Month: May 2015

Mookie and Porcello Power Sox to Much Needed 2-0 Win

Posted on May 6, 2015 in Game Recap

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First things first. Last night the Red Sox celebrated the 40th anniversary of the 1975 pennant-winning season, and wore throwback uniforms in that team’s honor. What I’m going to say next may be shocking to some, but I thought the ’75 uniforms looked fantastic. High socks and red hats, I’m all about it. The only thing that looked a little … off … is the red band around the waist, but the added color is cool. It was weird that some of the squad was wearing the red, white, and blue socks and some were wearing solid red, but as long as the socks are high, I’m on board.

After dropping four in a row, it was a real breath of fresh air to have a starter turn in not just a quality start, but 7 innings of shutout ball. For once the pitching picked up the slack on a night when the offense struggled. I’ve been doing my best to avoid baseball clichés on this here blog of ours, but Porcello really did “scatter” the 8 singles he surrendered, and didn’t walk anyone. Frederick struck out 6, and thanks to back-to-back quality starts, is now sporting a respectable 4.38 ERA.

Ogando and Koji combined for two innings of relief to close out the game, but strangely, none of those outs came by way of the K.

Outside of the pitching staff, it was the Mookie Show 2.0. (The original Mookie Show obviously being the home opener.) In this one he would be personally responsible for both of the Red Sox runs, and turned in a nice play defensively doubling off Longoria in the 4th, helping Porcello get out of his only real hairy situation of the game.

Drew Smyly was cruising through the first 5 innings of the game, striking out 5 without allowing a hit. Then leading off the bottom of the 6th, he threw an 0-1 slider to Betts, who treated it like an old dirty rug.

Mookie would lead off again two innings later with similar results, this time on a first-pitch fastball that he took over the National League scoreboard portion of the Monster. He was smiling when he crossed the plate, and was rewarded with a big hug from Big Papi. What a feeling that must be.

Great call by Don, too: “Mookie Betts has a 2-0 lead over the Tampa Bay Rays!” His stats still aren’t where they were last year, but he’s certainly passing the eye test. Hopefully his numbers will soon start to reflect just how impressive he’s been so far.

Notes:

-On the last play of the game, Koji got Asdrubal Cabrera to ground out softly to Pedey, but not before Koji would make a lunging/diving/falling attempt to cut the ball off before it got past him. Everyone got a good chuckle out of that.

-Despite 16 combined hits and walks (a fairly average number for a MLB game), this one took just 2:26 to complete.

-For some reason the high red, white, and blue striped socks always remind me of Damon Buford even though I don’t think he wore his socks like that regularly.

Boston Loses Its 4th Straight, Hanley Gets Hurt, World Implodes

Posted on May 5, 2015 in Game Recap

The series sweep to the Yankees has now bled into a 4th game. The Sox have officially hit the skids, folks. I really thought they had a chance to get over the hump tonight, I won’t lie. The Rays are a light-hitting bunch, and I’ll admit that I still get a flutter of hope whenever I see that Clay Buchholz is pitching, because I know how good his stuff can be. And who knows how things would have gone for him if James Loney’s first at-bat of the night had gone differently? But on a fly ball down the left field line, Hanley Ramirez collided with the wall and pulled a Patrick Pass, dropping the ball upon injuring his shoulder.

Longoria knocked him in, and was himself knocked in by the following batter, David DeJesus. By the time Buchholz got Logan Forsythe to fly out to Ramirez’s replacement, Allen Craig, what might’ve been a 1-2-3 first inning had become yet another early deficit for Boston. In the bottom half of the inning, Craig, in Ramirez’s scheduled cleanup spot, grounded to short with Pedroia on 2nd to end the inning.

In the 2nd, Clay got a little too cocky dealing with Joey Butler, a 29-year-old career .294 hitter in the minors, trying to sneak an 0-1 changeup over the inside half of the plate and getting taken deep to left field.

Asdrubal Cabrera had singled to lead off, so the home run made it 4-0, Rays.

In the bottom of the 2nd, Brock Holt and Xander Bogaerts gave the Red Sox a spark with a pair of back-to-back two-out triples to right field, where Steven Souza, Jr. had an adventure of a night (yeah, I know Lyons said it during the broadcast, but I thought it first – how does the intellectual property work for that?). He’d already dropped a “double” by Pedroia in the 1st, and both triples could have been handled better, especially Bogaerts’, which almost turned into an inside-the-park job. Souza completely whiffed on it as it bounced by him and towards the wall. Fortunately for Souza, Bogaerts was stranded at third.

The remainder of Buchholz’s night was made up of innings both long (escaping a bases-loaded jam in the 3rd) and short (striking out the side in the 6th), but all of them scoreless until the 7th inning, when an uncharacteristically wild outing from Junichi Tazawa included Souza, Jr. scoring on another DeJesus RBI single to pin another earned run to Buchholz’s box score.

