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Maxbialystock

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Everything posted by Maxbialystock

  1. Maxbialystock
    I said I didn't watch all the pitches, so maybe I missed the bad calls. Even if I had seen them, however, I would have said the same thing: we lost and Chicago won because of the players, not the umpire behind the plate. If none of us had watched the game and were simply told that Chicago and Sales beat Boston and Buchholz 3-1, most of us would have said, "it was that close? Was Buchholz lucky? Why can't our guys hit Chicago pitching. This is the second game in a row of weak hitting." No one, but no one would have said, "that score had to be because of the home plate umpire." If we assume--as you assert--that the home plate umpire was terrible, I would offer this game as solid evidence that umpires do not prevent good pitchers from getting players out nor bad pitchers from getting hit because that's exactly what happened tonight. Despite bad calls the better pitcher won.
  2. Maxbialystock
    Sales is now 12-2 with an ERA of 2.83. Tonight he had 9 K's and 1 BB and gave up 1 run and 4 hits in 7 innings. Buchholz wasn't great, but was better than he has been. If he could only take back his first two pitches, he might have had a really good night.
  3. Maxbialystock
    My reading comprehensive and interpretative skills are doing fine, thanks. If the Red Sox had won this game 3-1, there would have been very few complaints about calls of balls and strikes. Indeed, there would have been unrestrained jubilation if Buchholz had beat Sales. It absolutely, positively is about the Red Sox. And, I should admit, that's human nature and even, to a degree, commendable. Nothing wrong with rooting for the home team and getting mad at the umps. It's been going on for 150 years.
  4. Maxbialystock
    I like that. He probably should have pinch hit Ortiz for Ramirez, but nobody on the Sox is getting clutch hits in this series. And no one on the Sox can bunt worth a s***. No one. How many teams have a player who can put down such a piss poor bunt that it turns into a double play? The Sox do not teach, coach, or emphasize bunting--almost certainly because of Bill James and sabermetrics.
  5. Maxbialystock
    Chris Sale is vastly overrated as a starter. He just has those home plate umpires in his pocket like they were loose change. Meanwhile Clay Buchholz, one of the best starters ever to grace the Red Sox uniform, just couldn't catch a break from that really terrible home plate umpire.
  6. Maxbialystock
    Another game in which our guys played great but the umpires and our own manager conspired to take the game away and just hand it over to the totally undeserving White Sox. It's just a shame.
  7. Maxbialystock
    Probably won't happen. Better to just stop watching games and write protest letters to the Commish.
  8. 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.
  9. 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."
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. 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?
  15. 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.
  16. 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.
  17. 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?
  18. Maxbialystock
    Knock it off. You make me feel like the nattering nabob of negativism. You're over last night, and I'm still recovering.
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. Maxbialystock
    Interesting how quickly and completely this thread stopped being about Castillo, who certainly does not need a thread of his own.
  22. Maxbialystock
    Good advice on both points--Farrell's managing and looking for the turnaround.
  23. 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.
  24. 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.
  25. 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.
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