Orioles (Kremer) vs Red Sox (Pivetta): 9/11/24, 7:10pm

[FredLynn]

27 minutes ago, Tedballgame said:

.253 average, 17 homers, 69 RBI, 15 SB, great defense in CF, good defense at SS and 2B. What are you talking about? He is more than major league ready. Is he perfect? No, but he shoiuldn't be in the minors. I don't know what you are watching?

 

 

 

 

We aren’t going to be competitive for years. When we are we need someone in CF who has some idea of the strike zone. 
send him down now and to start next year 

[vegasbob]

Sox may be the one team in MLB who are at a distinct disadvantage with no outs and a man on 2nd, or even third in extra innings.  Orioles convert immediately on a bouncer because their hitter made contact

[Tedballgame]

Horrible AB by Devers.

[FredLynn]

7 minutes ago, Tedballgame said:

Thats not happening.

But it should 

And Devers should take the rest of the year off

[Brock Beauchamp]

WHAAAATTTTTTTTT

[FredLynn]

Maybe we’ll keep TO

[FredLynn]

4 minutes ago, Tedballgame said:

Horrible AB by Devers.

He’s hurt

There’s no point in playing him

[Tedballgame]

Not a solo homer!!!!!!!

[vegasbob]

T.O. with a multi-run HR and walkoff.  Well, it is why we all keep coming back for more.   

 

[FredLynn]

1 minute ago, vegasbob said:

T.O. with a multi-run HR and walkoff.  Well, it is why we all keep coming back for more.   

 

We keep coming back for more because we are all die hards

[Maxbialystock]

46 minutes ago, Tedballgame said:

.253 average, 17 homers, 69 RBI, 15 SB, great defense in CF, good defense at SS and 2B. What are you talking about? He is more than major league ready. Is he perfect? No, but he shoiuldn't be in the minors. I don't know what you are watching?

 

 

 

 

Ahem.  Fred Lynn doesn't like anybody or anything this season.  He reminds me of a scene from the Mary Tyler Moore show decades ago.  They put on a play or were involved in one, and a theater critic panned it.   

Murray informs everyone that the critic, very much like Fred Lynn, pans everything.  He then tells them that about 3 years earlier Richard Burton came to town to play Hamlet.  Mary says/asks, "he didn't like Richard Burton??!!!"  And Murray answers, "he didn't even like the play."  

[Maxbialystock]

2 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

We keep coming back for more because we are all die hards

What's this "we" stuff, paleface?  You come back for one reason only--to pronounce this team as dead, deader, and deadest.  Die hards actually believe something good could happen.  You never do.  

[Maxbialystock]

6 minutes ago, Tedballgame said:

Not a solo homer!!!!!!!

Funny.  Excellent.  

[Tedballgame]

Almost have to bring back O'Neill. 30+ homer guys don't grow on trees. Especially right handed hitters.

[moonslav59]

TIP O'Neill with the megabomb!

WOW!!!

[Maxbialystock]

6 hours ago, dgalehouse said:

Yes. A lot of factors go into putting together a winning team. With the Sox, and everything else being the same as it is,  I think just having a better bullpen would have made a big difference. 

I think you could very well be right.  The hitting has dropped off, but it's also had some good periods.  Same goes for the rotation.   Same even goes for the defense.  But the bullpen has been weak for most of this season.  

So I can't resist saying this:  in the offseason Breslow committed $17M for Sale to pitch for the Braves and $19M for Giolito to pitch for the Sox.  Net pitching for the Sox:  zero IP. 

So just imagine that $36M had been spent on quality relief pitchers.  

[Maxbialystock]

29 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

Aside from Rafeala's awful chasing in the 9th, Story is predictably stuck somewhere in Spring Training mode. 

But not his defense.  I have serious doubts about his hitting, but not his defense. 

