SoxFanForsyth

Either way, I think the Sox take this series in 6. Split at home, drop the Verlander game, win the Fister game and the Lester games, and win the Buch game (6) back at Fenway. Games started by: Lester: 2-0 Buchholz: 1-1 Lackey: 0-1 Peavy: 1-0 Games started by: Sanchez: 0-2 Scherzer: 1-1 Verlander: 1-0 Fister: 0-1

Caller into the Detroit sports talks radio: Caller: "I think the Tigers take 2 in Boston" Host: "Why's that?" Caller: "I don't know. I just feel like they will because they liked how it felt last night to beat the A's with Verlander". smdh.

He'll play LF. There's a lot of talk that a shorter LF will help him out. That theory is outrageous, IMO. That wall will absolutely destroy people.

But you have a substantially improved left side of the infield and bunting because less of an option, which is a big deal in a close game. The good news is that they can't just make a defensive switch late in the game without getting rid of Cabrera's bat.

He's saying moving Vic to C will allow Cabrera to DH and Peralta to play 3B (Iglesias at SS), which does improve their defense, but their weakness in throwing out runners is not helped at all. And, like you said, he's a terrible catcher.

So you're saying the Tigers are going to play Iglesias at SS, which puts Peralta in LF? Go watch some video of the Rays playing LF at Fenway. And they had their regular outfielders out there in Sean Rod and DeJesus. And they play there 9 times a year. If Peralta plays LF, I guarantee you that there will be MULTIPLE fly balls that will do one of 2 things: Land very low on the wall that he doesn't go after, or bounce back to the SS leading to a triple to LF. I see it so many times it's unreal in visiting LF, and Peralta is new to LF and the Monster.

You're very clearly a Tigers fan, that much is obvious, but it's not a big deal. Nobody is exaggerating anything about their defense. Miggy, when healthy, is a defensive liability. When he's hurt? The Sox are a team that finds holes and exploits them (not gay sex). I don't expect any different this series. Even if Ellsbury and Victorino don't bunt, Cabrera is going to have to cheat even more than usual on the grass and his range is going to be about 1 foot in either direction from that distance. I expect a lot of ground ball base hits on the left side of the infield, especially for Victorino and Pedroia, who always seems to be out in front and hit a big chopper off the plate when he's down in the count.

....and the 3rd win for the Tigers came from the Nava catch that was called a drop, which was a disgusting call. The Red Sox very well could have taken 3/4 if Uehara was pitching and if the umpires understood anything about baseball. That call still makes me furious.

And in those 7 games, 5 of the starters were Alvarez, Dempster, Doubront, Webster, and Porcello. Not to mention this play

You're not going to catch Victor Martinez on a hobbled knee and risk losing him for the rest of the series. Maybe 1 game you'll do it, but you're not going to do it for the whole series or even more than 2 games. Which means the Tigers defensive deficiencies are going to be exploited.

And the defensive flaws are only going to be exacerbated with the Red Sox speed and the Tigers corner infielders and catchers. It's not like they've got horrible deficiencies in RF or something, where you can't force the ball their way. The Sox are going to be running all over the Tigers with bunts and stolen bases.

By who?? Mike Axisa? The guy who owns River Ave Blues, the Yankees blog? The guy who picked the Red Sox to have an advantage in every position but 3B, and a slight disadvantage in SP, but then goes on to pick the Tigers in 7? He's an idiot.

Insert Quentin Berry narrative here:

i appreciate that. I was called a homer in the offseason too for saying the Sox SP could be top 5 in the league, so maybe this bodes well.

Ah sorry - I thought you said Nava/Gomes platoon in LF. Choo would be throwing bullets home from LF haha. I bet he'd pick off a huge amount of players trying to get a double on a wall-ball.

I'm going to get called a homer for this, but I really think, given the defenses in the series, the Red Sox SP outperforms the Tigers SP. Peralta playing the monster, an incredibly hobbled Cabrera playing 3B with Ellsbury and Victorino's speed (they'll be bunting on him a ton I think), I think it's going to be a much bigger issue than anyone has made it out to be. You think about a 2-1 game or 3-2 game, which is likely what you're going to get in the Scherzer and Verlander games, and maybe even in the Sanchez game. The Sox are going to have to manufacture runs, and the Sox speed is going to be hugely impactful. And once they get on base? They'll be stealing all day. Alex Avila has a 17% CS%. That's disgusting. All of this stuff leads to runs, and while it's not directly "Max Scherzer vs Jon Lester" or whatever, it all impacts the runs allowed, which is what everyone is going to base the SP performance on.

I know it's a small sample, but I have not been impressed with Victorino in CF when Ells was out or needed a day. I don't think his reads are nearly as good, and he doesn't have the closing speed that Ellsbury has to make up for it. I know UZR is not the best measure of small samples, but in his 108 innings in CF this year he's got a -13.1 UZR/150. I would steer away from Victorino in CF other than as a backup.

The Tigers offense is very potent, yes, but this isn't the same offense that put up those numbers. Miggy's injury has completely ruined him. During September, Miggy slugged .333. The Tigers team slugged .387. The Red Sox slugged .494 in September. The Tigers offense is good, yes, but it's a no brainer that the Sox offense is significantly better with Miggy banged up.

Not like Comerica is a hitters park, either, to be fair. I'm ok with either team, to be honest. Miggy's injury has really zapped his power, he can't get nearly as much torque in his swing. The Tigers SP is excellent, but it's exclusively RHP, which I certainly like. Plus, Verlander goes tomorrow, Scherzer threw 47 pitches last night, high stress pitches at that. Will he be able to go on 3 days rest? Probably. But Verlander won't be going until Game 3 at the earliest, which is a big deal for this series. Anibal Sanchez looked awful in game 3. And if you can get any of these SP out of the game early, the Tigers have horrible middle relief. Should be interesting. Regardless, the Sox are really positioned well, with Lester and the rest of the staff well rested for the series while the Tigers/A's will have to figure out their rotation. Looking back at the Rays/Sox series, this could not have worked out better for the Sox. All 4 pitchers were able to go, so Peavy isn't sitting there on 18 days rest anymore.

It's a lot easier to push through work on 4-5 hours of sleep after making it to the ALCS!!! Man. I am so freaking pumped.

oh bother. nobody notices me. Haha. No problem man.

Absolutely unreal. Salty dicking this team over and over with his K's

Seriously, this is absurd. The Tigers/A's should have had the nightcap, not only because they're in the Central Time Zone (which would have them starting at 7:30 central time), but the majority of their fan base is in central and western time zone, so that's still a very decent time for the game to start. Both of these teams are from the east coast, which means their fans are on the east coast. I'm either going to be half assing it at work tomorrow, or going to have to cut out during like the 5th inning. It's ridiculous.

Red Sox are heavy favorites in this one according to a few Vegas sports books (-145). Sox aren't going to lose this one. Get ready for the ALCS boys.

Who is starting tonight's thread? Not me. I have started 3 threads with Peavy pitching and the Sox are 1-2 in those 3 games.