Red Sox (Sandoval) vs Blue Jays (Cease): 08/11/26, 7:07 PM

[Randy Red Sox]

30 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

Another costly 2 out blunder by Martinez , HBP moving a runner to 2nd with 2 outs followed by a double.

No guts pitching and poor hitting.

 

who the heck is Martinez and where did he come from from and why is he pitching in such a high level spot?

 

[FredLynn]

5 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

our line-up is pathetic  Making me yearn for the return of Story.  Is Anthony going to play any games the rest of the year??  It is obvious that Crochet is done for the season. Breslow mortgaged our future by trading 3 of our top 5 prospects for a C who almost certainly won't be here past whatever season we have in 2027.  And then he traded our #4 overall pick for a LH reliever,. Oh my gawd--did I miss anything??

 

Let’s see how the rest of the year plays out. If we don’t make a deep run in the playoffs Breslow must go.

[FredLynn]

5 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

who the heck is Martinez and where did he come from from and why is he pitching in such a high level spot?

 

The game was already over when he came in

[iortiz]

Durbin cost us a couple of runs but still this offense is on anemic mode again. 

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, FredLynn said:

Only the blind can’t see the regression 

Only the biased is blinded by the prejudice.

[moonslav59]

24 minutes ago, iortiz said:

Durbin cost us a couple of runs but still this offense is on anemic mode again. 

I almost had a heart attack when he made that error

 

[FredLynn]

14 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Only the biased is blinded by the prejudice.

At least you admit your prejudice. 
Try to pay attention. Even the Flops broadcast team can see what everyone in their right mind sees. Rafaela did great for a prolonged period-but now he’s regressing. Let’s hope they sit him so he can rest a bit and figure it out again 

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

At least you admit your prejudice. 
Try to pay attention. Even the Flops broadcast team can see what everyone in their right mind sees. Rafaela did great for a prolonged period-but now he’s regressing. Let’s hope they sit him so he can rest a bit and figure it out again 

Tell your doc about your hallucinations.

[Randy Red Sox]

1 hour ago, FredLynn said:

The game was already over when he came in

4-3 is over??

[Randy Red Sox]

2 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Tell your doc about your hallucinations.

he is one of the very few in the lineup earning his keep

[Randy Red Sox]

46 minutes ago, iortiz said:

Durbin cost us a couple of runs but still this offense is on anemic mode again. 

what can one really expect with the scrubs we are running out there.

[FredLynn]

11 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Tell your doc about your hallucinations.

I’m not the only one here who has noticed his decline in plate discipline. He can still hit mistakes but his swing rate is way up again. 
Have you been paying attention?

[FredLynn]

9 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

he is one of the very few in the lineup earning his keep

Rafaela is regressing in terms of his plate discipline . Merloni noticed it too. He knows what he is talking about. He might improve again with a few days of rest. Could be wearing down again like last year 

[FredLynn]

13 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

4-3 is over??

Did the Flops recover from the deficit?

No?

Then it was over 

[moonslav59]

31 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

he is one of the very few in the lineup earning his keep

He's also been remarkably consistent and has always chased at pitches out of the K zone. This is nothing new or some sign of regression: it's who he is.

He's successful at an approach that normally is a failure, and it's killing Fred.

He may end up running out of gas, as he has in the last couple of years, but he has actually been one of the most consistent player on the team.

From May 5 to today, Ceddanne's OPS has ranged from .735 to .808 (73 point range.) 

Willson HAS to be more consistent, right? I thought maybe, too, but...

.802 to .948 (146 point swing.)

How about Duran? Okay, consistently sucking more Than Ceddanne has been good, but no! .583 to .701 (118 points)

Of the players with the most PAs on the team, I thought only Abreu has has a narrower range, but no... .748 to .872 (124)

It baffles me how Fred chose Rafaela to pick on years ago, and just can't let go and be happy for the guy. He beat the odds and has made himself into a very good or even great player despite having a serious handicap.

He deserves credit where certain credit is due.

[moonslav59]

55 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

I’m not the only one here who has noticed his decline in plate discipline. He can still hit mistakes but his swing rate is way up again. 
Have you been paying attention?

Decline?

Did you see the guy his rookie year?

Did you see the guy his second and third year?

Sure, within each season he has some wild stretches, but even your claim the he fizzled out to end 2025 has a flaw: he kinda didn't. Sure he had a long stretch in AUG into SEPT- much longer than any time, this year, so no, not a "decline" in his overall path of his career. Maybe micro-hyper small time frame, yes, but that's who he is. He swings a lot and will look worse for a few games here and there. This is not some 6-7 week decline, like last year.

