World Series 2018--Red Sox vs. Dodgers

DeadlySplitter

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so it worked out that this went 5 for Price's sake, as well as Mookie & JD chipping in. but man i'm still pissed we lost game 3 lol
 

Ferm Sheller

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When I read this, I had renewed hope. This was the post that woke me up yesterday morning and realigned my senses again

Quoting because you were so right!
When it took 18 innings and a terrible throw for the Dodgers to win a must win game, I figured it was over.
 

ookami7m

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Chris Sale threw the first and last pitch of the year for the Red Sox. Has that ever happened before?
 

HowBoutDemSox

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Chris Sale threw the first and last pitch of the year for the Red Sox. Has that ever happened before?
2003 Josh Beckett started opening day and then threw a complete game shutout against the MFYs for the Marlins to clinch the World Series.
 

Captaincoop

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It has to have happened many times over the years, especially when guys were throwing 20 CGs each year.

I took the question as being whether a Red Sox pitcher had done it.
 

edoug

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I can't find who started on opening day. Bill Dineen pitched a CG in the 8th game to beat Pittsburgh in the World Series. He could have started on OD. Smokey Joe Wood did start on OD in '12 and won the 8th and final game pitching in relief.
 

bosockboy

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Back to Cora, two huge things.

He got 31 total innings from Sale from August forward and managed around it.

Kimbrel was a wreck in October, 5.90 ERA and extremely lucky with his defense saving him multiple times.

He very deftly handled both of these situations with the assets he had.

Price, Eovaldi, Kelly, Barnes and Brasier helped him a lot but no small task what he pulled off.
 

Cesar Crespo

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I don't think Joe Kelly is getting enough love. He was huge in the playoffs and especially the world series.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Back to Cora, two huge things.

He got 31 total innings from Sale from August forward and managed around it.

Kimbrel was a wreck in October, 5.90 ERA and extremely lucky with his defense saving him multiple times.

He very deftly handled both of these situations with the assets he had.

Price, Eovaldi, Kelly, Barnes and Brasier helped him a lot but no small task what he pulled off.
What was really impressive was how much Cora changed his bullpen usage over the course of the postseason.

He entered the postseason with Barnes as his key high lev guy, a bunch of unknowns beyond that, and Porcello as the starter most likely to be doing double duty. Brasier started throwing well and he rode him, Barnes, and Porcello for a bit. But as Brasier and Porcello started looking more hittable in the HOU series while Kelly was lighting it up and Eovoldi dominated in his starts, he completely changed up and used Kelly for more innings than Brasier/Barnes combined in the WS while also suddenly using Eovoldi in four straight games in relief. No fixed roles (beyond Kimbrel), no worries about bruised egos, just ballsy calls about who was throwing well and who was going to best help him win games.

Contrast that with Dave Roberts and his insistent usage of Ryan Madson in high lev situation and high lev situation.
 

Dahabenzapple2

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What was really impressive was how much Cora changed his bullpen usage over the course of the postseason.

He entered the postseason with Barnes as his key high lev guy, a bunch of unknowns beyond that, and Porcello as the starter most likely to be doing double duty. Brasier started throwing well and he rode him, Barnes, and Porcello for a bit. But as Brasier and Porcello started looking more hittable in the HOU series while Kelly was lighting it up and Eovoldi dominated in his starts, he completely changed up and used Kelly for more innings than Brasier/Barnes combined in the WS while also suddenly using Eovoldi in four straight games in relief. No fixed roles (beyond Kimbrel), no worries about bruised egos, just ballsy calls about who was throwing well and who was going to best help him win games.

Contrast that with Dave Roberts and his insistent usage of Ryan Madson in high lev situation and high lev situation.
I'm still stunned that Roberts sent Madson in there for game 2
 

JimD

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What was really impressive was how much Cora changed his bullpen usage over the course of the postseason.

He entered the postseason with Barnes as his key high lev guy, a bunch of unknowns beyond that, and Porcello as the starter most likely to be doing double duty. Brasier started throwing well and he rode him, Barnes, and Porcello for a bit. But as Brasier and Porcello started looking more hittable in the HOU series while Kelly was lighting it up and Eovoldi dominated in his starts, he completely changed up and used Kelly for more innings than Brasier/Barnes combined in the WS while also suddenly using Eovoldi in four straight games in relief. No fixed roles (beyond Kimbrel), no worries about bruised egos, just ballsy calls about who was throwing well and who was going to best help him win games.

