10/16 ALCS game 3

[Station 13]

Early thread for discussion.

 

They should lit up Keuchel. Didn't Mookie had a 3 homer game off him?

[d-money]

Early thread for discussion.

 

They should lit up Keuchel. Didn't Mookie had a 3 homer game off him?

 

It’s a very pivotal game. Gonna have to be road warriors in order to win this series. Bring those bats!

[Thunder]

I'm so excited for this one! Birthday mojo will be in effect! No way we can lose. Would love to start my 20s with a win. Win. Advance. Repeat. x2

[Slasher9]

grab this bitch by the throat.

WIN.

[Spudboy]

Winning 1 of 2 games in Houston would be huge.

 

I am assuming that the series is 2-2-1-1-1. I do not know.

 

One of these two teams will be World Series Champions.

 

I think the Astros are a better team but I would not be surprised if the Sox prevail.

[Tedballgame]

Winning 1 of 2 games in Houston would be huge.

 

I am assuming that the series is 2-2-1-1-1. I do not know.

 

One of these two teams will be World Series Champions.

 

I think the Astros are a better team but I would not be surprised if the Sox prevail.

Its 2-3-2

[Maxbialystock]

Must win one of three in Houston to get back to Fenway, and this should be doable. Eovaldi vs. Keuchel, a lefty. Keuchel went 6 and gave up 5 to the Sox in September.

 

The very good news is that apparently tomorrow's game begins at 5 and not the expect 8 or later. The Brewers at LA start at 9, which is just fine with me.

 

Eovaldo right now has the most heat of anyone in the Sox rotation. That's good only if he is hitting spots and mixing in breaking stuff. Still, I'm encouraged.

 

Righty bats tomorrow? Kinsler and Nunez for Holt and Devers? Between them Nunez and Kinsler got 3 hits off Keuchel last time. And maybe Vazquez is the new/old regular catcher. Not for Sale, of course.

[Kimmi]

Winning 1 of 2 games in Houston would be huge.

 

I am assuming that the series is 2-2-1-1-1. I do not know.

 

One of these two teams will be World Series Champions.

 

I think the Astros are a better team but I would not be surprised if the Sox prevail.

 

It's 2-3-2. The Sox only have to win 1 out of 3 to get the series back to Fenway. I am confident that will happen, at the very least. I am also feeling pretty good about being able to win 2 out of the 3 in Houston.

[illinoisredsox]

Winning 1 of 2 games in Houston would be huge.

 

I am assuming that the series is 2-2-1-1-1. I do not know.

 

One of these two teams will be World Series Champions.

 

I think the Astros are a better team but I would not be surprised if the Sox prevail.

 

Its 2-3-2

 

 

 

Correct Ted.

 

I don't understand why so many people seem to think it's 2-2-1-1-1. Baseball has never used that rotation. They didn't even use it in the 50s when the only travel that was required most of the time was between the Bronx and Brooklyn. This isn't basketball or hockey, which generally isn't played on consecutive days and therefore allows for travel days. It's also why those postseasons last 2 months.

 

The last time a seven game series didn't use 2-3-2 was during WWII, when war time travel restrictions forced a 3-4 format (was 2-3-2 in 1944 when it was an all St. Louis affair).

[jung]

Correct Ted.

 

I don't understand why so many people seem to think it's 2-2-1-1-1. Baseball has never used that rotation. They didn't even use it in the 50s when the only travel that was required most of the time was between the Bronx and Brooklyn. This isn't basketball or hockey, which generally isn't played on consecutive days and therefore allows for travel days. It's also why those postseasons last 2 months.

 

The last time a seven game series didn't use 2-3-2 was during WWII, when war time travel restrictions forced a 3-4 format (was 2-3-2 in 1944 when it was an all St. Louis affair).

 

I actually had to struggle with why I had it stuck in my head that at one point baseball used a 2-2-1-1-1 formula. In my case I finally remembered it right. it is because I lived through the mid-sixties period of utter attendance failure and everything being thrown on the table by MLB and its media attendants as possible solutions, including going to 2-2-1-1-1 for post season play. It was presented in some way shape or form every year in those years because baseball was really struggling and everything was on the table all the time as a means to solutions.

 

You really want to talk about bad attendance? In two games in Fenway in 1965, the Sox drew 500 paying customers....500!!! I don't care how bad your team is, you start drawing only 500 people to a game and your game has problems. Attendance across baseball was horrible, worse than the year after the strike which is the year everybody talks about as "scary" because MLB thought they might have killed the golden goose. Only the very best teams drew anything at all. I would watch a game in those years and was just too young to understand what was happening. I just knew baseball to be a beautiful game and I just could not understand why there were so many empty seats. Was it me? Was I nuts for loving this game? It was so bad that you started to question why you were so committed to this game if nobody else appeared to be.

