Tag: Evan Drellich

Red Sox Are One Win Away from the World Series After an All-Time Classic ALCS Game

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This is why it’s impossible to beat the drama of playoff baseball. No other sport’s intensity kicks up as much as MLB in the postseason. I mean aside from the 9 pm start time and the 1:30 am finish, that game was incredible. Unforgettable. Classic. It wasn’t without it’s controversy though.

So with the 8:39 pm start time I already knew I was in trouble because I am old and #washed. I started fading in the 7th inning. Luckily I have a Cosmo Kramer-like internal alarm clock that woke me up in time for the 9th inning.

Boy am I glad I saw that shit show. I almost threw up in my bed watching Craig Kimbrel nearly give the game away. Seriously this guy has been the only member of the Boston bullpen fans have felt somewhat confident in all year. Ever since the playoffs hit he’s been a wild, erratic, mess of a closer. Kimbrel threw 35 pitches over 2 IP last night, with only 19 for strikes.

In case you missed this tightrope walk, let me give you a quick summary of how the bottom of the 9th went with the Sox up 2 and their $13 Million closer on the mound.

  • Yuli Gurriel pops out. 1 out.
  • 5 pitch walk to Josh Reddick.
  • 5 pitch walk to Carlos Correa. Winning run is now at the plate.
  • Brian McCann flies out. 2 outs.
  • Alex Cora mound visit. I legit thought he was going to bring David Price into the game here.
  • 6 pitch walk to Tony Kemp, the NUMBER NINE HITTER. Bases loaded.
  • Alex Bregman (.286/31 HR/103 RBI/51 Doubles) steps to the plate with the bases chucked. He’s also hitting .350 in the postseason this year.
  • Bregman hits a sinking liner to LF that had me standing up in my bed. Andrew Benintendi is sprinting in with the game on the line and LAYS OUT TO MAKE THE DIVING CATCH.

Holy shit, what a game. Even Sox radio play by play announcer Joe Castiglione nearly had a heart attack watching that final play.

But Kimbrel, what the hell man? Now I gotta worry about you imploding at every opportunity? You shall henceforth be referred to as Byung-hyun Kim-brel

Now lets get to the catch everyone is talking about. Mookie Betts made an all-time classic play that will be played at his Hall of Fame induction and Astros fans will be analyzing that play for years to come like it’s the Zapruder film.

Back. And to the Left.

Hey, Adult Jeffrey Maier, keep your hands to yourself. Mookie makes that catch 100 times out of 100 if unimpeded. Cowboy Joe West got it right.

Mookie’s absolute hose of a throw in the bottom of the 8th will be forgotten because of how much went on last night but that was another series altering play for Betts in a week full of them.

It also makes me laugh hysterically that this is the hill Evan Drellich will die on. He must have tweeted no less than a dozen times about the play and how awful of a call it was. Just a quick reminder that Drellich was the Astros beat writer for nearly three years.

But moving on to more important matters. Assuming the Red Sox don’t blow this whole series now do you realize something?

JACKIE BRADLEY JR IS YOUR ALCS MVP!

I feel bad for Adam Jones’ mentions on twitter, but holy hell when Jackie gets hot he gets HOT.

JBJ must feel like this right now:

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the disaster that nearly was. After YEARS of fans ripping David Price for his lack of big game performances, Cora had him ready to go with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th. You think Price actually wanted the ball there?

Game 5 is tonight and David Price gets the ball with a chance to get his first postseason win ever…oh and with a chance to send the Red Sox to the World Series! First pitch is at 8:09 pm so don’t sleep now!

Its Official, David Price has Poisoned the Well for the Red Sox

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So in whats become one of the most lengthy Red Sox dramas that I can remember in a long time, David Price and the boys are morphing into a group of unlikeable assholes right before our eyes. It started of course with Shaugnessy’s story detailing how Price was berating Hall of Famer and NESN analyst Dennis Eckersley on the team plane in front of everyone, supposedly because of Eck’s “Yuck” comment about a recent E-Rod rehab start. Not because Eck was criticizing Price, not because Price also recently flipped the fuck out on Evan Drellich (also in front of a crowd of reporters), but because he’s a good teammate. If you think thats a pretty convenient excuse for Price to rip into a member of the media merely to defend a teammate, then you’re right – its bullshit.

Price is actually pitching well, but he seems to be falling apart mentally, lashing out at anyone and everyone for various reasons.