Contrast that with Dave Roberts and his insistent usage of Ryan Madson in high lev situation and high lev situation.
I'm still stunned that Roberts sent Madson in there for game 2
I'm stunned that Andrew Friedman and his cadre of analytical geniuses still haven't really picked up on the concept of starters as 'rovers' that was used against them by the Astros a year ago and the Sox this year. They did bullpen game 7 of the World Series last year with both Clayton Kershaw and Alex Wood, and Kershaw came into game 7 of this year's NLCS to close out the Brewers, but the only other time was Roberts' weird decision to bring Rich Hill in to pitch the eighth down 6-2 in game 6 of the NLCS in what was not a win-or-go-home situation for the Dodgers. How differently would Saturday's game have played out if Hill was being relieved by Ryu or Kershaw (or both)? Or if Roberts aggressively used both Kershaw and Buehler last night? Maybe the Sox still win 2-1, or maybe whoever came in to pitch the ninth instead of Chris Sale (who would not have been used based on what we are reading today) gives up the tying run or gets walked off. Between these non-moves and LA's lineup decisions in games 1 and 2, it really felt like the Sox were playing a team led by some old-school baseball types and not what is supposedly one of the more analytically-minded front offices in the game.
 

ledsox

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2 games in this series ended with the Dodgers batters going 0-16 and 0-20 (1 bb). Plain and simple, their batters were overmatched by a dominant staff.
 

BaseballJones

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They only had two guys have decent series' at the plate.

Freese: 5-12, 1 3b (gift), 1 hr, 2 r, 1 rbi, .417/.500/.833/1.333 (should have been 4-12)
Turner: 8-24, 2 2b, 0 hr, 2 r, 0 rbi, .333/.385/.417/.801

That's it. Puig was ok I guess (.250, 1 homer). Muncy had his moment. That's it. As a team they hit .180/.249/.302/.550. Putrid.

The Sox weren't exactly killing it either, of course. But...

Benintendi: 6-18, 6 r, 1 rbi, .333/.368/.389/.757
Nunez: 3-10, 1 hr, 1 r, 1 rbi, .300/.300/.600/.900
Martinez: 5-18, 1 hr, 2 r, 5 rbi, .278/.381/.500/.881
Pearce: 4-12, 3 hr, 5 r, 8 rbi, .333/.500/1.167/1.667

As a team: .222/.303/.386/.690. So not great, but a heck of a lot better than what the Dodgers hit. And they strung their hits together. Sox averaged 5.6 runs per game; LA averaged 3.2.
 

chawson

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They only had two guys have decent series' at the plate.

Freese: 5-12, 1 3b (gift), 1 hr, 2 r, 1 rbi, .417/.500/.833/1.333 (should have been 4-12)
Turner: 8-24, 2 2b, 0 hr, 2 r, 0 rbi, .333/.385/.417/.801

That's it. Puig was ok I guess (.250, 1 homer). Muncy had his moment. That's it. As a team they hit .180/.249/.302/.550. Putrid.

The Sox weren't exactly killing it either, of course. But...

Benintendi: 6-18, 6 r, 1 rbi, .333/.368/.389/.757
Nunez: 3-10, 1 hr, 1 r, 1 rbi, .300/.300/.600/.900
Martinez: 5-18, 1 hr, 2 r, 5 rbi, .278/.381/.500/.881
Pearce: 4-12, 3 hr, 5 r, 8 rbi, .333/.500/1.167/1.667

As a team: .222/.303/.386/.690. So not great, but a heck of a lot better than what the Dodgers hit. And they strung their hits together. Sox averaged 5.6 runs per game; LA averaged 3.2.
Looking forward to NESN broadcasts reminding us of Machado's .182/.208/.182 World Series line out of the cleanup spot during every Sox/Yanks series for the next 10 years.
 

SirPsychoSquints

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I was thinking 1st game of the World Series and last out, sorry, too excited last night.
2014 Bumgarner
1991 Jack Morris (complete game 10 innings in game 7)
1983 Scott McGregor (complete game in game 5)
1967 Gibson (complete game in game 7)
1966 Dave McNally (complete game in game 4)
1963 Koufax (complete game in game 4)

I went back to 1960.
 

lapa

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2 games in this series ended with the Dodgers batters going 0-16 and 0-20 (1 bb). Plain and simple, their batters were overmatched by a dominant staff.
The Red Sox top 4 weren’t they something like 0-40 at one point ?
 

SirPsychoSquints

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2014 Bumgarner
1991 Jack Morris (complete game 10 innings in game 7)
1983 Scott McGregor (complete game in game 5)
1967 Gibson (complete game in game 7)
1966 Dave McNally (complete game in game 4)
1963 Koufax (complete game in game 4)

I went back to 1960.
There's also:

1953 Allie Reynolds (pitched 2 innings in relief of Whitey Ford, blew the save and got the win)
1945 Hal Newhouser (complete game 7)
1943 Spud Chandler (complete game 5)
1940 Paul Derringer (complete game 7)
1938 Red Ruffing (complete game 4)
1937 Lefty Gomez (complete game 5)
1934 Dizzy Dean (complete game 7)
1928 Waite Hoyt (complete game 4)
1924 Walter Johnson (pitched the last 4 innings of a 12 inning game)
1922 Art Nehf (complete game 5)
1920 Stan Coveleski (complete game 7 in a 9 game series)
1916 Art Shore (complete game 5)
1914 Dick Rudolph (complete game 4)
1912 Smoky Joe Wood (pitched last 3 innings of a 10 inning game 8 - Sox won the series 4-3-1)
1911 Chief Bender (complete game 6)
1909 Babe Adams (complete game 7)
1905 Christy Mathewson (complete game 5)
 

DJnVa

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Lost in lights. Smoltz or Buck said there’s like a 30 minute time for games that start then that’s difficult.
 

