Tag Archives: #RedSoxNation

It’s Not About Veterans

Spaceballs

This weekend, the world watched millionaire players and billionaire owners protest the national anthem, speak out against the President, or hide in the locker room. Monday, we saw a decorated Army Ranger who felt compelled to apologize for standing to honor his nation. WTF is wrong with this country?

In the span of a week we have jumped at ludicrous speed from a few guys kneeling to protest social injustice to a full-blown culture war. The internet flooded with videos of self-righteous fans burning their season tickets and team jerseys. Patriots’ fans booed their team at home – not like in the 70s and 80s when the team deserved it. Last week, they booed before kickoff.

It’s not about Kaepernick

None of this is new. This didn’t start President Trump tweeting something stupid and divisive. It didn’t start with a bad second-string quarterback in San Francisco taking a knee last year. Anthem protests have been around of years.

Most readers are too young to remember when US Track and Field Olympians gave a Black Power salute during the anthem after receiving their medals in 1968. Some may recall the NBA suspending Denver Nuggets guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf in 1996 for refusing to stand for the anthem.

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Tommie Smith and John Carlo’s iconic protest came at the height of the civil rights movement and in the wake of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. The difference between Rauf and Kaepernick is that Rauf was still a legitimate player in the NBA at the time. He was run out of Denver at the end of that season and was out of the NBA entirely shortly thereafter. Don’t forget – Kaepernick voided his own contract and chose to leave SF at the end of last season.

Is his activism a factor in why he’s still unemployed? Almost certainly. Is it the reason? In NFL terms, it’s less probable than not. Back-up QBs should be inexpensive and neither be seen nor heard. Everyone recognizes that that isn’t Kaepernick.

Enough with the fake outrage

I have attended hundreds of professional sporting events in more than 20 different cities. I have overpaid for nachos and beer in 16 different MLB parks alone. Rarely have I been impressed with how fans honor America while the song plays.

Across the country, in all major sports, fans ignore the anthem as they buy beer, make their way to their seats, talk with friends, or update social media. They keep their hats on, video the singer, and take selfies. Other than the ballpark at Arlington, I can’t remember attending a sporting event that suspended concession sales during the anthem. God Bless Texas.

I graduated from that same little trade school on the Hudson as Steelers offensive lineman Alejandro Villanueva. I served more than 23 years in the Army and deployed five times. I’ve had friends come home in caskets under the flag. It means something to me. I will always stand in silence for the anthem and will smack my kids if they so much as sneeze before it’s finished.

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Symbols and Rights

This fake controversy isn’t about disrespecting Veterans. The soldiers and friends I and others lost in the service to this country represented diversity racially and ideologically as any NFL locker room. They didn’t die for the flag or the anthem. They served, sacrificed, and died for their fellow Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines.

The flag and the anthem are not totems to bow down to, but rather symbols of the ideals of this country. Those include the idea that all men are created equal, have the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and to free speech. These represent the very things for which people are protesting. You are not a good American if you claim to love our nation’s symbols but not the exercise of someone’s right’s because you disagree with their message.

I am offended by the jerk who keeps his hat on, usually backwards, and won’t shut up during the anthem. That’s disrespectful. Players using the opportunity to make a peaceful statement about social injustice – whether I agree with them or not – doesn’t bother me at all. For 241 years Veterans have fought for them to have that right, it would be hypocritical for us to ask them not to exercise it.

Easy Solution

Americans used to believe in the market place of ideas – that everyone could exercise their right to free speech, that good arguments would win and bad ones would lose. Now, as a nation, we seem to have lost the intellectual courage to tolerate diverse opinions. We are so threatened by people who don’t believe exactly like us that we demand they be silenced. The left has done that on college campuses and the right is doing it now in NFL stadiums.

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We have two simple solutions to our current national distraction. First, instead of attacking these players we could seek to emulate them. Every team in the NFL has players from every race, religion, and political ideology. Yet, somehow, they’re not killing one another in the locker room. Players like Devon McCourty, Duron Harmon, and others have protested during the nation anthem for more than a year. Kraft, Belichick, and Brady all have relationships with President Trump. And yet, somehow, these two different groups have good relationships with one another. How shockingly adult of them.

Second, we could just stop playing the national anthem at sporting events. Don’t pretend that it mattered to you before people started kneeling. It probably didn’t.

Bullish on the ‘pen

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Grudging Respect to the Skipper

Let’s be clear. Despite this, I do not think much of John Farrell as a manager. That said, however, he was a great pitching coach during Terry Francona’s tenure as skipper. It is not a coincidence that the Red Sox have one of the best rotations and have the best bullpen in baseball. Tough to argue with a 15-3 record in extra-inning games or find fault in the skipper who got them there.

Loaded for October

As great as we may feel about sweeping unlikeable Baltimore and clinching a playoff berth, the road ahead is going to be difficult. October baseball is different. There are no more Toronto’s, Oakland’s or Cincinnati’s. Everyone can play. Every line up is deep. Every rotation is tough. But, not every bullpen is great. Ours is, as Scott Frizzell expertly laid out yesterday (here).

