ALDS vs. MFY—Buckle Up
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
- Start date
Gotta love it when mediocre announcers suddenly turn into the unwritten rule police. I'm sure Mazz will be puking all over the team for "letting" this happen.
Darling is/was completely full of shit. It's the effing playoffs,* and it was still relatively early. You step on their throats and once you've choked them out, gut them like a fish.
*It wouldn't have been wrong during the regular season either.
![[icon]](https://sosh-cdn.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/data/avatars/m/9/9352.jpg?1560259877){kind=avatar}
Give me a fucking break. This isn't little league. When you have the MFY on the ground, you don't stop punching until they're out.
Last edited:
Yeah, you've got to play out the game. The Yankees don't just get to fold and start the next day with a more rested bullpen and more focused players. They have to earn those 27 outs.
"You would hope"?!
He used his announced game 3 starter in relief in Game 1, and moved him to Game 4. He replaced one-third of the starting lineup for game 3. How much more proof do you need to overcome your fear of Cora's inflexibility?
I was replying to @Lose Remerswaal and his set line up comment. Now, I'm late in having my morning coffee so my sarcasm meter may be off kilter but I was not implying I think Cora's inflexible.
Sounds like fun. Reminds me of the Sports Illustrated Baseball game, which I used to play when I was young.
Pretty funny when Kinsler didn't score on the ground out when he was at third, but then came home immediately after on the wild pitch. It's like, I was playing down, but if you're going to do that, I've got no choice.
So a moment after saying that the Yankees have the kind of lineup that can come back on you, Benintendi swings at a 3-0 pitch and Darling is miffed that he did that?
That's certifiably insane.
That's certifiably insane.
Thanks, it is fun. That is, if you like this sort of thing.
Just played game 4. Ugh. Sox down huge, made a great comeback, and the game went 10, with the Sox losing 10-9.
Yanks had a position player pitching, all but punting on any sort of comeback, spare us the indignation.
You're definitely old when you realize that the mayonnaise jar needs to be hermetically sealed.
Also, I think there were a couple of wild pitches guys could have scored on but didn’t.
“Unwritten rule” idiocy.
Kinsler’s the one we should be chirping about. He failed to score *twice* from third base, once on a wild pitch and then on a ground ball, because of this “don’t rub it in” nonsense. Darling praised “the veteran.” There is no such thing as a big enough lead against the MFY in the Toilet in the playoffs.
I hadn't realized till just now, but Holt has had more innings this year at 3B (35 innings) than 1b (32 before last night).
That said, I really don't think Cora trusts him there -- otherwise he would have been a bigger part of that revolving door.
I think Holt in the OF (sitting JBJ vs the lefty with a GB pitcher on the mound) is the most likely play here.
Plus Porcello isn't the groundball pitcher he used to be. In Detroit, his lowest GB% was 49%. In his four years in Boston, his highest GB% is 45.7% (44.1% this year). I think JBJ's glove outweighs Kinsler's at this point. Holt should be at 2B unless there's an issue with Pearce.
It is completely different in the playoffs because of the knock-on factor of game to game.
Last night in the 6th inning, my wife asked me if teams in a blowout would be just as happy to agree to end it then and there. I explained how the losing team would want to make a comeback, even one that comes up short, so that the winning team can’t rest their best bullpen pitchers. And how that usage can impact the next game.
What I didn’t add is that the winning team wants to keep the runs going so that they don’t have to worry about it.
Compare the Sox bullpen usage in Game 1 to Game 3. That difference may make the difference in Game 4.
And winning Game 4 (as opposed to winning Game 5) might make it more likely that the Sox do well in the ALCS.
In sum, every run is important even in a blowout.
So fuck those “unwritten rules.”
Did Darling really go off? I didn’t see most of last nights game but it’s not his style to do something like that. Him questioning something as a point of discussion—a la “Stealing bases when you’re up ten runs?”—sounds like something he’d do – but getting up on the soapbox would be a bit out of character.
After the steal, he said he'd be "offended" or "insulted" or something similar. Not even a lighthearted, "back in the day he'd get drilled." I dont recall him adding his personal feeling after the 3-0 swing later, other than to note it was Benintendi.
Given this, I was surprised that Darling didn't assume Tarpley was throwing at JBJ in retaliation. (At the same time, Darling said he wasn't bothered by bat flips and other celebrations, so it wasn't quite old man yelling at clouds.
I have heard Darling do many games. I liked him. I've even thought he would be a good fit at NESN. But he's been pretty poor in this series. He offers only occasional insight. He's really been about 90% captain obvious. And I think its hurting Anderson, who Ive thought was pretty good in the past.
As someone who likes his work with the Mets, I was very surprised by his performance last night.
I would not describe it as “going off,” but he was digging in firmly against the notion of doing things to disrespect the opponent when you have a big lead. Examples cited last night included stealing bases; swinging at a 3-0 pitch; taking the base on passed balls; scoring on a fielders choice. And he was not saying it in a lighthearted manner.
