Tag: Joe Kelly

Joe Kelly Picked His Top 5 Teammates for a Fight Club. Who Ya Got?

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NBC Sports – To celebrate the second anniversary of the brawl, WEEI’s Rob Bradford chatted with Kelly on the Bradfo Sho podcast and asked the Los Angeles Dodgers hurler to name five current and former teammates he’d want in his Fight Club.

Yadier Molina, Mitch Moreland, Austin Barnes, David Freese, and Chris Sale were his picks.

Joe Kelly will always be remembered fondly for his dominant 2013 postseason, but the man will never be forgotten for instigating a brawl and laying the smackdown on Yankees slugger scrub Tyler Austin. Kelly recently drafted his Top 5 for a Fight Club and it got the wheels spinning in my head. To keep this from spiraling into a 10,000 word think piece I kept my Top 5 to former Red Sox players. So anyone thats played so much as an inning for the Sox was available to draft for my Fight Club.

Adrian Beltre

No. 1 out of the gate for me is hands down Adrian Beltre because that man is a psycho. And not in the way that your skinny friend who wears polo hats says he’s a psycho. No, Beltre is unhinged. Just let someone touch his head and watch the carnage ensue.

Gabe Kapler

My No. 2 is 2004 Gabe Kapler because that man was a walking muscle who happened to play baseball. Remember how he maimed the Yankees Tanyon Sturtze? Sturtze’s pride may have never recovered from that.

Jason Varitek

Tek is a former Georgia Tech linebacker and he straight up bullied one of the greatest athletes of my generation in A-Rod so yea I’m taking the goatee as my No. 3.

Jonathan Papelbon

Every Fight Club needs a wild card and Jonathan Papelbon is that crazy sonofabitch.

Besides being a nutcase from the deep south, this was a guy who relished a fight, even if it was with his own teammate. Hell remember that time he almost ended Bryce Harper just because Harper wasn’t hustling?

Alfredo Aceves

This man may be in jail for all I know, but Aces always kind of frightened me and I only watched him on TV. Larry Walker once compared the guy to Satan for christ’s sake. Imagine this loose cannon hurling fastballs under your chin? This man got into a legitimate brawl during a Canada-Mexico matchup in the WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC so you know he’s just itching for a reason.

Dave Dombrowski Threw a Tantrum Because Nobody Likes His Bullpen “Additions”

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So Dave Dombrowski threw a temper tantrum over the weekend because nobody lauded his ingenious “additions” to the bullpen. I mean, by all accounts, he’s not wrong. Nathan Eovaldi can be a very effective reliever when healthy. We saw him do just that in the playoffs last year so why aren’t people falling all over themselves to pat Dombrowski on the back?

Oh yea, thats right because this isn’t an addition you disingenuous dummy. This is a guy the Sox paid big bucks to anchor their rotation down who was IMMEDIATELY injured and has missed all but 4 games this season. So forgive me if I’m not super excited for an injured starter coming back being hailed as the savior of the bullpen.

For Dombrowski to get all pissy because “people seem to, not, like grasp” this is hilarious. This is exactly what I said would happen last year after the Sox won the World Series too. I know this will come off as peak whiny Boston fan, but that doesn’t mean its not true. Last year Dombrowksi punted on making real additions to the bullpen and pulled Nathan Eovaldi and Ryan Brasier out of his ass while David Price pitched out of the pen, and Joe Kelly went on an all-time postseason run.

All that did was embolden Dombrowski to again make no real additions to the bullpen, let Joe Kelly go to the Dodgers, AND let their closer walk all in one offseason. “Hey I did it last year, why can’t I patch this thing together on the fly again?” Because thats not how baseball usually works. Thats why they call it lightning in a bottle.

If Nathan Eovaldi goes on to record 20 saves in the second half of the season then please disregard this blog.

Red Sox Going With Closer by Committee to Start the Season

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WEEI – Matt Barnes. Ryan Brasier. Heath Hembree. Brandon Workman. Brian Johnson, Colten Brewer. Hector Velazquez. Tyler Thornburg.

Thornburg is the highest-paid member of the group at $1.7 million despite not proving to be an effective big leaguer since 2016. Two guys the mix to close games — Barnes and Brasier — have a combined two career saves to their credit. Hembree has never been relied on as a consistent late-inning guy. Workman has never seen a full season in the majors. Johnson and Velazquez are more perceived as long men/spot starters than high-leverage options. And Brewer’s major league debut last season with San Diego resulted in 11 appearances in which he gave up 10 runs on 15 hits and seven walks.

