Cora, Cora, Cora!
- Thread starter dhappy42
- Start date
Would be a nice change over recent offensive slump. The "A-team" need a rest and Sale is likely to go 4 innings maximum. I imagine Murphy or BearClaw after for 3 innings max and hopefully the other for the final two for a nice clean 5-2 sort of game.
What does it mean to get untracked?
Informal. achieving a superior level of performance after a slow start: The team suddenly got untracked and began to score.
Untracked Definition & Meaning - Dictionary.com
I'd guess Brandon Walter or Barraclough. They've got options and Llovera does not.
Totally forgot about Walter, but they do need to make a 40 man roster move too. Which I’d assume would be Barraclough or Ll.
I'm guessing Llovera, he hasn't shown himself to be useful or trustworthy and they need the 40 man spot he occupies. Plus it's unlikely anyone else claims him so he could easily just end up back in Worcester.
That one has bothered me forever... I don't know the origin, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if "untracked" came out from people smushing together / misuing "on track." "Get back on track" makes sense to me. "Get untracked" does not.
I look at its use these days as "achieving performance not previously believed to be possible", like a train learning to fly.
Sure, it doesn't really make sense, and I don't know how we got here, but language is a science.
Unless the "track" in this case is a rut? (I think I heard it explained that way once).
I had always thought that "untracked" came from misusing "on track" but it appears that the terms may have actually evolved separately. https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/get-on-track-versus-come-untracked-phrase-usage
Good find, thank you! I appreciate that the three examples for "untracked" in that article are all pulled from sports results!
This would back up what we thought:
Brasier was massive in the 2018 postseason. He pitched 8.2 high leverage innings, had 5 holds, gave up 1 run, and was instrumental in a number of crucial wins. He was massive in a couple of games, most notably game 4 of the ALCS. I'm not sure the Red Sox win the championship without him, given how important the 7th and 8th innings tend to be in the playoffs.
Maybe there's a hypothesis that the Red Sox knew how to get the best out of him back then, but not now. Or maybe he's a pitcher that can be really good in stretches, but whose time as a Red Sox had run. It's never great when a guy leaves and does well somewhere else, but it's not like the Red Sox did not get an awful lot good out of Ryan Brasier. I'm going to look at the glass half full.
Maybe there's a hypothesis that the Red Sox knew how to get the best out of him back then, but not now. Or maybe he's a pitcher that can be really good in stretches, but whose time as a Red Sox had run. It's never great when a guy leaves and does well somewhere else, but it's not like the Red Sox did not get an awful lot good out of Ryan Brasier. I'm going to look at the glass half full.
I think Brasier had two strikes against him in his Red Sox career:
1. He had a few "nuclear meltdown" games per year that skewed his numbers. In '19 he had three games where he allowed 13 runs in 1.1 IP. In '22 he had four games where he allowed 17 runs in 2.1 innings. He was a good pitcher in about 120 of his 130 appearances in those two years but the public only remembers the bad games when it comes to relievers.
2. Questionable usage at times. Brasier was a guy whose ideal usage was in the middle innings with a lead against the bottom of the order or late in the game down by a run or two. There's a ton of value in a guy like that when used properly. But whether it was from lack of other available arms or misplaced managerial trust, too often he'd be facing the middle of the Blue Jays order in a tie game in the 7th or 8th. That's not where you want him.
I always felt that Brasier was unfairly crapped on during his tenure in Boston. Look at the flotsam and jetsam that other teams throw out there in middle relief and he was actually a decent option most of the time.
How did they open a spot on the 40 man roster for Sale? I didn't think there was one currently available.
Say what you want about Cora, but at least he does not stoop to conspiracy theories about why his team sucks/lost
View: https://twitter.com/brendankutynj/status/1692728320595464588?s=46
View: https://twitter.com/brendankutynj/status/1692728320595464588?s=46
Yeah, doesn’t seem all that interesting to me. Seems like right as the game starts is actually the least interesting timing.
In Boone's defense, when was the last time Gerrit Cole had to have pitches called by finger? Why, Pitchcom has been an option for... almost two of his eleven years in the majors. /s
I haven't watched a single pitch of the series, but this wasn't the Cole game, it was the Brito one.
Waiting on the video from the post game press conference. But seems like it was a wild one
View: https://twitter.com/chriscotillo/status/1693368567180194203?s=46
View: https://twitter.com/chriscotillo/status/1693368567180194203?s=46
View: https://twitter.com/byjulianmack/status/1693368701490278612?s=46
View: https://twitter.com/chriscotillo/status/1693368863075848272?s=46
View: https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1693349505834352757
Story also was called out on a 3-2 pitch that was well low with 2 on and 2 out in the middle innings when it was tied.
This link has some funny comments on that "X".
https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2023/08/20/yankees-red-sox-bad-call-by-umpire-ripped-by-mlb-fans
When Story struck out looking to end the sixth, he stuck around home plate to talk about it with Junior Valentine, who apparently didn't get a good night's sleep Saturday night. It didn't seem like the discussion was getting heated... yet. Then Cora came out to "protect" Story which lasted all of a nano-second as Cora blasted Valentine and his amoeba-shaped strike zone. Cora got to watch the rest of the game from the clubhouse; NESN lost out on a between-inning commercial break; and the Sox prevailed.
