Tag: ALDS

Red Sox Win and We’re on to Houston

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Three days ago the Red Sox looked like a team on the ropes. Today, they’re moving on to the American League Championship Series to take on the defending champion Houston Astros. What the hell happened?

The Red Sox dominated the Yankees in Yankee Stadium in Games 3 and 4. Game 3 starter Nathan Eovaldi was dazzling in his postseason debut and Game 4 starter Rick Porcello turned in the best postseason performance of his career. All the while Red Sox batters mashed Yankees starting pitchers and left Aaron Boone looking like Ron Burgundy in the opposing dugout, never able to get out the hook soon enough.

Image result for that got out of hand fast gif

All of that leaves me feeling good as the Red Sox move on to take on the Astros in the ALCS. A lot of credit goes to Alex Cora who had the balls to shake up the lineup for Game 3. His gamble paid off as the lineup exploded and Brock Holt hit for the first cycle in baseball playoff history. A lot of credit goes to Red Sox starters, too. If you take out David Price (a big if, I know), Red Sox starters pitched 17.1 innings and allowed just four earned runs off 14 hits and two walks. That’s good for an ERA of 2.11.

The bullpen was an adventure in Game 1, and Craig Kimbrel was a hire-wire act in Game 4, but between the other guys last night and their performances in Games 2 and 3 I’m confident Cora has enough pieces to work with. The big question is David Price.

As I mentioned earlier this week, former Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello hadn’t pitched in a postseason victory until Friday night. Prior to Game 1 of the ALDS, his teams were 0-11 in games he pitched in (though his record was just 0-3). Roger Clemens won three Cy Young Awards with the Red Sox (and an MVP award, too) but went just 1-2 with a 3.88 ERA for the Red Sox in nine postseason starts. Hall of Famer Randy Johnson went 2-6 in the playoffs with a 3.71 ERA before winning 2001 World Series MVP honors. My point is not every one is Curt Schilling in the playoffs. It takes some time for some guys to figure it out. That’s why I would give David Price the ball one more time in Game 2 of the ALCS.

If Price doesn’t bring it Sunday night, make it a bullpen game and move him to the bullpen for the rest of the playoffs. The Red Sox other starters looked strong in the ALDS, but can you expect Nathan Eovaldi to morph into the 1991 version of Jack Morris this month? Probably not. It may be possible to win a title without Price contributing but that shouldn’t be the first choice. That’s why Price should get one last chance. At least if things go haywire early, Alex Cora can find a hook quicker than some other managers…

The 300s Red Sox Yankees ALDS Preview

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It’s been FOURTEEN YEARS since these teams faced off in the postseason when the Red Sox broke a curse and kicked off an entire generation of young massholes coming up in the world (not to mention completing the greatest comeback in the history of sports). It seems like these two teams used to go at it in the playoffs all the time back in the day, but in reality they’ve only ever faced off four times. That just goes to show you how sports will never be more important to your every day life than when you’re 15.

I wrote the other day about how despite winning a franchise record 108 games, most Red Sox fans don’t seem exactly brimming with confidence. The Yankees, also having won 100 games, have come to town though so it’s time to play for keeps. Lets break down some key things to watch for before making our pick.

  • Game 1
    • Friday, Oct. 5th – 7:32 pm (Fenway)
      • Chris Sale vs J.A. Happ
  • Game 2
    • Saturday, Oct. 6th – 8:15 pm (Fenway)
      • David Price vs Masahiro Tanaka
  • Game 3
    • Monday, Oct. 8th – TBD (Yankee Stadium)
      • ??? vs Rick Porcello
  • Game 4
    • Tuesday, Oct. 9th – TBD (Yankee Stadium) *if necessary
  • Game 5
    • Thursday, Oct. 11th – TBD (Fenway) *if necessary

