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Sox Gamers/Postmortems

West Coasting: Sox-A’s Gamer II

The Sox finish up in Oakland this afternoon, for good. Unless they see the A’s in the playoffs.

In 2012, of course.*

Chat about the action here.

* we kid, I think.

71 replies on “West Coasting: Sox-A’s Gamer II”

Series like this are another example of some of the bad luck the Sox are getting. What are the odds that the Sox run into both Brett Anderson AND Gio Gonzalez in a two-game series? Obviously worse than 1 in 5 (which would be the odds of getting one of them) but better than 1 in 25 (because they follow each other in the rotation, though not necessarily beyond the first runthrough).
Anyway, I’d say the likelihood would be between 5 to 10 percent that you’d face the opponent’s two best starters in a two-game series. So of course that’s exactly what the Sox will be doing. Blech.

Well, rethinking that, the chances of getting one of them in a two-game series would be 2 in 5, I think. So 40 percent. Getting both of them would be 4 in 25, or 16 percent. The chances of getting the correct one in the first game to guarantee the second one would be 1 in 5. So the chances are more like 15-20 percent. Not terrible luck, but not good by any stretch.

Yes, let’s give back all that positive momentum!
Could be back to seven under .500, after 10.5% of the season. Big mountain to climb, even after the glimmer of hope given this weekend.
To me this is a must-win (as a fan, that is), and it already looks bad.
Gotta cut out for the duration, unfortunately.

Sox more aggressive against Gio in the second. Saw a lot of pitches. three hits and they tie it, but Carl is CS at 2nd.
Carl, by the way, has driven in the Sox last two runs.

Clay getting hit hard, but A’s get nothing.
He’s at 31 pitches but seems like it should be more. Oakland is not a good-hitting team.
This game is the opposite of last night. We’re only through two innings after 40 minutes. Anderson and Lackey worked much more quickly yesterday.
And I think it’s time to get Ellsbury back in the leadoff spot and let figure out how to be a leadoff hitter.

Perhaps signs that Crawford is beginning to break out: He hits a double-play ball but beats the throw.
Runners on the corners, 1 out, after a Youkilis lead-off homer; Lowrie single, Scutaro reaches on error.
Aaaand rally-killer Tek does hit into the double play.
But the Sox lead, 2-1.
Gio’s pitch count at 70 through 4 IP.

Sox’ bats have looked pretty good against a really good pitcher. They’re getting some good luck, too, which is nice. They’re due.
Buchholz has had trouble commanding his changeup today, but he’s snapped off some good curves, and his fastball is painting both corners.

Crawford looks like he’s intentionally trying to hit everything the opposite way. It seems to be helping him get more comfortable at the plate.
AND LOWRIE HITS A DINGER!!!! 4-1!

I don’t know whose offense is worse, Oakland, who has a soon-to-be 37 year old Matsui as its best hitter, or Seattle, where it’s the Ichiro! or bust party.

Burnt Bread is up. Seriously, I get that people are nervous about Salty and all that, but watching Varitek hit this year is worse than watching a pitcher try to swing a bat.
The hat trick for Varitek: strikeout, double play, popup. Nothing even remotely productive.

Ah, Conor Jackson. He and Micah Owings were once the up-and-coming stars for Arizona, and the guys people really really wanted the Yankees to get for Randy Johnson. They got Ross Ohlendorf instead, and not that it matters too much, but I think that was the favorable outcome.

The Sox really benefit from having their best reliever being the young guy who is blocked by the good enough (but not as good) veteran in the closer’s role. The use of closers is one of the dumbest traditions in baseball today.
Wheewwww, Crisp misses a bases-clearing double by, what? Three inches? If that?

Wow. That’s the payback for that looper off Bard in the Texas series that hit right on the line for a double and cost the Sox the game. Crisp tags one that lands foul by inches, then pops out on the next pitch.

According to Gammons, Red Sox doctors would never have given Russell Martin a clean bill of health in the offseason. Now, maybe this is to try and deflect some blame on that mistake, but if true, Red Sox doctors are not having a good year and a half.

Just saw that news alert about the Dodgers, Andrew. Yeah, it’s strange that the Wilpons don’t also fall into that category, but I guess the McCourts have had a lot longer to try to prove themselves able to extricate themselves from their mess than the Wilpons.

Ellsbury has struck out three times, but all three times looking. Not quite a data point in the “swinging for the fences” theory. Doesn’t necessarily disprove it, but I’m interested in this discussion…
Drew with the big insurance homer!

Andrew, were the health concerns about Martin related to recovery from surgery or his overall ability to stay healthy? If it was the former, that’s one thing and looks more like a dropped ball, but if it was the latter, then we’ll need a good deal more time to evaluate that.

It could be that MLB was focusing on McCourt first and now will turn its attention to the Wilpons.
I just told a co-worker who is a Mets fan about McCourt and he responded by wondering aloud when MLB would sieze the Mets.

