jad

A realistic view is that the RS have still not figured out how to deal with their "dead money": around $150 million owed to players who (1) are on perpetual DL and show no signs of committing to getting in playing shape, and (2) are not major league calibre and have been waived. Then there's another 70mil or so that 'might' be funding an average first baseman. That's several years of team salary for some clubs. Now it's time to deal with an underperforming pitching staff, all the while hoping that the miraculous year of Ortiz, Boggaerts, JBJ, Ped, Betts continues. Given this, .500 seems about right.

And 4Ks for JBJ. Where is the legendary hitting coach who got so much credit during his hot streak?

I don't know. It looked to me like all his pitches were up, both FB and off-speed. (except for one ... but that one also got tagged). Announcers said his speed was slightly off ~90, and there aren't many major-leaguers who can't hit naval-high fastballs that speed. (I missed the last two innings, but I'm happy to see no one ripped Farrel or went into doom and despair mode when they brought in Koji--I assume he had his unhittable splitter going, which he was keeping very straight and very high his last appearance.)

Alas, in right center field--the only location that is considered a strike.

How does not having the dumb-ass manager having the chance to argue balls-and-strikes with the ump take away anything from the game. The staged and theatrical managerial tirades face-to-face with the ump are embarrassing. It's not allowed in any other sport. The problem with baseball is that there is no way to penalize this behavior except with an ejection.

I don't like him either. But I believe that's only his second blown save of the year.

Ha! Too bad there's not a deck of free players around full of aces.

I'm wondering: check out the video on ESPN. Do you see these flaws? (And do you think JBJ actually made a conscious mechanical adjustment?) I ask because I'm wondering what hitting instructors do, and what they did (if anything) to correct a couple of streaky RS hitters in the past when they were in their severe slumps (Boggaerts, Nava, JBJ himself of course, Ellsbury ... I'm sure there have been many others, maybe even Allen Craig). (Let's hope they leave JBJ alone for the time being, but I imagine teammates and coaches are treating him like a pitcher in the midst of a no-hitter.)

Well yes. I agree with some of that. But during his bad periods, JBJ wasn't making good contact at all--all K's and tappers. He now has a beautiful swing (but in a sense, always has; cf. Ortiz--when he swings and misses, it looks like he's swatting at the ball!) I don't understand 'slider-type' bat speed (doesn't this just mean timing does not adjust to pitch speed? I'm not sure that falls under the category 'mechanics', which is always what one hears with JBJ.) (Then again, I don't really trust 'scouting'--I guess I'm more a less a Moneyball thinker on this aspect of the baseball institution!) Obviously, there's a case to be made for 'simpler is better', and maybe that applies to his case. Even on our level, the simpler your golf/tennis stroke is, the easier time you'll have getting back to it if something goes wrong. One hitting coach I heard used to say he got hitters out of a slump by pretending to see a flaw in their swing and having them concentrate exclusively on that. Focussing them on this real or imaginary detail then would clear their heads of the clutter that was preventing their bodies from 'doing its thing'. (This of course presumes that the athlete already possesses basic skills. -- focussing on one thing is NEVER going to put my drive 300 yards straight down the fairway.)

I've heard Davis get credit for JBJ, but haven't heard what he himself has said. Farrell says "he's shortened his swing," (whatever that means); Cora on ESPN just gave a lengthy analysis, claiming he's "gone back to his mechanics in college" (but the film he presents to prove it doesn't seem to support that); one other ESPN analyst credited his stint at Pawtucket; others said (last year) he was "uncoachable." All I see is that he's gone to a leg kick, committing him to the swing (like Papi, or the old Hanley). Last year, he developed during his bad streak a 'foot tap' in his front foot--which I have only seen in one other hitter, oddly: Daniel Nava when he went from being a .300 hitter to a .150 hitter. Is his success dependent on a particular mechanical adjustment? (too bad we can't do that in, say, our golf swings!). Or is it the reverse: when you get a good, confident swing and have success, suddenly you 'look' better doing it (i.e., what we describe as 'mechanics' is often a function of success, rather than a cause of it).

This covered by a specific rule, although I've never seen it happen: as a poster noted above, if you are hit while attempting to swing, it's a dead ball strike. (Doesn't matter where, apparently). So you can't, say, hit a fair ball if the ball touches your hand during the swing.

NESN (or whatever) broadcast is saying HOlt got concussion diving for ground ball last week.

It seems to me that the tactic of giving up an out for a base was shown to be bad both in Moneyball and well before that (even in the 60s, the math of the 'sacrifice' exposed it as a myth. Not sure of the figures, but with one out, there would be almost no point whatsoever in giving up an out to get a runner to third--calling that a 'productive' out makes it seem more valuable than it is.). Also, the Williams shift that I recall simply put three infielders on the right, but it's not difficult to find evidence of versions as radical as anything seen today: see photos and even a baseball card from the 40s on: http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24378251/just-because-the-ted-williams-shift

Rockets. Lots of off-speed stuff up in the zone.

Porcello, on the other hand ...

Too bad RS can't play Atlanta, Houston, Oakland, and NY through the rest of the season, and that the post-season (should they get there) might have some over .500 teams.

Tell it to the Rhode Island taxpayers who are still paying for his failed video-game operation.

What was that cloud of dust(?) they threw on Ortiz as he made 2 base? Rosin? Soda?

Manny's catch, high-riving the fan, then turning and doubling the runner off first makes him the greatest MLB fielder of any position at any time, past, present, and future.

It was a bad bunt. The only argument for it is completely tautological: if it had worked, it would have worked. Well duh.

Another example of the virtue of the attempted bunt. Why is it regarded as strange to let your .300 hitters swing away?

Signing Pablo might have been dumber. But that's the only thing that comes to mind.

What was THAT????

Wasn't there a study done on the notion of 'protection' a couple of years back, and it was shown to be a myth? (can't remember how it was done--comparing the performance of, say, a #3 hitter when 'protected' by a .300 clean up hitter vs. a .200 clean-up hitter?--no difference). But it's one of those comforting myths we have,, like the virtue of the bunt, 'moving runners up', the 'ideal #2 hitter', and likely most everything we like to discuss!

How can you adjust to a strike zone where balls six inches off the outside of the plate are strikes? Throw the bat at them?