9/04 Rangers @ SOX 1:35PM ET

[Maxbialystock]

Next stop, the Trop. Worst ballpark in MLB with the 3d worst attendance, 14K/game.

[moonslav59]

Next stop, the Trop. Worst ballpark in MLB with the 3d worst attendance, 14K/game.

 

I saw an opening day game there a long time ago, and kinda liked the place.

 

I'm not saying any park is worse, but I enjoyed the game, until the "closer by committee" pen blew the game in the 9th.

[Old Red]

Yes let’s find the negative in a 4 game sweep and 5 game winning streak!!

 

And we’re see the results today.

[vegasbob]

Yes let’s find the negative in a 4 game sweep and 5 game winning streak!!

 

Well, Notin, Cora did not have much to go to today did he? Because the while the team did , in fact, put away the Rangers 4-0, the BP was stressed doing so. That led to a true incompetent thrower named Familia, followed by rookie Kelly, trying to hold a 3-2 lead in the 7th. That was my point . The wins vs Texas did not set us up well going to Tampa. The hitters are part of that mix as well including today in Tampa (13K's out of 27 outs)

[Bellhorn04]

Well, Notin, Cora did not have much to go to today did he? Because the while the team did , in fact, put away the Rangers 4-0, the BP was stressed doing so. That led to a true incompetent thrower named Familia, followed by rookie Kelly, trying to hold a 3-2 lead in the 7th. That was my point . The wins vs Texas did not set us up well going to Tampa. The hitters are part of that mix as well including today in Tampa (13K's out of 27 outs)

 

This year's schedule, with the late start and less off days, exposes thin bullpens even more than normal, I think, Vegas.

[moonslav59]

This year's schedule, with the late start and less off days, exposes thin bullpens even more than normal, I think, Vegas.

 

We had a 13 man staff, all year.

 

The league average for starter IP is 5.2. We went 5.0, so I'm not sure our pen was taxed much more than most.

 

To me, what killed our pen was the need to use Houck and Whitlock as starters, and needing to us "openers" a few times, which really tax a pen. We also had to se Crawford, Wink, Seabold & Bello as SP'ers, when we might have used them more in the pen- perhaps with greater success than they gave us a starters.

 

What's hurt this staff the most was needing to pitch 31 different pitchers- 27 if you take away the 4 everyday players pitching here or there. 22 pitched more than 9 IP, 19 over 20, 17 over 30.

 

I wonder what our ERA+ would be, if any pitcher under #15 in IP did not need to pitch:

 

71 Bello

73 Barnes

72 Robles

64 Ort

96 Valdez

36 Seabold

89 Familia

20 DHern

 

The team ERA+ is 92.

[Maxbialystock]

I saw an opening day game there a long time ago, and kinda liked the place.

 

I'm not saying any park is worse, but I enjoyed the game, until the "closer by committee" pen blew the game in the 9th.

 

I cannot and do not refute your impression because I've never been there. The idiosyncracies of the playing field and roof affect the players, but, then, Fenway has its idiosyncracies too.