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5GoldGlovesOF,75

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Everything posted by 5GoldGlovesOF,75

  1. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Home runs don't mean more wins in the regular season. As a teen it was so fun watching the 1977 Red Sox blasting HRs all summer. Boston led the majors with 213 as the only team to hit over 200. Five guys hit at least 26 homers (more than team leader Story in '25), including AL champ Rice, Scott, Hobson, Yaz and FIsk. They didn't make the playoffs. Flash forward 30 years later to the most underrated world champions in Red Sox history: the '07 SOX only hit 166 home runs. The MLB average was 165; 17 clubs went yard more than Boston. Ortiz cranked 35, but Mike Lowell and Manny only had 21 and 20. Other Sox legends: Varitek 17, Youkilis 16, Pedroia 8, Cora 3, Kevin Cash 0. The '07 Red Sox also had the best pitching staff in the AL, leading in ERA and WHIP, and the best Defensive Efficiency with the lowest Runs Against Per Game. If the '26ers can replicate those standings, it's going to be ok. Btw: the '07 Sox also launched 18 more home runs in the postseason when they went 11-3.
  2. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Neither of those specialties is paramount to scoring a Ghost Runner. It's all about making contact and not striking out. The baseball world raved about the Blue Jays' ability to do both for a month last October. Toronto led the AL in batting average -- 11 points higher than runner-up Boston -- but the Jays also whiffed over 300 times less (actually, only 3 more than the Royals, the club with the least Ks). The AL champs were 10-4 in extra innings... and should have won the final game if their third base coach let newest Red Sox IKF take a bigger lead and run on contact.
  3. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    That's what I mean. At that "risk," a guy riding the pine as an occasional righty DH or pinch-hitter is worth it. And if he brings a beer into the dugout and this time actually opens it, send him packing. Or share it.. And hopefully Durbin's contact skills will help change the culture in situations like extra innings. OPS isn't the end-all be-all stat for scoring the Ghost Runner because drawing a walk with 1B open can actually hurt by setting up the D for a force out or worse, a DP. Plus, while the longball is desired, guys trying too hard for it and whiffing defeats the purpose of moving the ectoplasmic man around the bases. The Sox were 8-12 in extras last year. If they just flipped those numbers, they were right in the mix for the division crown.
  4. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Dunno, but most ultra competitive athletes -- especially guys set for life who've already achieved every individual goal possible -- always seem to crave one last chance to win a ring. Notice I italicized "like" Mike Trout. There are always bats looking for homes. I intentionally didn't mention Castellanos all week, even though an obvious change-of-scenery guy who could do damage in a place like Fenway by mistake.
  5. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    But in a pitchers' duel deep into October will you like our chances better to hope for three hits to score the winning run or one swing by a subsidized DH like Mike Trout, who may be available by August? Sorry... just preparing for all scenarios. And now, for the outrage...
  6. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    I like Romy and he's a hitter who can contribute in a good batting order... but I never want to see him batting clean-up again with a Refsnyder leadoff like in the playoffs. Breslow gets kudos for the depth he's built on the pitching staff... but he's slicing our soles on broken seashells in the shallows of an offense.
  7. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Dang -- take it back. Stop, before this is all over the internet.
  8. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    They tried eradicating them by arming drones with spear guns, but natives suspected secret bounties when others started disappearing: goliath frogs, electric eels, LED eels, manatees, girlatease...
  9. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    This rots.
  10. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Otters know where it's at. Swimming and fishing all day.
  11. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Two guys that can run followed by your four best power hitters? Why are you trying to make sense? No avocado for you.
  12. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Totally agree. A guy who makes contact and can bunt should hit second in a good batting order. But I'm so outdated, I'm only reiterating the first 100 or so years of accepted baseball strategy.
  13. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    The reason Sonny Gray bounces from one team to another is that he's just too contradictory. It's not his fault -- his parents named him -- though all administrations are hypocritical about transparency (especially those whose favorite colors are redacted and white). If I owned a team called the Red Sox, the first change I'd make is a sock code: wear your pants high enough to show your colors!
  14. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    That .5 of a win will come on half of a walk-off home run by Willson on a rising liner that the Green Monster eats and spits back out... ... the ball will bounce back over the leftfielder, but Contreras will just beat it to second base safely.
  15. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    "Tanner Houck will be a better addition to our roster than any other player we can acquire at the trade deadline," the President will lie again in July.