And you know what? Alex Cora genuinely remains really optimistic about what he has to work with.

Closer. By. Committee. The three most feared words in all of baseball. Seriously, it’s NEVER a good idea and I am still scarred by the mere mention of it after the disaster that was the 2003 Red Sox. Byung-Hyun Kim, anyone? Kim, Brandon Lyon, Chad Fox, Mike Timlin, Tim Wakefield, Casey Fossum, Alan Embree, Jason Shiell (who?), Bronson Arroyo, and Robert Person all had saves for the Boston Red Sox in 2003. Thats TEN dudes that got the ball in the 9th inning. There’s a reason they went out and paid boatloads of money for Keith Foulke that offseason and then actually won the World Series the following season.

Lets just take a look at the Red Sox recent championship history as it relates to the closer position.

  • In 2018, there were four guys that recorded a save, with Craig Kimbrel racking up 42/46.
  • In 2013, there were three guys that recorded a save, with Koji Uehara racking up 21/33.
  • In 2007, there were five guys that recorded a save, with Jonathan Papelbon racking up 37/45.
  • In 2004, there were four guys that recorded a save, with Keith Foulke racking up 32/36.

Have I made my point clear enough?

Don’t get it twisted, I am not the guy campaigning to give Kimbrel and his wildly inconsistent performances $100M, but I do prefer to give the job to one guy until he proves he cannot handle the job. None of this closer by committee junk that 100,000% will fail spectacularly.

The manager added, “One thing we found out towards the end, that although the people outside our world think we’re short on pitching, we’re not, and we’re going to be fine.”

I understand that there isn’t a young stud closer waiting the wings. There isn’t a Papelbon pushing Foulke out the door on this roster, but what worries me about the Sox is how they went about this. And I knew they would the second they won the World Series too. All summer we railed against the team for not making any big trades to shore up the bullpen and how it would be the end of them. Naturally they fell ass backwards into Ryan Brasier and Joe Kelly turned into 2003 Eric Gagne for a month and the Sox cruised to another title. Now Dave Dombrowski is pointing to what the team did last year and their philosophy on the position and the results they got. Except the only problem is that shit ain’t normal. Joe Kelly will never pitch that well for that long again. Ryan Brasier could be an absolute diamond in the rough, but he could also revert to the guy that was pitching in Japan before the Sox signed him last year.

So to not only double down on that devil may care attitude with the bullpen, but then to also make no moves while guys like Kelly and (probably) Kimbrel walked is not ideal.

But hey did you hear that Tyler Thornburg is close to returning from injury for the third consecutive year??

Oh man, I hope this Durbin Feltman kid really does fly through the minor leagues this year and is ready for prime time because this could get ugly quick. Hopefully he’s more Papelbon than Craig Hansen though.

It’s not that I’m down on all of the individual relievers themselves because they’ve all proved they can be more than effective…in certain roles. If we are looking to go the 2003 route where the Sox had 10 guys vying for saves, then I think this team is in big trouble.

Joe Kelly is the First Domino to Fall for Sox This Offseason; Signs with Dodgers

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Image result for joe kelly postseason

As we pointed out on Tuesday, it’s pretty safe to say that All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel is likely to be playing elsewhere next season, and last night we learned that another bullpen piece is jumping ship as well. On Wednesday night, it was reported that setup man Joe Kelly will be joining the Los Angeles Dodgers on a three-year, $25 million deal.

To be honest, I’m not all that upset, especially considering the amount of dough L.A. is doling out to the electric but all-too-erratic 30-year-old.

While the guy has an absolutely lethal heater that can hit triple-digits and does own a respectable 3.87 career ERA, he did finish the 2018 regular season with a 4.39 mark and walked 4.4 batters per nine innings – numbers that are unacceptable for someone who was supposed to be one of the ones relied upon to hold the fort in the late innings before Kimbrel came in to shut the door.

However, Kelly was then completely untouchable in the playoffs, allowing just one run in 11.1 frames with 13 strikeouts. Unlike Kimbrel, Kelly was probably one of the top reasons the Sox were even able to win the title this year due to his incredible postseason play.

