What's the last utterance? I can't lip read it, but inquiring minds... "The Fuck? Get back in the box. Then______?"Was able to make a better quality version.
ALDS vs. MFY—Buckle Up
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
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I didn't hear the TBS guys mention it but Merloni after the game said that Hernandez should have tagged and gone to third on Sanchez' fly ball. I thought that would have increased the pressure even more; given that Kimbrel was throwing pitches all over the place and/or it's a tie game if Nunez/Pearce don't make that play.
That's crazy. Benintendi had the ball standing still. You dont make the last out of the season at 3rd base
If there’s one hard-and-fast rule in baseball it’s: don’t make the third out at third base. I’m not gonna do the saber-math, but if there’s even a 5% chance Hechevarria would have been thrown out at third, don’t go. Even if the math favored going, the habit of following the rule overrides in the heat of the moment.
Edit: what Lose said.
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Sure, except it wouldn't be true, and would seem so transparent it would induce laughter from the reporter. I appreciate his honesty.
Don't shoot. I'm only the messenger in this case. The way Benintendi caught the ball he was in position to make a solid throw. None of the replays show anything else ... not sure what picture Merloni could see to tell him that.
I would have gone Eovaldi. MFY had all the momentum after the game 2 win going home and Eovaldi just mowed them down. No one would have faulted him for a 4 IP 3 R performance given what we had just witnessed at Fenway. Instead he badly out pitches the MFY "ace" guaranteeing the series at worst returns to Fenway.
That enables Rick to pitch with a lot less pressure in game 4.
I’m not coaching kids anymore, but if I were, I’d use this series as an example of how important “the little things” in baseball are: good catching technique (Leon in Game One,) good jumps on fly balls and line drives (all three Sox OFers, every game, but not McCutchen and Gardner in games three and four,) Red Sox base-running, throwing first-pitch strikes, etc.
There’s been some comment about “inches” and the Sox winning because things fell their way. I’d have to rewatch the games and take notes, but that’s not what I saw. I saw one team make the most of its opportunities with heads-up-play and hustle and the other team either pressing too much (exception the Sox middle relievers in game one [edit: and Kimbrel, obviously]) or simply not executing well when it counted.
There’s been some comment about “inches” and the Sox winning because things fell their way. I’d have to rewatch the games and take notes, but that’s not what I saw. I saw one team make the most of its opportunities with heads-up-play and hustle and the other team either pressing too much (exception the Sox middle relievers in game one [edit: and Kimbrel, obviously]) or simply not executing well when it counted.
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Awesome thanks! Among all of the great moments, this was probably my favorite of the series and is sort of a microcosm of the whole thing. We wanted them and we were ready for them.Was able to make a better quality version.
Totally agree. Lured them right into the mouse trap, then *snap*.
I thought it was “the fuck, get in the fucking box. God damn”
Brasier seemed really nervous at the start of this series. But man did he come on. Here's his batter-by-batter performance:
G1 - Voit - single
G1 - Gregorius - ground out
G1 - Andujar - wild pitch, walk
G2 - McCutchen - strikeout
G2 - Judge - reached on error
G2 - Voit - walk
G2 - Stanton - strikeout
G2 - Sanchez - strikeout
G4 - Voit - fly out
G4 - Walker - strikeout
G4 - Sanchez - pop out
Overall, hitters went 1-8 with two walks and four strikeouts. Retired the last five batters he faced, three of them by strikeout.
I think he has gotten over the playoff nerves, and I think he should be ready to roll in the ALCS.
G1 - Voit - single
G1 - Gregorius - ground out
G1 - Andujar - wild pitch, walk
G2 - McCutchen - strikeout
G2 - Judge - reached on error
G2 - Voit - walk
G2 - Stanton - strikeout
G2 - Sanchez - strikeout
G4 - Voit - fly out
G4 - Walker - strikeout
G4 - Sanchez - pop out
Overall, hitters went 1-8 with two walks and four strikeouts. Retired the last five batters he faced, three of them by strikeout.
I think he has gotten over the playoff nerves, and I think he should be ready to roll in the ALCS.
Right? I remember being so crazy laser focus on each pitch, even moreso than any other playoffs, that I think I would just move to the next pitch mentally no matter what happened. I think that's how I survived...though I am sure I've lost a few years off the backend of my life.
I feel really honestly sorry for these people.