Oh, and back to last season:

.776 last 62 PAs (17 gms) is not a collapse to end the season.

1.109 over his last 9 games blow your evidence away.

Face it. He's streaky, and his good streaks are getting longer and longer, while his bad streaks are getting shorter and short over the years. Talk about blindness.

His oppo rate is the best of his career.

His Line drive % is the best of his career.

His K% is once again his career low- something he's improved upon, every year.

His BB % went from 2.9 (23-24) to 4.8 last year and dipped to 4.0 this year, but who cares when his OBP has risen 30 points from last years career high?

I've been wrong about dozens and dozens of things. I can list them for you if you wish. I just don't get why you cling to this hill to die on?

One last thing on this micro regression that "Lou sees," too:

2 Ks in his last 24 PAs. (Could be the best stretch of his career in that area...maybe....)

[FredLynn]

46 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Decline?

Did you see the guy his rookie year?

Did you see the guy his second and third year?

Sure, within each season he has some wild stretches, but even your claim the he fizzled out to end 2025 has a flaw: he kinda didn't. Sure he had a long stretch in AUG into SEPT- much longer than any time, this year, so no, not a "decline" in his overall path of his career. Maybe micro-hyper small time frame, yes, but that's who he is. He swings a lot and will look worse for a few games here and there. This is not some 6-7 week decline, like last year.

Oh, and back to last season:

.776 last 62 PAs (17 gms) is not a collapse to end the season.

1.109 over his last 9 games blow your evidence away.

Face it. He's streaky, and his good streaks are getting longer and longer, while his bad streaks are getting shorter and short over the years. Talk about blindness.

His oppo rate is the best of his career.

His Line drive % is the best of his career.

His K% is once again his career low- something he's improved upon, every year.

His BB % went from 2.9 (23-24) to 4.8 last year and dipped to 4.0 this year, but who cares when his OBP has risen 30 points from last years career high?

I've been wrong about dozens and dozens of things. I can list them for you if you wish. I just don't get why you cling to this hill to die on?

One last thing on this micro regression that "Lou sees," too:

2 Ks in his last 24 PAs. (Could be the best stretch of his career in that area...maybe....)

Since the LAD series his OPS is .584. He’s been swinging at too many pitches off the plate. It’s just 7 games but I don’t want it to turn into a trend-like the Flops choking year after year or what he did last year. Overall he’s had a great year. Let’s hope it doesn’t turn into the downturn he has last year.

[Old Red]

10 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Can you come up with a better nickname?

You still call Contreras the "Con man" and he's no con.

Huh? Can’t do that without a Legal name change.🙈😭

[notin]

11 hours ago, vegasbob said:

I am traveling so not seeing the actual games, BUT,

it occurs to me that in the Athletics series and now Jay's,  most of the opponent runs have come with 2 outs, often no one on base.

Sox pitchers and fielders then open the doors.

In the last 4 games, the Sox have allowed 18 runs to score.

3 of them came after two outs with nobody on base.

9 of them were from baserunners that reached base before the first out.  Not really surprising.  

Stop walking the leadoff hitter!

[notin]

8 hours ago, Randy Red Sox said:

what can one really expect with the scrubs we are running out there.

The Sox have still gone like 32-9 wuth those scrubs.  That’s a full quarter of a season.

The 1978 team was lead by 4 future Hall of Famers and didn’t have a 21-4 month like those scrubs did in July…

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

28 minutes ago, notin said:

The Sox have still gone like 32-9 wuth those scrubs.  That’s a full quarter of a season.

The 1978 team was lead by 4 future Hall of Famers and didn’t have a 21-4 month like those scrubs did in July…

Yaz, Rice, Fisk ,and Eckersly the ace starter. 

Actually, the top 4 in WAR for the '78 Sox were league MVP Rice 7.6, Eck 7.3, Fisk 6.0 and Luis Tiant 5.6.

How in the name of Catfish Hunter is Looie still not in the Hall?!?!

Not to mention perennial Gold Glove rightfielder Dwight Evans, who would lead the AL in the 1980s in home runs and extra base hits. That was the decade Evans had 42.3 WAR, compared to Cooperstown contemporary Harold Baines' 22.2.

