sk7326

well, driving him in was another ... not much he could do with most of those pitches

lucky break - although zobrist did block the base ... so it evens out

all jump there - good throw ... great slide

Would have waited til he got to 2nd ... but fun to see a lefty lose the guy he was brought in, REALLY brought in to retire.

Calculated risk - tells you how little Maddon thinks of Delmon Young's ability to field

Delmon Young is so not an option in the outfield ... let's get something done here. We know Uehara is available for hard work tonight ...

Buch did nice job to at least get this game to the "good bullpen" ... if only he had gotten that pitch a wee bit further in on Longoria, sigh ...

Given how horrible the hitting standard is at catcher - being able to catch well is enough to justify a regular nod. If you can hit at all - watch the offers come in!

I don't dismiss them at all - but entering the series, we looked at bat-missing pitching and superior defense as two distinct checks in the Rays column - and the Rays screwed both of them up. I thought (and I suspect I am not alone) that Tampa was a slight favorite assuming both teams play to form ... but Tampa has forgotten to bring their strengths to the party so far.

and blatantly ignoring things like "On Base %" which most baseball fans have already figured out.

They have been excellent. Tampa has been poor - especially poor at the stuff they NEED to be good at. Of course Shaugnessy wrote his article about how the series is ovah, but that's silly. 3 games is a bad weekend. That said, have to like how the team has approached these fireballers.

The bringing out Lackey for the 6th was not great - although going right to his winning bullpen was. You had the extra day and the blowout the night before - so 6 outs of Uehara was there if needed. The thing with Lackey is a bit of the "old timey baseball" things Farrell does at times which is a little baffling given how smart he is and how much the team uses the newer information. Either way, using Breslow aggressively was a good call - and the thing you do when you have a bullpen that you do not have to worry about. And tonight, back to more of the same. It also does give some clue as to what a lot of folks on the board worried about. How do you solve the Red Sox issues with the middle of the bullpen? By skipping it entirely.

Dusty knew how to get his guys to play - but his tactical managing was ... not good.

There are probably 10 "number one" starting pitchers in the league period ... it would be nice to make a serious bid, but we have to be realistic. Ellsbury gets a QO, Napoli probably does and Salty is at least a maybe. Drew is a no. Dempster can be moved, although if we have to endure him for another season, that's not a bad thing - his durability means that those are 180 innings we don't have to give to guys who legitimately can't pitch. His contract was one of the best of the offseason though - the cost of pitchers whose main skill is not getting hurt is significant and the Red Sox did not have to tie themselves up for years. Somebody should see some value in a guy who still has swing and miss stuff and who never gets hurt - it is hard to get through the marathon without that. Getting a Choo to man LF would make a lot of sense as would a Beltran. But if you did not want to overextend, the platoon system works just fine. There is no reason Nava-Gomes-Carp-Napoli still can't hold those two positions down credibly next season. Now we probably cannot expect an MVP-ish season from Victorino again, although if he stays a righty, he very well might have more offensive value than could have been projected over the next 2 years.

Flags fly forever. The 2006 Cardinals need to apologize for being an 83-79 team who hit a September swoon. Now the name of the game is scoring runs and preventing them. The Red Sox did both in tandem better than just about anybody - those are the essential skills here. Now it don't mean jack now because it's a 4 week tournament, and even after hanging 19 runs up against 2 of Tampa's 3 best starters ... losing 3 in a row is the equivalent of a bad weekend in the regular season. It could happen, we have turned the trick before several times. It would not be a choke job or anything historic if Tampa won this series. Dem's the breaks. Basically in October, everything which evens out over the long season - no longer evens out. The Red Sox are the best team in baseball this year - but they are (as any team is) capable of a s***** weekend. We saw Tampa deliver one, particularly flailing at the stuff they are good at (catching the ball and pitching). The Red Sox regular season is the GM's success - not that the players and manager aren't responsible (duh) but if you are measuring Cherington, measuring by the 97 wins is the right way to go. A GM can't get the ring - that is on the players, managers and the usual luck and stuff which come with any tournament. Basically this weekend, the players for Tampa have been shaky enough that it is hard to really give a grade on the tactical managing aspect of thing. That said, Farrell (who has not been great at this part of the job) did very well Saturday. And tomorrow, coming off the travel day and with a chance to put the Rays away - you figure Koji is there for the 6 outs if they need em.

Byrd is a screaming fluke at his age. He has been important for Pittsburgh because they got literally nothing out of that position before his arrival. Choo is the best target - giving years to a 31 year old comes with risk, but he is an on base machine who can play a corner solidly. His platoon split this year earns some additional scrutiny here. Beltran is a great player for a short hitch too.

