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Maxbialystock

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Everything posted by Maxbialystock

  1. Maxbialystock
    Keep it up and you could get to 22 catches.
  2. Maxbialystock
    Well, that's a--what did I read in last night's game thread?--travesty. Another rookie mistake. Will this nightmare never end?
  3. Maxbialystock
    Not to me. I want human umpires because to me they are part of the game. FWIW, I even get a little nervous about how increasingly important computer programs and "big data" are becoming to MLB and even college teams. They are already the proximate cause for the all those shifts we see now. They are at the heart of the movie Moneyball, which depicts a GM who basically preaches the gospel of Bill James: get a walk because you don't need to hit; don't steal; don't bunt either because outs are precious. Think about that sentence and ask yourself, if Bill James is right and everyone starts applying sabermetrics religiously, is baseball a better game without bunts, without steals, and without hitters who actually want to hit a round ball with a round bat squarely and not just look for a walk?
  4. Maxbialystock
    Exactly. Players are nothing if not imperfect. Umpires are far, far closer to "perfect" than the players. More than that, they make decisions quickly and decisively and do their best to keep the game moving along. More to the point, I actually enjoy a good umpire at work because it's a skilled position which requires almost as much training as for players (who obviously have a higher skill level of course).
  5. Maxbialystock
    jacksonianmarch can be a pain, but I basically agree with his characterization of the AL this year. Plus I too am worried about the postseason because recently we have seen great regular season teams not excel in the postseason. We have good hitting, but in the postseason good pitching tends to predominate. That's why we keep arguing among ourselves about who do we think will start in the postseason and is bullpen going to be strong enough. I looked at the ALDS, ALCS, and WS schedules that came out today and believe I am correct that even in the ALDS the Sox will need four starters unless they sweep the first three. Right now I honestly see five pretty decent starters: Sale, Porcello, Price, Eovaldi, and Rodriguez. And September should be enough time and starts to sort out who can be depended upon.
  6. Maxbialystock
    Leon rested Monday, an off day, and had now caught two games with 3 at Camden Yards coming up, including starts by Price and Sale. Assuming Cora won't want Sandy to catch 6 straight games, I figure Butler will start tonight or tomorrow night (with Eovaldi on the mound)--probably tonight. Other than that, I see tonight's lineup as like last night's, except for Butler in for Leon and Pearce in for Moreland. Plus maybe Cora wants someone to have a rest day even though Monday is another day off.
  7. Maxbialystock
    Epic, shmepic. Go with Thunder--or anyone YOTN recommends.
  8. Maxbialystock
    The Jays hit both of our lefty starters, especially the dingers, so maybe Porcello can pitch another gem. Meanwhile, the hitting is unreal. However, the Jays are going with a lefty, Borucki, so we will just have to see.
  9. Maxbialystock
    Love that word travesty, which speaks volumes about your mindset. I mean, common sense would argue that it's pretty hard to live up to that word during a record-breaking season, a six game winning streak, and a game that was basically won with those 4 runs in the 3d which became a 7-0 lead in the 6th. But not, of course, to the cognoscenti--the seers and overseers who really know the game and deign to enlighten the rest of us. So thanks for doing so. Do we need to start a "dump Cora" thread perhaps?
  10. Maxbialystock
    Betts. RF Beni. LF Moreland. 1b JDM. DH Bogaerts. SS JBJ. CF Nunez. 2b Devers. 3b Leon. C
  11. Maxbialystock
    Whereas I think anything within 2 inches of the plate can be called either way by the ump without damaging the nature of the game. Why? Because very few hitters can reasonably see pitches that accurately and, more importantly, make a decision on whether to swing well before the ball gets to the plate. Also, very few pitchers can regularly work the corners and also throw the ball hard as it needs to be thrown and make the ball move up, down, right, and left as it needs to do. In other words, why do we want technology to deliver what is essentially inhuman accuracy?