I have fewer doubts about Rafaela's hitting even though he has an incredible repertoire of swings that miss and miss badly.   He bats 9th in most games and has 70 rbi's, just 11 behind team leader Devers' 81.    I think Rafaels is Sox best outfielder and second best SS after Story.  

[FredLynn]

18 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

What's this "we" stuff, paleface?  You come back for one reason only--to pronounce this team as dead, deader, and deadest.  Die hards actually believe something good could happen.  You never do.  

I’m a realist. You’re what we call a “bonnethead”. 
Bonnetheads only see the unrealistically positive. They aren’t real fans because they aren’t objective.

Paleface

[Maxbialystock]

Heckuva, heckuva win--the game and the series and against the 83-63 Orioles,  The three best W-L records in the AL are the Guardians (84-62), the Yankees (83-62) and the Orioles--a very tight shot group.

So the Sox are still alive for the 3d wild card despite the fact that the Twins just took their series against the lousy Angels with a 6-4 win.  Next up for them are 3 vs the Reds and then 4 @ Cleveland and 3 right here in Fenway Park, where the Sox have a big edge.  Oh, wait.  No, you wait.  If the Sox are still in it come September 20, the fans will be at the Fens and the Sox will take the series.    

 

[vegasbob]

29 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

I think you could very well be right.  The hitting has dropped off, but it's also had some good periods.  Same goes for the rotation.   Same even goes for the defense.  But the bullpen has been weak for most of this season.  

So I can't resist saying this:  in the offseason Breslow committed $17M for Sale to pitch for the Braves and $19M for Giolito to pitch for the Sox.  Net pitching for the Sox:  zero IP. 

So just imagine that $36M had been spent on quality relief pitchers.  

Yes, it is highly offensive to see how the pitching "investment/disinvestment"  results turned out. Almost all negative outcomes.

Breslow seriously needs to get much smarter or luckier in building this staff for 2025 .  With the maturing of the young guys, plus maybe a season of Story,  Giolito by mid-year,   this team should be looking down on Royals/Tigers/twins etc.    Not staring up their tailpipes wishing and hoping. Wishing and hoping is not a strategy.

[Maxbialystock]

14 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

I’m a realist. You’re what we call a “bonnethead”. 
Bonnetheads only see the unrealistically positive. They aren’t real fans because they aren’t objective.

Paleface

Go ahead and say bonehead.  I've certainly earned it here and there.  

When you say you're a realist, I think you don't understand the true nature of MLB.  Good teams can go sour for no apparent reason and so-so teams can get hot.  The 2021 Sox, just 3 seasons ago, has a terrific first half, 55-36 before the ASG, and lackluster 2d half, 37-34,  Then they beat the Yankees and Cole in the wild card and the 100 win Rays in the ALDS before going down to the Astros in the ALCS.  

The 2011 Sox, on the other hand, came into September @ 83-52 and ended up 90-72 and out of the playoffs--and the Sox fired Francona.  

I've already said the odds are against the Sox getting to the playoffs.  The Sox are 4 games behind the Twins for the 3d slot and 1 behind the Tigers--and the Mariners are right behind or even with the Sox depending on how their game with the Padres goes.  Plus the bullpen has given away games right and left, the hitting is suspect, etc.  

 

[Maxbialystock]

26 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

I’m a realist. You’re what we call a “bonnethead”. 
Bonnetheads only see the unrealistically positive. They aren’t real fans because they aren’t objective.

Paleface

Realism is tricky when you're talking about baseball.  Realism says no way, no how do the Sox come back from 3 down to the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS.  Or that--going the other way--no way, no how do the Sox not get to the postseason in 2011 when they started September with an 83-52 record (but finished out of the postseason with a final record of 90-72). Or how about just 3 years ago when the Sox crept into the wild card game against the Yankees and Gerrit Cole--and not only won that game but the ALDS against the 100 win Rays?

I do not for a moment minimize the Sox issues in the bullpen or all the competition right now--4 games behind the Twins, 1 behind Tigers, and maybe even with the Mariners--for the 3d wild card slot.  