On the offensive side, the Red Sox had 7 runners reach scoring position. But only one, Brock Holt after his 2nd inning triple, managed to actually score. Going into the game, Boston was 23rd in MLB in batting average with runners in scoring position (.228), and that number has certainly sunk even lower after tonight’s performance. Worse, two of these runners were on second base with no outs. The bats, when they’re bad, are anemic. It’s getting hard to watch Mike Napoli, last night’s home run notwithstanding. Sandoval gets himself into so many 0-2 counts. Allen Craig is an absolute disaster at the plate, and I was plain shocked when he managed a single in the 6th. His at-bats in the 3rd and 8th, both swinging strikeouts, are much more emblematic of his season so far.

So Boston’s in last place, and New York’s in first. What a fun great time this is. And now it’s Tuesday.

Notes:

  • Following on from Don’s bragging during a recent game about the NESN window being closed for cold weather so far this spring, the window was open for, apparently, “the first time since Opening Day.”
  • Don’s favorite food to cook is lobster. You’re welcome.

Red Sox Get Swept by the Yankees on Sunday Night

Posted on May 4, 2015 in Game Recap
Pumpsie deals (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Pumpsie deals (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Let’s dive right in. Joe Kelly started this one and was in trouble from the jump. As usual, his fastball was in the upper 90s, and when he located his pitches the Yankees hitters were reluctant to even swing at Pumpsie’s heat, much less square it up. Kelly is averaging 96 MPH on his pitches, the highest for a starter in the majors. However, location and off-speed stuff would prove to be a problem. Teixeira hit a two-run home run on a slider in the first inning, and Beltran would have a RBI double in the 3rd on a changeup. The other two runs came on an RBI double by McCann, also in the third, but on a poorly located two-seam fastball.

On the ESPN broadcast, Curt Schilling kept lamenting the fact that Kelly throws a 2-seam and a 4-seam fastball. His logic was that a) he throws hard enough that he doesn’t need the added movement that a two-seamer brings and b) with more repetitions throwing the 4-seamer he’ll be able to locate it better. I’m not going to pretend to know more about pitching than Curt, but throwing 97 with movement is really, really hard to hit; I think it’s worth the effort to keep working on that pitch. Plus Kelly’s best pitches in this game were two-seamers that had some hair on them. That being said, pitch location continues to be an issue for Kelly, so maybe Schilling was right after all.

Boston IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Kelly, J (L, 1-1) 4.2 9 5 5 0 3 1 5.72

After an ineffective outing from Craig Breslow, in which he gave up two singles, a three-run home run to Brett Gardner, and retired no one, the score sat at 8-0 heading into the bottom of the 6th. In that inning Swihart lined out, Mookie popped out, and it looked like the Red Sox might roll over. Then Pedey singled, Papi doubled, Hanley got hit by a pitch (and was NOT pleased), Panda singled, and Napoli hit a three-run homer capping an exciting five-run two-out rally. Nava would walk and Xander would hit an infield single, but Swihart would strike out to end the inning. The lead was now 8-5 Yankees. The Red Sox have scored almost half of their runs this year (46%) with two dead.

The Sox would make more noise in the later innings, getting a man on in the 8th, and would even bring the game winning run to the plate in the bottom of the 9th in the person of David Ortiz, but Papi lined out to Jacoby to end the game with the bases loaded. It was encouraging to see the bats come alive in the second half of this one, but they should’ve learned their lesson from JoJo:

Notes:

–Dalier Hinojosa made his Major League debut with runners on first and third with one out in the top of the 8th in a 3 run game against the Yankees, and facing Alex Rodriguez. He struck out A-Rod, walked Tex, and got McCann to fly out. Welcome to the show, kid. (He’s actually 29 but “welcome to the show, sir” doesn’t have the desired effect). He’d go an inning and two-thirds, striking out 2, and walking 3, but didn’t allow a hit or a run.

-Tim Kurkjian is such an adorable baseball nerd.

Red Sox Lose Second Game of Yankees Series – PLUS Bonus Patriots’ Draft Opinions!

Posted on May 3, 2015 in Game Recap, Random Stuff

On the bright side, Wade Miley pitched well. He wasn’t great, but with one of the highest-powered offenses in MLB behind him, any pitcher can expect to win the majority of games in which he only gives up three runs through seven innings. But not yesterday. This is not to say, of course, that Miley was particularly great – there’s a reason his ERA is still 7.15. And the runs scored by the Yankees had Wade’s fingerprints all over them. But credit where credit’s due: this was a good start,  and it certainly helps our bullpen that our starters are finally stretching a little bit. Here’s to more of yesterday and less of April.

Ellsbury singled to lead off, and after Gardner struck out swinging, he stole second during A-Rod’s first at-bat of the day. Unfortunately, I was listening to the radio broadcast in the car, and there’s no video available online, but still…welcome to the big leagues, Blake Swihart. Both Rodriguez and Teixeira grounded out to end the inning and strand Jacoby.

To lead off the third inning, Miley gave up another single, this time to Didi GreGLORIOUS, who advanced to second on a wild pitch. No video of that either, but it’d prove costly, as he was driven in in short order by Brett Gardner, who was himself thrown out at third by a deceivingly lazy Hanley Ramirez relay (remind you of anyone?) to a quick-handed Xander Bogaerts, who flicked it to Pablo for the out.

