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Maxbialystock

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Everything posted by Maxbialystock

  1. Maxbialystock
    While I generally agree HanRam isn't hitting that well with an OPS hovering around .700, I think this is the wrong night to blame the loss on the manager. The whole lineup has looked anemic with 1 double, 5 singles and 0 for 6 with RISP.
  2. Maxbialystock
    Well, I stand corrected. The Red Sox played great tonight and got beat by the homeplate umpire. I can't wait to read the headlines in the paper or on the internet tomorrow: "s***** umps cost the sterling Red Sox another bitter loss. When will this nightmare of injustice, inaccuracy, and perversion end? MLB desperately needs robots calling the games."
  3. Maxbialystock
    This game was almost over after the first two pitches, a first pitch dinger followed by a first pitch double which led to Chicago's second run. Since then the score has been 1-1--except that Chicago started with a 2 run lead and a very good starter on the mound.
  4. Maxbialystock
    I haven't watched every pitch, but what I've seen says he has done pretty well. We are not losing because of the umpire, that's a certainty. We are losing because Chicago's pitching overmatches our hitting and because Buchholz so far this year is just a so-so pitcher and gave up 3 runs in I think 5 innings.
  5. Maxbialystock
    Sad part is that our lineup is struggling. Second night in a row the top five hitters have managed just 1 hit even though we still have the 8th and 9th innings left tonight. Sad part is that last night we had 3 on and 0 out last night in the 9th and couldn't get a run home. Pedroia struck out on a fast ball right down the middle.
  6. Maxbialystock
    Thanks. Now I begin to understand where this venom directed toward umpires comes from--the irrational belief that they are being unfair to our guys, which is just nonsense. One of us has already said he will stop watching a game if he sees the ump being unfair to our players.
  7. Maxbialystock
    I didn't hate him, but had you said so back then, I would probably have said I could feel your pain. And of course we were both wrong. He was good at LA and he was more than good after tommy john surgery, like he had a new lease on life. He was terrific in 2013 and one of the keys to winning it all. Wasn't he the one who beat Verlander in a crucial 1-0 game in the ALCS?
  8. Maxbialystock
    If they can't see it, how is the average ump accurate 87% of the time and some of them accurate almost all the time? There are no blind people driving, by the way, and anyone who hits a mailbox does so for other reasons besides vision. You want to know what blindness is? It's wanting to change the fundamental nature of baseball because of what we see on the TV screen. You guys need to grow up and recognize that baseball needs umpires not robots.
  9. Maxbialystock
    And you accuse me of exaggerating. sk7326 similes about umpires are way over the top. If the data are true--and I'm not sure they are--the umpires are 87% accurate, and we don't know that that is a fair percentage because there should be grey area around the strike zone where a ball or a strike could fairly be called. As for the 3D model, what is it using to define the top and bottom of the strike zone? But my real point remains the same. Umpires have been calling balls and strikes for 150 years without damaging the game. Indeed, to any true baseball fan, they are an essential part of the game even when they make mistakes. If they are 87% accurate, that's pretty good. Given the new methods of providing feedback, they could get even better. Better that than sending them to the trash heap.
  10. Maxbialystock
    Helping them is one thing. They already get lots of feedback on every call they make. What you guys want to do is relegate them to the outhouse. And how can you be so certain that umpires are ignoring the rule book just because you don't like their calls? They all know where the strike zone is even though the strike zone in my opinion is ill-defined because it changes for each player. We think the bottom of the zone is the knee, but what part of the knee? And where is the top of the zone? Armpits? And how do we know those computerized images are adjusted precisely to every player's size and stance?
  11. Maxbialystock
    Knock it off. You make me feel like the nattering nabob of negativism. You're over last night, and I'm still recovering.
  12. Maxbialystock
    Actually, good for you. I'm not quite ready to pray for Buch, but I agree he needs help. The good news is he flat earned this return because he was pretty good his last time out in 2+ innings of relief. Right now I'm about equally concerned with our hitting, which definitely seems to be backsliding.
  13. Maxbialystock
    It's not a popular cause because it's really not a problem except on this thread. I have yet to ask a baseball fan who says not having umpires calling balls and strikes is a good idea. Why do that see this? Because it would change the fundamental nature of the game. You cite game 4 of the 2004 ALCS and Ortiz's dinger, but I would go back to that same game and that 9th inning stolen base and the umpire right there on the spot calling our guy safe. Umpires are part of the game even when they make mistakes. You guys want to get rid of them, and you are wrong. I know you all say they can stick around and maybe sweep homeplate or call plays at the plate or whatever, but taking them out of calling balls and strikes essentially neuters them because balls and strikes are central to the game of baseball.