On the other hand, the Sox just took 2/3 from the very good Orioles.  Just ahead are the even better Yankees, so maybe the Sox will get crushed.  And maybe they won't.  

[FredLynn]

1 hour ago, Maxbialystock said:

Go ahead and say bonehead.  I've certainly earned it here and there.  

When you say you're a realist, I think you don't understand the true nature of MLB.  Good teams can go sour for no apparent reason and so-so teams can get hot.  The 2021 Sox, just 3 seasons ago, has a terrific first half, 55-36 before the ASG, and lackluster 2d half, 37-34,  Then they beat the Yankees and Cole in the wild card and the 100 win Rays in the ALDS before going down to the Astros in the ALCS.  

The 2011 Sox, on the other hand, came into September @ 83-52 and ended up 90-72 and out of the playoffs--and the Sox fired Francona.  

I've already said the odds are against the Sox getting to the playoffs.  The Sox are 4 games behind the Twins for the 3d slot and 1 behind the Tigers--and the Mariners are right behind or even with the Sox depending on how their game with the Padres goes.  Plus the bullpen has given away games right and left, the hitting is suspect, etc.  

 

I’m not calling you a bonehead. You’re a diehard Red Sox fan like all of us-including me. We’ve been watching this team for decades. But if you’re going to comment on my analysis of the team I feel free to comment on your analysis. You’re wrong about the team still being in the WC race. Maybe we aren’t yet mathematically eliminated but we aren’t in the race-REALISTICALLY. Wishing it were so doesn’t make it so. The team is dead in the water. Again. 
And it’s getting old.

[mvp 78]

Good win. Still 4 games back. ‘22 and ‘23 squads would’ve lost this game/series though. This team has a good amount of fight. 

[Bellhorn04]

12 hours ago, FredLynn said:

I disagree. He needs more minor league seasoning to improve his K zone recognition. He shouldn’t be rewarded for his incompetence by playing in the ML.

As you can see Fred, no one here agrees with you.  If you can't find anyone who agrees with you in the slightest, it probably means you're wrong.  Especially since vegasbob and Tedballgame are the diametric opposite of bonnetheads. 

Of course I fully realize this will only inspire you to even more posts about Rafaela's K zone recognition, because that's how you roll.

[mvp 78]

27 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

As you can see Fred, no one here agrees with you.  If you can't find anyone who agrees with you in the slightest, it probably means you're wrong. 

And I fully realize this will only inspire you to even more posts about Rafaela's K zone recognition, because that's how you roll.

We've known for the past few years that Rafaela's k zone recognition would look like this. I don't think sending him back to AAA would fix anything. He's a guy who is going to go up there and take a few healthy swings. That's why he's unlikely to have a higher than 750 OPS. 

[Bellhorn04]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

We've known for the past few years that Rafaela's k zone recognition would look like this. I don't think sending him back to AAA would fix anything. He's a guy who is going to go up there and take a few healthy swings. That's why he's unlikely to have a higher than 750 OPS. 

Right, as you have said, they've already tried to get him to be more selective, but he is who he is.  Going to Worcester to face lesser pitching won't do anything but inflate his numbers.

As he is he's a plus player.  

[mvp 78]

When he's tried to be more patient in AA/AAA, he just fell behind in the count and had worse OPS. It might not be what you want, but he needs to take his hacks. 

[FredLynn]

4 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

We've known for the past few years that Rafaela's k zone recognition would look like this. I don't think sending him back to AAA would fix anything. He's a guy who is going to go up there and take a few healthy swings. That's why he's unlikely to have a higher than 750 OPS. 

I'd trade him then. We don't need another JBJ on the team. 

[FredLynn]

4 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Right, as you have said, they've already tried to get him to be more selective, but he is who he is.  Going to Worcester to face lesser pitching won't do anything but inflate his numbers.

As he is he's a plus player.  

No, he's a plus DEFENDER. Just like JBJ.