[moonslav59]

7 hours ago, FredLynn said:

Since the LAD series his OPS is .584. He’s been swinging at too many pitches off the plate. It’s just 7 games but I don’t want it to turn into a trend-like the Flops choking year after year or what he did last year. Overall he’s had a great year. Let’s hope it doesn’t turn into the downturn he has last year.

No. He's .653 since that series, and it's 8 games. 5 Ks is 39 PAs is not great, but it's hardly some wild veer off from his norm or even the leagues.

Good cherry pick to start after his 4 HRs in that 3 game series.

He may struggle for some stretches. Maybe he's got a long struggle in him, this year. He has had em every season, but this one- so far.

IMO, he has been able to limit these "wild streaks" to hey 3-6 games or so, this year. He's clearly been more consistent than ever.

His .331 BAbip (.302 before 2026> .331 this season) may point to some luck, but maybe it's not all luck, since his LD%(22.6%>26.7%) is up. His LD% is up .041 and his BAbip is up just .029. Also, his hard hit rate is up, too. 27.4%>31.5%. Both support the idea that his improved BAbip is due to hitting the ball harder more often than from 2023-2025. His soft hit% is way down.

[mvp 78]

Rollercoaster season continues. 

[FredLynn]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

No. He's .653 since that series, and it's 8 games. 5 Ks is 39 PAs is not great, but it's hardly some wild veer off from his norm or even the leagues.

Good cherry pick to start after his 4 HRs in that 3 game series.

He may struggle for some stretches. Maybe he's got a long struggle in him, this year. He has had em every season, but this one- so far.

IMO, he has been able to limit these "wild streaks" to hey 3-6 games or so, this year. He's clearly been more consistent than ever.

His .331 BAbip (.302 before 2026> .331 this season) may point to some luck, but maybe it's not all luck, since his LD%(22.6%>26.7%) is up. His LD% is up .041 and his BAbip is up just .029. Also, his hard hit rate is up, too. 27.4%>31.5%. Both support the idea that his improved BAbip is due to hitting the ball harder more often than from 2023-2025. His soft hit% is way down.

Merloni simply verified what my eyes were telling me: : Rafaela has lost plate discipline. Again. Anyone with half a brain can see it. And his OPS for the 7 games from the end of the LA series to before last night’s game was .584. So his lack of plate discipline is being reflected in his performance. 
Let’s hope he regains his form before the Flops complete their choke job. 

[Nick]

I wanted a reliever, check, a catcher, check, an outfielder, can't have a big hole in left field and DH. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

33 minutes ago, Nick said:

I wanted a reliever, check, a catcher, check, an outfielder, can't have a big hole in left field and DH. 

But the one returning from the IL will be better than anyone they could've traded for at the deadline... in 2028!

[notin]

1 hour ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

But the one returning from the IL will be better than anyone they could've traded for at the deadline... in 2028!

If only we could find a temporary LF someplace who wouldn’t require any big roster changes and had at least some demonstrated offensive potential like being a former AL Rookie of the Month.  But where would such a player be found?

[notin]

3 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Yaz, Rice, Fisk ,and Eckersly the ace starter. 

Actually, the top 4 in WAR for the '78 Sox were league MVP Rice 7.6, Eck 7.3, Fisk 6.0 and Luis Tiant 5.6.

How in the name of Catfish Hunter is Looie still not in the Hall?!?!

Not to mention perennial Gold Glove rightfielder Dwight Evans, who would lead the AL in the 1980s in home runs and extra base hits. That was the decade Evans had 42.3 WAR, compared to Cooperstown contemporary Harold Baines' 22.2.

I agree both Tiant and Evans are egregious omissions from Cooperstown.  Not sure either is atop that list, but both are certainly on it…

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, notin said:

If only we could find a temporary LF someplace who wouldn’t require any big roster changes and had at least some demonstrated offensive potential like being a former AL Rookie of the Month.  But where would such a player be found?

Don't worry, he's safely stored in WOO hitting singles and striking out. 

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, FredLynn said:

Merloni simply verified what my eyes were telling me: : Rafaela has lost plate discipline. Again. Anyone with half a brain can see it. And his OPS for the 7 games from the end of the LA series to before last night’s game was .584. So his lack of plate discipline is being reflected in his performance. 
Let’s hope he regains his form before the Flops complete their choke job. 

He's lacked plate discipline his whole career. He's looked bad, worse and okay for stretches on and off.

How is this different? For some reason we are supposed to think he'll continue being "lost" or something.

Does he look worse now than other times (5 games, 10 or 20 games at a time?)