Image result for joe kelly

Seriously, this dude was absolutely DIALED IN two months ago.

But again, inconsistency has always been Kelly’s most glaring issue – posting seasons with ERAs as low as 2.69 and others with ones above 4.50, including a 5.18 mark in 2016 – and maybe his performance this past October finally gave him the confidence he needed to pitch to his full potential going forward. But, with an already enormous payroll – one which the Sox are apparently focused on cutting significantly this offseason – it just didn’t make sense to take that risk at over $8 million per season.

Thanks for everything, Joe, and I’ll never forget your magical October run. Best of luck out in La La Land.

Red Sox MEGA Blog: What’s Next for the World Series Champions?

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The Boston Red Sox are World Series Champions once again and that feels so sweet on my finger tips as I type this from my cubicle. I was at the mall on Monday after work grabbing my fresh new champs hat and will be wearing that everywhere from work to the bar to Thanksgiving dinner. So make sure you enjoy the 4th Sox title in 14 years, but with a gaggle of free agents this winter and some serious question marks around a few core players, lets take a look at what’s next for the Boston Red Sox.

David Price

As we covered the other day, David Price has officially opted into the remaining four years and $127 Million of his Red Sox contract. After his excellent ALCS and World Series run it should come as no surprise he opted to stay. The guy seems to love his teammates, finally got over the hump in the toughest market in baseball, and is coming off a 108 win season and a World Series championship. Why leave now? Quite frankly, with Chris Sale’s health concerns, the Red Sox need him. But how will that contract age? Just about as well as you’d expect a 7 year $217 Million contract for a pitcher that will be 37 by the end of it. And that’s not a knock on Price at all, thats a knock on the cost of doing business in today’s MLB, especially for a team that said we don’t sign pitchers over 30 years old in 2014 only to then sign a pitcher over 30 in 2015 to a 9-figure contract.

Chris Sale

I am extremely worried about the longterm health of Chris Sale and not just because of the recency of his shoulder issues. This is the second year in a row that Sale has worn down and gone on the DL with shoulder injuries. Sale is absolutely lights out dominant and one of the best pitchers in baseball when healthy, but at 6’6″ and “180” pounds staying healthy has proved difficult for the big lefty.

Lets look at his K’s/9 IP (Baseball Reference refers to this as S09) real quick just to get a sense of how much he is whipping the ball around because that number jumped *significantly* from his last year in Chicago to his first year in Boston. Sale averaged 9.3 SO9 in his last year with the White Sox in 2016, which jumped up to 12.9 in his first year in Boston and then jumped up again to 13.5 in 2018. That is huge and is especially significant because Sale is a guy that the White Sox had tried to tame a little bit. Chicago had tried to get Sale away from chasing strikeouts in order to get more innings out of the lanky lefty. I can’t find a direct quote, but I remember Sale not being a fan of the approach as it resulted in his lowest SO9 since his first full year in the big leagues. His last two years in Chicago were also his worst two years ERA wise, granted they were 3.41 and 3.34, but still. Some guys just need to let it rip.

The Sox are in a tricky position here because Sale is grossly underpaid at $15M in 2019 (if healthy), but it’s also his contract year. So Sale will likely be looking for a huge payday after making peanuts his whole career relative to his performance. Seriously, take a look at the bargain he’s been his whole career.

Sale has barely made more in his entire career ($44M) than Price made last season ($30M). Even if you’re not about the money, thats gotta piss you off a little bit. And if the Sox have legitimate concerns about his shoulder are they really going to pony up $25-$35 Million a year for another 30-year-old starter? They might have to.

Craig Kimbrel

Over his four years with the Red Sox, statistically Kimbrel was very good. He had 108 Saves and a 2.44 ERA with 305 K’s in 184.1 Innings Pitched. He made the All-Star team each of the 3 years he was with Boston saving 31, 35, and 42 games respectively. But he has shown a knack for the high wire act save, which reared its ugly head in the playoffs this year. Kimbrel is very good, even if he simply cannot pitch effectively in non-save situations or for more than one inning, but for a guy with a “potential path to the Hall of Fame” he is going to command big money. I just don’t think the Sox need to invest that into a closer as we’ve seen effective relievers and closers come out of nowhere year after year across the entire league. You had one on your own team this year as the Sox leaned heavily on Ryan Brasier as a 7th and 8th inning guy in the playoffs. A guy that was pitching in Japan last year. Dave Dombrowski seems to agree with that line of thinking as well.