  16. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    No matter what we think is the best order -- or even what the paid analytics dept determines -- the manager has his favorite line-ups, plus ego quirks to deal with that none of us know about. Cora's already said his top four guys will be Anthony, Story, Duran and Contreras, probably with Abreu 5th and Durbin 6th (AC likes Caleb "lengthening" the line-up down there). That's a lot of swing and miss, 1 through 5. Personally, I like a contact hitter and bunter like Durbin behind another base stealer like Duran or Story. It's the best way to utilize Durbin's skills -- which are rare on this roster and desperately needed to change the culture. And if Anthony is indeed the team's best hitter -- on a team with zero offensive stars -- don't we want him up there as much as possible with traffic on the bases??? If this season will be based on pitchers' duels, give yourself the best chance to win them...
  17. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Texas' starting rotation is as good in names as New York's, but neither may have the quality depth to overcome injuries as Boston's. If everyone stay healthy, then all three teams have to be favored to make the postseason. And I say that without even looking at who the Rangers have in their starting line-up, since pitching is the predominant reason for optimistic Red Sox fans whose hopes Spring eternal.
  18. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Merloni just said Cora loves Anthony leadoff, so who bats behind him for protection just needs to wear a Manny mask until they get to Contreras at clean-up (he didn't say the last part; I did). Lou also says Durbin at 3rd, with Mayer/Romy at 2nd -- mainly because Romy is more comfortable there. My feeling is that Mayer is the best infielder with the best arm, which gives the Sox the best chance at completing Cora's favorite feat: the double play. DPs will be more important than ever for a club built around pitching. Mayer had his elbow fixed last August. Durbin, who proved himself capable at 3B for a team that won the most games in baseball, had his elbow scoped this offseason. Romy has had recent shoulder pain, but in his left shoulder. Cora will go the guy who will turn two most consistently.
  19. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    No matter how we look at it, a homer counts for at least one instant run... ... so I confidently determine the minimum value as 1 HRAR (1 Home Run Above a Replacement batter). My logic is that the typical replacement batter can't even reach the seats -- unless he overpays for one and enters through the turnstiles.
  20. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Game 4: Sox led 2-1 in games, but LA had momentum, coming off an 18-inning walk-off in Gm 3. Dodgers were 7 outs from tying the Series and would be home for Gm 5. Rich Hill, throwing a one-hitter, had a 4-0 lead in the 7th when Roberts yanks him after his second walk. Moreland pinch hits for ERod and PLAKATA... Boston then destroys LA's bullpen and wins easy.
  21. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Fair points. Of the eight teams that won their first rounds in the '25 playoffs, only Milwaukee was below the MLB average in team HRs. I'm just a Red Sox fan, and know that our four World Series MVPs this century all were awarded for their power. Manny, Lowell, Papi and Steve Pearce wouldn't have been candidates without the longball. Oritz never should've been pitched to in any of the 2013 games by St. Louis, because he blasted the most heroic grand slam in Boston history in the ALCS. It's arguably the greatest dinger in Sox postseason history -- (because they won rings, Carlton) right there with his '04 walk-off in the Bronx and Damon's salami... though no one should ever forget Moreland's 3-run pinch shot that turned around momentum in '18...
  22. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Ah, Soto -- the Red Sox knew how much he'd mean to their batting order, and were reportedly so aggressively interested they offered $700 million... or was it $600 mil... $500? More than $0.00 to Schwarber or Alonso? But they wind up wounded, not even dead.
  23. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    LaRussa tried her, but she insisted on getting more than three outs in the 9th. Kira lives with husband Kevin Bacon on the family farm in Connecticut. My father was a farmer, and there's no closing in a dawn to dusk profession always getting ready for the next season all year every year...
  24. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Wear a seatbelt next time so you can read all the words in a post before replying.
  25. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Breslow himself acknowledged that home runs help teams get deep into the postseason. Some posters love stats that justify opinions, but then use "Small Sample Size" to argue against other stats. Teams that out-homered opponents in playoff games last year won 35 of 40. Call that a SSS if you want, but it's also ALL the playoff games, so ESS: Entire Sample Size. I love the Durbin trade because the Sox didn't give up much for a guy who's my kind of ballplayer: all hustle, makes contact and doesn't strike out. And of course Cora is going to say the Red Sox are a "complete team" the first week of Spring Training. But we all know it's not.
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