Tag: Sonny Gray

Red Sox vs Yankees III: Porcello Nearly Throws No-Hitter in Another Boston Victory

I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t watch a ton of this game since the Bruins started their Cup run at the same time last night. But here are the highlights in case you also decided to watch playoff hockey over April baseball for some reason.

Hanley got beaned in the goddamn wrist in the 1st inning.

Intentional? Hard to say. Does that make me less pissed? Of course not. Because there’s nothing I love seeing more than the Red Sox hottest hitter taking a fastball off the wrist. Worked out great for Nomar.

Not that I would necessarily trust medical reports from Hanley Ramirez, but he himself said late last night that he should be fine so thats a relief.

Frederick Alfred Porcello was DEALING as he carried a no-hitter into the 7th inning. I’m sure the 45 minute rain delay didn’t help his case, but we seem to be getting more Cy Young Rick and less MLB Leader in Losses Rick so thats great to see.

As compensation for shielding Joe Kelly from wild haymakers the night before (Sox third base coach Carlos Febles was not so lucky) Aaron Judge was the one to ruin Porcello’s no-no with a double in the 7th inning.

The Sox piled on Sonny Gray early and often, who hasn’t been able to replicate his early career success in the past 3 years. Going into the game Gray was 1-4 with a 4.93 ERA in six career starts vs. Boston, and 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA in three starts at Fenway Park. Sonny had a rough go last night too, getting slapped around for 6 earned runs in 3 innings. Very bad!

The bullpen nearly blew a 6-run lead, but Craig Kimbrel came in and slammed that door shut as the Sox took a 6-3 win. Boston improved to 10-2 and a 2-1 record against the Yankees in the first series of the season. With 16 more games to go it’s going to be awesome watching the bad blood boil over between these two sides as they’re grinding it out for the AL East crown all summer long.

Dave Dombrowski is Playing Fast and Loose With the English Language to Cover His Ass if Red Sox Falter

So the MLB trade deadline was yesterday and the Red Sox added a legitimate reliever in Addison Russell, whom they acquired from the Mets. However, the Yankees did more than just add a nice piece, they loaded the fuck up. They added Sonny Gray, the A’s ace thats currently sporting a 3.43 ERA and 8.7 Ks per 9 IP. Not to mention their slew of other moves, without having given up too much of value…

So now we’ve got Dave Dombrowski in full on Cover Your Ass mode it would seem. The Sox added Nunez, who’s been playing really well and then just picked up Reed, but this is a team with glaring holes that has been struggling badly, and now the hottest team in the division just got a LOT better.

Now after the Yankees were wheeling and dealing all week loading up and basically making the Bombers the favorite to win the AL East, Dombrowski starts off by jokingly calling them the Golden State Warriors.

Just really playing up how great the Yankees are and how the Red Sox are really just underdogs for the rest of the season, except leaving out the fact that the Sox were the heavy pre-season FAVORITE to win the AL East. This is the definition of hedging your bets.

Now, I’m sure Dombrowski had some limitations put on him by ownership to avoid going over the luxury tax, but he still built this team. He signed Price and traded for Sale, and Kimbrel, and Pomeranz. Not to mention the trades for guys who have been injury plagued disasters in Tyler Thornburg and Carson Smith. If this team fails its on him. But, by pointing out how stacked the Yankees are and how the Sox are just some plucky underdogs  (with a $190M payroll) scrapping to compete, he’s already hedging so that if the Sox falter and don’t win the division or even straight up miss the playoffs, its not on him. Bullshit. Dave’s conveniently forgetting the fact that the expectations for this team were to compete for a World Series, not sneak into a Wild Card one-game playoff.

Dombrowski has been doing this a lot recently too, its not just his reaction to the trade deadline yesterday. After the Sox put David Price on the DL the same day he was supposed to start and potentially take a verbal beating from the fans, people were rightfully suspicious. Dombrowski scoffed at the suggestion they DL’d price just to skip a start. Dave went on a rant about how you can’t just put a guy on the DL without a serious medical issue that gets clearance from MLB. Uhhh did we already forget about Pablo Sandoval’s ear infection that knocked him out for like 2 weeks?? Thats a vicious ear infection. Did the Sox send a full ear X-ray to the commissioners office to get approval? Get the fuck outta here.

Dombrowski is preemptively chilling his seat before it gets too hot if the Sox do get bounced early, but I’m on to you Dave.