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  • He’s not even on the team, but Trot Nixon is throwing out the first pitch for Game 1 so I’m listing that as a strength. Don’t even argue with me on that one.
  • Red Sox Offense – Boston led all of baseball with 876 runs this year (NY was second with 851) and have 2 guys in JD Martinez and Mookie Betts who are a coin flip to win AL MVP. Aside from those two they have a pretty, pretty, pretty good lineup:
    • Andrew Benintendi .290/16/87
    • Xander Bogaerts .288/23/103
    • Rafael Devers .240/21/66
    • Eduardo Nunez .265/10/44
    • Brock Holt .277/7/46
    • Mitch Moreland .245/15/68
  • Not to mention we have newly crowned Yankee killer Steve Pearce waiting to pounce. He hits J.A. Happ extremely well (.344 average, 1.419 OPS, six homers and 16 RBIs in 32 career at-bats) so don’t be surprised to see him in the starting lineup tonight.
  • Chris Sale (if healthy)
    • It’s impossible to know what to expect from Chris Sale tonight. I went into my concerns about Sale the other day and I still don’t feel great about it.
      I’ll be honest though, the No. 1 reason I’m less than confident heading into Friday night is 100% Chris Sale’s health. The guy is just not right. According to Felger and Mazz yesterday, his average fastball velocity went down every single start over his last four starts. That is BAD. He was throwing off of flat ground earlier this week, just days before he’s supposed to take the ball in Game 1. Thats something a rehabbing pitcher does, not a guy who is ready to open the ALDS. Maybe he comes out and he’s totally fine, but I’m not counting on it. Even if he does, I’d be concerned about how he bounces back. Remember when he came off the DL and struck out 12 Orioles and was hitting 99 on the gun? Yea well that was on August 12th and he’s thrown a grand total of 12 innings since then.
  • Craig Kimbrel had a down year when compared to his stellar standard, but this guy coming out of the pen throwing absolute gas is about as good of a weapon you can have. Now if the Sox can somehow bridge the gap to him…
  • Red Sox Bullpen: It’s terrible. Despite the advanced analytics saying the Sox bullpen actually has a great WAR, if you’ve watched even one game this season you know it’s anxiety inducing. Hell, it’s been this way all the way since Game 1.
  • So help me god if Alex Cora throws Steven Wright out there in a late situation only to give up a bomb on a knuckleball while Boone sits in the dugout and smirks.
  • Red Sox Starters 2-5: Consistency is the problem here. Rick Porcello won the Cy Young in 2016 for christ’s sake, but I’m not super confident in him. He did throw a complete game shutout against the Yankees in about 90 minutes earlier this season though.
  • Even Tim Kurkjian doesn’t know what to think. I feeeel like they’ll be good, but they’ve also ALL been bad in the playoffs their entire careers….

“The gut feeling here is, despite lots of evidence to the contrary, he is going to be great this October. He will have to be if the Red Sox are to win this series. [Chris Sale] David Price and Rick Porcello also need to be good. Together, those three are 0-11 with a 6.18 ERA in 14 postseason starts.”

  • David Price’s Psyche: He’s gotta break through in the playoffs at some point right? Right??
  • Yankees Home Run Power: These guys can hit the shit out of the ball and half their lineup can hit it to the moon. The Yankees set the single season home run record this year with 267 home runs, which I feel like is somehow getting overlooked here. Stanton led the Yanks with 38 dingers, but Miguel Andujar, Didi Gregorius, Aaron Hicks, and Aaron Judge each hit 27. Oh and Gleyber Torres chipped in with 24 of his own. Yikes.
  • I think more than anything I just want to beat Aaron Boone’s brains in. It’s bad enough what he did to me and my family back in 2003, but for him to saunter out of the ESPN broadcast booth down into the dugout and think he’s just going to manage the Yankees past the Red Sox? Straight up disrespectful.

  • I would rather listen to Michael McDonald for 8 hours a day then hear that obnoxious, awful, victory chant from John Sterling one more time. THAaAaAaAaAaAa YANKEES WIN is the most obnoxious shit in all of sports and is literally the exact opposite of what they teach you in journalism school. So yea, listen to your teachers and stay in school kids.

Official Prediction

Red Sox in 5

I think the best home field advantage in baseball comes into play as the Red Sox are dominant at home (57-24 at Fenway this year) and the Yankees are 1-6 in their last 7 playoff road games. The Sox bullpen will struggle to keep these games in check, but I think some combo of Sale/Kimbrel/Eovaldi/E-Rod get it done with some help from Price. We know this team can hit, it’s just going to be a matter of keeping the Yanks in check and I think the Sox do it by the skin of their teeth as New York pushes them to the brink.

For a Team That Just Won 108 Games, Red Sox Fans Don’t Seem Super Confident

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For a team that set a franchise record for wins with 108, it doesn’t seem like many of us are exactly brimming with confidence heading into the playoffs. Is it just negative overload with all the toxic sports radio, the shaky bullpen, the feeling they peaked too early, or are fans worried that the Red Sox merely beat up on weak competition all year long?

Granted the Orioles were the worst team in baseball this season with 115 losses (getting that hardass Buck Showalter fired in the process), the AL East seemed to regain its stature as one of the best divisions in baseball. The AL East was the only division in all of baseball that had three 90 win teams, let alone two 100 win teams.  The Yankees won 100 games and still finished 8 games back in the division. Tampa Bay Rays won 90 games and finished EIGHTEEN games back and had one of the best pitchers in the game in Blake Snell who may win the Cy Young.