 

I think there is every reason to believe that as Magic Johnson and Larry Bird are said to have saved the NBA, it is entirely possible that the 1967 season and the role the Sox played in it saved MLB and even allowed it to get to the strike year that came much later. Slowly MLB started coming back after that enchanted year with the Sox screaming to a finish as the pennant winner. People connected with that team and you did not have to be from New England to connect with it. People connected with the Cardinals as well and after that series, baseball started climbing back. Even the Twins team we beat out for the pennant had developed a following outside of their immediate region. It was a golden year.

 

I don't know if its the same for others of my age. But I was actually embarrassed for thinking MLB had a 2-2-1-1-1 formate at one point. But if you are of my age group and as devoted to baseball as I was from the late 50's through that period, you might also be remembering all of the things that were thrown on the table year after year as possible changes to be made to resolve what was a very serious attendance problem. One of them was going to 2-2-1-1-1 with the age old question of the fairness of 2-3-2 being questioned. The argument that it "should be that way" was often presented as "it ALWAYS should have been that was" and then interpreted as "It had been that way".

 

For the record, I never questioned the fairness of 2-3-2. By the same token that was the main argument being raised. Honestly had to search my memory banks hard for this one. But I actually do appreciate the forum for forcing me to do it.

Edited October 16, 2018 by jung

[S5Dewey]

I'm very optimistic about game 3 after the win in #2. Like many teams, this team often has trouble hitting another team's #1 (or anyone who's 'on' that particular night) but they score runs when they get into the bullpens or when they get deep in the other team's rotation.

 

We've not got Houston's #1 & #2 out of the way so I'm predicting crooked numbers on the scoreboard for the Sox on Tuesday night.

[a700hitter]

5:09 EDT starting time.

[TylerD]

It’s simple. Score 6 runs in the first inning and shut the fans up quick and then go for the jugular

[Fan_since_Boggs]

I feel good about this series--the Red Sox haven't played all that well and yet are 1-1.

[ilredsoxfan]

I actually had to struggle with why I had it stuck in my head that at one point baseball used a 2-2-1-1-1 formula. In my case I finally remembered it right. it is because I lived through the mid-sixties period of utter attendance failure and everything being thrown on the table by MLB and its media attendants as possible solutions, including going to 2-2-1-1-1 for post season play. It was presented in some way shape or form every year in those years because baseball was really struggling and everything was on the table all the time as a means to solutions.

 

You really want to talk about bad attendance? In two games in Fenway in 1965, the Sox drew 500 paying customers....500!!! I don't care how bad your team is, you start drawing only 500 people to a game and your game has problems. Attendance across baseball was horrible, worse than the year after the strike which is the year everybody talks about as "scary" because MLB thought they might have killed the golden goose. Only the very best teams drew anything at all. I would watch a game in those years and was just too young to understand what was happening. I just knew baseball to be a beautiful game and I just could not understand why there were so many empty seats. Was it me? Was I nuts for loving this game? It was so bad that you started to question why you were so committed to this game if nobody else appeared to be.

 

I think there is every reason to believe that as Magic Johnson and Larry Bird are said to have saved the NBA, it is entirely possible that the 1967 season and the role the Sox played in it saved MLB and even allowed it to get to the strike year that came much later. Slowly MLB started coming back after that enchanted year with the Sox screaming to a finish as the pennant winner. People connected with that team and you did not have to be from New England to connect with it. People connected with the Cardinals as well and after that series, baseball started climbing back. Even the Twins team we beat out for the pennant had developed a following outside of their immediate region. It was a golden year.

 

I don't know if its the same for others of my age. But I was actually embarrassed for thinking MLB had a 2-2-1-1-1 formate at one point. But if you are of my age group and as devoted to baseball as I was from the late 50's through that period, you might also be remembering all of the things that were thrown on the table year after year as possible changes to be made to resolve what was a very serious attendance problem. One of them was going to 2-2-1-1-1 with the age old question of the fairness of 2-3-2 being questioned. The argument that it "should be that way" was often presented as "it ALWAYS should have been that was" and then interpreted as "It had been that way".

 

For the record, I never questioned the fairness of 2-3-2. By the same token that was the main argument being raised. Honestly had to search my memory banks hard for this one. But I actually do appreciate the forum for forcing me to do it.

In the mid-sixties, A buddy and me would go to all the Sunday double headers. We would get section 16 grandstand tickets for $2.25. By the second inning of the second game, we could go down and sit in the first or second row between home and first. The ushers did not care.

[Bellhorn04]

For the record, I never questioned the fairness of 2-3-2. By the same token that was the main argument being raised. Honestly had to search my memory banks hard for this one. But I actually do appreciate the forum for forcing me to do it.