  12. Maxbialystock
    Au contraire. I would argue that the walks, within reason, are crucial to his pitching style these days for the simple reason he can't afford to attack the strike zone. 2 runs in 4.2 innings is pretty close to optimal for Pom these days. In his last two starts he has walked 5 guys in 4.2 innings and 4 in 5 innings--to go with 2 runs in each game. Bad as those walks are, they "work" in the larger context of what he needs to do out there. I am as anti-Pom as I can be, but I will readily admit his last two starts are encouraging. No, not encouraging enough for me to want him to stay in the rotation, but encouraging enough to think he won't kill us in the hopefully very few starts he as left.
  13. Maxbialystock
    Amazing game. Thank goodness for the dingers, but not for the pitching.
  14. Maxbialystock
    Actually, it did work out. Beni hit a routine grounder which turned out to have eyes. He did not hit the ball hard.
  15. Maxbialystock
    Nicely done, moonslav. I never thought of Pom as our #3. Ahead of him I would put: Sale, Price, Porcello, ERod, Wright, Velazquez, and Johnson. What do you want to bet that's how DD sees him now and maybe Cora? 23-5 in our last 28? Zowie.
  16. Maxbialystock
    I'll be honest and say I thought they had a really good bullpen, which actually wasn't half-bad in games 2 and 3. But utter collapse in games 1 and 4.
  17. Maxbialystock
    Intentionally walk the bases full? A lot of pressure on Holder.
  18. Maxbialystock
    Better, yes.
  19. Maxbialystock
    You mean am I out to sea? Possibly. My wife sometimes thinks so.
  20. Maxbialystock
    Mostly agree. A lot of good points. But my memory is that the Yankees were in 3 of the games: they had a 4-0 lead in game 1 with Sabathia on the mound, but their bullpen collapsed. Porcello had control of game 2 all the way. But Kimbrel almost blew it all in game 3 until he got that fly out with the bases loaded in the 9th. And last night we needed 10 innings and a come from behind rally to win.
  21. Maxbialystock
    Yup. That's why, along with Emp9, I was looking for a split. Just keep that 5 1/2 game lead, I thought. Not having Sale in my mind was huge.
  22. Maxbialystock
    I'm not sure Williams was merely being stubborn. My memory is that he knew he had a great swing that in fact allowed him--along with his great eyesight and reflexes--to hit a round ball with a round bat squarely and do so on a regular basis. One way to beat that shift regularly was/is to hit the ball hard, which makes it difficult to field even if within reach. This also enabled him to keep hitting dingers. I believe he was able to hit to left on occasion by shifting his stance, not by adjusting his swing. But he normally did not do that because his swing and especially his ball contact were so good that he still had a high OPS throughout his career. Remember 1941 when he hit .406? His OPS that year was 1.287. Fantastic! In 1957 when he was 39 years old his OPS was 1.257, and that was 11 years after Lou Boudreau used his shift for the first time, so by 1957 it's a good bet everyone was using it against in Williams. In other words, Williams was simply that great a hitter. Not many today, if any, are that great, so those shifts generally work.
  23. Maxbialystock
    I don't see Eovaldi being bumped to the bullpen, but you make a good point about what he could do there--if he is suited. Some guys are uncomfortable coming out of the bullpen.
  24. Maxbialystock
    Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the primary reason why all teams now use shifts and use them often is precisely because the adjustment ain't that easy. If it were easy, teams would use the shifts less. I believe I am correct in saying that Ted Williams never really adjusted, and he was not only a great natural hitter, but a real student of the swing.
  25. Maxbialystock
    This thread sure went south in a hurry. Now we have the worst bullpen ever and a stupid manager who brings in the wrong guy (Hembree) and who won't leave effective relievers in the game, preferring to "search for disaster" by bringing in a new guy each inning. The Sox currently have the second lowest ERA in MLB, so I gotta wonder just how bad things are, especially after watching the Yankees bullpen give away not 1 but 2 games in the recently completely series. In my opinion, way too much negativism directed toward the bullpen, which I agree sure ain't perfect, but which has had some good moments/games. FWIW, last night I would not have brought Price out for the 7th but would have brought Hembree instead. Price got the 2 earned runs in the 7th, and Hembree's were both unearned.
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