“We do think that we do have a situation where internally we have a couple candidates to do that. (Matt) Barnes and (Ryan) Brasier are the top candidates,” Dombrowski said, via WEEI.com. “They’re not Craig Kimbrel at this point in their careers. But I don’t think we go into the closer by committee approach. So if it wasn’t Craig it’d be either them or we’d have to see what other alternatives existed outside the organization.”

So while he was very good while he was here, I think Kimbrel’s time with the Red Sox is over.

Dustin Pedroia

Alex Cora has already said Pedroia will hit lead off on Opening Day next year if he’s healthy. Pedroia has traditionally hit in the 2-hole (4,115 Plate Appearances) or as a No. 3 hitter (1,290 Plate Appearances) in a pinch, but Cora said it would be more out of respect to Pedroia if he’s able to come back.

“If he’s ready to go, I think that’s the only game he’s going to lead off next year. He’ll lead off Opening Day,” Cora said. “I told him that a few months ago because he deserves it. So Mookie won’t lead off one game next year. That’s the goal.” 

Stuff like this worries me because despite all the shit Pedroia took on the airwaves the last couple of years, like being snidely labeled “the little leader,” he still is the heart of this team. So Cora saying Pedroia deserves this ceremonial at bat has a certain “last hurrah” type feel to it. I’ve blogged about it in the past, but I think Pedroia’s days as a full time second baseman are likely done. Even Dombrowski had said that Pedroia’s knee was something they would have to monitor for the rest of his career, so we might start to see the beginning of Pedroia the platoon player next year if healthy.

Joe Kelly

The real life Rick Vaughn could be a guy the Sox turn to for closer duties in 2019 if he can replicate anything close to his 2018 postseason performance. I would think a player who has had such an up and down career with 2 Saves on his resume wouldn’t have a huge price tag, but you never know. For a guy that seemed to really buy into Alex Cora’s plan and became someone that fans adored after inciting a riot with the Yankees, I’d be shocked if he wasn’t on the Red Sox in 2019.

Drew Pomeranz

I’ve stuck to my take 2+ years that the Red Sox lost the Drew Pomeranz trade and I think I’ve generally been proven right. He seems like a really nice dude so I’m not gonna trash him (plus he can snatch beers out of the sky with the best of them), but I just never loved the move. Look I know the prospect we traded for him, Anderson Espinoza, blew his arm out and hasn’t done much in the minor leagues, but thats never been the point. The point has always been that Espinoza was the Boston Red Sox No. 1 pitching prospect and the No. 13 prospect in all of baseball at the time. In fact he’s still the No. 89 prospect in all of baseball despite not throwing a pitch last year. The Sox sold incredibly low on that kind of equity. You should have been able to get a much better return than a starter/reliever one-time All-Star with injury concerns in Drew Pomeranz. Not to mention a guy who was INJURED AT THE TIME as the Padres got caught fudging his medical records. All that combined with the fact that Cora acted as if Pomeranz was Boston Kryptonite and kept him securely fastened to the bullpen bench, I still think the Sox lost that trade.

Eduardo Nunez

He exercised his $5 Million player option for next season so he’ll be back. While Nunez had a bit of a down year, he showed in the playoffs why he is such a valuable bench player. He can play multiple positions, pinch hit, and generally plays balls to the wall all the time. If he can stay healthy this is a great guy to have on your bench.

Nathan Eovaldi

Have you ever gone to a concert of your favorite band and been so blown away that you legit started getting emotional? That’s what Nathan Eovaldi did in the playoffs this year. He was so good in the World Series that he literally made Rick Porcello cry.

He went 2-1 with a 1.61 ERA in 6 appearances (2 starts) with 22.1 Innings Pitched, 16 K’s, and only FOUR Earned Runs. Incredible. I was on the brink of tears when he wasn’t named MVP and I watched my +5000 lottery ticket float away, but still an incredible month from Nasty Nate. I would love for the Sox to bring him back, but Eovaldi likely pitched his way into a 9 figure deal with his dominant postseason run and I just don’t think the Sox have the payroll flexibility or the stomach to pony that up. He is a guy with two Tommy John surgeries already on his resume so that could be another reason the team shies away, but with Chris Sale already dealing with injuries, Eduardo Rodriguez constantly on the DL, and Rick Porcello on the last year of his contract next season, the Sox could certainly use another young stud pitcher (he’ll be 29 at the start of next year) for now and the future.