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Sure, every one of the locked or likely AL playoff teams has a lights-out closer. Giles (HOU), Kintzler (MIN), Allen (CLE), and, despite his struggles against Boston, Chapman (NYY) are all excellent. And they all have a decent set-up guys. But, in October starting pitchers face the deepest line-ups in the league and tend to have high pitch counts earlier. It’s not enough to have an eighth inning guy to bridge to your closer. You need a seventh inning stud. And often more.

With apologies to Velazquez, Maddox, Smith, and Elias who have all contributed but just barely, the nine core members of the Sox bullpen are the best in the AL. Kimbrel leads all AL playoff closers with 33 saves, with Houston’s Giles right behind him at 32.

Getting the ball to our ginger Travelocity gnome is a squad who’ve pitched over 350 innings, surrendered only 132 earned runs, struck out 345, and have a WHIP of 1.18. For perspective, Drew Pomeranz, 16-5 on the season, has a WHIP of 1.34. So, basically Boston’s bullpen is better than their number two starter. Not. Too. Shabby.

The Best We’ve Had

Boston’s current bullpen is the best we’ve had in decades. With the possible exception of ’07 Papelbon, nobody in their right mind would trade Kimbrell for any closer in recent Red Sox history. And, as much as the Timlin-Embree combination provided the ’04 world champions, the sheer depth of this year’s squad is unmatched.

None of this is to say that their success will continue in the post season. October baseball is different. Guys who were lights out in the regular season often fade as the innings pile up and as the teams get tougher. Hideki Okajima springs to mind.

In 2007, Oki had thrown 69 regular season innings – more than any of our current relievers – and registered a 2.22 ERA and 0.971 WHIP. He was the definition of shut-down. Yet, he threw 11 post-season innings, including 3.2 in the World Series, where his numbers skyrocketed (7.36 ERA).

As this season winds down, it is critical that Farrell manage innings for each of his arms. He should consider throwing Price as often as medically possible – to both get him in shape for important innings in October, and to protect the guys who are tired.

“Judging” Rafael Devers

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Let’s jump to conclusions. For one minute, let’s be Yankee fans and make ridiculous assertions about how every player who dons our uniform will one have a plaque in Cooperstown.

Rafael Devers is that guy. His electric start, along with the addition of a scalding-hot Eduardo Nunez, injected energy and offense into the struggling Sox in July and vaulted them back into first place in the East. Even after a recent dip, his .300/8/18 start to his big league career is more than just promising, it’s exhilarating. Let’s face it, if he played in the Bronx they’d already be thinking about retiring his number and ordering his plaque for Monument Valley. God knows they’re already measuring Aaron Judge for a HoF jacket.

But we’re not Yankee fans. Thank the Lord.

We’re smart enough to know that as good as Devers was on the farm, and what he displayed with his hot start, he will level out – in fact he may already have. But when he does, what can we expect? From an offensive standpoint, the answer looks pretty damn good.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Bill James didn’t reinvent the game with his Baseball Abstract in 1977, but he did start a revolution in how we think about, analyze, and project player value. Johan Hill showed Brad Pitt the power of data analytics in Moneyball, and if he could figure it out between adopting half the world’s orphans and murdering zombies then most of us can too.

Many believers in sabermetrics will tell you that the number-one predictor of hitting potential in the big leagues over time is best summed up as the relationship between power, average, and strike-outs. Intuitively, when we think about the greatest hitters who ever played the game, we think about guys who drove the ball with power and seldom swung and missed. Williams, Ruth, Mays, and Aaron come to mind.

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It’s not enough to simply crush the ball. Nobody in their right minds considers Dave Kingman one of the all-time great hitters – though he did hit 442 HRs in the pre-steroid era. Kingman’s problem? He was a career .236 hitter with more than 1,800 Ks. So, the greatest hitters who ever lived are those with high slugging percentages, high batting averages, and low strike-outs. Not exactly rocket science. If you isolate hitting for power (slugging avg – batting avg) and divide by Ks per 9-innings, you can begin to see quantitatively why the people you think were great hitters were, and why we hate Carl Crawford .