But still. The run scored, and the Sox found themselves down 1-0. Dustin Pedroia put the situation right in the bottom of the 4th – when will pitchers learn not to give him this pitch? – but he led off the inning, so it was just a solo shot (with a “La Luna!” from Don).

Tie game, 1-1. This inning also featured an inning-ending double play with men on 1st and 2nd by Mike Napoli.

In the top of the 5th, the Yankees came right back and got to Miley for the only time, really, on the night. Chase Headley led off with a double, and Gregorio Petit singled immediately after him, on a high blooper to center field, but Headley was forced to hold midway between 2nd and 3rd to avoid being doubled off. Gregorius, in a tie game with no outs and men on 1st and 2nd, showed bunt on the 1st pitch he got from Miley, who then (fairly inexplicably) gave him an easily buntable ball down the middle of the plate, advancing both runners as Sandoval threw to Napoli for the out at 1st. After a savvy play by Napoli, staring down Headley as he scooped an Ellsbury grounder and tagged 1st base, Brett Gardner hit a two-out single to left. Hanley probably let too much time elapse winding up for the throw home for it to be an effective one, and both runners scored to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead.

The bottom of the 5th was bereft of an offensive response by the Sox, save for this ugly little poke to the right side of the infield by Swihart for his first major league hit. It was one of three good non-Betances-facing at-bats on the night for the rookie, getting two full counts and a 9-pitch at-bat in the 3rd inning that ended in a strikeout.

The 5th inning also featured a small world moment: a friend of the blog who I was watching the game with, Reeves, saw this Red Sox staffer catch a foul ball cleanly and give it to a kid in the section and yelled, “Oh my God, that’s my friend’s dad!” This was followed by a Facebook check so the group could compare their faces and Reeves texting a video to her friend for verification. And she was right! It was her friend’s dad! Truly, a magical moment. You’re welcome.

Miley would sit down the next six Yankees in order before being lifted as his pitch count crossed the century mark. In the bottom of the 7th, Swihart drew a tough full count walk with two outs, prompting Eovaldi’s removal from the game in favor of feel-good story Chris Martin, and scored from first on a Mookie Betts double that was a couple feet short of clearing the Monster.

But no other Red Sox batter would get to 2nd base after Betts was stranded to end the 7th – after a Hanley Ramirez walk (he was clearly frustrated that he wasn’t given something to hit), 5 consecutive Red Sox struck out to end the game, the last four by a clearly intimidating Dellin Betances to get the save. Swihart struck out looking on three pitches, poor kid, to end the game. By the time the bottom of the 9th rolled around, though, it would’ve taken more than a single run to tie it up anyway: Alexi Ogando gave up a solo home run to Chris Young in the top of the inning to give New York some insurance. 

But enough about that, let’s get to the good stuff: the NFL Draft! It used to be my favorite weekend of bloated nonsense television coverage of the year, and now it’s a somewhat less enjoyable weeknight barrage of bloated nonsense television coverage. Now, I have neither the time nor the inclination to set down all of my amateur thoughts on each of the Patriots’ picks like I have any idea of what I’m talking about, because I don’t. I’m just gonna tell you what I think New England got with each pick in a few words.

  • Malcom Brown, DT: Wilfork. Duh. More realistically, a step up athletically over similarly-shaped Wilfork protégés of recent years (Myron Pryor, Sealver Siliga, etc.)
  • Jordan Richards, S: Patrick Chung’s new sidekick/competition. Maybe he’ll push Tavon Wilson and Alfonzo Dennard to give a little more, because they’re officially on the bubble (especially Dennard – cutting him makes the most sense financially if he’s not gonna play again, like in 2014). No one would be saying this is too early for him if this was a 3rd round pick, which it basically was.
  • Geneo Grissom, DE: Decent pass rushing end. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but we need those. No one would be saying this is too early for him if this was a 4th round pick, which it basically was.
  • Trey Flowers, DE: Maybe more of a hand in the dirt type of end than Grissom. Think the old Seymour/Warren combo. But don’t, because I don’t want anyone to think he’s as good as those guys based on the opinion of Lefty, an idiot. Besides, he’d need to put on weight for that role anyway. Probably more like Jarvis Green.
  • Tre Jackson, G: Big boy, run blocker. Get behind him and move your feet.
  • Shaq Mason, C: More interior depth. Probably the clearest sign that Dan Connolly probably isn’t coming back. Can’t have had much experience pass blocking at Georgia Tech. Competition for Stork, who was good, not great as a rookie.
  • Joe Cardona, LS: Goodbye, Danny Aiken.
  • Matthew Wells, OLB: He’s 6’2″, 222 pounds, plays outside linebacker, runs a 4.4 40-yard dash, and is legally blind in one eye. Your guess is as good as mine.
  • A.J. Derby, TE: The next Julian Edelman! More likely he’ll be cut – our late-round tight end picks don’t seem to stick around (Lee Smith, Andy Stokes).
  • Darryl Roberts, CB: The next Willie Andrews! The on-field version.
  • Xzavier Dickson, DE: The next Tully Banta-Cain! Great name, no confusion on pronunciation.