TheYaz67

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Lost in lights. Smoltz or Buck said there’s like a 30 minute time for games that start then that’s difficult.
Pretty sure he lost it in the twilight sky (which can be bad every evening for 20-30 minutes until it gets dark-dark) - the lights at MLB ball parks are positioned so that the outfielders are not looking right into them on balls hit from home plate (check this out the next time you are at a game). Also, he did not try to "shield his eyes" from any bright light in his eyes, he just lost it once it got above the roof line and "disappeared" into the twilight sky - I have been there, done that - it is a sinking feeling for an outfielder when that happens!
 

InstaFace

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Now that the Sox have won I’m comfortable thinking of Game 3 as one of the best World Series games of this century
I know you said World Series, but for my money, ALCS Game 4 is the game from this run that we'll be talking about in a decade. Houston was the better opponent, and that game was absolutely bananas from start to finish. From Mookie-woulda-caught-it to 3 ties and 4 lead changes to Steve Pearce suplexing himself into the Astors dugout to the final out coming on a do-or-die catch on a liner with the bases loaded, that game was baseball adrenaline. Add in some pathos and it's in the league of 2004 ALCS Games 4 and 5.
 

phrenile

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Pretty sure he lost it in the twilight sky (which can be bad every evening for 20-30 minutes until it gets dark-dark) - the lights at MLB ball parks are positioned so that the outfielders are not looking right into them on balls hit from home plate (check this out the next time you are at a game). Also, he did not try to "shield his eyes" from any bright light in his eyes, he just lost it once it got above the roof line and "disappeared" into the twilight sky - I have been there, done that - it is a sinking feeling for an outfielder when that happens!
Illustrating the above (taken with Freese still standing on third base):

 

Al Zarilla

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Illustrating the above (taken with Freese still standing on third base):

That looks like a dark enough sky to not lose a ball in it, but maybe the picture is deceiving. The ski was much brighter than that where I live, but where I’m at in NorCal is a good 200 miles west of LA. For perspective, Reno NV is actually west of LA. Whatever, we won.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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That looks like a dark enough sky to not lose a ball in it, but maybe the picture is deceiving. The ski was much brighter than that where I live, but where I’m at in NorCal is a good 200 miles west of LA. For perspective, Reno NV is actually west of LA. Whatever, we won.
Keep in mind the sky is brighter to the left of the picture (west) where JD would have been looking.
 

Saints Rest

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Pretty sure he lost it in the twilight sky (which can be bad every evening for 20-30 minutes until it gets dark-dark) - the lights at MLB ball parks are positioned so that the outfielders are not looking right into them on balls hit from home plate (check this out the next time you are at a game). Also, he did not try to "shield his eyes" from any bright light in his eyes, he just lost it once it got above the roof line and "disappeared" into the twilight sky - I have been there, done that - it is a sinking feeling for an outfielder when that happens!
There's an interesting (well, maybe only interesting to me, being a lighting designer) section in George Will's book on baseball (which I highly recommend) about how the challenge in lighting a baseball field is that the lights need to be focused not just on the field of play, but also high enough in the air to light a pop fly all the way to its apex, and done so evenly so that there are no dead spots where a ball in flight could disappear.

From a lighting perspective, the challenge at twilight is when the background sky is brighter than the amount of light that is in the volume of space over the field. That light level over the filed is provided, in theory by both the sun and the artificial lights. But at certain times of day, the artificial lights don't have a prayer to be brighter than the sky.
 

Pegleg

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Thanks; we all have similar stories I'm sure.

We've gone from a cursed franchise to four titles in fifteen years.

Just unbelievable.
Now, imagine 1918. It's 2018. The next title would be in 2104! That brings home just how long that gap was. Hopefully, our next title will be in 2019.
 

8slim

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Unreal America

JimD

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Illustrating the above (taken with Freese still standing on third base):

Looking at that photo, I had what felt like almost a sudden 'Oh yeah ...!' kind of realization that the Red Sox played in and won a World Series at iconic Dodger Stadium. When we're in the middle of the emotional maelstrom of playoff baseball, it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day storylines and lose sight of how cool it was for the Sox to have played the Dodgers in the Series.
 

BaseballJones

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Here's the thing. I've said this many times before but wow what an illustration of it. What we see as fans from a managerial point of view is the in-game decisions a manager makes. Which reliever to use when. Bunting or sending a runner. Pinch hitting a guy here. Which lineups to use. That sort of thing. But there really aren't *that* many in-game decisions to be made. Where top managers earn their money is really in the managing of PEOPLE. They have this group of guys (and their families, really) and for like 7-8 months out of the year (spring training through postseason) the manager has to handle their problems, their egos, illnesses, injuries, emotions, personalities....all that and more. It's about SO much more than which reliever to bring in here to face Puig.

And it really appears that among all his other positive traits, Alex Cora is a tremendous leader of men. And that, probably more than anything, was the biggest key to his managerial success this year. These guys would do anything for him.
 

MakeMineMoxie

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