Losing a a perfect game or a no-hitter in the 10th inning of a scoreless game has to be the most heartbreaking experience for a pitcher. I’d rather give up a walk-off grand slam in a three-run game than lose like Rich Hill did on Wednesday night. There can’t be anything worse than being almost perfect, and still losing.
Obviously, it reminded me of Pedro’s night in San Diego in 1995. Though at least Pedro got some run support in the top of the 10th inning and still got the win.
AP — Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred wants Tampa Bay to work a little quicker on getting the Rays a new ballpark.
Rays Principal Owner Stuart Sternberg has been working for nearly a decade to get a new stadium for the club…
The Rays were averaging 15,815 fans per game before Wednesday night’s contest against the Toronto Blue Jays. That is just over half the major league average of 30,470. Tropicana Field and its location have been almost universally blamed as the reason for the poor attendance. Paid attendance Wednesday was 8,264, the lowest for a Rays home game since 2006…
Manfred said Major League Baseball “doesn’t have a firm timetable” for what steps to take if the Rays fail to get an agreement to build a new stadium in the Tampa Bay area, but added that “it is a topic of discussion in the industry, the lack of progress.”
I’ll give you a firm timetable, Mr. Commissioner. 2028. That’s because the Rays’ ironclad lease agreement with Tropicana Field runs through the 2027 season, and doesn’t even allow the Rays to explore other options.
With a lease agreement like that, it’s no surprise that the St. Petersburg City Council has basically given Stuart Sternberg and the Rays the Michael Corleone treatment.
As I said in my review of Tropicana Field earlier this month, it’s hard to believe that Major League Baseball actually agreed to put a baseball team there 20 years ago. Was Bud Selig that desperate to add a second team in Florida? Other cities vying for an MLB team in the mid-1990s included Orlando, Buffalo, Vancouver, Washington, D.C. and Nashville.
Obviously D.C. got its team a few years later when the Expos left Montreal. An expansion team in D.C. prevents the Expos from moving to D.C., but it probably doesn’t keep them in Montreal either. Wherever else the Expos could have landed couldn’t have been worse than Tropicana Field.
And the NFL, NHL and NBA have all set up shop in Tennessee since 1998. With a little foresight, Major League Baseball also could have become a part of the burgeoning sports scene in Tennessee. Alas, not much foresight went into this decision. How much foresight was needed to see that the concrete multipurpose venue was going out of vogue? Still, MLB planted the Rays in one. For 30. Effing. Years.
My advice to the Rays and MLB is to grin and bear it. You made some awful, shortsighted decisions and now have to live with the consequences. You may play in dump, but you can still try and make the best of it. Nobody likes to hear owners worth $800 million complain.
I’d have more sympathy for the Rays and MLB if not for all the other taxpayer-funded stadium boondoggles. And even if construction on a new stadium could start tomorrow, it probably wouldn’t be ready before 2020. What’s a few extra years at that point? At least by 2027 the Trop will be 37 years old, making a new venue somewhat reasonable.
And take heart, Rays fans. Not too long ago the New England Patriots were locked in an ironclad lease to a dump of a stadium. That ended up working out for everybody.
P.S. – Manfred chose to go on a fact-finding mission at Tropicana Field on a Wednesday night Rays/Jays game at the end of August? Bonus points for picking the best night in over a decade to complain about how awful that place is. Announced attendance 8,264.
Woof.
So you know how whenever a pitcher has a no-hitter going and the TV cameras show him by himself on the bench? None of his teammates will talk to him because they’re afraid of jinxing the no-no. Hell they even say fans and broadcasters shouldn’t talk about it because you’ll jinx it. Welp, I fired off a tweet about his no-hitter last night and 47 seconds later Hill gave up a walk-off home run in the 10th inning. So that ones on me, sorry Rich. I’ll strive to be better next time.
Rich Hill is going for the TEN INNING NO HITTER. LETS GOO #Dodgers #MLB #MLBNetwork
— The 300s (@The300sBoston) August 24, 2017
When people tell you that talking about a no hitter doesn’t actually jinx it, I want you to point to this tweet. #Dodgers #MLB #Pirates https://t.co/vPlVSugCwV
— The 300s (@The300sBoston) August 24, 2017
Man time flies. Three years since the Red Sox dumped a 7-year $72.5 million contract in Rusney Castillo’s lap on a whim. And this is why you do not get hyped about a player over a goddamn YouTube video.
