sk7326

The pitchers that can get the Sox are the guys who can pound the strike zone - and get a lot of swing and miss in the strike zone. Fortunately, that is a very short list of guys.

This. Basically there are times when you need one and only one run ... 9th inning, tie/down one ... other obvious spots. In the NL there is the pitcher coming up (why the notion the NL has more strategy is a little foolish - the manager has fewer options when one of their players is totally useless offensively). But - and this Red Sox team (as the 2003-2009 vintages do also) show - you cannot give outs away. Your 27 outs is your team's time limit essentially - gotta make it count. The Sox with this collective approach, like the aforementioned teams or the Yankee title winners since 1998, it's like a fighter who just keeps leaning on you. Even if the knockout doesn't appear early, the body blows add up - it is just very very hard to keep the focus through the ordeal they put you through.

ARod should appeal - it's his right, no reason not to hear it. Baseball wants him badly, and it is totally possible for them to have screwed up the investigation. I expect that if Price is dealt, Rays want real value - not a ton of teams that can give it to them while being able to extend Price - the Sox interestingly are one of those teams, and Blue Jays are another, Orioles yet another. The Dodgers can pay him but I don't know if they can pay the Rays.

In 2008 and 2009 they were exposed as a Top 3 offensive team that averaged 95 wins a year?? Oh-kayyyy ... the Red Sox have been aggressive because they have the personnel to be opportunistic. This ain't the 1985 Cardinals or anything. The Red Sox stole 123 bases in 2013 ... they stole 120 in 2008 and 126 in 2009. What is different is the unsustainably crazy percentage (only caught 10 times all season). They have picked their spots beautifully. The station to station legend of 2007 is also not very true - 96 stolen bases, 7th in the AL. Hell, the go-go Red Sox of 2013 were 3rd in the AL in steals. 4th? The station to station Guardians. Moving runners, hit and run ... they sound interesting but giving away outs is generally bad. They didn't score a run because they missed in a couple of key spots and Tampa pitched well - none of this is new fangled, this is stuff Earl Weaver figured out 40 years ago. Get baserunners, wait for the crooked number - that is higher percentage than over-bunting and wasting time on so-called productive outs. That it doesn't work all the time doesn't prove that it's not the right door to go through. Last night's rally was thrilling. But it is much more a triumph of the stuff that carried the 2004-2010 era than it looks - zero extra base hits yes, but great at bat after great at bat ... sixteen baserunners in 9 innings and being able to shake off some really awful luck. The lineup and approach just wears down teams that whose pitchers aren't dialed in the entire way. The team is a reflection on what a mistake it was to panic like they did in 2012 - this team has had a winning approach for the better part of a decade ... you just never know how October will shake out.

Body of work - no chance ... especially since you have to count the last month of a hobbled Miguel Cabrera. Now would I pick the Tigers over the Sox in a best of 7? It would be tempting with those Top 4 starters - but Tampa's aren't slouches and Boston figured out a way there.

The extra travel day has definitely changed how managers are handling Game 4. With the extra day it allows you to have EITHER your #1 or #2 lined up with short rest. Detroit was able to exploit it with Scherzer as was LA with Kershaw. The Rays did to a degree too with Moore although Maddon was not taking any chances with asking for much inningswise from him. In particular, teams with a quality #2 starter now have an extra bullet to throw at Game 4.

It's not really a contrast - both worked in the same management structure. These are not opposing schools at all - Farrell bench coach is a former PawSox manager. So is his first base coach. This season has been more of a throwback to the 2007 days than any kind of rebuke of them.

The science of statistics says it will all even out in the long run ... but to guess how it would is folly. The science tells us that a best of 7 (let alone 5) will tell us nothing about underlying quality ... especially in baseball where the starting pitching rotation means you are facing a different "team" every game.

Oh, I definitely would rather have the A's ... less bat-missing starting pitching. And yes, while their park robs us of power, it robs them too. And our outfield defense is solid enough to take advantage of all those fly balls that die in the outfield. That said, there are no "upsets" in baseball playoffs. Just happy to still be ticking. Boegarts came in handy in a tough spot - I don't think this changes the rotation but it might make it easier for Farrell to lift Drew in a matchup situation. Good composure in a situation where the temptation to press was high.

Well, we thought Tampa would not give gifts either. The series was defined by the Sox outdoing the Rays at the stuff Tampa is good at, pitching, defense. And then the offense was relentless - even last night when they weren't scoring they were making one hard inning after another.

LOL - to be fair, WMB DID have a terrific at-bat ... just sometimes the other guy is a little better. Rodney had a much easier go.

Oh to be 21 and have a legitimate big league approach at the plate ...

He does - on ESPN.

come on Taz

Oh I doubt Nava was running on his own ... the hit and run made sense there although Ross != contact hitter

Tazawa with a super quick hook ... I dunno, going right to Uehara feels better here, but need to watch for the steal either way

Bres just hitting that lower corner over and over ... tough break, not much Boegarts could do ... Drew might have been able to make that play/throw, but have to live with it

Classy by the umpire - since we're tuned in to watch you go after Zobrist ...

The 2004 team would not have needed it ...

Oh announcers yammering abut NL having more strategy - precisely false

that sucked - great at-bat too ... story of the night

sigh - Napoli JUST missed that

Amazing this is still scoreless ... definite fiesta of squanders for everybody

Really nice gameplan Middlebrooks has shown tonight ... this is the sort of approach that can make him a real force

Another time Pedroia prevented Drew from getting the easier play ... yuck