The McCourt-Wilpon business should really force MLB to overhaul how it determines ownership. You’ve got maverick (pun intended) but successful owner types like Mark Cuban essentially blackballed because they’re not “the right type” or whatever lame excuse they have, but then creeps and crooks like McCourt and Wilpon (and others) are given entry.

Here’s a good one: someone was bitching at me yesterday about our bankrupt government. (He didn’t like it when I informed him that the government isn’t bankrupt.) He said I should watch the movie Atlas Shrugged to get a real understanding of what’s really going on. Then he said he wants McDonald to run, run, run.
By the time he was done with the pejorative rant I didn’t have the heart to point out to this imbicile that Atlas Shrugged is fiction and McDonald has bankrupted four companies.
And then I went out for tea.

I guess I’d say saves because wins at least have a genesis in a time when pitchers consistently completed their starts, but they’re both pretty ridiculous.
What drives me crazy is that three heavily used state — wins, saves and batting average — have incredibly complex rules, so much so that if they were new “advanced” stats, they would be dismissed because of how complicated they would be to understand and keep track of. Never mind the fact that all three of them rely far too heavily on luck — and far too little on the things that actually make a pitcher or hitter actually good — to be of much use in analysis. Yet there they are…
RBI is another one of those. You get credit for one if you are the reason a runner scores. Even if he scores on an out. Unless it’s a double play. But anytime you reach safely and the runner scores, it’s an RBI. Well, unless you reach on an error. It goes on… Craziness.

IBM, it’s depressing how little people who argue that x is the No. 1 problem facing America today actually know anything about whatever x happens to be that year. People have no idea what goes into job creation or deficit reduction. If they did… well, we probably wouldn’t have two parties today. Because only one is actually taking that kind of stuff seriously. *steps off soapbox*
On that note, I think it’s time for me to head home. Have a good one, everybody!

I am coming around on the new stats.
Perhaps that should be a YFSF mission, to replace the archaic and misleading stats (BA, wins, saves, RBI, etc.) that are the most relied upon by the Shankses of the world.

Wow, politics invading this place?
Unfortunately, the Democrats are not *much* better. I voted for Scott Brown because of the turd they ran up here against him. She mocked the idea of standing outside Fenway – in the cold – shaking hands. And all the hysteria the Democrats claimed was utter drivel. I knew they’d ram through the HCP and they did. I also laughed when the Teabaggers thought Brown would be a solid conservative.
Obama is a solid plus (even as he’s way too passive). After that, the Democrats’ bench is very thin. I shudder at the thought of President Biden.

Um, back to the Sox game… My son and I played hooky to go to the game. Salty signed my son’s hat, We met Daniel Bard – and then watched him clear up that mess in the 6th. Except for the black hole at the bottom of the order, the boys looked good.

Not FCCS. No way. Never read L. Ron, never will.
Wednesday night is choir rehearsal and other church activities.
…
James …
My comments, and I think I probably speak for Paul, although he should confirm that, not me, are not meant to be pro-Democratic Party. I’m merely bemoaning how the sleight-of-hand that is the Koch-funded teabagger movement has convinced so many people to vote against their own economic interests by misrepresented facts and revisionist history.
Now we have people citing fiction, Atlas Shrugged, to prove Friedman-esque economics. And Donald Trump, the chairman of greed, will lead us to economic prosperity? It’s absolute tortured logic.
The Dems don’t exactly have it right, but the utter nonsense from the far right, from Beck to Koch, is mindboggling and truely frightening. And people repeat this stuff like it’s well-known history. Up is down.
I guy I had this conversation with? He’s a reporter. GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Oh, any anyone who saw this coming from Eric Chavez … raise your hand.
That’s what I thought.
But good for him. I always liked him.
Impromptu poll:
Where’s El-Barto Colon on July 1?
A. All-star bound
B. Hanging in there
C. Disabled list
D. Hey, where the hell did Bartolo Colon disappear to?
I pick ‘D’ (see 2008)

Regarding politics: I’m fiscally conservative and socially liberal, and I hate how the Republican party has turned into the party that only cares about religion and abortion. Between that and the Tea Party I’ve become so disgusted with the state of American politics.
Thank goodness baseball is here though. And the Sox aren’t the worst team in baseball anymore!

no yankee gamer, and you guys are talking politics…sheesh…
re. your colon question IBM: who cares?… by then he’ll either be replaced by another retread playing over his head, or cashman will have packaged up a handful of prospects to grab a real starter from a team who realizes they aren’t going anywhere this year…like maybe the sox…i’d take lester for montero and romine…there, i solved your catching problem too ;-)

well that explains why there was no yankee gamer…thanks IBM ;) let’s change the name of the site to “pachyderms v. jackasses”

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