A Realistic View at 2018: Part II

[kenmeister]

Nice try....... we all know you are sending wraiths at Joe Kelly, don't act all innocent about it.

 

Maybe if he'd stopped being viewed as the backup closer I'd go easier on him. But yeah, maybe my wraiths will put him on the DL when E-Rod comes back ...

[Spudboy]

I'm optimizing my workday today by watching the Sox on my iphone......

 

Every employer loves a multi-tasker!

[dgalehouse]

dgale is a very reasonable fellow.

 

But there's no way it will be a smooth ride to winning the division. It's doable obviously but tough. A smooth ride to winning the wild card, perhaps.

 

Absolutely. The pennant race with N.Y. could be tight. But the wild card is there for the runner up.

[oldtimer]

Enough to give one heart palpitations. Somehow this club clawed back and won the game. Hope for smarter base running and a little more hitting.

[moonslav59]

Starter Numbers:

 

0 ER 14 IP 7 H 3 BB Price (0.00 ERA/ 0.714 WHIP)

1 ER 11 IP 6 H 3 BB Sale (0.82 ERA/0.818 WHIP)

1 ER 6.0IP 6 H 1 BB Johnson (1.50/ 1.333)

1 ER 5.2IP 5 H 1 BB Velazquez (1.59/ 1.059)

1 ER 5.1IP 6 H 1 BB Porcello (1.69/ 1.313)

 

Not one starter with an ERA over 1.70! (Yes, small sample size but still meaningful.)

 

Team starter ERA 0.86

 

WHIP 0.929

 

 

[moonslav59]

Sox OPS

 

.989 Bogey

.952 Betts

.816 HRam

.757 Devers

.666 Nunez

.656 JMart

.650 Swihart

.541 Beni

.534 Vaz

.467 JBJ

.400 Leon

.375 Holt

.100 Moreland

[fxkatt]

No game on Friday. How did that happen? Is this a first? I tried to google the reason, but no dice.

[jacksonianmarch]

It is due to opening day at Fenway. If the game is cancelled, the fans can still go to opening day. They are doing this for all outside park home teams

[oldtimer]

Starter Numbers:

 

0 ER 14 IP 7 H 3 BB Price (0.00 ERA/ 0.714 WHIP)

1 ER 11 IP 6 H 3 BB Sale (0.82 ERA/0.818 WHIP)

1 ER 6.0IP 6 H 1 BB Johnson (1.50/ 1.333)

1 ER 5.2IP 5 H 1 BB Velazquez (1.59/ 1.059)

1 ER 5.1IP 6 H 1 BB Porcello (1.69/ 1.313)

 

Not one starter with an ERA over 1.70! (Yes, small sample size but still meaningful.)

 

Team starter ERA 0.86

 

WHIP 0.929

 

 

 

Lets play a few of the better offensive clubs before we celebrate. Good showing so far but our pitching staff will be tested against the Yankees.

[fxkatt]

It is due to opening day at Fenway. If the game is cancelled, the fans can still go to opening day. They are doing this for all outside park home teams

 

Interesting. thanks. Now, I'll feel less empty tomorrow.

[jacksonianmarch]

Lets play a few of the better offensive clubs before we celebrate. Good showing so far but our pitching staff will be tested against the Yankees.

 

Your staff will be tested going through the AL East outside of TB. Interestingly, when the Rays had Dickerson, Longo, and Morrison, their offense was actually pretty tough.

[moonslav59]

Lets play a few of the better offensive clubs before we celebrate. Good showing so far but our pitching staff will be tested against the Yankees.

 

I'm not "celebrating." but I'm glad we're off to a good start and out pitchers look very good.

 

An 0.86 ERA in 7 games is pretty good no matter who you're facing.

 

Sure, I'm not expecting 0.86 vs the Yanks and Astros, but I doubt their starters go 0.86 vs the Rays and Marlins..

[moonslav59]

Your staff will be tested going through the AL East outside of TB. Interestingly, when the Rays had Dickerson, Longo, and Morrison, their offense was actually pretty tough.

 

The rays almost always do better than most expect.

[Emp9]

The rays almost always do better than most expect.

 

We’ve never faced that Rays pitcher Yonni something or other. More acurate, no MLB team has until today. The Marlins also had a SP the Sox have never faced before this past week as well.

[moonslav59]

We’ve never faced that Rays pitcher Yonni something or other. More acurate, no MLB team has until today. The Marlins also had a SP the Sox have never faced before this past week as well.

 

Those are usually the ones that beat us!

[Emp9]

Those are usually the ones that beat us!

 

Exactly! Could be a contributing factor. At least I’d like to think so.

[S5Dewey]

You can say all you want about the Sox being 6-1 but not having played any "good" teams, and you may be right. However, you have to play the teams on the schedule, and I'm a lot happier with the Sox being 6-1 against weak teams than I would be if they were 1-6 against those same teams.

[a700hitter]

You can say all you want about the Sox being 6-1 but not having played any "good" teams, and you may be right. However, you have to play the teams on the schedule, and I'm a lot happier with the Sox being 6-1 against weak teams than I would be if they were 1-6 against those same teams.

