Red Sox (Gray) vs. Guardians (Messick): 5/30/26, 4:10pm

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

For the love of God and everything that's holy, IKF is nearing .800!

He said earlier this week he was playing for his life. I guess he meant it.

[jad]

Wow.  I watched the first 6 or 7 innings, and that looked like a loss all the way.    But yeah, the non-HR call was completely mysterious; the damn ball disappeared over the wall and bounced back.  Unless there was something completely screwed up about the video, I don't see how they could possibly have called that a 2b.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

23 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

What's the sense in painting a yellow line on the top of the fence if it has no significance? 

Purple, green, polka dots -- it doesn't matter what color it's painted.

If the ball clears a fence, whether it's chainlink gray or monster green, it's a home run. If it hits the top of the wall and goes over, it's gone. If it hits the top and bounces back, it's not. 

In driveway ball, if it goes in the air over a parked car across the street, it's a double. Over the lowest wire between the telephone poles is a triple. Over the highest wire is four bags -- every time.

 

At first I thought hitting the yellow line was a HR, but soon found out that wasn't the case. So I'm with you; I have no idea why that yellow line is there, except for decorative reasons.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

2 minutes ago, jad said:

Wow.  I watched the first 6 or 7 innings, and that looked like a loss all the way.    But yeah, the non-HR call was completely mysterious; the damn ball disappeared over the wall and bounced back.  Unless there was something completely screwed up about the video, I don't see how they could possibly have called that a 2b.

It did hit the yellow line which apparently has no significance whatsoever.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

12 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Boston scored 17 in Baltimore and now 10 in Cleveland. It's a shame Fenway's not a hitter's ballpark.

My bad. They only scored 9 today.

[moonslav59]

Sonny Gray is now 6-1. The team is 7-3 in his starts. The Sox are 17-30 (.362 winning %) in games he does not start.

[moonslav59]

14 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

He said earlier this week he was playing for his life. I guess he meant it.

It now looks like Durbin is too. (5 for his last 12.)

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

Sonny Gray is now 6-1. The team is 7-3 in his starts. The Sox are 17-30 (.362 winning %) in games he does not start.

Are you talking Cy Young here, Moon? 😅 

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Are you talking Cy Young here, Moon? 😅 

I'm talking him saving us from a 2020 winning percent.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 minute ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Are you talking Cy Young here, Moon? 😅 

Obviously, the starting pitching isn't the problem.

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Are you talking Cy Young here, Moon? 😅 

Remember the talk about how Brez was an idiot to view him as a #2?

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Just now, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Obviously, the starting pitching isn't the problem.

And neither is the defense. That narrows it down.

[moonslav59]

38 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

And neither is the defense. That narrows it down.

Yup.... the owner.

[illinoisredsox]

1 hour ago, jad said:

Wow.  I watched the first 6 or 7 innings, and that looked like a loss all the way.    But yeah, the non-HR call was completely mysterious; the damn ball disappeared over the wall and bounced back.  Unless there was something completely screwed up about the video, I don't see how they could possibly have called that a 2b.

 

1 hour ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

At first I thought hitting the yellow line was a HR, but soon found out that wasn't the case. So I'm with you; I have no idea why that yellow line is there, except for decorative reasons.

 

1 hour ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

It did hit the yellow line which apparently has no significance whatsoever.

The yellow line is whatever the ground rules of the park says it is.  For example, at Fenway there is a vertical yellow line in left center which shows the rightmost part of the Green Monster.  A ball that hits right of that line is a home run.  A ball that hits the line or left of the line is in play.

Most of the time, yellow lines signify in play and are there to help the umps determine over the fence or not.  And let’s be realistic, an ump is running out trying to get closer look but he’s still going to be a couple of hundred feet away trying to make the call on a line drive.  In today’s case, there was a clear view (blown up) showing the ball hitting the line.  It was ruled correctly by New York.

Umps are better off ruling a ball in play and letting things play out rather than ruling a ball out of play.  A call can always be changed after review to a home run or a foul ball with minimal impact.

 

[notin]

3 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

A Baltimore chop in Cleveland.