So is it the shaky bullpen? We’ve all been here before and seen this team get its doors blown off in the playoffs the past two years. Chris Sale is obviously less than 100% and David Price’s next quality start in the postseason will be his first. Add all that together with an anxiety inducing bullpen and some Sox fans may just be safeguarding themselves against getting their hopes up. Matt Barnes? Ryan “Brazzers” Brasier? Maybe Steven Wright the goddamn knuckleballer as our setup man? Oh boy. At least Joe Kelly can whoop a guy’s ass if the situation calls for it.

The Sox essentially held open tryouts in September for key bullpen guys as they trotted out Wright, Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, Brian Johnson and a whole cast of characters, which for a team that won 108 games is massively concerning. It would not be a surprise at all to see this team get booted in the postseason after a couple of bad nights from the pen because thats all it takes.

Obviously the offense was excellent this year with Mookie Betts and JD Martinez vying for the MVP, but can a team really mash its way to a World Series title? I doubt it, mainly because they’ll be going up against the best starting pitching and the most micro-managed bullpens so it would be foolish to bank on 7-10 runs a night from the Sox.

I’ll be honest though, the No. 1 reason I’m less than confident heading into Friday night is 100% Chris Sale’s health. The guy is just not right. According to Felger and Mazz yesterday, his average fastball velocity went down every single start over his last four starts. That is BAD. He was throwing off of flat ground earlier this week, just days before he’s supposed to take the ball in Game 1. Thats something a rehabbing pitcher does, not a guy who is ready to open the ALDS. Maybe he comes out and he’s totally fine, but I’m not counting on it. Even if he does, I’d be concerned about how he bounces back. Remember when he came off the DL and struck out 12 Orioles and was hitting 99 on the gun? Yea well that was on August 12th and he’s thrown a grand total of 12 innings since then.

So if Sale isn’t 100% and gets bounced out of the game early? Welp lets hand it over to that disaster of a bullpen we’ve all been railing on all year long.

Then if the Sox lose Game 1 they have the absolute headcase in David Price taking the mound for Game 2 with TONS of pressure. He literally might puke on the mound. Get your YUCK shirts ready.

Listen, this team won 108 games for a reason, despite some games against “weak” competition. Maybe they can just mash their way to the World Series, but for a team that set a franchise record for wins I don’t feel nearly as confident as I would like.

The Yankees and all their degenerate fans thats refuse to button their goddamn jerseys come to town for Game 1 of the ALDS on Friday night.

The Sox will have Chris Sale on the mound and the Yanks will turn to a starter to be named later after smoking the A’s in the Wild Card game. I would expect Tanaka after Luis Severino went last night, but the Yankees have yet to officially name a starter. First pitch is at 7:32 pm.

Drink up boys, we’re in for a wild weekend.

Tough Night for Sale, but Sox Still on Track

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Chris Sale’s performance last night didn’t inspire confidence in many Red Sox fans. Against a 100-loss team playing out the string in the second game of a doubleheader, Sale couldn’t get through five innings, allowing three runs on four hits and a walk. It was his worst outing this month, and likely his last appearance before starting Game 1 of the American League Division Series at Fenway Park one week from tomorrow.  Still, it doesn’t change my outlook for this team.

Despite last night’s rough outing, his September numbers aren’t that bad. While he didn’t have a decision this month, the Sox went 3-1 in the four games he started in September. His ERA of 3.75 wasn’t great, but not a complete disaster either. He still struck out 18 and walked just one, his WHIP was 1.00 and his opponents’ batting average was .239. Not up to the usual Chris Sale standards. but again, not a complete disaster either.

Where I notice a big difference is Sale’s opponents’ batting average on balls in play. Generally speaking, a normal BABIP is around .300. Through August, Sale’s opponents’ BABIP was .276, so maybe Sale benefited from some good defense behind him. In September, though, his opponents’ BABIP was .357. I’m not sure what’s to blame for the 81-point swing, but perhaps Sale just got a little unlucky at times in September. If the Red Sox are back at full strength in October and play meaningful games for the first time in a month, maybe that BABIP for Sale’s opponents goes back to being closer to the league average.

Maybe the most disappointing September number for Sale is his number of innings pitched: 12. But he did throw 92 pitches last night. If he can touch 100 pitches again next time out, maybe we don’t see the Chris Sale who struck out 11 Yankees and allowed one hit in seven innings on June 30, but maybe we get something closer to that which will still allow the Red Sox to survive and advance.

Friday Morning Randomness: What the FUCK Was That Snickers Commercial?

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A lot of people still haven’t seen this creepy ass commercial yet because somehow FOX and Big Candy have managed to keep it off YouTube.

But, this aired during the ALDS the other night and when I saw it I thought I had accidentally flipped the channel to SyFy by accident. Immediately hooked by the terrifying visuals I kept watching and the next 30 seconds were one of the best horror/suspense scenes I’ve watched in a long time. What the FUCK was this all about? SNICKERS! Wacky shit.

Someone dial up Stephen King and tell him he’s been put on notice, Snickers is the captain now.