mvp 78

After yesterday, I'm wishing I picked the Sox to win more games.

http://www.eagletribune.com/sports/local_sports/mason-alex-cora-responds-well-to-brutal-first-loss-as/article_fc461992-380d-5fec-a23c-87d4223f7588.html Calm and measured, Cora was ready for it. He was first asked for comment on Kelly, and the new manager was refreshingly honest. 'He didn’t throw strikes," Cora said. "His stuff was there, but in that spot, with that lead, you have to attack. He was close. Just a few pitches off. You need to be aggressive. Walking guys, a lot of people, you create traffic. We were put in a bad spot, and you saw the result.” It was different than what came from the same office a year ago. By the end of the John Farrell era, the former Sox manager seemed to feel a need to defend his players' performances no matter what actually happened on the field. At times, he'd talk himself in circles, and sports radio hosts treated him like a pinata. "At the end of the day, that’s pretty pathetic what I did," Kelly said bluntly. "Can’t do that." Cora had spoken to Kimbrel before the game, and because of his abbreviated spring training, the closer wouldn't be asked to come into a dirty inning and get more than three outs. “I’m not going to change my mind because there’s a lot of stuff going on there," Cora said. "We have a plan, and we’ve got to take care of the players, and that’s the way we’re going to take care of him right now. We know what he went through, short spring training. He’s ready to pitch, but don’t want to jeopardize his health just because there’s traffic in the eighth inning and we feel like if he comes in, it’s an option. "For what we’re trying to accomplish here, we need him for the long run and not just to be 1-0 on Opening Day," Cora concluded. “As a player, I was upset and you turn the page and show up tomorrow," Cora said. "As a manager, I’m upset, turn the page and show up tomorrow."

Complaining in the game thread is your mod-given right. Can't fault anyone for that. There are a few posters who typically get blocked from me during the season just because the only thing they can do is complain in game threads in uninteresting ways without any sense of humor. If you're gonna bitch and moan, at least be entertaining about it.

100%

It would have been 0-0 going into the bottom of the 9th.

For a guy who throws 100+, it's sad to see his k/9 be under 9.00. His BB/9 is way too high as well. I'd rather just go with Hembree. Kelly's upside has never shown through.

Perfect Hanley year would be for him to hit the 60 day DL, come back and put up MVP numbers and single handedly win the Sox a WS.

https://www.overthemonster.com/2018/3/30/17178324/red-sox-alex-cora-managerial-decisions-joe-kelly-craig-kimbrel-carson-smith It obviously didn’t go well, but I’m not sure you can put that on Cora for calling upon the righty at all. It was a four-run game, the Rays hadn’t done anything on offense all day, and Tampa had their bottom two hitters and Matt Duffy coming up. This wasn’t a tremendously high-leverage situation, and Kelly is at worst the fourth-best reliever in a bullpen that already used their third-best. Simply put, it’s a situation in which Kelly needs to come through, and he simply didn’t. Cora allowed Kelly to face five batters in this game, and that was a mistake. It was pretty clear from the start that Kelly couldn’t locate his pitches in this outing, and while the umpire was squeezing him the control was a bigger issue than the strike zone. We know by now that Kelly has a tendency to lose the zone at times, and Cora needs to learn to be more proactive when this is the case. Ideally he would have been removed after the Duffy double, but he certainly should have been lifted after he walked Kiermaier. Next, we have Cora going to Smith rather than going to Bobby Poyner with the left-handed Miller coming up. The manager’s reasoning for this was that it would have been too big of a spot for Poyner to make his major-league debut, and it’s a fair point. However, it does lead one to wonder why he was warming in the first place. I suppose it wouldn’t have been as bad if Kelly had gotten Carlos Gomez out, leaving two on in a three-run game with two outs against Miller compared to bases loaded and one out. It’s also fair to wonder why you’d put Poyner on the major-league roster in the first place if he’s not ready for this kind of outing, but that’s also not entirely on Cora. I think it probably would have been fine to go with Poyner, but at the same time Smith is a groundball machine who has never shown big platoon splits. He should be able to handle that spot, and arguably was a better choice than Poyner even if you don’t worry about the latter being ready for his major-league debut. The biggest criticism of Cora, though, was not bringing Kimbrel in at all for the eighth inning. One of the Red Sox manager’s biggest talking points this winter has been a more aggressive usage of his closer and not being afraid to use Kimbrel before the ninth inning. However, according to Cora after the game, he and the Red Sox closer talked before the game and decided he would only pitch in a clean inning for Opening Day. That’s a bit strange, but once he and Kimbrel talked about it I’m fine not going back on that decision. Communication is key between relievers and a manager, and Cora needs to earn trust early in the year. As for the decision to only use Kimbrel in a clean inning, Cora insists that this won’t be the case all year but only early on.

Barnes has never been a multiple inning guy though. I think Cora's expectation that a combination of Kelly and Smith to get 3 outs and not give up 4 runs is reasonable. It'll be interesting to see how he works in the other bullpen arms early in the season. Bullpens are always a work in progress the first 2 months. Hard to get too angry over one loss.

This is true.

Apparently that's what some people want.

If he pitches the 8th, I’d expect him to slump in September again.

I agree 100%.

You realize that Kimbrel can’t pitch 162 games and can’t be warmed up immediately? To me, the relievers lost the game. Hard to say how Cora will manage a pen after one game.

I too like to blame Cora for s***** Joe Kelly.

Joe Kelly is dogshit.

Shouldn't have signed Benchwarmer Mitch!

@SoxNotes Eduardo Nunez is the first Red Sox player to hit an inside-the-park HR on Opening Day since Carl Yastrzemski on April 10, 1968 at Detroit.

@redsoxstats Chris Sale didn't have a game with 3 runs of support until May 2nd last year.

@DougKyed Eduardo Nunez is on pace for 600 inside the park home runs

Boop boop boop

KC won't do it. They have a much better 2b.

Good ball player, but an absolute s***** human being. f*** Kirby Puckett. He didn't die soon enough. When Tonya finally called the Edina police on Dec. 21, 2001, to report that Kirby had, over the phone, threatened to kill her, she also mentioned earlier abuses. Her husband was, she said through her tears, a violent man. Once, she said, he tried to strangle her with an electrical cord. Once he locked her in the basement. Another time, when he was furious and she locked herself in a room, he used a power saw to cut through the door. Once he even put a gun, cocked, to Tonya's head as she quaked, clasping little Catherine in her arms.

Pedey to KC for Duffy.