 22 starts, and when he did he threw 98, 98, 100, and 102 pitches. This explains why the bullpen was already warmed up. The Seattle manager was fully ready to pull the trigger. Price, on the other hand, thrives on throwing over 100 pitches. His 8th innings are his 4th best innings, especially when he is going great guns as he was Tuesday night.

 

And, as I pointed out before, when Barnes came in with the score 4-2, Boston, with men on 1st and 2d, the situation was way better than the night before when Ross came in with the Sox down 1-0 and men on 2d and 3d with 1 out. The difference which you two keep ignoring is that Ross did his job and struck out 2 to end the inning. Then Hill homered and then so did Betts to win the game in the 9th. Tuesday night Barnes did his job, but Abad did not. I sometimes think you guys have a simple rule--if the Sox lose, Farrell must have done something wrong because it's rarely the fault of the players. Speaking of which, how come the Sox got nothing off Iwakuma whose ERA before the game was over 4? We had 7 hits and 2 of them were by a guy who was facing MLB pitching for the first time in his life. Our team RISP was 0 for 5, and we had 8 K's and 0 walks.

 

To remind: I do believe managers are accountable for wins and losses and that the front office is always entitled to fire a manager if they believe the team is winning fewer games than they should with the talent they have. I was in favor of firing Farrell last year for exactly that reason. But this year I like the winning record. On the other hand, I think this team has enough talent right now to get into the playoffs. If they don't, it's on Farrell. My goodness, management made the gutsy decision to move up Benintendi even though Holt wasn't gawdawful, and it looks like he just might be ready to contribute. But the Sox still lost another one. Remember, it's not just a bad road trip. The homestand beforehand was also bad--4-5 at Fenway, including splitting with the Twins and losing all 3 to the Tigers. Whether or not Farrell is making good decisions on pitching, this team right now is adrift.

[a700hitter]

Really? You guys should do a little fact-checking now and then. At 97 pitches Iwakura was already over his average of 91 pitches/per game. He has thrown more than 97 pitchers in 4 of his 22 starts, and when he did he threw 98, 98, 100, and 102 pitches. This explains why the bullpen was already warmed up. The Seattle manager was fully ready to pull the trigger. Price, on the other hand, thrives on throwing over 100 pitches. His 8th innings are his 4th best innings, especially when he is going great guns as he was Tuesday night.

 

And, as I pointed out before, when Barnes came in with the score 4-2, Boston, with men on 1st and 2d, the situation was way better than the night before when Ross came in with the Sox down 1-0 and men on 2d and 3d with 1 out. The difference which you two keep ignoring is that Ross did his job and struck out 2 to end the inning. Then Hill homered and then so did Betts to win the game in the 9th. Tuesday night Barnes did his job, but Abad did not. I sometimes think you guys have a simple rule--if the Sox lose, Farrell must have done something wrong because it's rarely the fault of the players. Speaking of which, how come the Sox got nothing off Iwakuma whose ERA before the game was over 4? We had 7 hits and 2 of them were by a guy who was facing MLB pitching for the first time in his life. Our team RISP was 0 for 5, and we had 8 K's and 0 walks.

 

To remind: I do believe managers are accountable for wins and losses and that the front office is always entitled to fire a manager if they believe the team is winning fewer games than they should with the talent they have. I was in favor of firing Farrell last year for exactly that reason. But this year I like the winning record. On the other hand, I think this team has enough talent right now to get into the playoffs. If they don't, it's on Farrell. My goodness, management made the gutsy decision to move up Benintendi even though Holt wasn't gawdawful, and it looks like he just might be ready to contribute. But the Sox still lost another one. Remember, it's not just a bad road trip. The homestand beforehand was also bad--4-5 at Fenway, including splitting with the Twins and losing all 3 to the Tigers. Whether or not Farrell is making good decisions on pitching, this team right now is adrift.

Farrell did not stop the bleeding. He let the inning spiral out of control. His team lost the game. He gets paid to know when to pull the trigger and get the starter out of the game. He is supposed to apply his knowledge of the his pitcher taking into account the game situation. He is not paid to apply a formula that tells him when to take out the pitcher. In that case, we could replace Farrell with a trained monkey.

[mvp 78]

Farrell did not stop the bleeding. He let the inning spiral out of control. His team lost the game. He gets paid to know when to pull the trigger and get the starter out of the game. He is supposed to apply his knowledge of the his pitcher taking into account the game situation. He is not paid to apply a formula that tells him when to take out the pitcher. In that case, we could replace Farrell with a trained monkey.

 

100%

[Maxbialystock]

Farrell did not stop the bleeding. He let the inning spiral out of control. His team lost the game. He gets paid to know when to pull the trigger and get the starter out of the game. He is supposed to apply his knowledge of the his pitcher taking into account the game situation. He is not paid to apply a formula that tells him when to take out the pitcher. In that case, we could replace Farrell with a trained monkey.

 

Again, thanks for your civility. I think we come from different perspectives. I don't think managers win or lose games to the degree that players do. I also assume the every manager in MLB has access to better information/stats and better advice (pitching coach, bench coach) and has more experience than any of us. I therefore assume every decision is reasonable regardless of the outcome.

 

But there is another school of thought that believes outcomes are the only basis for evaluating a manager. I believe that's true in terms of the overall performance of a team. If they are underperforming, the front office has every right to consider getting a new manager, which is exactly what Sox management did after the September 2011 debacle.

 

However, I must add that, when Francona was the manager and I was on that other site, Francona was basically blamed for every single loss to Sox had--by some fans, anyway. Those fans assumed that good managers don't lose, period, as preposterous as that sounds. After every loss, without exception, there would be a few who said, "Francona should have done this or that." It is because of that experience that these days I tend to defend the manager on specific decisions even when I agree that overall wins and losses should determine his fate.

Edited August 5, 2016 by Maxbialystock