Maxbialystock
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Everything posted by Maxbialystock
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I've criticized Price endlessly, but tonight he has shown some heart. Two of those runs are the direct result of boneheaded plays by Bogaerts. First the two errors, then not throwing to 3b to get the lead runner. It wasn't even a hard play.
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Wow. Just wow. Price gets the swinging strike on the high fastball, then comes back with a fastball in the dead center of the strike zone. For a double of course.
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Too bad you aren't allowed to watch the game or you wouldn't be saying that. Tonight JC Ramirez is anything but average. Except for the dinger by Moreland and double by Beni--who never scored despite getting the double with no one out--he has made our guys look like weak sisters. He's got a good fastball and good secondary pitches.
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Just out of curiosity, is anyone voting for any of our non-pitchers to be in the All Star Game? I certainly am not. I heard or read Mookie is like 6th in the outfield voting, and that sounds about right to me.
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The Fox announcers were saying they could read Farrell's lips after the first inning--he was telling Vazquez to stop calling for so many fast balls. So maybe I need to back off of Price a little and ask why is Vazquez so f***ing dumb?
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Whoa! Price just a threw a knuckle curve for a strike on the first pitch. If that guy could command his breaking stuff, he would be tough. He gets into trouble when hitters can sit on his fast ball and/or, at least in one case to Pujols, he threw a changeup that barely moved right in the geometric center of the strike zone.
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I think "average pitcher" only applies if you don't look at what he is throwing. First and foremost, he throws strikes on just about every first pitch because the Sox have been drilled not to swing at the first pitch. He also has a 95-97 mph fast ball which he spots pretty well and a slider and a curve. I'm not sure about a changeup. The point is that most of the time he has our guys guessing. On a 3-2 count he threw one over the middle and caught Betts looking. In fact, he has 3 k's and 0 walks. If that's average, I wish our guys could be average. Whoops, just K'd HanRam with a 98 fast ball--just average, of course.
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Price appears to have little command of his changeup, knuckle curve, and I think slider. that's why he throws all those fastballs. At the same time, Bogaerts makes two errors in one inning to ensure an unearned run. And, as stated above, the hitters ain't hitting. Was it the 2d inning when Moreland led off with a dinger followed by Beni's double? Then HanRam strikes out looking, JBJ is HBP, and Vazquez and Marrero ground out weakly. A terrible game so far.
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Pretty good guessing if I do say so myself. I like Farrell's better because JBJ can do a lot of damage in the 7 slot.
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Not bad, not bad.
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I think you've twisted things a little. Overall our three best this year are Sale, Price, and Rodriguez. Right now Pom is our 2d best because of recent starts, but he lacks the repertoire to be a real #2. Wherever you put POM, I don't think many would say the Sox are a World Series team right now. Bullpen is good enough, but the rotation and hitting are not. Infield fielding is suspect. Baserunning is suspect. But other teams have flaws too, so the Sox are definitely playoff contenders.
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My mistake. Thanks for clarifying. I think it's probably good to have "roles," but also that sometimes the manager needs to be flexible based on game situations.
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Porcello's problem is pretty obvious--losusy command of his pitches. Someone else wrote something that might also be true--maybe he's throwing too hard. He needs to be able to use his changeup, curve, etc and to hit his spots and especially to keep the ball low. Angels are going with a 27 year old rookie whose ERA for his last six games was 1.91. I'm guessing the lineup will be: Betts Pedey Bogaerts Moreland Beni jbj HanRam or Young Leon Rutledge That's 4 lefty bats, which is usually the most Farrell goes with these days especially with Pablo on the DL again. The Sox are rested to a degree but now play 17 straight--7 at Fenway and 10 on the road--before the ASG. So Farrell isn't going to pull Porcello at the first sign of trouble at least not before the 5th or 6th and/or 7 runs. Sox are now 8th in the AL in runs scored and 4th in ERA and LA is worse in both.