 

Here's one for you. In the early days of the LCS, the format was 2-3. Now that was brutal.

[jung]

Here's one for you. In the early days of the LCS, the format was 2-3. Now that was brutal.

 

I don't know why anybody thought 2-3 was a good idea....lazy I think. "Well if we have 2-3-2 for 7 games, isn't 2-3 good enough for 5?" Well NO actually!!!!! Not even close.

 

I prefer to think it was laziness because I just do not want to deal with the knowledge that the powers that be in baseball rationally arrived at 2-3 making a hill of beans of sense.

Edited October 16, 2018 by jung

[greenwell]

Getting some production from Benintendi and JD is key. Houston hits righties much worse than lefties. I expect at least one win from Eovaldi/Porcello

[jacksonianmarch]

The dichotomy is crazy. The Astros are the best hitting team by OPS vs lefties, yet are almost 80 points lower against righties. The sox are the best hitting team by OPS against righties, yet are almost 100 points lower vs lefties. Both teams flip flop the arms on the mound from 2LHP for the sox and 2RHP for the Astros to the other in game 3. Keuchel has an ERA north of 8 against Boston since 2015. Eovaldi had been nails vs the Astros from 2015-2017, but this year, in his only start, he got hit around a bit.

[OH FOY]

Something to feel good about a little today, Keuchel has a 7.50 ERA, and Morton has a 6.97 ERA this year against Boston. Not a lot of games of course, but we hit them when we did face them. If we can win these 1st, 2 games, I like our chances. Morton hasn't pitched in over 2 weeks, has to be a little rusty. Edited October 16, 2018 by OH FOY!

[d-money]

We need to get a good performance from eovaldi. Really need the bats today.

[mvp 78]

Something to feel good about a little today, Keuchel has a 7.50 ERA, and Morton has a 6.97 ERA this year against Boston. Not a lot of games of course, but we hit them when we did face them. If we can win these 1st, 2 games, I like our chances. Morton hasn't pitched in over 2 weeks, has to be a little rusty.

 

Morton also ended the season poorly and there was a growing concern over injury/overuse.

[Slasher9]

we are going to steamroll them today.

double digits.

[TylerD]

f*** sakes gonna miss the game. Working. Hate the late afternoon start times

[kenmeister]

We need to get a good performance from eovaldi. Really need the bats today.

 

If he's on, he's our best starter, and I say he's going to be on. Let's go Sox!!!

[dgalehouse]

We are now getting into Houston's lesser pitchers. Keuchel can be had. So can Morton. The Astros are ready to be taken. The question is; who will take the hill for Boston ? Dr. Eovaldi or Mr. Hyde ? If it's Dr. Eovaldi, the Sox may romp.

[Maxbialystock]

f*** sakes gonna miss the game. Working. Hate the late afternoon start times

 

Well, I love a 5:09 start time and hate an 8 pm start time. I might miss watching part of this game, but can listen on my iphone.

[Maxbialystock]

The dichotomy is crazy. The Astros are the best hitting team by OPS vs lefties, yet are almost 80 points lower against righties. The sox are the best hitting team by OPS against righties, yet are almost 100 points lower vs lefties. Both teams flip flop the arms on the mound from 2LHP for the sox and 2RHP for the Astros to the other in game 3. Keuchel has an ERA north of 8 against Boston since 2015. Eovaldi had been nails vs the Astros from 2015-2017, but this year, in his only start, he got hit around a bit.

 

I believe in the righty-lefty thing--that it favors the hitter--but not devoutly. In the end so much depends on execution by the starter. If he has a good changeup, that's a leveler. Good fastball well placed is too. And, if he is a lefty against righties, even a sharp breaking curve or slider can work.

 

As for Eovaldi vs. Houston, he did get tagged for 4 solo dingers on June 20. Awful. But he faced the Yankees 3 times for 16 innings in Aug-Sep without giving up any dingers. He pitched 20 innings in September without any dingers. So there is hope.

 

If there is a theme to the Sox pitching in this postseason, it just might be, keep the ball in the park. Worked great in Yankee Stadium and was maybe why the Sox gave up 15 walks in the first two ALCS games. Sale and Price together gave up 8--4 apiece.

[vegasbob]

Getting some production from Benintendi and JD is key. Houston hits righties much worse than lefties. I expect at least one win from Eovaldi/Porcello

 

You are correct in highlighting the 2 guys that can back up a hot bat by Betts. Other than his early 3 run homer vs NYY, JDM has been quiet, K'ing too much and hesitant vs the tough pitching by Houston.

[TylerD]

Well, I love a 5:09 start time and hate an 8 pm start time. I might miss watching part of this game, but can listen on my iphone.

 

Ya that’s a good point! Work is slow. I’ll just stream it on the computer lol.