6-1 is great even if we are playing the Bad News Bears.

[moonslav59]

Last year we started off 3-3 with 2 games vs Pitt and 4 vs DET. We won the division.

 

In 2016, we started off 3-4 (2 vs CLE, 3 vs TOR and 2 vs BAL). We won the division.

 

In our championship 2013 season, we started 5-4 (NYY, TOR, BAL)

 

Our 2007 championship season started out at 2-3 and 4-4 (KC & TEX)

 

2004 started out with a 2 and 3 start (BAL & TOR) and 6-5.

 

 

I like being 6-1 with a bunch of tougher teams coming up at some point than being 3-4 with easier teams to play going forwatd.

[Jasonbay44]

6-1 is great even if we are playing the Bad News Bears.

 

This. It doesn't matter if the teams suck, they are MLB teams, it is good news that the Sox are taking care of business against these s*** teams.

[SoxHop]

This. It doesn't matter if the teams suck, they are MLB teams, it is good news that the Sox are taking care of business against these s*** teams.

 

Totally. This is gravy that will help if we are contenders. I have no idea if we are contenders from what we have done so far, but if we are, it helps quite a bit. We all know a win in March is as good as a win in Sept.

 

But....... where the hell is the offense? I'm having flashbacks from last year.

[Nick]

Pretty good start by 25 year old rookie Bobby Poyner, 2015 14th round pick our of Florida. Workman and Scott gives us depth, stashed away in Pawtucket.

 

6 years of team control.

 

Kimmi approves.

Edited April 6, 2018 by Nick

[Bellhorn04]

Pretty good start by 25 year old rookie Bobby Poyner, 2015 14th round pick our of Florida. Workman and Scott gives us depth, stashed away in Pawtucket.

 

6 years of team control.

 

Kimmi approves.

 

Yep, the words '6 years of team control' bring tears of profound, almost inexpressible joy to her eyes.

 

(Just teasing ya, Kimmi.)

[cp176]

Haven't heard a soul complain about our record for sure. Outside of what I think is a damn good pitching staff, I choose to withhold judgement on this bunch until we start playing the teams that the sport's gurus think are the good ones.

[moonslav59]

Pretty good start by 25 year old rookie Bobby Poyner, 2015 14th round pick our of Florida. Workman and Scott gives us depth, stashed away in Pawtucket.

 

6 years of team control.

 

Kimmi approves.

 

We really need fresh infusions like Poyner's.

 

It's nice being 6-1, especially when you consider our full team is still not assembled on the active 25 man roster right now.

 

Yes, we'll be facing tougher competition, but we'll have some vets joining us over the next few days, weeks and months...

 

ERod & Pom

 

Wright, Maddox & Thornburg

 

Pedey & Hernandez

 

AAA depth of Workman, Scott, Elias, Haley, Travis, Lin & others

 

[illinoisredsox]

We’ve never faced that Rays pitcher Yonni something or other. More acurate, no MLB team has until today. The Marlins also had a SP the Sox have never faced before this past week as well.

 

Actually, the Sox saw him Sunday in Tampa, when he pitched the last 4 innings. He gave up 1 hit, a walk and struck out 3 in that one.

 

Kid's got some decent minor league numbers, so he MAY turn out to be a solid pitcher at the major league level. He throws strikes and has throughout his time in the minors. He's always been young for the league he's playing in. Time will tell how good he is, but he seems to have the potential to be a #3 type guy.

[moonslav59]

Actually, the Sox saw him Sunday in Tampa, when he pitched the last 4 innings. He gave up 1 hit, a walk and struck out 3 in that one.

 

Kid's got some decent minor league numbers, so he MAY turn out to be a solid pitcher at the major league level. He throws strikes and has throughout his time in the minors. He's always been young for the league he's playing in. Time will tell how good he is, but he seems to have the potential to be a #3 type guy.

 

One reason why it's hard to automatically discount our success, when we don't really know for sure how good or bad the FLA teams really are.

[illinoisredsox]

One reason why it's hard to automatically discount our success, when we don't really know for sure how good or bad the FLA teams really are.

 

Hope you've been following the postseason exploits of our alma mater. The #1 sign on Grace has been lit up for 2 weeks now. Fencers won the title 2 weeks ago, the women's basketball team beat UConn and Mississippi State on last second shots to win that title last weekend and the hockey team scored with 5 seconds left last night to beat Michigan and advance to the title game Saturday.

[oldtimer]

Haven't heard a soul complain about our record for sure. Outside of what I think is a damn good pitching staff, I choose to withhold judgement on this bunch until we start playing the teams that the sport's gurus think are the good ones.

 

I agree that no one is arguing that the start has been good, but we need to see how well we handle the perceived top teams like Cleveland, the Yankees and the Astros before getting too elated. Our starters and Kimbrel have held up pretty well but and extra hit or two against us and we could well have lost the games we won. I would like to see the hitting get going, as I think it could, before getting any giddy feelingss.

[mvp 78]

6-1 is great even if we are playing the Bad News Bears.

 

Kelly Leak would be the best player on the current Rays roster.