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I think a valid case can be made for using Kelly and Kimbrel more in the final KC game, but that does not mean there was no case for using the guys who did go out there, especially when using those guys--and not over-relying on Kelly and Kimbrel--had been working like gang busters. So herewith a tiny factoid. Kelly the wunderkind was actually struggling in that game. He came in with 1 out and 2 men on and got the fly out, then walked a guy, and finally got the final out on a very hard hit ball to right field. We already know what Barnes and Scott did--they stunk it up. So that's three bullpen regulars, including one of our two bullpen aces, who were ineffective or barely effective Wednesday night. Given the above, I find it very hard to blame Wed night's debacle on the manager when it seems obvious that the bullpen just had a bad night, and by that I mean 3 straight guys, all three with normal, key roles in the late innings who overall have been successful this year.
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I believe Kelly had already pitched in the 7th, getting 2 outs. Indeed, he got sent in because Pomeranz had 1 or 2 guys on base in the 7th.
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06/21 Sox @ Kansas City
Maxbialystock replied to Spudboy's topic in Mike Grace Memorial Game Thread Forum
I agree Pomeranz has been remarkably good lately--basically since he made a scene after being taken out after 4 innings. My concern remains, however, that he basically has just 2 pitches, knuckle curve and fast ball, which means he really has to have control. Based on repertoire--at least three good pitches--and control, I think the rankings should be Sale, Price, ERod, Pom, and Porcello. The bigger point, however, is that, when ERod returns, that's a pretty good rotation, especially if Pom can stay at this new level and if Porcello can somehow get his command back. I agree with all the compliments for the bullpen and with moonslav's interesting stats. -
Where is it written that good managers bring their closers in early for 4, 5, and even 6 out saves? Nowhere. I thought Farrell did fine last year, especially in September when the Sox actually made their big run to win the AL East, by keeping Kimbrel for just the 9th inning. And let's not forget that Kimbrel was less reliable last year than he has been this year. And no way, no how can anyone convince me that somehow Francona outmanaged Farrell in the ALDS. The Sox blew that series because Price and Porcello were terrible and Buch wasn't much better. Kimbrel was never a factor in the ALDS.
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06/21 Sox @ Kansas City
Maxbialystock replied to Spudboy's topic in Mike Grace Memorial Game Thread Forum
How does Pomeranz look aside from the 2 runs? -
06/20 Sox @ Kansas City
Maxbialystock replied to Spudboy's topic in Mike Grace Memorial Game Thread Forum
2d best record in AL also feels good. Ditto good road trip. Despite injuries to Pedey, HanRam, Moreland, and possibly someone else. I don't count Pablo ear infection. Also ERod and Wright and Thornberg. -
ERod last start was June 1. Didn't FO say 3-4 weeks to rest knee?
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Sox on pace now to win 91 games, not so great. But injuries and loss of Ortiz explain some of that. And how bad can 2 d best record in AL be? ERod last start June 1. When does he return? Didn't FO say 3-4 weeks to rest knee? And wasn't knee injury Farrell's fault for insisting ERod warm up before his start?
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Finally, a good answer. Thanks.
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Also a new topic. Houston hit two of our guys back to back--Betts, then Pedroia--and both were hurt temporarily. It turns out Pedey was hurt enough to miss a couple of games. So my question is why was there no outcry on the game thread or since? To me what the Astros pitcher did was malicious or vindictive or both. I do not think those HBP's were accidental.
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Last time out, Velazquez filled in for Johnson and only went 3.1 innings and 50 pitches. Last night he went 5.1 and 77 pitches. Anyone want to guess his average innings per start--he had 9--at Pawtucket this year? Answer is 5.1. Besides, The Sox got thru the 6th inning without giving up any runs. The problem was the 7th inning with Boyer on the mound. I would have been fine with leaving Velazquez in, but I fail to see a persuasive argument that taking him out after 5.1 innings was such a huge blunder or even that it cost anything. So, naysayers, please 'splain to me how last night's loss was all about not letting Velazquez pitch a bunch more innings or whatever and not about the dearth of hitting because frankly I'm not seeing it.
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I checked the game thread right after both Betts and Pedroia were HBP back to back and was astonished to see no outcry on talksox. I say this because the replays suggest both HBP's were intentional, but especially the one to Pedroia who was in fact injured.