Name	Level	Games	Slugging	Average	ISO-Power	SOs	SO per 9 Inning	ISO-P/K
Ted Williams	MLB	2292	0.634	0.344	0.290	709	0.309	0.937
Rogers Hornsby	MLB	2259	0.577	0.358	0.219	679	0.301	0.729
Babe Ruth	MLB	2503	0.690	0.342	0.348	1330	0.531	0.655
Hank Aaron	MLB	3298	0.555	0.305	0.250	1383	0.419	0.596
George Brett	MLB	2707	0.487	0.305	0.182	908	0.335	0.543
Willie Mays	MLB	2992	0.557	0.302	0.255	1526	0.510	0.500
Gary Sheffield	MLB	2576	0.514	0.292	0.222	1171	0.455	0.488
Wade Boggs	MLB	2440	0.443	0.328	0.115	745	0.305	0.377
David Ortiz	MLB	2408	0.552	0.286	0.266	1750	0.727	0.366
Manny Ramirez	MLB	2302	0.585	0.312	0.273	1813	0.788	0.347
Mark Texiera	MLB	1862	0.509	0.268	0.241	1441	0.774	0.311
Dwight Evans	MLB	2606	0.470	0.272	0.198	1697	0.651	0.304
Jack Clark	MLB	1994	0.476	0.267	0.209	1441	0.723	0.289
Jim Thome	MLB	2543	0.554	0.276	0.278	2548	1.002	0.277
Dave Kingman	MLB	1941	0.478	0.236	0.242	1816	0.936	0.259
Reggie Jackson	MLB	2820	0.490	0.262	0.228	2597	0.921	0.248
Carl Crawford	MLB	1716	0.435	0.290	0.145	1067	0.622	0.233
Wily Mo Pena	MLB	599	0.445	0.250	0.195	559	0.933	0.209

Of the players who belong to the Hall of Fame (bold), Reggie Jackson was an outlier. Objectively speaking, from a quantitative standpoint, he was a painfully average ballplayer. For perspective, in more than 1,000 fewer at bats, he struck out 1,071 more times than Willie Mays. Reggie just happened to excel on the big stage – winning four World Series and winning MVP in two of them.

Boston’s Future

Rafael Devers hasn’t had enough MLB at-bats to generate a sufficiently large statistical sample yet. But if we compare his minor league numbers to Betts, Bogaerts, and Bradley – and knowing how those players have leveled out after over 450-MLB games each – we can begin to see where he might level out himself.

Name	Level	Games	Slugging	Average	ISO-Power	SOs	SO per 9 Inning	ISO-P/K
Mookie Betts	Minors	313	0.442	0.307	0.135	147	0.470	0.287
Rafael Devers	Minors	399	0.482	0.296	0.186	291	0.729	0.255
Rafael Devers	MLB	40	0.513	0.300	0.213	39	0.975	0.218
Xander Bogaerts	Minors	315	0.503	0.288	0.215	272	0.863	0.249
Jackie Bradley	Minors	277	0.474	0.298	0.176	208	0.751	0.234

We should note that currently, through 493 MLB games, Mookie’s ISO-P/K is .355 – placing him squarely between Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz. I hope we can agree that he’s leveled out quite nicely. It would be premature, with such a small sample at the big-league level, to project Devers will be in Betts’ class as a pro (he’s at .218 now. But with good coaching, line-up protection, and patience at the plate,. we can expect him to be more productive than either Bogaerts or Bradley – and that’s not too shabby.

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And just for perspective – NY’s newest hero, Aaron Judge, had a .182 in 348 minor league games. And despite all the tape measure HRs and Sportscenter fawning, he’s sitting at .202 through 152 big-league games. Dave Kingman? He’s not even Carl Crawford.

Note: all statistics thank to the tome of wisdom at www.baseball-reference.com

Happy Anniversary Wake

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Aaron Bleepin’ Boone

I was somewhere over the Mediterranean when Aaron Boone hit his home run off Wake to win the 2003 ALCS and send the Red Sox home early from the post season. Another year of what might have been. Truth be told I wouldn’t have been watching anyway. I was redeploying from Iraq that day, and after watching Pedro strike out Alfonso Soriano to end the seventh inning with the Sox still up 4-2, I went to check on my flight home.

Ortiz added a home run off of David Wells in the top of the eighth to make it 5-2. We were in great shape. Between Timlin and Embree the ’03 Sox bullpen was lights out. This was going to be THE YEAR. Enter Grady Little.

When I returned from getting my flight update, Pedro was inexplicably still on the mound for the bottom of the eighth and Jeter was on second base after a one-out double. Bernie Williams singled. Jeter scored. I dropped a number of f-bombs and left. Not because my plane was leaving. I left because I knew, deep down we all knew, how this game was going to end.

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For those too young to remember a time before Aaron Boone was ruining baseball games in the ESPN broadcast booth, I’ll summarize. New York scored three in the bottom of the eighthnn to tie it and Aaron Bleepin’ Boone sent a Tim Wakefield knuckler into the second deck in left field to send NY back to the World Series.

He’s no Bill Buckner

Walking off the mound at Yankee Stadium, having surrendered the series losing home run, Wake admitted that he was terrified that he would no longer be welcome in Boston. After all, the last Red Sox goat – Bill Buckner – had been run out of town after contributing to the collapse in the 1986 World Series against the Mets. But Wake was no Billy Buck.

Wakefield had been with the Sox for nine seasons and won 102 games for Boston by then. He’d thrown 14 great innings of relief and won two games in that ALCS. He was a legitimate candidate for series MVP. Had they won.