He and Turner bring a different brand of "idiot-ness" to the team. It's more of a LA "hey, lets not get too wound up" thing that seems to have really helped keep the ship afloat at times. Casas has it too.
This is hilarious too
https://x.com/pghprinny/status/1693350763504804323?s=46&t=m0LvCowCJSRAXnu_ZBqm2g
https://x.com/pghprinny/status/1693350763504804323?s=46&t=m0LvCowCJSRAXnu_ZBqm2g
The ump had a terrible game, but that particular pitch on twitter was not really the story -- that was just a make-up call or something. All day it seemed Valentine was simply not tracking balls all the way through and calling strikes that were knee high at 50 feet but consistently, obviously low by the time they were going over the plate.
I even wondered if the home plate overturn was a comprehensive make up call; Valentine was that awful.
I wonder if umps know when they are missing. The Bader miss was so bad that you know he just didn’t see it. He has to know.
For much of the game it did seem like all the close calls went the Yankees’ way. I know we all have theories on that. I don’t believe these guys give a shit who wins so you won’t convince me of that. But I do think when the day is not going well, maybe there is a tendency to get head fucked. Maybe Valentine knows he kicked a few, so he starts telling himself “don’t get caught up in make up calls,” and so subtly favors the Yankees. Or maybe there is some spite. I doubt that though. They know that they all get score cards. I think he probably legitimately called each pitch how he saw it, but just sucked, and the Sox got the short straw.
Cora made an interesting point about the call at home. He said that Valentine waited to make the call, which usually means they are looking to make sure the ball was held. He said you don’t see umps wait then call safe. And that is generally what I think you see. Most umps call safe instantaneously, as soon as they see the player touch the base. Valentine waited like he needed to think about it. He did the same thing on Devers’ play at the plate. Maybe that does happen more than I think, but it did seem consistent with the idea of a guy that is just not sure of himself right now.
For much of the game it did seem like all the close calls went the Yankees’ way. I know we all have theories on that. I don’t believe these guys give a shit who wins so you won’t convince me of that. But I do think when the day is not going well, maybe there is a tendency to get head fucked. Maybe Valentine knows he kicked a few, so he starts telling himself “don’t get caught up in make up calls,” and so subtly favors the Yankees. Or maybe there is some spite. I doubt that though. They know that they all get score cards. I think he probably legitimately called each pitch how he saw it, but just sucked, and the Sox got the short straw.
Cora made an interesting point about the call at home. He said that Valentine waited to make the call, which usually means they are looking to make sure the ball was held. He said you don’t see umps wait then call safe. And that is generally what I think you see. Most umps call safe instantaneously, as soon as they see the player touch the base. Valentine waited like he needed to think about it. He did the same thing on Devers’ play at the plate. Maybe that does happen more than I think, but it did seem consistent with the idea of a guy that is just not sure of himself right now.
Haven't seen or heard anyone mention this, but wasn't Cora automatically ejected for coming out to argue balls and strikes? It wasn't because of what he might have said.
I just think that all of this analysis and hyper analysis comes down to the fact that umpires were always flawed and now are at a truly unfair disadvantage due to the technology of the game. I don’t mean to let them off the hook, so many of these guys are obviously stubborn assholes, who prefer to throw a player out arguing a missed call, than be shown up in the moment. But if we are sitting here trying to reverse engineer the thinking of an umpire who misses balls that are literally right down the middle of the plate, I think we, and this debate, have pretty much jumped the shark.
It was very fast so you may be correct. Frankly, it would’ve been awesome for both Cora and Boone to be out there. Screaming at that guy simultaneously. It’s the one thing that Boone is elite that as a manager anyway.
He came out under the premise of getting Story away from the umpire. When he was out there and said something to the ump about the strike zone, at that point he was automatically ejected yes.
Yeah, it’s a violation of the rules to “object” to a judgment call, but players get latitude to discuss if it does not rise to the level of objecting. But leaving the dugout to argue balls and strikes is expressly prohibited. I think managers sometimes can get away with coming out to talk to the umpire to keep a player from getting ejected so long as they don’t do anything to suggest disagreement with a call. It’s rule 8.
https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/upload/mlb/wqn5ah4c3qtivwx3jatm.pdf
You could tell that Cora was going to get his licks in. The camera angle was perfect for this as you could see Cora's face straight on from when he left the dugout. I knew he was going to get run before he got tossed.
1.08 runs of favor is a 7th percentile outcome. A truly horrible game that was one sided. Red Sox showed a lot of grit to win a game like that.
I didn't get to watch the whole game but that ump made the call of the day on Judge in the 9th.
Does anyone here get Ump Scorecards on Twitter? That site's, um, problems have lessened my interaction but it's pretty interesting to see the game scores. Umpiring is better than ever, but there are several punching bags hanging on.
Update! I type too slowly.
Update! I type too slowly.
Weirdly (or maybe not) decent overall accuracy but the mistakes all favored the Yankees. And they still got swept at home.