I'd really love for Price to pitch a dominant 8 inning scoreless, <3 hit game to shut up the EEI assfaces and their trolling counerparts here almost more than to beat the Astros.
I'll take both
I'll take both
ALCS 2018 - Houston Astros
- Thread starter DeadlySplitter
- Start date
Red Sox fans who hate David Price wear pink hats. I can't imagine ever rooting against one of our players as the Sox fight for a World Series berth.
No, I know everyone was aware of it to some extent, I was just a little surprised at how big of a swing it was.
Well, it was also a totally different team. I'll leave out 2012, because they were still in the NL, but 2013-2016 the Astros were 66 games under .500. In 2017-2018 the Astros were 84 games over .500
A bit more detail:
Between 2012-16, Houston won 55, 51, 70, 86, and 84 games. 2017-18: 101 and 103.
Sale's work against them is two appearances in the 2017 playoffs, one a disastrous start, and a meh start in 2018.
October 5, 2017: 5 IP, 7 ER on 9 H, 3 HR, and 1 BB, 6 K. Total nightmare.
October 9, 2017: 4.2 IP in relief, 2 ER on 4 H, 1 HR, and 6 K. Took the loss in a strong relief effort stretching from Porcello to Kimbrel.
June 1, 2018: 6 IP, 4 ER on 5 H, 1 HR and 1 BB, 6 K. Two rough frames, four good ones.
The running theme here is that he has continued to strike Astros out, but has given up waaaaaay too many HR against them. He'll need to get that under control to succeed.
Last 2 games
Betts: 0/4 2k, 1/4
AB: 0/4 3k, 0/4 3K
JD: 1/3 HR, 0/3 1k
Xander: 1/4 1K ,1/4
If we include game 2 of the NYY series
Game 2:
Betts: 0/4
AB: 0/3
JD 1/4
X: 1/4
Our success in the post season lives and dies by how successful our top 4 hitters are in the playoffs. They come up empty at the plate and this is a short series
Betts: 0/4 2k, 1/4
AB: 0/4 3k, 0/4 3K
JD: 1/3 HR, 0/3 1k
Xander: 1/4 1K ,1/4
If we include game 2 of the NYY series
Game 2:
Betts: 0/4
AB: 0/3
JD 1/4
X: 1/4
Our success in the post season lives and dies by how successful our top 4 hitters are in the playoffs. They come up empty at the plate and this is a short series
Yep. This happened the last two years too.
Luckily this is a 7 game series and they have a little time to figure out. I think Price surprises and the Sox get to Cole early.
They’re averaging almost 6 runs a game this postseason (5.8). The offense hasn’t been the problem, except for Betts.
How many Runs per game do they have if we take out the NYY blowout in which a position player pitched?
Its late, and I just worked an 11 hour shift.... So no... at the moment i can't do math
Well no. If we're actually going to do this stupid exercise for 4 games, it's nearly 40% below average.
game 5 (and we better get there, but it's not a guarantee yet) will be a real struggle with Sale at 70%.
maybe in the closed stadium he has the feel for the slider. but that was the main reason we lost tonight (bullpen was stretched a bit too far) and and it was ugly.
the Astros pitch lights out. That pitch Mookie hit for a forceout at home was a good fastball from Verlander.
maybe in the closed stadium he has the feel for the slider. but that was the main reason we lost tonight (bullpen was stretched a bit too far) and and it was ugly.
the Astros pitch lights out. That pitch Mookie hit for a forceout at home was a good fastball from Verlander.
It was right down the middle. Mookie couldn't have gotten a better pitch to crush than that.
It's true for every team, but if 1-4 isn't hitting the offense is in trouble. Everyone needs to be better, especially in big spots like in the 5th that could have really turned the game around. Mookie and Beni failed. I understand Beni got rung up on a borderline call but that was too close to take and is often called a strike to lefties. All of us would have wanted that call if the sides were reversed.
by my memory the pitch to Mookie had late movement downwards and he topped it. but sure, he blew it.
I do agree on AB, it was a bit too close to take.
I do agree on AB, it was a bit too close to take.
I'm all for the swing for the downs approach and the move away from small ball tactics (choking up and just putting the ball in play) even if it results in more Ks overall. But I can't really abide the taking of a close pitch with two strikes and crying when it's called a strike. Getting caught looking when you're fooled is one thing, but taking a 3-2 fastball on or just off the black is still unforgivable to me.