Did we learn nothing from Yi Jianlian AKA “The Chairman“? Rusney Castillo looked like he was gonna be a 5-tool stud that the Sox plucked out of Cuba. We’d pair him with Yoenis Cespedes, Hanley Ramirez (and maybe even Giancarlo Stanton?) to form the Cuban Missile Crisis. Right? Well actually not a single one of those guys plays OF for the Red Sox today. Rusney turned out to be a complete bum and has taken up residence as the highest paid player in Minor League Baseball (I chose not to fact check this).
Over parts of 3 seasons in the big leagues Castillo is a career .262 hitter in 317 at bats with 7 HR, 35 RBI and 7 Stolen Bases with a .301 OBP. As a potential 5-tool player, Castillo proved to actually not have a single one of those tools.
Baseball Reference pegs his 162 game average season at .262/.301/.379 with 11 HR 57 RBI 74 Runs and 11 SB. All of that for the cool price of $72.5 Million. And he’s still got THREE YEARS left on his contract at $11M, $11M and $14M. At least Pablo Sandoval made a few DL trips as an excuse. What. A. Disaster.
PS – Rusney Castillo has a .286 career batting average in the minors over 800+ at bats. The $72 Million player can’t even hit .300 playing against kids in Rhode Island.
After the 1st batter, it was nothing but zeroes for @dougfister58! pic.twitter.com/3xoD4O2syv
— Red Sox (@RedSox) August 23, 2017
While Trader Danny and the Celtics grabbed most of the attention in Boston (and across the nation) last night, Doug Fister was doing his best Billy Chapel impression in Cleveland.
After giving up a home run to Indians leadoff hitter Francisco Lindor on just his third pitch, Fister did not allow another hit the rest of the night. For the game, Fister faced just two batters more than the minimum and retired the last 14 batters in order. It was his eighth career complete game, and his first since 2014.
Fister has now started four games in place of David Price since Price went on the disabled list on July 28. In those four starts, Fister is 3-1 with a 3.62 ERA.
It’s also worth noting that three of those four starts have come against the Cleveland Indians. Two have been very good, while one was less than stellar. But even in his less than stellar start against Cleveland, Fister got into the fifth inning. David Price couldn’t say that about his loss against Cleveland in the playoffs last year.
I bring this up because it is very likely that the Red Sox and Indians will meet in the first round of the playoffs again this season. I won’t go as far to say that the Red Sox are better without Price, but I don’t hate my chances with Doug Fister against the Tribe in October.
NY Post – CC Sabathia didn’t like the Red Sox game plan in the first inning of Saturday night’s 4-3 Yankees win at Fenway Park. So, when he fielded Andrew Benintendi’s bunt toward the third base line and fired a hard strike to first base for the final out, the veteran lefty waved his pitching hand at the Red Sox dugout in a dismissive way. “To come out and that’s your strategy, that got me going a little bit,’’ Sabathia told The Post at his locker Sunday morning. “Literally, two of the hottest hitters in baseball bunting. If that was their strategy, I [handled] it.’’
CC, my man, you are infamous for losing weight because you made the slight change to your diet of not eating a BOX of Captain Crunch every day. And now you’re on a bum knee? Forgive the Red Sox if they think making the fat guy move around a bit might throw him off his game. More than 10 years later every single Red Sox fan still asks why DIDN’T the Yankees do the same thing in the 2004 ALCS against Curt Schilling. The guy was pitching on an ankle held together by bubble gum and blood magic in Game 6 and was DOMINATING. Yet, the Yanks never tested his mobility by bunting, which has always seemed odd. Some guys just aren’t capable of thinking outside of the box I guess.
Taking 2 out of 3 from the Yankees in late August is always going to be huge, especially when it extends the Red Sox lead in the AL East to 5 games. This series may have put the division out of reach for the Baby Bombers. As a friend of mine, a diehard Yankees fan said over the weekend, “We still have the Wild Card.” Indeed. A few highlights from the weekend series below:
The two teams are back at it Labor Day weekend for a 4 game series where the Sox will look to put the final nail in the Yankees coffin if they’re still within punching distance.