Sale is the MVP for me. Going into the series, I thought three things needed to happen. Sox righties needed to pitch well, we needed to stay close in homers, and Sale needed to be great. I was hoping but not expecting that both Porcello and Eovaldi would be good. But really I didn’t think they both would win on the road. I thought that one would come through but they would beat the other in a close one and we would need Sale to be great twice.
Turns out once, plus a bullpen inning, was enough.
While winning a track meet game in Price’s start was a possibility, I really wasn’t expecting it. That team is tough on lefties. Price and EdRo were unlikely to be the heroes. Sale needed to be excellent and it’s harder for him. He makes it look easy at times but that lineup is a real grind on lefties no matter how good.
Staying even in HRs is the real surprise. That felt like it would be a telltale stat. If you had told me before the series it would end up being 4 to 4, I would have felt really good given how the Sox are better at scratching out runs. That they got 16 in one game instead of spreading them out just a little more I guess made two of the games tense though.
Turns out once, plus a bullpen inning, was enough.
While winning a track meet game in Price’s start was a possibility, I really wasn’t expecting it. That team is tough on lefties. Price and EdRo were unlikely to be the heroes. Sale needed to be excellent and it’s harder for him. He makes it look easy at times but that lineup is a real grind on lefties no matter how good.
Staying even in HRs is the real surprise. That felt like it would be a telltale stat. If you had told me before the series it would end up being 4 to 4, I would have felt really good given how the Sox are better at scratching out runs. That they got 16 in one game instead of spreading them out just a little more I guess made two of the games tense though.
Porcello, Sale, Eovaldi... whichever. All three were great. And I think it’s great when the series MVP isn’t an obvious decision... and the bench player who hit for the cycle isn’t even in the running. Teamwork.
Looks like 2019 closer material.
Kidding, but whatta gift this guy has been. We're gonna have to be major players in the relief market next year replacing Kimbrel and Kelly (and projections for Smith and Thornburg). A strong postseason would make me feel pretty good about giving Brasier the 7th.
My college roommates and I did this before SB 36. We turned it off in the 2nd quarter after Brady threw 6 interceptions. Granted he was rated like a 70 at the start of that season. And Warner had thrown like 4 himself, so the CPU wasn't exactly the greatest.No. I'm too dumb for that. I just use MLB The Show 18 on the PS4
I'd be curious to see how yours works. I was on a walk last night and reading SoSH and read about your sim for a moment and a longer part of my walk was devoted to wondering how yours works.
Set the game up and let it play itself (CPU v CPU). I do it on Madden before the Pats play the Super Bowl and essentially it's just a good way to kill 30-45 minutes before the game.
wrt to BaseballJones game, that sounds similar to an old Excel macro i put together to do a monte carlo simulation of baseball/softball teams and optimizing batting orders. Used batters BA/OBP/SLG to estimate those numbers for singles, doubles, etc. Mine didn't have differences in K/GO/FO, or hard hits vs soft hits. I think I just used some random percentage fixed for all players for going from 1st to 3rd or scoring from 2nd on a single (or 1st from a double); these were modified based on # of outs. Adjusted slightly OBP and SLG of each player based on SB and CS as well (e.g. each SB slightly raised the SLG, and each CS lowered each value...not the most accurate, but it worked for what I was going for, i think). To incorporate pitching, I just averaged BA/OBP/SLG between pitchers and batters for each matchup...Your method probably would have saved a bit of computation, though.
Re: Kimbrel wildness
From WEEI
From WEEI
https://weei.radio.com/blogs/rob-bradford/what-was-wrong-craig-kimbrel-red-sox-think-they-know
I think it may have been mentioned, but it's amazing that since Sanchez' bomb in Fenway, the Yankees scored four runs. NONE of them on a hit.
Game 3:
- 4th - Gregorius grounds out, scoring Voit
Game 4:
- 5th - Gardner hits SF scoring Sanchez
- 9th - Walker hit by pitch scoring Judge
- 9th - Sanches hits SF scoring Gregorius
So not only couldn't they hit the ball out of the park, they couldn't even drive in a single run with a hit. That's really hard to believe.
Game 3:
- 4th - Gregorius grounds out, scoring Voit
Game 4:
- 5th - Gardner hits SF scoring Sanchez
- 9th - Walker hit by pitch scoring Judge
- 9th - Sanches hits SF scoring Gregorius
So not only couldn't they hit the ball out of the park, they couldn't even drive in a single run with a hit. That's really hard to believe.