  14. Maxbialystock
    Interesting how quickly and completely this thread stopped being about Castillo, who certainly does not need a thread of his own.
  15. Maxbialystock
    Good advice on both points--Farrell's managing and looking for the turnaround.
  16. Maxbialystock
    Stephen Curry needs to stick to basketball--baseball's a little to subtle for him. I guess it's a plus he didn't complain that Farrell didn't have his best shooters in there at the end of the game or that Kimbrel should have used up more of the shot clock before throwing.
  17. Maxbialystock
    A completely appropriate and deserved loss. Tonight our Sox, with the singular exception of Wright, who was great, did everything possible to lose tonight's game. But the single worst play of the night was not the two errors or the two passed balls or even the first five players getting one lousy hit. No. It was Pedroia striking out with the bases loaded and no one out and the pitcher having trouble hitting the strike zone. Pedroia is one of my all time favorite Sox players, but tonight he had his head up his ass.
  18. Maxbialystock
    This team, except for Wright, who pitched his heart out, played like s*** tonight and you want to blame it on Farrell? The first five hitters in the lineup were hitless. We had two errors. Vazquez had two passed balls, including one that brought in an unearned run. Pedroia came up with the bases loaded and no outs and had one of the absolutely dumbest at bats I've ever seen when he repeatedly took the pitcher off the hook by wildly swinging at pitches outside the strike zone. He finally struck out on a fast ball right down the geometric center of the plate. Vazquez, who had two hits in the game and should have batted in the 9th, repeated Pedroia's performance. I am always astounded when fans see the players just stink it up and blame everything on the manager.
  19. Maxbialystock
    1. It wasn't right down the middle, it was low in the zone. 2. Pedroia did get a fastball, 93 mph, in the geometric center of the strike zone and missed it completely. Despite Wright's heroics, which have been considerable, our guys have been outplayed, including two errors, and I think at least one PB, which let in Chicago's first run. It always amazes me when fans want to blame the manager when the players are stinking it up. Our first five hitters were hitless tonight. Pedroia struck out with the bases loaded when the pitcher lacked control and would have walked him. Vazquez did the same thing--turned a walk into an out. Either player walking would have won the game. And that's the manager's fault? Are the players never at fault?
  20. Maxbialystock
    Against a lefty pitcher, Shaw is sure out. Plus Vazquez has been hitting lately, including 2 hits in this game of our four total. What you don't know about this team would fill a book.
  21. Maxbialystock
    Pedroia struck himself out when the pitcher lacked control and would have walked him except Pedroia insisted on swinging at almost every pitch. Vazquez the same thing except he hit a grounder on a pitch that was so far outside he had to reach to hit it. Either player walking would have won the game.
  22. Maxbialystock
    I'm not sure I meant to say we like imperfections, rather we tolerate them because we like umpires making the calls. which has been the case for over 150 years. We like the human element of umpires because sports and athletics are very human endeavors. If your "credibility gap" is so real, why isn't there a visible movement to change how balls and strikes are called? Where is the public outcry? Why isn't the Commissioner of MLB on the spot to "fix the umpire problem?" I personally don't think umpires are all that flawed, and I have seen lots of players challenge calls that were in fact correct.
  23. Maxbialystock
    Are you saying you don't care about the balls and strikes? That bad calls don't bother you a lot? That they haven't driven you to argue that umpires should not call them? I agree "obsess" is a strong word, but mvp78 has in fact said he has stopped watching games when he thinks the ball and strike calls are particularly bad. I call that obsessive.
  24. Maxbialystock
    Good point. But umpires also have the benefit of technology, I'm sure, by getting regular reports on their performance, especially behind the plate. My guess is that replays of their calls are a frequent thing after spring training games and a regular thing during the regular season. You think human umpires are obsolete, but I don't. And, by the way, Lou Boudreau, manager of the Cleveland Guardians, was the one who first used a big shift--against Ted Williams back in the 1950's. Computers have refined our ability to analyze hitting patterns, but the basic idea is 60 or more years old. And let's not forget that bold shifts incur risks. One is that a bunt to the other side is almost a sure hit if executed properly. Another, as Bogaerts demonstrated, is that the shift makes it a whole lot easier for a man on first to avoid an out at second and to get to 3B. As for looking at an IPAD, that's not much different from good scouting reports which go way, way back.
  25. Maxbialystock
    Love the young guys, especially Bogaerts, but gotta go with Big Papi, who leads the team in rbi's and in key rbi's as well. mvp78 makes a good point about Wright--only pitches every 5th day. However, as Kimmi would say, I can't disagree with anyone picking Wright.
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