Boston forgave Wake. We had Grady Little to hate.

Our Ironman

Wakefield pitched 17 seasons in Boston, winning 186 games for the hometown team and 200 for his career. He did everything anyone could have asked. He averaged 200 innings a season for his 19-year career. He started. He did long relief. He closed. Sometimes all in the same season.

In 1999, the Red Sox used Wakefield, a knuckleballer who’s every pitch was an adventure for the catcher and a home run waiting to happen for the hitter, to close. In addition to staring 17 games that year, he saved 15.

Wake was selfless. In game three of the 2004 ALCS, when Boston was getting pummeled by New York and on the verge of going down 0-3 in the series, Wake asked for the ball so Franconia could save the bullpen. He entered the game in the third inning, already down 10-0. He took his lumps for 3.1 innings and gave the Sox a chance in game four.

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He came out of the bullpen in game five and threw three innings of one-hit ball in extra innings in an elimination game. And won. For those who didn’t live through the 2004 ALCS, it is difficult to describe the intensity. For Wake, who walked off the mound a loser last year, to pitch so many clutch innings in against the same opponent in the same elimination situation the following year, his performance was nothing short of incredible.

Happy Anniversary Timmy

Today, September 13^th, marks the sixth anniversary since Wake won his 200^th career game. It’s not a major sports event, in fact I only remembered this morning when Facebook reminded me that I was there. I’m glad I was. Tim Wakefield really represents the great unsung Red Sox that are too often overlooked. He won’t ever be enshrined in Cooperstown, but he is exactly the kind of player that this franchise should celebrate.

Why the Red Sox Need Eric Hosmer

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We all know Eric Hosmer, the stud first basemen for the KC Royals, a key piece to their two World Series appearances in 2014 -15, and their title in 2015. A great defensive first basemen and an outstanding hitter who can hit for both power and contact, he is a special player.

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After the 2017 season, he hits free-agency, where he will definitely land a big contract. The question now is…should the Red Sox try to sign him?

Battle for first

Other 1st base options:

Mitch Moreland

Moreland has definitely had his moments this year, but only signed through this year and then hits the FA market again. Will the Soc decide to resign him? In 440 at bats this year, Moreland is hitting a measly .248 with 18 homers and 65 RBI. Not a bad season, but certainly not a great one, especially compared to the production that Hanley Ramirez brought to the team in the 2016 season. Mitch Moreland has been a nice fill-in this year, but probably not the long-term solution.

Sam Travis

Known as DoctorChill, Sam Travis has impressed this year at first base. He stands at 15-48, boasting a .313 average this year. He has shown the ability to hit the ball, but not for a lot of power to the pull side. His scouting reports that he hits a lot of balls to the opposite field, not ideal for a righty at Fenway park. Usually, you would like a Red Sox righty to pull the ball to the wall. Sam Travis presents the Sox with definitely a cheaper option than Hosmer, but he needs to work on his ability to pull the ball for power. In his own words, his six home runs in the minors this year is doesn’t cut it.

Hanley Ramirez

I know what you are thinking, and I am thinking the same thing…hell no! I figured I would just throw him on the list because there might be one percent of Red Sox Nation that would want this, and even that is a stretch. Hanley Ramirez had a monster 2016 at first base from an offensive standpoint, and was also very good with the glove. However, his numbers tanked this year, and his future as a DH even may be in question, never mind a spot in the lineup that requires him to play almost every night.

Eric Hosmer

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The moment we’ve been waiting for — the Wizard of Hoz. Eric Hosmer is easily the most well suited option on this list, and I think I can speak on behalf of most people when I say that Red Sox Nation would love to have him on board. There is nothing not to love about this guy. He seems to have great chemistry with the fans and his teammates, and appears to be a great overall guy off the field as well as on. Speaking of on, there is nothing he can’t do as a first basemen. He’s a great fielder, has legitimate pop in his bat, hits for average, as can run. In what he could consider an off-year, a year in which not many people have been talking about him, he has produced .315 with 23 homers and 82 RBI. Not only does he play great year in and year out, he has EXPERIENCE. He has played in two World Series, and has absolutely mashed in the playoffs.

Eric Hosmer represents everything that the Red Sox could use at first base to win in the future, and at a reasonable price. They should push to bring Hosmer to Beantown.

Farrell Falls Short as Sox Biggest Flaw

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The 2017 Red Sox aren’t a World Series caliber team. This much should be obvious by this point in the season. That doesn’t mean they can’t win the World Series, it just means they’ll have to get hot and play above themselves for a few critical weeks. We’ve seen that before – I hope we can all agree that the 2013 Red Sox weren’t a great team either.

This year’s squad can’t hit for power, a critical ingredient to October baseball, and they run the bases like little leaguers hopped up on Mountain Dew. We can blame Farrell for the almost nightly disaster on the base paths, as well as for a litany of line-up and pitching decisions. But we can’t pin the team’s structural flaws on him.