Steve Pearce

MVPearce would be a great fit to return and platoon with Mitch Moreland as the two formed a bash brothers duo this season. However, after putting on an absolute show in the playoffs and taking Clayton Kershaw out behind the shed to earn World Series MVP honors, it would not surprise me if a team threw way more money at him than the Sox are comfortable with. This is a toss up, but we’ll never forget the short time we shared together. Steve Pearce does owe me $2,500 after he stole the MVP away from my guy Nathan Eovaldi though…

Ian Kinsler

The Catching Situation

Sandy Leon, Christian Vazquez and Blake Swihart are all under contract for next season so what does a team do with 3 catchers? Vazquez recently signed an extension, the team loves Leon’s game calling, and the Sox also made room for Swihart rather than dishing him at the trade deadline. Something has to give though, especially with Swihart all but requesting a trade earlier this season due to lack of playing time. You could probably get a prospect back for Swihart, but I think the team has tanked his stock to really make it worth it. I would expect the team to move on from Leon and integrate the switch hitting Swihart more into the mix while Vazquez takes over primary duties. Especially after Vazquez started 12 games in the playoffs with more than twice as many Plate Appearances as Leon.

We Hardly Knew Ye, Carson

Oh and the Red Sox finally kicked Carson Smith to the curb after his tour de force asshole performance back in May.

After throwing 14.1 innings and getting taken out of a game Smith slammed his glove and blew out his shoulder doing so. You may remember though that he threw Alex Cora and the coaching stuff under the bus blaming his workload for his injury. The guy who was never healthy was now throwing a fit in front of the media. Hit the bricks pal, best of luck.

The Barren Boston Red Sox Farm System

The Red Sox farm system is BARREN right now and everybody knew that would be the case from the second Dave Dombrowski walked in the door. It’s just how he operates. Trade any and all prospects to acquire proven MLB (preferably Tigers) talent. And it won you a World Series so I am not going to complain for one second about that. But, if you take a peek down the road, there are no reinforcements coming for this team. God forbid the Sox are unable to re-sign their own young studs like Mookie Betts and/or Xander Bogaerts. Not to mention David Price is 33, Chris Sale has had shoulder injuries 2 years in a row, Porcello is in a walk year, and the rotation behind them consists of JAGs like Brian Johnson, Hector Velazquez and Steven Wright.

Back in 2016 the Red Sox had the No. 1 overall prospect in baseball in Yoan Moncada and the No. 5 overall prospect in Andrew Benintendi leading the way for their six prospects in the Top 100. Obviously some of those guys were involved in the Chris Sale and Craig Kimbrel trades, moves that helped you win the World Series. But, keeping an eye on this team’s long term viability, the Sox now only have ONE prospect in the Top 100 in Michael Chavis, who got popped for PEDs last year so your guess is as good as mine for how he’ll pan out.

One of Boston’s most exciting prospects, Jay Groome, was ranked No. 43 by MLB in 2017 before he blowing out his arm last year. Groome has the build that makes scouts drool as a 6’6″ lefty, but after Tommy John surgery won’t be back on the mound until late in 2019 at the earliest. He would likely start at Single A when he comes back from injury so Groome could still be years away from making an impact at Fenway. I still have sky high hopes for the kid, and not just because he was working out last offseason with current Red Sox ace Chris Sale. Just look at this MLB.com scouting report from 2016:

“Groome works with a 90-95 mph fastball that peaks at 97 with armside run, and he could throw harder as he gets stronger. Nevertheless, his best pitch is a curveball with power and depth that many evaluators believed was the best breaking ball in the 2016 Draft… Groome’s 6-foot-6 frame is built for durability and he uses it to generate good downhill plane on his pitches. His athleticism enables him to repeat his clean mechanics and fill the strike zone. He has the potential to become an ace if his makeup issues don’t get in his way, and he could be the best pitcher signed and developed by the Red Sox since Roger Clemens.”

So there are a ton of questions to answer for this team, but first there are a ton of beers that need drinking and a ton of Schrute Bucks that need spending on all of the World Series Champions swag.