The Red Sox have won 12 out of their last 14 games and are 11-2 in August. They are now a season-high 18 games over .500, and four games ahead of the New York Yankees in the AL East. Almost more important, though, is the fact that this team has had three walk-off wins during this hot stretch (four walk-off wins if you go back 17 games and include the Kansas City Royals series).
A couple of walk-off wins and walk-off home runs really do help turn an unlikable group of overpaid whiners into a plucky band dirt dogs.
Tom Werner must be pumped to see these “more exciting” wins, especially when he’s watching NESN at Morty Seinfeld’s condo in Del Boca Vista.
Of course it doesn’t hurt to have your #1 prospect come up, fill a giant panda sized hole in your lineup and still exceed everyone’s expectations. And it doesn’t hurt that your “underwhelming” trade-deadline pickup has hit .372 with four home runs since coming to town.
Throw in a viral pregame ceremony, and you’ve really got some buzz going for this team. Finally.
This weekend’s Yankees series has a chance to be the biggest Red Sox – Yankees series in years. The Red Sox and Yankees haven’t finished in some combination of first and second place in the AL East since 2009. With Drew Pomeranz going for the Sox on Friday and Chris Sale going on Saturday, the Red Sox have their best two pitchers going this weekend and have a real good chance to put more distance between themselves and the Yankees.
Putting more distance between themselves and the Yankees this weekend is very important. After this series, the Red Sox travel to Cleveland for four games against the Indians. The Indians are a likely first-round playoff opponent for the Red Sox, again, and Francona’s squad always play the Red Sox tough. That series could actually be a tougher test for the Sox than the Yankees series.
Mookie Betts doing Mookie Betts things last night in a walkoff win over the Cardinals. Just battling and grinding with 2 outs in the 9th before smoking a 3-2 pitch off the wall to knock in 2 runs and get the walk off win.
Mookie walks it off for the win with a ballsy at bat amidst the #Cardinals 9th inning meltdown #RedSox pic.twitter.com/304oxnInFX
— The 300s (@The300sBoston) August 17, 2017
What made this all the sweeter was witnessing the Cardinals have an absolute meltdown in the 9th inning over some pretty minor shit. Just wilting under the pressure of the Sox mounting a comeback in the bottom of the 9th.
The #Cardinals are absolutely LOSING THEIR SHIT up 1 in the bottom of the 9th and I love it. #RedSox
— The 300s (@The300sBoston) August 17, 2017
Molina snapped in the 9th when the home plate umpire called time after reliever John Brebbia held onto the ball for what felt like 10 seconds. Literally yelling in the ump’s face, all while the Cardinals are still up by 1 in the 9th inning. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny comes out to argue and ends up getting ejected. Less than 5 minutes later the Sox complete the comeback and walk off with the win. Thanks St. Louis!
Lets not forget though that JBJ should’ve ran into an out at home. Out by 5 feet if Molina handles that throw. Dodged a bullet. #RedSox pic.twitter.com/ObBYWVRgtW
— The 300s (@The300sBoston) August 17, 2017
PS – Nothing beats a walk off win, but don’t think I didn’t notice Jackie Bradley Jr. getting gunned down at the plate. Except Yadier Molina couldn’t handle the throw and JBJ was safe. If Molina handles that cleanly then JBJ is out by a MILE and we’re all yet again roasting the Red Sox for their abysmal base running. Just something to keep an eye on and remember when a gigantic base running error totally fucks them in the playoffs.
So in what is becoming a recurring theme around here, Rafael Devers is still absolutely raking and has helped save this team from the crater sized hole the goddamn Panda left at third base. After taking a 103 mph Aroldis Chapman fastball yard in the 9th inning at Yankee Stadium the other night, Devers followed that up with a 2 HR performance last night.
At 20 years, 294 days old, @Rafael_Devers is the third-youngest @RedSox player with a multi-HR game (Tony Conigliaro, Ted Williams). pic.twitter.com/39kpUEG4Ip
— MLB Stat of the Day (@MLBStatoftheDay) August 14, 2017
The kid continues to display stupid power for a 20 year old as once again he hit what looked like a towering pop fly to left field that just carried and carried until it was over the Monster. John Henry must be thanking the gods that he didn’t let Dave Dombrowski trade this kid.
The 300s 