While you’re still an asshole for the way you went about it, you can rip into Evan Drellich and no one will care. But when you start talking shit to a national treasure like Eck and do it on the plane surrounded by your teammates like a schoolyard bully? Then thats where the problem starts. If there’s one thing fans in Boston do not like its entitlement. Now obviously thats a sliding scale with all professional athletes because they’re all entitled to some degree, but when the $30M per year pitcher starts grandstanding and bitching about every little slight because he can’t handle his Twitter notifications, then its a BIG problem.

To make matters worse, rather than suspend, fine or ya know TALK to Price about the incident and ask him “uhh you good big guy?” Instead of doing any of those things, the Red Sox ignored the problem and literally changed the plane boarding procedure. Rather than address the issue, lets just bury our heads in the sand and separate the kids like its recess.

Now we hear that other Red Sox players and even Pedroia (Bradfo disagrees) were cheering Price on while he was berating Eck? Like a bunch of assholes. Thats a goddamn shame. Talk about poisoning the fucking well.

If this galvanizes the team and they f-bomb everyone around them all the way to a World Series title then thats one thing. That’ll be their thing. 2013 was Boston Strong, 2004 was the Idiots, 2017 can be the miserable assholes who rail against the world. But if they don’t? If they stumble down the stretch and get bounced in the first round or somehow miss the playoffs? I wouldn’t put it past John Henry to say FUCK THIS and send a drastically different looking team to Fort Myers in 2018.

Now after weeks of this incident lingering, sports radio eviscerating the players, and just general fan backlash, the Red Sox return home from a long west coast road trip and send none other than David Price to the mound Friday night. This guy better take the hill and strike out the side right out of the gate because if he doesn’t he very well may get his balls booed off. There’s a lot of pressure on Price tonight, about as much as there can be for a game in the dead of July, but holy shit, if this guy comes out and takes a beating tonight? Forget it, the Fenway faithful might literally break this guy’s psyche. And I for one am excited as all hell to see this unfold.

Want to vocalize your distaste for all this bullshit going on with the Red Sox? Maybe get in David Price’s brain from the stands to rattle his cage a little bit? Buy a Yuck shirt.

Evan Drellich Says Chris Sale May Be Red Sox Most Electrifying Pitcher Since Pedro

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CSNNE – The newest lefty ace can succeed where David Price did not. Chris Sale might be the most electrifying pitcher the Red Sox have had since Pedro Martinez. Josh Beckett had his moments. Jon Lester was steadily excellent. But the stuff Sale brings is a step above.

I am HYPED for this season. Cannot wait to get it going. Despite my very real fear of 2/5 of the starters in our rotation going down with arm injuries, Chris Sale is gonna bring the juice. This guy is an incredibly talented pitcher and is hyper competitive, but he’s also a complete psycho. That is the full package for what it takes to be a legend in a town like Boston. You need a guy thats a little crazy to thrive in a pressure packed, often cynical market like this.  That was Pedro.

With Sale striking out 10 Yankees in a Spring Training game last night, it provided a glimpse into hopefully years of dominant performances against the Bombers. There was nothing better than the days where Pedro was so good he could legit toy with dudes or reach back and blow em away with his fastball.

David Price can be great, but he can also implode like he did in the playoffs last year. But either way, he’s a pretty laid back quiet guy. It’s hard to get fired up about a David Price start. Chris Sale seems to have that fire. He seems to be the guy who will bean a dude without hesitation. Sox haven’t had a guy like that really since Beckett and even Lackey, as short lived as that one was. But to describe a guy as the most anything since Pedro has me sweating for the season to start.

Red Sox Looking to Cobble Together a Third Baseman: Interested in Trevor Plouffe

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trevorplouffe

NBC Sports – The Red Sox are interested in free agent third baseman Trevor Plouffe, Evan Drellich reports for the Boston Herald. If the two sides were to reach an agreement, Plouffe would likely be utilized in a utility or platoon role.

Can’t have an All-Star at every position I guess. As much as people wanted the Red Sox to smash open the piggy bank and go all in by signing a guy like Edwin Encarnacion, it wasn’t really realistic. Whether that reason truly is just a matter of staying under the luxury tax, who knows. But this Sox team is set at just about every position, except for ya know that glaring hole at 3rd base. With one of the worst outputs in the entire league at 3B last year, the Sox are desperate for some production out of the hot corner. So while Plouffe certainly won’t step in and be The Guy, he can contribute as a utility guy and provide a little safety net if Panda shits the bed.

So God help you Pablo Sandoval if this whole “I’m gonna lose weight to revive my career” thing is bullshit.

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