Mismanagement

John Farrell didn’t sign Panda; that was Ben Cherington. He didn’t spike Pedroia at second base; that was Manny Machado. He didn’t trade Travis Shaw for an injured Tyler Thornburg and he didn’t not sign Edwin Encarnacion or any other suitable replacement for David Ortiz; those are on Dave Dombrowski.

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Sure, Dombrowski landed Kimbrel, but he also invested $217 million over seven years in David Price. How’s that working out? We knew long before his classless meltdown with Eckersley that Price was a spoiled, over-paid number two starter, incapable of performing under pressure, and unwilling to accept criticism. That was the book on him. Red Sox ownership was so worried about coddling his sensitive ego that their mouthpiece Boston Globe took time out of their busy schedule slandering Tom Brady to publish one article after the other about. What a great guy, he how works so hard, and how we should all treat him better. Dombrowski and John Henry have been poor David’s helicopter parents since the moment he arrived.

Price and Sandoval are the most obvious examples. But there are so many other bad player decisions in recent years that have shaped this ball club. The 2017 Red Sox are poorly assembled. That’s not John Farrell’s fault.

Plateaued Performance

What we can, and indeed should, ascribe to Farrell and his coaching staff is the poor on-field performance of so many talented players. Forget entirely about the lunacy on the base paths that has resulted in Boston running into more outs that any other team in the league. What’s most disturbing this year is the regression of players like Bogaerts, Bradley, and Betts.

Xander is hitting 25 points below last year’s batting average, 74 points lower in OPS, has 13 fewer home runs, and 17 fewer runs batted in. He’s also committed more errors this season to date than all of last year (in 100 fewer total chances).

Bradley’s averages are comparable to last year but his power in significantly down. His 12 home runs are just over half last season’s 26 and he has driven in 33 fewer runs.

Most troubling is Mookie Betts’ decline at the plate. His .259 BA and .769 OPS are nearly 60 and 130 points below last season respectively. Last season Betts was second only to Ortiz in HRs and RBI with 31 and 113. This year he will be lucky to break the 20/90 threshold.

Bogaerts, Bradley, and Betts represent the future of the franchise. Yes, Benintendi and Devers look promising, but Betts could easily have been AL MVP last year and we once spoke of Xander and Jackie as untradeable perennial All Stars. Does anyone still feel that way? More to the point, does anyone have a ton of confidence when either of them come up in a big spot in an important game?

It’s frustrating to try and discern why Mitch Moreland isn’t in the line-up all the time. Or why a starting pitcher goes out to start the eighth inning already having thrown 100 pitches. John Farrell isn’t our biggest problem. Poor team construction is our biggest problem. John Farrell just isn’t helping.

Chris Sale: Boston’s MIA Ace

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It’s time for Chris Sale to be Chris Sale

We should stop talking about Chris Sale (15-7, 2.85 ERA this season) as the likely 2017 Cy Young award winner. Let’s start talking about his awful games against good teams for the last two months. And why Cleveland’s Cory Kluber (14-4, 2.56 ERA) will win the AL Cy Young award.

Who cares? After dropping three of four against the second place and perennial pain-in-our asses Yankees, the struggling Red Sox need their ace to be an ace once again. Since July turned to August, he’s been largely missing in action. Save his great outing against a weak Tampa team on August 8^th, in which we went eight scoreless innings and struck out 13, and last week’s dominance against the hapless Jays, he has been pretty pedestrian since July.

Since the July 1^st, the Sox are seven wins and five losses when Sale starts. In those 12 games, Sale has produced five wins, four losses and three no–ecisions, 75.3 IPs, 25 ERs, 115 Ks, and given up nine HRs. That’s fine for a number-three starter, but not for an ace.

Against the worst, he’s the best

Since the end of June, most of his good numbers have come against the dregs of the league – Toronto, Tampa, and a Seattle team that’s 14.5 games out of the AL West. Against likely playoffs teams in this window, four starts against NYY and two against CLE, he’s been very unimpressive: zero wins, three losses, three no decisions. Zero wins. Zero. His average line against the teams we need to worry about? Fewer than six innings and more than three and a half earned runs per start.

Sale remains our best pitcher. But he isn’t the runaway Cy Young award winner he looked like in July. Boston’s once substantial lead in the East has been cut to 3.5 games. This would certainly be in jeopardy if they didn’t have a soft schedule for the rest of the season. With six more games against Toronto and Tampa, and three against a terrible Cincinnati team, the Red Sox should cruise to the playoffs.

Step up or step out

To have any legitimate shot at a deep post season run, the Red Sox need to win the division. With the introduction of the second wild card and the one-game play-in between wild card teams five years ago, winning the division has taken on renewed importance. This year, more than ever for the Sox, it is paramount. It’s not that Boston can’t beat New York or anyone else in a single game in October. Despite his recent struggles I’ll still take my chances with Sale on the mound.