Looking at the plot up above with all pitches and the typical LHH strikezone shaded, the last pitch to Beni was within the "typical LHH strikezone" -- but only just. Looks like it was outside by 0.1 - 0.2 feet, or 1.2 - 2.4 inches, i.e., a baseball width at max. As DS and RHF said, Beni probably needed to foul it off at least.
Still sucks he was rung up on a pitch that our pitchers weren't getting called - especially to RHH.
Still sucks he was rung up on a pitch that our pitchers weren't getting called - especially to RHH.
Disagree totally. A batter with a great eye gets punished? That is just not right. You have free swingers that swing at anything close, then you have hitters that can distinguish if the ball is not crossing the plate, don't swing because it's not a strike....then get called out?
edit..and a pitcher who just walked 3 batters in the inning gets the benefit of the doubt?
It is mind-blowing to me that the Sox don't have a decent defensive third baseman. They trade Shaw, who plays all three bases well, and rely on a stone-handed utility type and a kid who isn't ready. I was really impressed with the job Kelly did. Gets the double play ball, and Nunez drops it. That and the bad call on 10D turned the game, so far as I saw it. For a while it looked as though the Sox could survive the disappointing Sale start. As for the rest of the game, I had to turn it off. But it looks as though the game could have been tied going into the ninth, and presumably Kimbrel would have pitched. I wouldn't have been able to watch that either, but one might reasonably hope for a better outcome.
After being lauded for his impressive play to end the ALDS, I'm sure most of us are pretty upset by his shitty defense last night. I still think Cora is making a mistake by not having Devers out there. From what I have seen on Devers this season... he would easily have made the play last night (95% of 3B likely would) but possibly have thrown it poorly. But I also think Devers would have a much better chance of cranking a HR over the Monster. Sox offense is struggling and Nunez isn't helping.
I don't know how to compute this... but there might be (and very possibly the last play of the ALDS would have been one of them) one play per series that Nunez makes that Devers doesn't in X amount of opportunities but I would put the chances of Devers making an offensive contribution at the plate at much higher than Nunez... and enough, IMO, to more than cancel out that one play difference per series. Cora needs the offense now.
I was very disappointed to see Nunez in the lineup last night. I thought the reason the announcers gave (supposedly from Cora) that Nunez handles high velocity better was a bunch of BS. Didn't Devers crush a 103mph Chapman fastball last year? Seems he handles fast pitching just fine. And the defensive advantage is negligible at best. Nunez killed them last night. I hope he's sitting tonight.
The thing is... even if Devers had started Game 4 of the ALDS.... Nunez could still have made that play (if there's debate about Devers not being able to make it....)... but also a chance that the game is one more run away because of a Devers hit, and it's not even necessary.
I realize this is silly multi-universe theorizing but if there's concerns about Devers D.... there's no reason to not have Nunez in for the final 3 outs. Although, again... at this point after his shitty play last night, I'm not sure that'd be a wise decision. I'd rather have Lin there for late game D.
I realize this is silly multi-universe theorizing but if there's concerns about Devers D.... there's no reason to not have Nunez in for the final 3 outs. Although, again... at this point after his shitty play last night, I'm not sure that'd be a wise decision. I'd rather have Lin there for late game D.
They should have picked up Beltre at the trade deadline. That would have solved the defensive issues at third base. He would not have blocked Devers and maybe over the course of the past few months helped the kid in his development.
That is too simplistic. Is it wrong to use the word "hate"? Probably, but I say I love Ortiz.
There is a difference between hoping a guy fails and disliking him as a player. I really was pulling for Carl Crawford to get some hits after he begged Tito to put him back in the leadoff spot. I was really hoping for him to catch a routine flyball. I spent a whole year hoping Tony Clark would hit, but I admit I disliked him as a Red Sox player.
I do not hop Price fails. I do not have much confidence in him tonight however. This has nothing to do with his questionable public comments both before and after joining the Sox, since there is too little info for me to judge him as a person. If anything this year he has shown some admirable mental toughness and character pitching effectively with diminished stuff.
Worth noting that Beltre played just 19 games at 3B after July 31 (53 team games). Maybe he plays a bit more if they acquire him, but there was no guarantee he'd be healthy enough to play defensively every day. As much as I love Beltre, I'm not sold he was the answer.
The Astros have now won 7 of their last 9 games in Fenway and 9 of their last 13 against the RedSox overall.
Yeah, the Sox could have won last night if some things go their way, but the Astros were f'd by the umps/MLB when Altuve was clearly safe at home earlier this year.
Maybe, just maybe...Houston is just better at baseballing right now than Boston.