These Are the Best Red Sox World Series Videos (So Far)

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These videos will be rolling in for awhile, and thats before we even get to Wednesday’s Duckboats parade, but as of right now these are the best Red Sox World Series videos (so far).

Is Dave Dombrowski the Smartest Man Alive or Did He Kinda Sorta Get Lucky?

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This will be one of the most fiercely debated questions when we look back at the 2018 World Series. Is Dave Dombrowski the smartest man alive for the way he built this team or is he just lucky?

Before the playoffs started everyone, myself included, ripped Dombrowski for not making the “big name” move and getting an arm for the bullpen at the trade deadline. And it was a completely justifiable question as this team’s relievers were struggling bad down the stretch. The only guy that you could trust was essentially Craig Kimbrel, who ironically enough you could not trust in the playoffs. Then the playoffs come and they turned into the ’98 Yankees. Some real Freaky Friday shit.

Ryan Brasier, formerly of the Japanese League, became a dominant 7th/8th inning guy out of absolutely nowhere. Joe Kelly went from blowing the first game of the year to excellent to benches clearing brawl spark plug back to awful during the season and almost didn’t even make the postseason roster. Kelly morphed into a triple digit hurling shutdown setup man. And Nathan Eovaldi, who was coming off his SECOND Tommy John Surgery and who the Sox acquired for the immortal Jalen Beeks(!), became “The Rover.” The ultimate weapon out of the bullpen. I honestly don’t know if the Sox win the Series without Eovaldi. For my money (literally) he should have been World Series MVP, which he probably would have won if the Sox took the 18 inning affair in Game 3.

Now my main point is whether we’ll look back at this championship and praise Dombrowski for being a genius with moves like adding Eovaldi and World Series MVP Steve Pearce. Incredible moves. Or will we look back and say wow I can’t believe that actually worked out.

I can’t help but imagine Dealer Dave as Happy Gilmore after this championship run though. Looootta luck involved.

Dave Dombrowksi:

Plus I would argue most, if not all, of the credit should go to Alex Cora. The way he managed that bullpen was absolutely flawless, if not dangerous. I heard Cora use the phrase “All in, all the time” and it just perfectly captures what this team was doing. From the very first game in the ALDS, Cora was bringing out starters rather than trust it to a traditional bullpen guy. He had David Price starting, relieving, or warming up in just about every single World Series game, then brought in their ace in Chris Sale to close it out. You just don’t see that.

So yes ultimately Dombrowski’s moves paid off in the end, but without Alex Cora and all the shrewd managerial moves he made, I think this team falters much earlier on and Dombrowski is on the hottest of hot seats.

PS – Jon Wallach made a great point on Toucher and Rich this morning. It looks like Cora may have established the new norm for how to manage a bullpen in the playoffs. You never see this habitual usage of starters in the playoffs outside of Game 7 scenarios. Now, as Wallach said, you could very easily wreck your staff by the sheer amount of usage, but hey it worked.

Top 5 Takeaways from Game 2 of the World Series

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The Red Sox took a commanding 2-0 lead in the World Series last night as the series shifts back to LA for the weekend. The Sox will look to do exactly what they did in 2004 and 2007 with a World Series sweep of the Dodgers. Last night was David Price’s night though as he proved his impressive start in the ALCS was not an anomaly. Lets breakdown the Top 5 Takeaways from Game 2 of the World Series.

David Price Learned How to Putt

Similar to Happy Gilmore at the Tour Championship, David Price has seemingly learned how to fix his biggest weakness and now the competition is shook. Admittedly a sentence I wasn’t sure I’d ever type, but numbers don’t lie. Price gave up 2 runs over 6 innings and struck out 5 while looking dominant at times. After going more than a decade without getting a postseason win as a starter, Price now has 2 in less than a week. Incredible.

The real question is, what did David Price figure out in that ALCS Game 4 bullpen session?

It was while going through his warm-ups that Price discovered a new trick — one he wasn’t divulging — that he believed helped his start Thursday.

“I threw 40 pitches in the bullpen [Wednesday],” Price said. “I figured something out warming up in the bullpen, and it kind of just carried over into the game.”

Who taught David Price how to putt? Who was his Chubbs?

