8/26 vs the KC Masterpiece

[Maxbialystock]

Pretty clear box score. Wright gave up walks and 2 dingers in the 1st for 5 runs and the Royals only scored 1 in the next 8 innings.

 

The Sox meanwhile had 15 hit and a slew of baserunners but only 3 runs. Ortiz left 7 runners on, Leon 8, and Bradley 6. That's a lot of LOBsters for anyone not in Maine.

 

So my version of the game is that four guys--Wright, Ortiz, Leon, and Bradley--took a blood oath to make sure the Royals would win at least one game in the friendly confines of Fenway. Except for Tazawa, who has become the Wreck of the Hesperus, everyone else was trying to win this game. Even Bad Wright's twin brother Good Wright went 5 scoreless innings.

 

If you stuck around for the bottom of the 9th, you saw the game in microcosm. Pedroia and Bogaerts lead off with singles. Ortiz hits a perfect GIDP ball for a couple more LOBsters. Betts, who prefers steak, gets a hit and drives home Bogaerts. Ramirez gets on. And Leon, thrilled at the prospect of 8 Lobsters, grounds routinely to 2B for the 3d out.

[Navafan29]

Pretty clear box score. Wright gave up walks and 2 dingers in the 1st for 5 runs and the Royals only scored 1 in the next 8 innings.

 

The Sox meanwhile had 15 hit and a slew of baserunners but only 3 runs. Ortiz left 7 runners on, Leon 8, and Bradley 6. That's a lot of LOBsters for anyone not in Maine.

 

So my version of the game is that four guys--Wright, Ortiz, Leon, and Bradley--took a blood oath to make sure the Royals would win at least one game in the friendly confines of Fenway. Except for Tazawa, who has become the Wreck of the Hesperus, everyone else was trying to win this game. Even Bad Wright's twin brother Good Wright went 5 scoreless innings.

 

If you stuck around for the bottom of the 9th, you saw the game in microcosm. Pedroia and Bogaerts lead off with singles. Ortiz hits a perfect GIDP ball for a couple more LOBsters. Betts, who prefers steak, gets a hit and drives home Bogaerts. Ramirez gets on. And Leon, thrilled at the prospect of 8 Lobsters, grounds routinely to 2B for the 3d out.

 

If you think about it, the loss was unlucky. Wright wouldn't have done bad in the 1st if he had normal playing time, which wouldn't have happened if it weren't for his unlucky injury.

 

The Red Sox's performance with the bases loaded this year proves my point about why it's good to treat clutch as a real thing - at the very least in the sense of "clutch hitter = not doing worse when pressure is on". In the game of baseball, a team doesn't win by getting more hits. A team wins by getting more hits when it counts than the other team. So if doing what actually wins ball games from an offensive standpoint has zero unique skill to it and is mostly random, then baseball feels like a gimmick. I think we can all agree that the Red Sox are at least doing something wrong this season with the bases loaded, and that it isn't only random chance that their hits are coming a lot less when they really need them. What they may need to do is what I do to hit well in the clutch in MLB video games - let the pressure increase your heart rate and cause extreme focus on the strategy of "if X pitch happens, do Y" that hitting requires, and ignore the specifics of the situation, except knowing that a flawless AB is necessary.

[Bellhorn04]

I blame these last 3 losses on 700hitter. He said whenever Pedroia is hitting we're scoring a lot of runs. Guess not.

[a700hitter]

I blame these last 3 losses on 700hitter. He said whenever Pedroia is hitting we're scoring a lot of runs. Guess not.

i'll take the blame. I can't understand how Pedroia and Betts were on base 10 times in 10 ABs and we only scored 3 runs. In this case, the term anomaly would not be over used .

[Maxbialystock]

Anomaly is a good word. Hopeful.

[TylerD]

Well Price is up next so...... here's hoping... He's been pretty good as of late

[Youk Of The Nation]

Bump for chronological order