Yeah, the Sox could have won last night if some things go their way, but the Astros were f'd by the umps/MLB when Altuve was clearly safe at home earlier this year.
Maybe, just maybe...Houston is just better at baseballing right now than Boston.
No shit!
But think of it another way. 100 wins is a great season. But that’s losing 3 out of every 8 games. So in an imaginary 8 game series even the best teams playing against an averaged out set of opponents from the whole league / including shit like Baltimore and Kansas City win 5 and lose 3 and are still noticeably great.
So the margins between any two teams of roughly equal ability should be by definition significantly closer than even the 5:3 ratio of ‘great vs league avg’
Basically it’s a coin flip. Last night pretty clearly had a major inflection point when Verlander was about to crack, Mookie hit the weak grounder Bennie left a close (but outside) pitch and then Nunez made an error leading to runs right after we’d tied it. Such a paper thin set of circumstances at a critical time is (in hindsight) usually what decides it.
I love Mookie, we all love Mookie, but there have been too many excuses for him. He's had a weak postseason and that fifth-inning at-bat was his moment - one out, bases loaded, Verlander struggling, Beni and JD coming up behind him. He needed to execute there and he didn't. Saying this does not in any way excuse Nunez's bad play, the lousy umpiring, Workman's failures, Cora's bad decisions, or anything else - great players come through in moments like that and Mookie didn't. Papi sure as s*** would have come through back in the day. I don't know if Mookie is hurting, in a funk or what, but he needs to get straightened out today or this team could get swept.
Maybe you should look up Papis stats in his first few postseason appearances for the Red Sox.
He sucked in the 2003 ALDS and had a 500 ops in most of the ALCS games that year too.
Don’t think It’s time to start questioning mookies ‘intangibles’ just yet
He sucked in the 2003 ALDS and had a 500 ops in most of the ALCS games that year too.
Don’t think It’s time to start questioning mookies ‘intangibles’ just yet
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He was also 2 for 22 in the 2013 ALCS, with the "other" hit being an infield single. We need Mookie's bat to win this series, but rewriting Papi's history is an unnecessarily foolish argument as to why.
Mookie is a great player and I will always believe he can turn it around starting with his next at bat. As noted above, Papi's legendary 2013 WS followed a 2 for 22 performance in the ALCS.
Sale only going 4 innings had the domino effect of having Workman pitch the 9th(although Kimbrel maybe should have been in there) and after giving up 4 runs, Houston didn't need to use their closer.
Who's making excuses?
He hasn't hit. Period. He hit the ball hard last night so I expect better results.
Where I draw the line is the conclusion that his 1st 40 post season at bats means anything other than he hasn't done well so far.
Attach it to some psychobabble about "being able to handle it" or some other talk radio stupidity and you join the ignore list.
If I see Benintendi take another super close pitch in a huge spot with runners on I'm going to lose my mind.
We're not going to win the WS trying to draw walks with the bases juiced. Don't get me wrong, I don't want guys swinging wildly, but seeing him go down looking (I know they were iffy strikes) in two massive spots so far in the playoffs has killed me.
I'm more okay with Mookie trying to put a hard swing on a hittable first pitch than Benny going down with the bat on his shoulders.
We're not going to win the WS trying to draw walks with the bases juiced. Don't get me wrong, I don't want guys swinging wildly, but seeing him go down looking (I know they were iffy strikes) in two massive spots so far in the playoffs has killed me.
I'm more okay with Mookie trying to put a hard swing on a hittable first pitch than Benny going down with the bat on his shoulders.
It's really, really hard for a patient hitter to change his approach. Beni has a really good feel for the strike zone, and expanding it(other than when he's fooled) doesn't seem to be in his DNA. It can be frustrating at times for fans, but that's how he's gotten to where he is.
So you’re saying one of the following:
1–Our best hitter needs to hit well
Or
2–We need to sit Mookie.
If it’s #1, well no shit. If it’s #2, you win today’s Hot Takez!!!!1!! Award.
Yup
Can't change who is. You have to live with certain things. Nomar was never going to get 90 walks, but before his injury he was incredibly valuable, despite the frustrating 1st pitch outs. Benny is just a different type of hitter.
He had 1 of 3 team hits and made contact in a sacrifice situation against a starter moving things along very well for most of the night. This seems very reactionary.
Porcello looks really comfortable in the relief role. I know it won't happen, but I would turn him into the Andrew Miller relief ace and start ERod in Game 4. I think he would fill an incredibly valuable role.
