8/11 Sox @ O's game 1

[jung]

So does anybody in the area know if playing two on Sunday is realistic as far as the projected weather is concerned?

[moonslav59]

Btw, MOON, your stats are always appreciated.

 

No problem.

 

I've always been super high on Devers...maybe by too much.

[Station 13]

So does anybody in the area know if playing two on Sunday is realistic as far as the projected weather is concerned?

 

Both team have Monday off. I don't think they can play a night game on Sunday with ESPN exclusive time slot.

[FredLynn]

JBJ is nearing the .700 OPS mark after being at .510 on May 12th.

 

He's at .691 now.

 

His improvement began on June 23 or thereabouts. On that date he was hitting .178/.563; in 37 games and 142 PAs since then he has hit .268/.842. Of late he has been hitting the ball to all fields. I think earlier he was trying to pull everything and couldn't catch up to a fastball. Now he is fouling them off if they are not hittable strikes.

Lets hope it continues.

[moonslav59]

So does anybody in the area know if playing two on Sunday is realistic as far as the projected weather is concerned?

 

I looked it up.

 

Sunday: 45-65% chance of rain from 1 pm to 6 pm, then it drops down to 15%-20% afterwards.

[moonslav59]

His improvement began on June 23 or thereabouts. On that date he was hitting .178/.563; in 37 games and 142 PAs since then he has hit .268/.842. Of late he has been hitting the ball to all fields. I think earlier he was trying to pull everything and couldn't catch up to a fastball. Now he is fouling them off if they are not hittable strikes.

Lets hope it continues.

 

Okay, but he was at .167/.510 on May 12th and got up to .200 and .603 at separate times in early June before dipping back down to .178/.563 on June 23rd. Since .510 to .563 is a pretty significant rise, I'd count May 12th as his low point and May 12-June 23 as an improvement, although his numbers were not great in that time frame. They were "good enough", however, and the beef on JBJ has always been he can't stay "good enough" for long periods of time.

 

It's now almost 3 months of decent to good hitting.

[jung]

If you really want to see the greatest LH hitter of all time hit, you need to look at Ted Williams swing. You know what you will find? You will find that Ted had much more of a RH hitters swing only from the LH side of the plate. It was not "pretty" in the sense of pretty LH swings. His stride was short. His hands were quick and always inside the baseball and his swing was shorter than the usual LH hitter's and his bat stayed in the hitting zone longer when compared to the typical LH hitter. His real advantage was that he took a RH hitter's swing to the LH side of the plate where he would see mostly RH pitchers and he perfected that swing.

 

If you see Ted's swing, you will see much more of Mookie than you will see of Beni who's stride is regularly too long, who's swing is regularly too big and who sometimes does not even keep his hands inside the baseball.

 

Want to understand how much of a difference taking a RH hitter's swing and perfecting it from the LH side of the plate made in Ted's performance? Look at Ted's career splits. Not saying taking a RH hitter's swing to the left side of the plate is easy. In fact its darn near impossible. LH hitters struggle with keeping enough top hand in their swings, often realize it then overcompensate. So they are very often going from too little top hand to too much top hand. But the dominance of the bottom hand and the front shoulder is what leads to the LH hitter typically having a prettier swing than the RH hitter. It leads to a longer stride and the combination is generally what is defined as the "pretty" LH hitter swing.

 

Most really good RH hitters do not take the long stride more common to the LH hitter and neither did Ted. The short stride also allowed Ted to generate tremendous power from the lower body which is much harder to do with a long stride. See how much taller Ted stands in the box from beginning to and of his swing than somebody like Beni who sometimes look like an old style drop and drive pitcher throwing because he takes such a long stride in the batter's box.

 

Ted had none of the characteristics of the typical LH hitter other than his swing being just slightly bigger than the typical RH hitter.. But Ted had the advantage of using a great RH hitter's swing from the LH side of the plate. It was a tremendous advantage to Ted who was always going to see more RH pitchers than Left...true today as well assuming a hitter is not platooned. Look at video of Ted's swing and look at his splits. That is all it will take. Remember, the guy had three years hacked out of the middle of his career. It really does not effect the argument other than to imagine what his career totals would have been for hits, HR's and extra base hits had he played those three years.

Edited August 12, 2018 by jung

[vegasbob]

If you really want to see the greatest LH hitter of all time hit, you need to look at Ted Williams swing. You know what you will find? You will find that Ted had much more of a RH hitters swing only from the LH side of the plate. It was not "pretty" in the sense of pretty LH swings. His stride was short. His hands were quick and always inside the baseball and his swing was shorter than the usual LH hitter's and his bat stayed in the hitting zone longer when compared to the typical LH hitter. His real advantage was that he took a RH hitter's swing to the LH side of the plate where he would see mostly RH pitchers and he perfected that swing.

 

If you see Ted's swing, you will see much more of Mookie than you will see of Beni who's stride is regularly too long, who's swing is regularly too big and who sometimes does not even keep his hands inside the baseball.

 

Want to understand how much of a difference taking a RH hitter's swing and perfecting it from the LH side of the plate made in Ted's performance? Look at Ted's career splits. Not saying taking a RH hitter's swing to the left side of the plate is easy. In fact its darn near impossible. LH hitters struggle with keeping enough top hand in their swings, often realize it then overcompensate. So they are very often going from too little top hand to too much top hand. But the dominance of the bottom hand and the front shoulder is what leads to the LH hitter typically having a prettier swing than the RH hitter. It leads to a longer stride and the combination is generally what is defined as the "pretty" LH hitter swing.

 

Most really good RH hitters do not take the long stride more common to the LH hitter and neither did Ted. The short stride also allowed Ted to generate tremendous power from the lower body which is much harder to do with a long stride. See how much taller Ted stands in the box from beginning to and of his swing than somebody like Beni who sometimes look like an old style drop and drive pitcher throwing because he takes such a long stride in the batter's box.

 

Ted had none of the characteristics of the typical LH hitter other than his swing being just slightly bigger than the typical RH hitter.. But Ted had the advantage of using a great RH hitter's swing from the LH side of the plate. It was a tremendous advantage to Ted who was always going to see more RH pitchers than Left...true today as well assuming a hitter is not platooned. Look at video of Ted's swing and look at his splits. That is all it will take. Remember, the guy had three years hacked out of the middle of his career. It really does not effect the argument other than to imagine what his career totals would have been for hits, HR's and extra base hits had he played those three years.

 

This is a very good assessment of Williams's swing. His missed years due to military service, flying jet fighters, was more than significant in determining his place among the great hitters of the 20th century. I feel very lucky to have seen him play in person at Fenway in the 1950's . For various reasons, the Sox could not well compete with the Yankees over this period , and the .200 average in the '46 WS plus two one game playoffs in "48 and '49 robbed him of his place as the best clutch hitter of his time. However Ted Williams did it , I think an influence was that fact he threw right handed and hit left putting strength on his lead hand, plus the launch angle noticeable in his videoed swings makes it obvious how he tried to beat the Boudreau shift. Hit it over their heads , like today's sluggers and would be sluggers. Here's to the leader of the left field legends in Fenway.

[Beaneater]

This was the game that got postponed with the Sox up 5-0, right? I guess that score was just meant to be.

[a700hitter]

This was the game that got postponed with the Sox up 5-0, right? I guess that score was just meant to be.

Good point and Price got his win that he was deprived of.