5/1 Kansas City @ Boston

[Bellhorn04]

Cora's attempt to rest players didn't work out so well this time. The team went to extra innings, Betts and Nunez played anyway and the pitching staff was used for extra inning duty. No guarantee our best lineup would have won the game but this is one to remember, regarding the rest strategy. How this works out in the long run is open for discussion.

 

It wasn't really meant to be a 'rest' game for Betts - it was about being careful with his hamstring injury.

[jad]

I don't like Nunez at all, but he hit the game-tying dinger in the 12th and was in the game for his bat.

 

Plus he hit one about 390 to end it as well, no? I've always liked Nunez, and it would be good to see him start hitting like that again.

[jad]

Stats geeks: help me out here. Has anyone ever tried to quantify the virtue of "defensive replacements"? i.e., what are the chances of an opposing player hitting a home run vs. the chances of a ball hit, say, just out of reach of JD, but within the range of Benitendi? (and that matched with the size of the bat replaced). I ask this in all seriousness, because I can't imagine that Gene Stephens ever made a game-saving throw or catch that Williams could not have made. Weren't these classic 'defensive replacement' moves made when games were more or less decided? (it was a matter of resting Williams, not replacing him).

[illinoisredsox]

I can take the physical errors, but the mental errors are killers. Vasquez pulled a couple of bad rocks tonight on the double steal and the catcher's balk. The catcher's balk was a new one for me. I had never seen one of those in person. I'm not sure that I have seen one on TV. I didn't even know what had happened. I thought maybe Smith hadn't come to the set position. The person next to me got the information on a phone call.

 

You still haven’t seen one. I used to ump, a “catcher’s balk” can only happen if the pitcher delivers a pitch when the catcher is out of the catcher’s box. Really the only time it could happen is on an intentional walk (old style) or maybe on a squeeze play.

 

I’m not totally sure what the scoring was on that one but I think it was ruled an error on Vazquez. Box score does not list any balks.

[TylerD]

It wasn't really meant to be a 'rest' game for Betts - it was about being careful with his hamstring injury.

 

Which I am all for. Having Sale out there and playing the dominant game he did this should have been a very winnable game.

[OH FOY]

Last 10 games they played, Vasquez, JBJ , and Lin are 9 for 99 with 5 RBI's. Edited May 2, 2018 by OH FOY!

[moonslav59]

I caught the ending to the game this morning. What a great game, except for coming up short in the end.

 

Kudos to the team for clawing back so many times. It's a shame Sale missed another chance to get a win, but he looked fine.

 

Good to see Beni getting on base more often.

[a700hitter]

You still haven’t seen one. I used to ump, a “catcher’s balk” can only happen if the pitcher delivers a pitch when the catcher is out of the catcher’s box. Really the only time it could happen is on an intentional walk (old style) or maybe on a squeeze play.

 

I’m not totally sure what the scoring was on that one but I think it was ruled an error on Vazquez. Box score does not list any balks.

That was my understanding of a catcher’s balk. It was a risk on intentional walks and why the catcher had to wait until the pitcher released the ball before he stepped out to receive the pitch.

[a700hitter]

JD has been the worst defensive regular OFer in baseball over the past 2 seasons. He’s got a great arm, that isn’t the problem. His range sucks, he takes bad routes and anything over his head he is afraid of hitting the wall.

I’ll have to see more of him, but from what I have seen, he’s nowhere near the train wreck that Hanley was out there, and I ‘d take him over Holt or Swihart in the OF.

[a700hitter]

Lin will go down when Pedroia returns, and it will be deserved.

[jacksonianmarch]

I’ll have to see more of him, but from what I have seen, he’s nowhere near the train wreck that Hanley was out there, and I ‘d take him over Holt or Swihart in the OF.

 

Hanley was a horrible decision in the OF. He was a poor infielder who never played OF before. Martinez is an OFer. He's changed since he hurt his arm

[illinoisredsox]

That was my understanding of a catcher’s balk. It was a risk on intentional walks and why the catcher had to wait until the pitcher released the ball before he stepped out to receive the pitch.

 

That technically is the rule, although it seems like they were pretty lenient on intentional walks at the major league level; the whole point of the balk rule is avoiding decieving the baserunner(s) and there really wasn’t any deception involved on those unless the catcher was going to jump back behind the plate to catch the hitter.

[a700hitter]

That technically is the rule, although it seems like they were pretty lenient on intentional walks at the major league level; the whole point of the balk rule is avoiding decieving the baserunner(s) and there really wasn’t any deception involved on those unless the catcher was going to jump back behind the plate to catch the hitter.

i never saw it called.

[illinoisredsox]

i never saw it called.

 

I just googled “last catcher’s balk in Major League Baseball”. They referenced a game from 2000 when a back-up catcher for the Braves was called for one. But the description sounds like he physically set up outside the catcher’s box, not moved there as the pitch was being delivered (seems like most catchers moved as the arm was coming forward, not necessarily just after release).

 

With the new rule, kind of a moot point.

[jad]

You still haven’t seen one. I used to ump, a “catcher’s balk” can only happen if the pitcher delivers a pitch when the catcher is out of the catcher’s box. Really the only time it could happen is on an intentional walk (old style) or maybe on a squeeze play.

 

I’m not totally sure what the scoring was on that one but I think it was ruled an error on Vazquez. Box score does not list any balks.

 

Wouldn't it have to be an error (or scored as 'interference')? It would be the same scoring that would apply if a regular fielder caught a ball,say, in his hat. (It was kind of silly,because of course, Vasquez' move was automatic--what anyone would do. Sort of like a batter retrieving a foul ball rolling at his feet w/ his bat. Unfortunately, the rule applies, so when a catcher takes his mask off, thefirst thing he has to train himself to do is TOSS it.) I don't think I've ever seen this. Wonder what the call would have been had there been no one on base? Anyone know? Why wouldn't the batter be awarded first?

[Kimmi]

Stats geeks: help me out here. Has anyone ever tried to quantify the virtue of "defensive replacements"? i.e., what are the chances of an opposing player hitting a home run vs. the chances of a ball hit, say, just out of reach of JD, but within the range of Benitendi? (and that matched with the size of the bat replaced). I ask this in all seriousness, because I can't imagine that Gene Stephens ever made a game-saving throw or catch that Williams could not have made. Weren't these classic 'defensive replacement' moves made when games were more or less decided? (it was a matter of resting Williams, not replacing him).

 

The stat geeks at Baseball Prospectus have quantified this to the best of their ability. They have found that "the benefit of late inning defensive replacements is so small that attempting to find superior managers in that regard is nearly impossible."