SoxFanForsyth

Dempster was extremely fortunate last night. He settled down nicely, but in the 2nd (3rd? I was watching on gameday while out to dinner with friends so couldn't pay a lot of attention) when he had the bases juiced and a 2-0 count on Encarnacion, and he chased a 2-0 slider that was a ball and hit into a DP. That's about as fortunate as you can get. I'll take it, though!

The problem that I have with this is that this guy just see's Buch's success and blames it on cheating. He see's a grainy photo and automatically says it's some kind of foreign substance. Take your s*** to Reddit you clown. And do some real analysis. His pitches had virtually the same horizontal and vertical break for all of his pitches were virtually the same yesterday as in years past. Buch career avg CB: Horizontal Break: 7.45 inches, Vertical Break: -8.02 inches Buch on Wed CB: Horizontal Break: 9.01 inches, Vertical Break: -7.97 inches * It should be noted that Buch's CB had average horizontal movement last year of 9.82 inches * Buch career avg 2 seamer: Horizontal Break: -7.21 inches, Vertical Break: 7.77 inches Buch 2 seamer on Wed: Horizontal Break: -7.58 inches, Vertical Break: 6.83 inches His cutter was virtually the exact same. His changeup actually had less movement than his career average. But no. Doing actual work would require this guy to think. It's much easier to see something on him and say "Oh he's cheating now. That's why he is having success"

2011: Beergate 2012: Thumbgate 2013: Bicepgate??

I think a lot of people had, including myself. Glad he was able to get to my question because I just assumed it was a SSS.

Keith Law just answered one of my questions in his weekly chat - in case people are curious about these two guys: Jeremy (Boston) Question about two Sox prospects: Is Ranaudo's stuff actually better, or are we just looking at a SSS? Also - what are your thoughts on Garin Cecchini? Klaw (1:24 PM) Stuff is way better. Back in the 92-95 range, hammer CB, sounds like he's fully healthy for the first time in a while. Klaw (1:25 PM) Cecchini - great start, obviously not sustainable but might be a 60 or better hitter. I wonder if this is another healthy issue, that it took this long to finally get all his strength back. Could be a red herring, though.

Demp vs Happ. Happ shut us down in his first start, but has a 4.76 ERA in his four starts after that. Time to make that line even worse. Red Sox line at -127 at Winn. Blue Jays feast on fastballs. Changeups and splitters all night Demp. Win.

The Red Sox are officially the last to double digit losses. Also, if the Sox win 1 of the next 2 games, they will be the first to 20 wins. At 19 wins, they are 2 ahead of the second closest (Rangers, Yankees, Braves, & Rox all at 17). Through 27 games, the Sox have a +47 run differential. That's best in the bigs, and it's not close. Coming in 2nd place is a tie between the Rangers, Braves, and Rockies, all at +29. Yep. That's a difference of 18 runs between 1st and 2nd, and a 162% increase. The Red Sox SP ERA (3.10) is 1st in the AL (Detroit #2 at 3.23). Their team ERA is 3.49, second in the AL. Surprisingly, the bullpen has severely underperformed thus far (4.34 ERA), but the back end (Taz - Uehara - Bailey) have been elite, throwing 35.1 IP to a 2.02 ERA.

Me too. I took him with my final pick (25th rounder). Not bad.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/clay-buchholz-commands-changes-way-to-success/

HR 1: 472 feet. HR 2: 467 feet. Total for 2 HR: 939 Feet.

I'm not going to try to rationalize my anger earlier. I was wrong. Plain and simple, I was wrong. The Jays suck. Their pitching is terrible.

http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/rob-bradford/2013/05/02/its-finally-safe-say-clay-buchholz-one-best-b

And 31 RBI, aka 55% of his total last year.

6 GS, 7.45 IP/GS, 1.01 ERA, 9.47 K/9, and barring a miracle, 6-0 record. Ace production. He's been nothing short of phenomenal.

That had to approach 500 feet. That was stupid

Oye come on man. The guy is hitting .330 with a .440 OBP. His power will come. Be happy that he's getting on base at an unbelievable clip and scoring runs in bunches because of the guys behind him.

Holy crap he destroyed that!

Dempster can nibble with his splitter. That thing is filthy. I told my buddy today, Buch and Dempster have the off speed stuff to just destroy this Jays lineup.

Really wish Buchholz would have walked off the mound doing the chicken wing. I despise Encarnacion.

Struck out Bautista twice there.

0-2 to a 6 pitch walk to Rasmus?? Gross

We are actually the only team in the MLB without a HR from our 3 hole.

Buch vs Buehrle. If there was ever a favorable matchup, it's tonight. Red Sox line at -136 at Winn. Blue Jays feast on fastballs. Changeups, splitters, and uncle charlies all night Buch. Win.

He was throwing 2 inning stints. They're starting to stretch him out. It's just a very gradual process.

Can we take a step back real quick and realize how good of an acquisition Mike Carp has been? We literally got him for cash. That's it. He's currently hitting (SSS Alert) .455/.500/.864. And while those numbers are eye popping, it's not like he's a complete bum. He's actually a pretty good player. ZIPS projected him (preseason) to hit .269/.332/.469 (.801 OPS). Updated ZIPS now projects him to hit .280/.342/.484 (.826 OPS) Steamer projected him (preseason) to hit .263/.330/.463, and now has updated to .290/.355/.505. Either way, the guy can play 1B or LF, and is projected to hit at or above an .800 OPS, some projections even up to .860. Just to be clear, an .825 OPS would have been good for 7th best in the AL last year for all Left Fielders (min 250 AB), ahead of a guy named Alex Gordon. Between him and Nava, this team has a couple guys who have very solid versatility and can hit the baseball well. Good move by Cherrington.