But that’s the problem. The Sox would have to go with Sale in the play-in game and then enter the divisional round with a rotation of Pomeranz, Porcello. Then either Fister, Price or E-Rod take the mound before bringing Sale in to pitch a potential game 4. Win the division and the Sox have a significantly better rotation lined up – including getting Sale twice in a long series. Lose the division, waste Sale in a one-or-done match-up, and the future could very well come down to how well Rick Porcello, David Price, or Doug Fister pitch in an elimination game. That’s terrifying to think about.

But, if Sale doesn’t return to form and provide quality starts against good teams the rest of the year, we won’t have to worry about it.

Red Sox vs. Blue Jays (Series Recap)

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After an extremely disappointing series with the Baltimore Orioles, the Red Sox jumped back on the winning train and swept their division rivals, the Toronto Blue Jays. Combining to score a total of 16 runs in the three game series, the Sox now have a comfortable 5.5 game lead over the second-place New York Yankees.

GAME ONE

Game one ended in a 6-5 victory for the Red Sox on August 28th, and featured vintage Drew Pomeranz doing what he does best: win games. The opposing pitcher, Marcus Stroman was the on the bump. Stroman looked comfortable in this outing. With a 2-1 lead, Eduardo Nunez changed that momentum by hitting a laser-beam home run to left field to tie the game at 2. However, after that home run, Stroman sat down six consecutive Red Sox batters including two strikeouts.

Bats fire up after 7th stretch

The Blue Jays then called for a pitching change in the seventh inning and it all went downhill from there. With a one-run Blue Jays lead, Christian Vazquez hit a two-run homer to left field off of Danny Barnes. Mitch Moreland knocked in Nunez on a weak hit ground back to the middle of second and first off of Aaron Loup, and Ryan Tepera walked Xander Bogaerts for a bases loaded RBI. The Red Sox then took a 6-3 lead.

The Blue Jays scored the remaining two runs off, surprisingly, Craig Kimbrel, from a two- run home run by Justin Smoak on an 0-1 count with two outs. You never see that happen, especially this year!

Strong series

The Red Sox offense looked good in the first game of the series. They combined for a total of 12 hits, four of those coming from Vazquez, who also tacked in two RBIs. Nunez, Benintendi, Moreland and Ramirez combined for eight hits and two RBIs.

Drew Pomeranz pitched well, earning his 14^th victory of the year and ranking him second in the MLB with wins behind Greinke, Kershaw, Sale and Davies. His 3.23 ERA now ranks him 11^th in the MLB.

GAME TWO

Game two was a fun one to watch. Chris Sale put on one of the best pitching performances I’ve ever seen. I could not stop watching the game because I was so mesmerized. Sale dealt his absolute best. He ended his night pitching 7.0 innings, allowed three hits with no runs and struck out 11 Blue Jays. He decreased his ERA to a 2.77, 5^th best in the MLB and 2^nd in the American League behind Corey Kluber of the Indians.

Sales first strike out victim was Steve Peace and it was a beauty. In the second inning he struck out Jose Bautista and Kevin Pillar. He then struck out the side in the third inning, sending Miguel Montero, Ryan Goins, and Steve Peace back to the dugout. He struck out Bautista again in the fourth and again in the seventh. What can Chris Sale not do?

Chris Sale dealing against the Blue Jays

The Sox offense finally did something in the sixth inning, which honestly seemed like an eternity waiting for a run to score. Nunez scored in Rajai Davis on his double to right field and Ramirez capitalized on that by hitting a solo shot to center field in the seventh inning. Benintendi then wanted to join the action and he hit an RBI single to right field to drive in Davis. The Sox went on to win 3-0 and take two games away from the Blue Jays in the three-game series.

After acquiring Rajai Davis on August 23^rd from the Oakland Athletics, he’s been a quiet player. So far he is batting .250 through five games with the Sox and even has two stolen bases. This game accounted for two of the nine hits that game and also had a stolen base. Nunez and Benintendi also had two hits that game as well.

GAME THREE

This is the game we all needed. Rick Porcello facing off against J.A. Happ. Let me start off by saying Porcello redeemed himself after his last outing. That was by far the worst thing I’ve ever seen. Eleven runs in 4.2 innings and just four of those runs were “earned.” He got shelled. But I’m sure I can speak for Red Sox Nation and say we are happy with this last game. He pitched 6.2 innings and only allowed one earned run off six hits. He also managed to pick up his 9^th win of the season, struck out seven and lowered his ERA from a 4.57 to a 4.45.

Happ looked sharp as well. He pitched 6.0 innings and only allowed just one run off of four hits. Happy received a no decision this game. In the month of August, Happ is where he pitches his best. Lifetime he is 21-15 (most wins amongst any months) with a 3.71 ERA (second lowest amongst any months). Against the Sox, he is 5-3, third best record against any of the teams he has faced in his career.