Better than a Cleveland st***er in Baltimore…

[a700hitter]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

For the love of God and everything that's holy, IKF is nearing .800!

IKF or is it Joe Hardy?

[Yaz Fan Since 67]

I backed up that ball Wong hit a number of times. I'm convinced the angle that made it look like the ball disappeared over the wall was simply an angle where the ball was not visible against the yellow background.  The angle from home plate shows it hitting the top of the yellow line and bouncing back in play. Poor Connor, thought the HR drought had ended.  

 

[Yaz Fan Since 67]

Last night showed what is so great about sports:  You never really know what's going to happen. Looking back at the first page the posters never expected this team to hang up 9 runs, nobody did.  

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

2 hours ago, Yaz Fan Since 67 said:

Last night showed what is so great about sports:  You never really know what's going to happen. Looking back at the first page the posters never expected this team to hang up 9 runs, nobody did.  

I'm a true believer in the Blind Squirrel theory.

[notin]

15 hours ago, a700hitter said:

IKF or is it Joe Hardy?

A musical theater reference?  What’s next?

[moonslav59]

Can anyone find hard hit rates over small sample sizes, because it seems like in the past 4-5 games, Durbin has a hard hit rate 4X what it was before the last few games.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Can anyone find hard hit rates over small sample sizes, because it seems like in the past 4-5 games, Durbin has a hard hit rate 4X what it was before the last few games.

Article today says he went to a hitting clinic outside the org on his own this week.

Now get ready for the president to deny, delay and deflect.

[vegasbob]

4 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Article today says he went to a hitting clinic outside the org on his own this week.

Now get ready for the president to deny, delay and deflect.

Sure hope he didn't go to Jim Rice

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Article today says he went to a hitting clinic outside the org on his own this week.

Now get ready for the president to deny, delay and deflect.

It was a hypnotism clinic.

[Duran Is The Man]

5 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Article today says he went to a hitting clinic outside the org on his own this week.

Now get ready for the president to deny, delay and deflect.

i read that too. which, to me, begs the question: is his recent improvement an indictment of Driveline or just a  coincidence? 

[Duran Is The Man]

5 hours ago, vegasbob said:

Sure hope he didn't go to Jim Rice

yeah, that guy doesn't know anything about hitting a baseball.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

12 hours ago, Duran Is The Man said:

i read that too. which, to me, begs the question: is his recent improvement an indictment of Driveline or just a  coincidence? 

Just a coincidence? Is that even feasible at this point? Here's a guy coming had a good rookie year and his ex-manager of a first-place team still swears by him.

Durbin's short, but solid and not weak (like his grounders and pop-ups this year -- which to me look like a batter overswinging, pulling his head and only hitting one stitch of the ball. Kinda like someone clearly pressing... or who has been ordered to pull the ball in the air). 

The potential is still there. Durbin had 36 extra base hits last season, one more than Romy Gonzalez, who had Boston's best batting average. With 13 XBH through the first two months, he's now on pace to at least equal his output of '25...

For anyone who has played baseball beyond Little League: how many times in your life did you hit a home run when you were actually trying to hit a home run? If you're honest, the answer is very few -- if any. Instead, homers come when you're just trying to hit the ball hard on the sweet spot, and the contact is so perfect you don't even feel it.

[notin]

13 hours ago, Duran Is The Man said:

i read that too. which, to me, begs the question: is his recent improvement an indictment of Driveline or just a  coincidence? 

Every MLB team uses Driveline. Every one.
 
The Sox are one of the more reliant teams on Driveline, but so are the Yankees and Dodgers.  

The solution isn’t as simple as stop using Driveline…

[Duran Is The Man]

46 minutes ago, notin said:

Every MLB team uses Driveline. Every one.
 
The Sox are one of the more reliant teams on Driveline, but so are the Yankees and Dodgers.  

The solution isn’t as simple as stop using Driveline…

from what i've read, not every team uses them to the same extent. some hardly at all, some a little more and one team appears to be more "all-in" than all the others -the Boston Red Sox. the same Boston Red Sox that sit at the very bottom (or nearly so) of every offensive statistical category in the league.