Interestingly, he did not comment on the disrespect to the game and/or the opponent that comes from using a position player as pitcher to save the pen.
Of course he then scored on a wild pitch.
On the grounder he was likely told to not go on contact.
Sometimes the jokes are for those of us who remember when Yaz was a baseball player and not a form of birth control or a New Wave band.
I don't ever recall hearing about any unwritten rule against swinging at a 3-0 pitch when ahead by X runs. In fact, I would assume most teams would want the guy doing that, since a walk is only prolonging the game.
Oh, I agree completely.
I have no idea what got into Darling last night. His comments about this made no sense.
It was very odd. He was "offended" by a violation of an unwritten rule that may not even exist orally.
Thing is - a team that's scored 7 runs in one inning has to play as if the opponent could also score 7 runs in the same time frame (particularly the Yankees). It's already been proven by one team on that given night.
I do, however, think that once a position player comes in to pitch during the ninth, you go up and swing at everything to end the game and get everyone home without injury. Last night was different because of the cycle opportunity.
Most of all, the unwritten rule is, "don't rub it in", which changes depending on circumstance. I wouldn't want the Red Sox to become a team of Voits in that situation.
I do, however, think that once a position player comes in to pitch during the ninth, you go up and swing at everything to end the game and get everyone home without injury. Last night was different because of the cycle opportunity.
Most of all, the unwritten rule is, "don't rub it in", which changes depending on circumstance. I wouldn't want the Red Sox to become a team of Voits in that situation.
By maintaining a large lead, the Sox were able to avoid using their better relievers (relative term), thus saving them for tonight. They had every incentive to keep running around the bases.
99% of "unwritten rules" in baseball are basically made up on the fly to justify somebody saying or doing something stupid. I've yet to see evidence to the contrary.
They seem to think that they need to manufacture shit to talk about. I haven't heard Anderson make a decent point all series but he talks as if he's educating the audience on something significant. Darling is a great analyst on SNY but he's been very underwhelming this series.
Darling was "offended, personally" at Benintendi for two things. (1) Taking second base on a ball that rolled behind Sanchez and (2) swinging on a 3-0 pitch. Of course, earlier in the game, Darling said that no lead can EVER be safe against The Mighty Awesome Yankees. It would be nice if Darling's idiocy was internally consistent.
(Did TBS become the MFY's official network and I missed the memo? Hawk Harrelson would have been shocked at the homerism. I'm nostalgic for John Sterling's even-handed broadcasting.)
(Did TBS become the MFY's official network and I missed the memo? Hawk Harrelson would have been shocked at the homerism. I'm nostalgic for John Sterling's even-handed broadcasting.)
I wonder if he's not familiar enough with the AL to do a long series. Sure, these teams both have marquee players that "everyone knows," but its watching the league all year that keeps announcers from pointing out JBJ's great speed, as Darling did. He kept talking about Eovaldi's Marlin days.
I also don't think I heard a single reference to Holt's concussion-related lost season+. When you're desperate for stuff to talk about that could be nice. Or the once-heralded Vazquez's momentary return to the spotlight.
When they did stray from the action on the field it was "please don't change the channel. We have children to feed."
In this instance I think TBS was just rooting for a close game, for obvious reasons. You could almost hear Anderson sighing "well there goes our ratings" when Beni hit his bases-clearing double.
It wasn't really a contact play
The losing team (fun saying that the Yankees were that) also would want to get their offense going to get some momentum and good feel about the next game. Fortunately, they didn't accomplished either.
Whether you agree unwritten rules were violated or even if they exist, I have a feeling we will see one form or another of retaliation tonight. I just hope it isn't outcome impacting. Keep an eye on both AB and Holt (assuming he's in there) when facing CC.
Yes, given CC's retaliation attempts in the last start against TB there is a chance.
This game happened the day after the Sox won 25-8. Ahead 9-2 after 7, blew the game. It happens and I wouldn't think twice about what occurred last night. Plus Sanchez mishandled the pitch in question and Benintendi would have been on second anyway.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200306280.shtml
This would be the dumbest thing in the world for the Yankees to do, so I hope they do it. I'm sure the Red Sox would gladly take the free baserunner.
I don't think Anderson does his homework. The other end of the spectrum in that regard was Don Orsillo in the other ALDS. You'd think he was a home announcer for both the Astros and the Indians he had so much knowledge about both teams. So prepared. Of course, he and Eck playing off each other didn't hurt either. We got the poorer announcing pair, by far.
Please, I hope 'fake tough guy' fat CC retaliates. He's not hurting anyone on the Sox, as a fan I'd gladly take the free baserunner.
What a bunch of ass clowns. They are so easy to hate.
edit - what OFC said.
What a bunch of ass clowns. They are so easy to hate.
edit - what OFC said.