The 2018 Boston Red Sox are Lethal With Two Outs

This is a very good Red Sox team led by statistically the best offense in baseball, but get 2 outs on them? They’re even better. After getting 2 quick outs in the 5th inning it looked like the Dodgers would be able to hold onto a mid-game 2-1 lead. You didn’t think it would be that easy did you? It’s like any horror movie you’ve ever seen. Always make sure the killer is dead because if you’re not sure, if you don’t see his cold dead body then he will come back to haunt you. The Red Sox have become Jason Voorhees this postseason.

So with two outs Christian Vazquez singled, then Mookie Betts singled, then Andrew Benintendi walked, then Steve Pearce walked, then JD Martinez singled to drive in 2 runs and put the Sox up 4-2. Bingo. Bango. Game over.

Joe Kelly Has Morphed into 2007 Jonathan Papelbon 

For the second night in a row, Joe Kelly was just blowing guys away. It wasn’t just his triple digits fastball either though, Kelly had impeccable control on his breaking balls. He was just dropping pitches in wherever he wanted and the Dodgers couldn’t touch him. Kelly finished the night with 2 K’s in his lone inning pitched.

Andrew Benintendi May Have Been the Smart Bet for World Series MVP

After racking up 4 hits in his first career World Season game, Benintendi came back and flashed the leather in Game 2 to continue building his case against my bankroll.

I’m still holding out hope for my guy Nathan Eovaldi who came in at +5000 to win MVP. He looked excellent yet again last night striking out one in a 13 pitch 1-2-3 8th inning, but with the way this series is going I worry he just might not get into enough games. Especially with Rick Porcello getting the nod for Game 3, it looks like Eovaldi has gone from Rover to setup man for Boston.

The Dodgers Are Softer Than Charmin

First we had the Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycut complaining that the Boston bullpen is too close to the fans. Dude it literally has not moved in over 50 years. Then last night we saw Ryan Madson come into a 2 outs bases loaded jam and proceed to immediately walk in a run and then give up a 2-run single before recording the 3rd out.

The final blow was this shot of Yasiel Puig:

This came after any and every Dodgers player went out of their way to say the chilly New England temperatures don’t make a difference to them. Picture’s worth a thousand words.

PS – The Red Sox bullpen retired 16 straight Dodgers hitters to end the game. Duct tape and bubblegum aside, this bullpen is money right now.

Top 5 Takeaways from Game 1 of the World Series

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The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the World Series after a thrilling Game 1 last night. After jumping on Clayton Kershaw early it seemed like the Sox were going to throttle the guy who had never pitched in a game below 50 degrees before. With 1 out and 2 runs already in, JD Martinez got picked off at first and Xander Bogaerts popped out to end the inning though and Kershaw settled in. The Sox were able to pull out the W with contributions from pretty much everyone, so lets look at the Top 5 Takeaways from Game 1 of the World Series.

1.) Alex Cora Practices the Dark Arts

Big Z and I joked on The 300s Podcast preview of the World Series that Alex Cora has a horseshoe firmly shoved where the sun doesn’t shine. This guy can do no wrong. It seems every move he makes, despite all evidence to the contrary, is the right one and he proved it again last night. Like most of Red Sox Nation I groaned at my TV when I saw Cora pinch hit for Rafael Devers with Eduardo Nunez. Devers was second on the team in batting average this postseason heading into last night, already had an RBI on the night, and Nunez had been struggling mightily. What does Nunez do? Proceeds to SMOKE a three run home run to put the Red Sox up 8-4. Incredible.

2.) Chris Sale Still Isn’t Right 

Don’t get me wrong, the guy was throwing gas to start the game and actually ended up with 7 K’s in 4 innings. But it took him 91 pitches, only 54 of which were strikes, to get through 4. His K/9 IP remain elite, but he doesn’t have the stamina or the health or whatever you want to call it to go deep into games. Perhaps the Sox can use Sale out of the bullpen in this series and just squeeze whatever magic they can out of him, but I am still concerned about his ability to bounce back considering everything he’s dealing with.

3.) The Red Sox Bullpen Continues to Feel Its Way Through the Dark 

As we all know, the Boston bullpen was a huge concern heading into the playoffs and Cora has made it work relying primarily on Ryan Brasier, Matt Barnes, Joe Kelly, and Craig Kimbrel. Last night it was those four guys once again leading the way. Joe Kelly was throwing freakin wiffleballs last night as he had arguably his best outing since he’s been in Boston. Oh and Craig Kimbrel was absolutely filthy with 2 K’s to shut it down (thanks Eric Gagne).