I have no idea either. The bottom of the 9th last night was the closest I've come to that 2004 ALCS since then. Once Judge and Gregorious were on base, one part of my mind began imagining scenarios where each Yankee batter was going to be the hero (Stanton redeems himself with a three-run bomb ... no, wait, Voit does and becomes a True Yankee, no, Sanchez hits a grand slam...), while another part was screaming at Kimbrel to stop f****** around and thrown goddam strikes already. And this was just one half-inning - there were so many moments in those three games in '04 where it just felt like the Yankees would finally wake up and doom would strike and end our fantasies of an incredible comeback. For a few minutes last night, it felt that way again.
Was walking with my family in front of the Rodin museum in Paris this afternoon in my Sox hat. Saw a dude with a Yankees hat on (NY and LA hats are pretty ubiquitous here), but this guy looked American, so I waited for him to make eye contact. When he did, you could just see him surrender and I sat, "C'est domage," and shrugged my shoulders. It was awesome.
Only 1 run on a non homer hit in game 1 as well, Sox pen may have been a bit shaky with control but they did an amazing job of pitching out of jams and limiting damage all series
There might be a connection. Not that Sox relievers were ever control artists, but "DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES ALLOW HOME RUNS" might have affected them a bit in Game 1.
I haven't read anything about Nunez' option on that last play: pocket the ball and hold the runner at 3rd.
Was that a possibility?
Or was the only play throwing to first...
(I gather if the ball had skipped by Pearce, the winning run would've scored, right?)
All-in-all and amazing finish. Reminded me of Butler, when I looked around at nobody and said, "Did the Pat's just f'n win?"
Was that a possibility?
Or was the only play throwing to first...
(I gather if the ball had skipped by Pearce, the winning run would've scored, right?)
All-in-all and amazing finish. Reminded me of Butler, when I looked around at nobody and said, "Did the Pat's just f'n win?"
It has probably been noted elsewhere but the Sox led by 3+ runs heading into 19 of a possible 34 MFY batting innings (first inning of games 1 and 2 weren’t possible). So while games 1 and 4 ended up tight, that’s a pretty dominant series performance. The early multi run leads allowed cushion for the pen which was huge.
Yep. It was extremely important to hit their starters. That was obvious coming in, but it really hits home when you watched how the bats mostly went silent in games 1 and 4 after the starters were out and they brought in their good relievers....Vazquez's insanely cheap game winner off Britton not withstanding. (Which is also an awesome FU to the MFY in that park)
Kind of but the reason games 1 and 4 got close was because the Sox didn’t tack on like they did most of the season. They won 108 games despite a mediocre pen because they punished opposing pens when they had a lead. Always blew games open late. Didn’t happen this series.
To be fair though, isn’t that a lot easier to do against the 3rd and 4th guys out of the pen for Baltimore and Toronto? The Yankees had 3 former All Star closers to go to and a quick hook if someone got in trouble.
I heard a few try to make that correlation but there’s a huge difference between coming back from a 3-0 deficit in a 7-game series than coming back from a 2-1 deficit in a 5-gamer.
This didn't occur to me until Anderson said "and the Red Sox are one strike away!" That caused the heart palpitations to jump even faster. Just glad I didn't hear any announcers mention how many outs were left after Sale got the first batter in the 8th...
(So many years of success for Boston sports teams, and yet I am still fundamentally broken. What a ride.)
I had both of these same thoughts. 1986 was really traumatic for me - my school was 50/50 Boston vs New Yorkers in 1986, and I actually left for 6 months after the WS. Escaped for a semester to DC for my sanity.
Watching Kimbrel nearly disintegrate yesterday was... ....not fun.
The runner on second would have scored to tie the game, but unlikely the runner from first would have scored, too, to win the game.
He could have eaten the ball. I'm glad he did not
Oh for sure. My point was more that they didn’t exactly neutralize the MFY pen. Their pen kind of kept them in the series.
Neutralize might not have been the best choice of words, since they were effective. Early leads helped prevent optimal deployment of keeping NYY ahead.
Neutralize might not have been the best choice of words, since they were effective. Early leads helped prevent optimal deployment of keeping NYY ahead.
Nope. If the ball had skipped past, Mookie would have corralled it (showing Perfect Fundamentals) and gunned out the runner at the plate. Not just adding a nut-punch to the gut-punch but forever replacing Captain Jetes’ play to cut down Jeremy Giambi in all the highlights from years gone by.
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