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Sox Gamers/Postmortems

At the Ballpark: Sox-Rangers Gamer

The Sox look to make of 5 of 6 and double their loss column lead on Texas.

Discuss tonight's action here. Hopefully we won't be talking about baserunning mistakes by our valuable starters. Egads.

40 replies on “At the Ballpark: Sox-Rangers Gamer”

Lineups:
1. Ellsbury CF
2. Pedroia 2B
3. Martinez 1B
4. Bay LF
5. Lowell 3B
6. Ortiz DH
7. Varitek C
8. Anderson RF
9. Gonzalez SS
– Penny
1. Borbon LF
2. Young 3B
3. Murphy RF
5. Byrd CF
5. Hamilton DH
6. Kinsler 2B
7. Blalock 1B
8. Teagarden C
9. Andrus SS
– Holland
Gonzo in at SS, who the heck is Brian Anderson, must have missed that transaction…

I’d rather talk about baserunning mistakes by our valuable starters than pitching mistakes by our valuable starters. *sigh* Not a fan of being down multiple runs early.

There’s no reason to expect us to score with a RISP and less than two outs when Brian Anderson and Alex Gonzalez are due up. That’s just hideous.

… aaaaand two strikeouts to get out of it. It is embarrassing to be fielding players of the caliber of Brian Anderson and Alex Gonzalez with the payroll we have.

Awesome. Stolen base on a pitchout. And third base on an outside pitch that might as well have been a pitchout.
And Brad Penny’s up to 76 pitches without an out in the fourth yet.
I’m not going to be hanging around this game very long, I can tell.

Holy crap. The Rangers have six stolen bases through 3.1 innings. Penny/Varitek might be the slowest pitcher-to-home-to-second combo ever.

A walk to Murphy after Penny gets squeezed on what should have been strike three and was instead called ball three.
Murphy running here? Absolutely.

The Rangers don’t give him a chance. Two outs on three pitches, and a three-run game. That shouldn’t be too hard to overcome against a pitcher with an ERA near 5, right guys?

“… aaaaand two strikeouts to get out of it. It is embarrassing to be fielding players of the caliber of Brian Anderson and Alex Gonzalez with the payroll we have.”
Now you know the horror of lineups featuring Andy Phillips, Sal Fasano, and Miguel Cairo.

Give Penny some credit. I wasn’t sure he should even come out for the fifth, and he strikes out the side.

Same deficit we faced last night. Ortiz/Varitek/Anderson/Gonzalez is such a vortex. As is Penny/Varitek really.

Can A-Gon bunt? ’cause he really should have with Anderson actually getting on to start the inning. Instead, it’s the expected DP and Pedroia wastes Ellsbury’s stolen base with a strikeout to end the inning.
Looks like it’ll have to happen in the 8th if it’s gonna happen for the Sox.

Most likely game there. Unlikely that this particular bottom of the order mounts an attack in the 9th.
Bench Tiz and Tek!

That’ll do ‘er. 7-2 Rangers and time to call it a night. Cabrera almost wriggled out of bases loaded, none out, but they burned him in the end.

I just hope last night’s game doesn’t end up being the highlight of the season.
It’s because I don’t think your POV holds water, dc. That’s all.

“…It’s because I don’t think your POV holds water, dc. That’s all….”
haha…got the utmost of respect for you too devine….typical sox fan….fun stuff…do yourself a favor and don’t respond when i comment…you’re at an extreme disadvantage…

Huh. Well, I don’t know why the insults, man. I disagree with you, why are you getting personal? In an earlier post, you claimed there was intent in every HBP in the Detroit games, for instance, when some of them (the first Tazawa HBP on Cabrera, for instance) were clearly not.

While I wouldn’t have chosen dc’s words, having seen the highlighjts it is hard for me to believe that Kinsler was knocked back once then hit in the head after he happened to go 2 for 3 including a HR in his first AB. The Yankees and Sox are tied in hitting batters so I’m not making organization-wide accusations, but do you (Devine) really think that Cabrera’s head-shot was a mistake?

do yourself a favor and don’t respond when i comment
dc: if you pop into Sox’ gamers and post something like “you suck” you shouldn’t expect silence in return. I think you need to consider your post above — how did you expect it to be received, exactly?
The best idea is to probably not hit “post” in a case like this, despite all your urges.

sf, re. my commentary: you’ve taken my first comment out of context…it was not directed at the posters here, it was a reference to the actions of some of your players, which i believe are intentional…you guys can disagree without the insults…devine made it personal when he claimed my POV doesn’t “hold any water”…my point of view is as valid as any on here, so i responded to him…
frankly, the beanings are getting a little old…i responded with a little anger just like all of you do at times…could have used better words, but the sentiment would be the same…i realize the sox are frustrated right now but throwing at a guy’s head is bullshit…it’s not too much to ask you guys to treat this incident with the same indignance you have joba/youk for example…joba=intentional, sox pitchers=not intentional…i get it…for the record, i don’t want to see the yankees doing it either…play ball for crying out loud…

I thought you were talking about the whole collective of Sox players and fans dc when you posted “you guys suck”. If an SF had posted that on a Yankee gamer, regardless of what the Yanks might have done during the game, I would have taken it personally and been pissed. But other than that, I agree with everything you say re: the beanings. We just had that discussion here last week and since then there have been multiple beanings, including the series that led to the Det-Bos fight and now last night with Kinsler. I’d be dismayed but not al all surprised if Texas retaliates in tonight’s game.

No, I don’t believe Cabrera’s HBP (the first one, certainly) was a mistake exactly. Look at where he was throwing it; if he hadn’t been swinging, it would have just been up and in, and not on his hands. I don’t see why the pitch on Kinsler was necessarily intentional, either.
Also, as was discussed earlier on some post or other here: in Sox/Yanks game, the ratio is running about 2:1 in the Yankees’ favor in terms of how many times opposing batters have been hit. I’m not saying that’s the Yanks trying to hit Sox batters; I am saying it might point to the idea that the Sox aren’t trying to bean people.
Telling someone you believe their argument isn’t logical is not the same thing as insulting them, dc.

And for the record, I *like* you, dc, whether you care or not, and I was glad when you came back. But posting “typical Sox fan” and “you’re at an extreme disadvantage” is garbage unworthy of you.

Yeah Devine, that’s what I meant. By the way, the stat on 2:1 Yankee:RS hit was very date-specific. It was followed by a stat covering the past 10 years or so that showed the reverse. Regardless, I take your point (and tried to make it myself with my first post here): the Yankees AND the RS hit a lot of batters. It has seemed to me that lately the Sox have been doing a lot of it, including some dangerous ones, but that may be solely a YF perception. I haven’t run any stats. And statsd don’t distinguish between “grazed on the foot” and “hit” or “barely missed” the head anyway of course.

On the Kinsler thing…I do think they meant to back him up, but I think the reaction by both Varitek (instantly trying to talk to Kinsler) and Cabrera (shoulders slumped, like he made a mistake) indicate they didn’t mean to hit him. But he probably shouldn’t be pitching inside if he can’t control it.

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