4.) We Officially Have a Name for the Swingman Starter/Reliever

Before Game 1, Cora officially gave a name to what I had been referring to as a swingman/super utility bullpen arm all month. The Rover. For guys like Nathan Eovaldi and Rick Porcello who have started games, pitched in long relief, emergency relief, as setup men; basically doing whatever it takes despite the role. Henceforth, this shall be known as The Rover.

5.) The Red Sox Remain Undefeated Against Instant Replay

Steve Pearce grounded into an inning ending double play and it was a real rally killer. Bummer. Only to come back from the commercial break to find out that Cora was challenging the play at first. And wouldn’t you know it, Pearce beat the throw by a hair and was safe at first to extend the inning. What happens next? JD Martinez absolutely smokes a ball to center field to score Pearce and put the Sox back on top 3-2.

Looking Ahead to Game 2

Tonight we get David Price back on the mound for his first start since his excellent outing in the ALCS. Has he truly exorcised those playoff demons and is he ready to give the Sox a commanding 2-0 lead in the World Series? Or will he revert back to the shaky guy we’ve seen all too much?

Either way, jump on the train now and buy a YUCK sticker before they’re all gone.

The Dodgers will counter with Hyun-Jin Ryu who is 1-1 with a 4.40 ERA this postseason. First pitch is tonight at 8:09 pm. Make sure to grab a coffee on your way home after work because it’s gonna be another long night!

PS – Don’t forget about your free lunch today.

#BaseballGuy: Joey B Reviews the Red Sox Postseason Thus Far

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New York Times – In arguably the best game of his life, Price led the Red Sox to a 4-1 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 5 of the A.L.C.S., to clinch the series, four games to one, and capture the team’s 14th American League pennant.

As a renowned #baseball fan (I usually start watching in August), I can tell you this is one of the most exciting postseasons in recent memory. We played the Yankees, who still suck I should add, for the 1st time in over a decade and sent 30,000 guidos home crying while Ol’ Blue Eyes sang to us while we celebrated. Next, we went up against the vaunted and absolutely CRUISING Houston Astros. Two fantastic staffs of pitchers and two line ups filled with dangerous bats and what did we do? Put them away in a gentlemanly five games. JBJ got hot, the whole outfield was flying around the field like ferrari, and when it mattered most and we had to put them away J.D Martinez got on base three times as part of an excellent offensive effort that also included the kid Raffy Devers going yard on Justin Verlander.

It was David Price’s night, however. According to a Friend of the Blog, the legendary and prolific Patty B, this was David Price’s first post season victory. That doesn’t sound quiiiiite right (Editor’s note: It was his first postseason win as a starter.) but he certainly cannot be described as “clutch”. I can’t lie, I hated signing Price from day one. He never seemed to be as good as billed and I never like to join forces with the enemy, as he was to us while in Tampa, I want to beat them. He has pitched well this year however, and yesterday he went deep into the game, pitching six scoreless and striking out NINE, leaving Houston’s offense absolutely befuddled.

I know our bullpen is a cause for concern; just saying that is a bit of a paradox as currently our bullpen rotation is mostly made up of our starters that didn’t start on a given day (sup Frederick Porcello?). You know what though? They’ve been good enough. They’ve gotten us this far into the post-season. Kimbrel, and Barnes, and Kelly, and the guy whose name whose name Red’s phone auto-corrected to “Brazzers” in a group chat have been nothing short of effective so far and have been a huge part in earning us a chance to win another championship. So hat fucking tip to those guys.

Seriously though, this has been some truly exciting and memorable #baseball. It reminds me of the absolute dogfights the Garnett/Pierce/Allen Celtics got in for what seemed like 10 years. So let’s buckle up and get ready for what should be a gem of a World Series.

-Joey B

P.S – I hate to rag on the guy because I am nothing if not a champion of the working man, but how excruciating was the camera man last night? There were two or three times the Astros got a solid piece and sent one to the warning track but the cameraman panned from the outfield to the upper deck, giving me and the aforementioned Mr. Blackouts a fucking heart attack. Like hey man, can we not overreact this badly. Geesh.