Mitch Moreland came, saw and conquered. Coming in a pinch hitter for Chris Young (DH), he went 2-2 with a home run and four RBI’s to help secure a 7-1 Sox victory. The three other RBI came from Betts, Bogaerts and Ramirez. Nunez, Betts, Bogaerts, and Hanley all had doubles and Bogaerts and Devers recorded stolen bases. The Sox offense crawled all over the Jays pitching.

Rajai Davis and Mookie Betts surround Mitch Moreland after hitting a 7th inning home run

SERIES NOTES

Sox are now 335-275 lifetime against the Toronto Blue Jays
Benintendi went 4-12 with an RBI and double (.333 average)
Nunez went 5-12 with three doubles, a home run and two RBI (.417 average)
Ramirez went 5-12 with two doubles, five runs, two home runs and two RBI (.417 average)
Vazquez batted .625 with five hits, a double, a home run, two RBI
Moreland went 4-7 with a home runs and five RBI[contact-form][contact-field label=”Name” type=”name” required=”true” /][contact-field label=”Email” type=”email” required=”true” /][contact-field label=”Website” type=”url” /][contact-field label=”Message” type=”textarea” /][/contact-form]
(.571 average)
Reed pitched 2.0 innings striking out three and had a 0.00 ERA while facing seven batters
Sale is 2-0 against the Jays this season with a 0.00 ERA and striking out 106 in 77.1 innings
Pomeranz is 3-1 lifetime against the Jays with a 2.63 ERA

How Badly Do the Red Sox Want To Win the World Series ?

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Is this the year that the Red Sox win the World Series? Is it all or nothing this season or are we satisfied with just making the playoffs and taking our chances? The Red Sox have one move that could possibly make them a scary contender for the post-season (and maybe for years to come). Could possibly mortgaging the future for winning right now pay off? Let’s explore and see what you think.

Giancarlo Stanton To The Red Sox

Do I have your attention? This move is a real possibility right now. The Miami Marlins have placed the South Beach Slammer on waivers, which he has cleared. The Marlins will transition to a new ownership group (good thing because Lauria is a clown) that includes Derek Jeter and Michael Jordan. I guess the reason that Stanton was placed on waivers is to reduce payroll. At $30M per season, losing that salary would lower anyone’s payroll. Stanton contract extends for another ten years so no fear of not having him under control, contract wise.

Worth The Cost?

This question really needs an answer. What do the Red Sox have to give up to get this behemoth in a Sox uniform for some time to come? There are a couple of options that the Marlins might bite on to make this deal a reality. The key to the deal? Not too many teams can handle the salary that they would have to take on. That limits the teams in the running, which works in the Red Sox favor.

One of the options gives the Marlins Jackie Bradley Jr., Joe Kelly, and Xander Bogaerts. Before all of you folks throw me under the bus, I don’t want to lose any players. You have to give up something to get something and this would work. Yes, you lose a great defensive outfielder but you have Benintendi and Betts along with the acquired Stanton.

The team would suffer some defensively, but remain pretty damn good if you ask me. This deal would likely require Betts moving to center and slotting Stanton in right. Playing Fenway’s right field takes some work, so you pick where Stanton should go. Nunez could replace Bogaerts. This would allow Pedroia to stay at second and Devers playing third. This plan doesn’t look so far fetched now, does it folks?

Another more radical theory on how the Red Sox could make this deal work gives the Marlins David Price in exchange for Stanton instead. This does not shave a ton off of the Marlins payroll, so they may be the roadblock to this type of deal happening. With all of the drama between Price and Eckersley, this may be a more popular move with Sox fans than you might think. As Dr. Phil has said many times “save the drama for your Mama,” and I agree wholeheartedly.

What Does Stanton Bring To The Lineup?

Inserting Stanton into this lineup gives you an incredible power bat that the Red Sox have been missing since Papi retired. Stanton is not your average power hitter, but a perennial bomber for years to come. He has power to all fields and could possibly make the Green Monster seats look like the flight path at Logan. A mere 27 years old, just reaching the prime of his career, his best is likely not behind him. Stanton looks like a fairly solid outfielder but not as solid as the current occupant. He’ll look like a like a drop off, but honestly he should be fine. Stanton sports a respectable .268 career batting average, so he is not just an all-or-nothing homer run hitter (looking at you now Aaron Judge).

The Stanton Safety Net

Having made the player shifts to acquire Stanton, the Red Sox order would look a little different then it does now obviously. With the continued bench presence of Chris Young and Brock Holt, there is always the possibility of giving players the needed days off if required. You lead off with with Betts, Benintendi, Hanley, Pedroia, Stanton, Moreland, Nunez, and Devers in whatever order you want. Good luck to the opposing pitchers and managers facing that type of offense.

In the second scenario, if we actually send David Price to the Marlins, the team faces more of a challenge. This year might be tough to cover but hopefully with the return of Steven Wright, the return-to-form of Porcello, and the crazy condor-like Chris Sale, the future looks not bad on the mound. All of this and no drama between Price and Eckersley unless it’s a road game isn’t so bad either.

