Speaking of slumps. Red Sox pitching is more likely to slump than Yankee pitchers. Red Sox pitching has been performing well above expectations and past performance.
Interesting that Peralta was credited with the victory last night instead of Holmes. I can’t recall seeing that in the past in such a situation. Normally, Holmes would get the Blown save and the win and Peralta would have gotten the save. I understand that there is official scorer’s discretion, and I have seen scorer's discretion where a starting pitcher left the game with the lead and less than 6 innings pitched, but I can’t recall seeing it in this situation.
Kike’s versatility has value. If he was only a CFer, he’d have less value, because his offense isn’t that great. On this roster, his versatility will not bring much value, because Story and Xander play everyday.
It was a treat hearing Manny in the booth, but not as big of a treat as seeing him and Papi doing their thing all those years. That was historic. I saw them in a game in Miami when Manny got his 2,000th hit, hitting 2 HRs and Ortiz hit a HR and 2 or 3 doubles. They were a 2 man wrecking crew.
Kike’s hot streak in the playoffs was not something he was going to be able to sustain. What is his career batting average and OBP? Not very good and that is over a lot of AB’s. He will play to the back of his very average stats on the back of his baseball card.
He was red hot in the post season, but didn’t do much in the regular season, and he is behind last regular season’s pace. He is little more than a platoon player. Playing everyday exposes that.
Angels fired Joe Maddon! Another of my most disliked managers bites the dust. Two in the same week. I hope they stop recycling the likes of Maddon and Girardi.