It's a good piece and does cite some reputable blogs ... ERA stats for Tanaka are obviously excellent. At the same time, the strikeout numbers tilt very much in Darvish's favor (in that comparison) - and strikeout rate is a good place to go as a first approximation of "stuff". Tanaka's K's are more reminiscent of DiceK (http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?P=daisuke-matsuzaka). The real issue with his pro translation is approach - we know the Japanese approach for pitchers has involved a lot of deception and often pitching away from contact. Darvish is a notable exception, with his height and his very much American-style "let em try to hit it" view. Does Tanaka "come right at" hitters? These are not prospects but veterans with solid track records - as the Daisuke experience showed, changing their fundamental approach, the thing which got them so much notoriety, is a very difficult ask.

Picking the WS is a coinflip (as is most playoff matchups). That said, the AL has a tiny advantage with the application of the DH rule ... the AL team gains 2 edges - a better first hitter off the bench in the NL park and a better DH in the AL park.

Rays over Guardians - the Guardians 36-52 record against non-awful teams sticks out like a sore thumb. Francona has been magnificent but the roster doesn't stack up. Tigers over A's - no reason to think it will be different this year. Tigers knockout starting pitching is the difference. Sox over Rays - seen them a lot, lot of confidence. Tampa has the edge at top of rotation, Sox have edges in middle of rotation, bullpen, lineup Pirates over Reds - Liriano has been amazing Cards over Pirates - good series, lots of young pitching at work Braves over Dodgers - not a lot of runs to be had in this series ALCS: Tigers over Sox - Tigers starters just enough to edge out Boston NLCS: Cards over Braves - just stronger all around World Series: Tigers over Cards - more balance, better manager

A Braves player got him riled up earlier in the game - but he acted emotionally. What is funny is wanting players with personality and then balking when a player actually expresses it. From a media criticism perspective, there is definitely a racial component to it (if the racial hats were reversed the narrative would be much different). Maybe he should have dialed it back a touch - but then so should have McCann instead of showboating in front of the cameras (and say sending a note after the game). Fernandez, and what he showed this year is very much one of the best things about the game now. BTW: Puig is a fun rookie of the year narrative but it really has to go to Fernandez.

Orgs have gotten smarter about pitching for sure - in terms of prioritizing development over free agency. Also, I think that when a team sees a pitcher who is not slated to be a #3 or better sort of starter, the first option before moving him to #4 starters-ville is to see if he can be a dynamite reliever - like a guy with a dynamite first pitch but no big league level 3rd pitch, a guy with an insane platoon split, or a guy whose delivery screams "catastrophic injury ahead, just see what we can get out of him in the meantime". The baseball world came to terms with PEDs in the days of yore where our old heroes were popping amphetamines like they were tic-tacs. You look at the NFL - which was allegedly ahead of everybody, and guys are still doing it all the time. Bill Romanowski was a human science experiment for chrissakes. It's like any sort of "crimefighting" apparatus - rules will change, people will try to work around them. There is way too much at stake not to.

Epstein has been acquiring assets - just like Luhnow has in Houston. Both of their big league clubs suck out loud - but it's very much with a bigger picture in mind.

Not entirely, but a start ... also look at the ballpark construction trend during that time ... and note that 22 of the 30 opened new stadiums since 1991. Teams in the early part of the trend were shifting from multipurpose monstrosities to Camden Yards sort of bandboxes. To wit, the Orioles going from Memorial Stadium to Camden Yards, the Reds going from Riverfront to Great American, the Pirates going from Three Rivers to PNC, the Astros going from the Astrodome to Minute Maid Park. Only really Seattle went the other way (Kingdome to Safeco) and San Francisco stayed about the same. And let's not even discuss Coors Field. Since the middle of the last decade the new stadiums with the notable exception of Yankee Stadium have involved teams going the other way, (Qualcomm to Petco, Busch Stadium, Metrodome to Target Field, Shea to Citi Field) to much more pitching oriented layouts. That impact cannot be ignored. I am not discounting that PEDs had some impact - but given a sport where such specialized skills are involved, I have no way of guessing exactly how much of an impact it DID have (not what the players or media THINK happened). And there are other external factors.

Fernandez seemed to expressing genuine shock at how he crushed that ... hard to act like you've been there when you almost certainly haven't. Taking off your mask at a kid acting like a kid is much more playing to the cameras than expressing joy at a "maybe not once in a lifetime but pretty close" act.

chemistry is a trailing indicator, not a leading one. McCann is tough, but body has been through a lot. And if by "tough" that includes the Jose Fernandez thing a couple weeks ago - that is weak sauce.