Pay to play

In closing, I think that the Red Sox should shake things up a little bit and take the plunge to challenge for the World Series title. I believe that this deal makes them a contender for the present and the future with either scenario. The deal would require Stanton to approve it since he has a movement restrictive clause in his contract. By the sound of everything we’ve heard, Stanton just wants to win and the Red Sox would certainly fit the requirements.

I would be interested to hear other people’s ideas on this concept. As you can see, it is not as far fetched as you might think. Let’s see how ambitious the Red Sox are in pursuit of the scariest hitter in MLB. Let’s Go Red Sox

Eck vs. Price: Feuding at 30,000 feet

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BOSTON, MA – AUGUST 1: David Price #24 of the Boston Red Sox looks on from the dugout during the sixth inning against the Cleveland Indians \at Fenway Park on August 1, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Just when Red Sox nation thought we could never have a clubhouse fiasco worse than chicken and beer, we now have Eck vs. Price. As silly as it sounds, this little feud between the beloved commentator and often irritated pitcher turned into a side show at the worst time of the season…… A PLAYOFF RACE!

For the fans around baseball not familiar with this ridiculous incident that could easily disrupted a club house during a playoff race and derail them from contention, here’s a little rundown of the circus that was Eck v. Price.

It all started when…

All of this stems from an incident where Price took issue with the fact that Eck criticized him for not hustling to cover the first base bag on a ground ball. According to multiple reports, the other incident that sent Price over the edge was hearing Eck say, “yuck” as Eduardo Rodriguez’ stats flashed across the screen during a game on the NESN broadcast. These incidents apparently rubbed Price the wrong way. Price took it upon himself to call out Eck on a team flight with other members of the Sox cheering on the pitcher.

Here is a detailed look at the Price – Eckersley situation via The Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy:

On the day of the episode, Price was standing near the middle of the team aircraft, surrounded by fellow players, waiting for Eckersley. When Eckersley approached, on his way to the back of the plane (Sox broadcasters traditionally sit in the rear of the aircraft), a grandstanding Price stood in front of Eckersley and shouted, “Here he is — the greatest pitcher who ever lived! This game is easy for him!”

When a stunned Eckersley tried to speak, Price shot back with, “Get the [expletive] out of here!”

Many players applauded.

Eckersley made his way to the back of the plane as players in the middle of the plane started their card games. In the middle of the short flight, Eckersley got up and walked toward the front where Sox boss Dave Dombrowski was seated. When Eckersley passed through the card-playing section in the middle, Price went at him again, shouting, “Get the [expletive] out of here!”

Now, if this entire story is true, which I believe it is because Shaughnessy doesn’t have a reason to make this up, then I am not only embarrassed for Eck but I am also embarrassed for guys like David Price, Dustin Pedroia, and John Farrell as well.

Man up and stand up

First, let me start off with Pedroia. He is one of my favorite Sox players of all time and has been here long enough to realize that what Price did was no joke. Price landed a verbal slap on the face to a HALL OF FAME player who is beloved in Boston. Pedroia needs to step up in this situation and just tell Price to sit his a** down on the flight and stop causing a distraction for a team fighting for a playoff berth again (same can be said for “manager” John Farrell).

Secondly, in my opinion that Price is 100% wrong in this situation and had no right to belittle and embarrass a HOF player just because he did his job by voicing his opinion. Eck’s job as a commentator for this team is to watch and call the games. Sometimes that means criticizing the team if something is done incorrectly or just plain poorly. Eck, as the professional that he is did exactly that, but it just so happens his criticism was directed towards one of the SOFTER players in baseball who doesn’t think a broadcaster matters even if he is in Cooperstown.

Farrell under fire

Finally, John Farrell deserves criticism. As a sports writer who covers our home teams (teams I have loved since a kid) the lack of respect and maturity on Farrell’s end baffles me. This guy is suppose to be an adult, the manager of men. But on the team plane he seems to tolerate one of his guys acting like a child who had an outburst because he didn’t get his way. Farrell should have demonstrated some leadership by telling Price to sit down and shut his mouth. Farrell seems to be completely lost. It feels like this team wins in spite of him from his terrible in-game management skills and his questionable decisions off the field as well.

Eck brings mad skills to the booth

In closing I just want to take the time to show my support for Eck, who always makes the games enjoyable to watch with his funny quotes and one liners about, “hair,” “lettuce,” and “cheese,” with the list going on and on. Not only does Eck bring much needed humor to the broadcast booth but he also brings knowledge having pitched in big games as a pitcher for the Red Sox in his storied HOF career. This man has more accomplishments on his resume right now than David Price could dream of. So if a little criticism hurts this guys feelings rather than pushing him to be a better ball player then he can take his money, and his ball and go right on home….wherever that may be!