Beeks with 3 innings of no hit-no walk , K'ing 7 of 9. The comment about pitching for someone other than Boston or NY is mentally easier may well apply. Of course TB has exactly one hit off Happ in the 5th inning.
As long as the big lead in the East lasts, I'm sure Cora will give Devers plenty of reps to find himself but he certainly needs to recognize pitches better. Try looking at a few without swinging until the pitcher comes to the strike zone. He's a virtual auto 0-2 coming up right now, without a pitch in the zone.
The real life Crash Davis getting only a couple cups of coffee over 10 years, but which fan wouldn't trade for that experience . At 31, he has a lot of years left where he can work in the real world.
Based on that interesting assessment from 2012, Ted Williams should have hit cleanup for Boston, not 3rd over those many years. Maybe that 1 victory a year attributed to lineup analysis would have won the AL in '48 and '49 . Ted could have had 3 WS and contributed more to his legend than the 1946 series against the Cardinals. In 1978, one game would have made another big difference. Was Yaz hitting 3rd ??
Thornburg could also be a DL or waiver trade candidate at this point. Hembree certainly is , now that he has become a ROOGY. Telling Velazquez to cool his heels in Pawtucket for 2.5 weeks is most likely unless DD is actively talking to other teams dangling pitchers . The Dodgers just blew 3 games in a row to the Rockies in the 9th with Jansen went on the DL with arrythmia.
I have often thought that putting your worst hitter at #9, especially a slow runner was a wrong tactic.. Why clog the basepaths in front of your quicker, better hitters coming up when the #9 does reach base. Hide your least capable hitter at #8 and work around him.
You finally noticed !! Glad you came over to the dark side. I will give you credit for having the stats, and the biggest one is the 50 games over .500. Someone out there in bullpen land is doing something right.
Kimbrel , like his bullpen buddies, gets the job done in an innovative manner. If starters used the number of pitches per inning thatthese guys do , they would be at 100 by the 4th-5th inning. It really must be a new approach to pitching.
Yes, he can show them the videotape of their off balance, overthrowing tendencies and get them back to their base mechanics instead of trying to throw it through Leon's glove. Try strikes on the edge of the zone.
What was it about Barnes's inning that could use improvement. Not much, he only got beat to first on a bouncer, gave up another hit, walked one and held the lead, using only 20 pitches. Quality job, Matt