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So Disinterested We Forgot There Was a Game: Sox-Jays Gamer

Discuss the action here.

(actually, our laptop broke, it's not disinterest)

64 replies on “So Disinterested We Forgot There Was a Game: Sox-Jays Gamer”

Smoltz signs with the Cards.
Is the NL so shitty that both John Smoltz and Julio Lugo might excel?

Kotchman/Green/Gonzalez at 1st/2nd/3rd. This could be the shittiest hitting right/middle of the infield in Sox’ history.

Beauty of a changeup by Buck to get Lind on the softy to Kotchman.
Set that pitch up perfectly with first pitch tailing 94mph fastball. Nice stuff.

AGonz and Green up the middle… the worst offensive double-play combination in baseball.
But we’re winning, f*ck yeah. Poor Buchholz, facing Sabathia/Verlander/Halladay

Clay Bucholz. Finally a pitcher who appropriates BOTH the “fruitbat” nickname of Mariano AND the “Lurch” nickname of Pettitte in one fell swoop.

Uh oh, curveball at Barajas’ head. He tells the ump that it hit him, though it clearly didn’t.

And there goes the perfect game. I blame myself for thinking about it about 10 seconds before the hit.

Oh, and we pinch-ran Buchholz for Varitek a few games ago too. So he was IN the infield…

Liking Clay so far. If he develops and the Sox don’t make the playoffs, the season will still have offered a big positive.

Liking Clay so far. If he develops and the Sox don’t make the playoffs, the season will still have offered a big positive.
*Waits for Rob to show up and tell everyone that he told us so and that the Sox were idiots for signing Penny*

“*Waits for Rob to show up and tell everyone that he told us so and that the Sox were idiots for signing Penny*”
Glad I’m not the only one who marvels at his predictability.

BOOOO, I wanted them to send Buchholz back out there. He had some bad luck last inning, and he’s only at 94 pitches.

1B: Kotchman — 60 OPS+
2B: Green — 69 OPS+
SS: Gonzalez — 14 OPS+
Added together, their respective OPS+es with Boston doesn’t equal that of Kevin Youkilis. It’s not terribly fair, since Kotchman has a 99 OPS+ this season, and Gonzalez has a 42 (wow).
So let’s say 99-69-42 for the three double play partners.
Let’s go back to the dark ages of Red Sox baseball to see if we can “top” that.
In 1931, Bill Sweeney (88) played first, Rabbit Warstler (66) played second, and Hal Rhyne (86) played short.
In 1930, it was Phil Todt (91), Bill Regan (78) and Rhyne (38). Rhyne only got 335 appearances, but he was backed up at short by Warstler, who was even worse (37).
In 1929, that same trio went 81-91-71.
In 1928, Todt and Regan went 84 and 81, respectively, while Wally Gerber posted a 43 OPS+ at short.
In 1927, while the Yankees had Murderers Row, the Red Sox had one player who posted an OPS+ over 100 (outfielder Ira Flagstead posted a 103). They went 61-88-97 from right to left at the three DP positions.
In 1926, it was 76-76-105.
In 1925, it was 97-59-50. That may be our winner.
The Sox had some decent first basemen in the early 1920s, but they started the decade with a flop: 82-64-79.
I’m sure the Sox have fielded worse combos, given a combination of injuries and off days similar to the ones that have led to today’s. But think about that. In 1925, the Sox more often than not had a starting first baseman below league average, and a middle-infield combo that, when adding their OPS+ together, barely reached 100. Those were dark days, indeed.
For the record, in 1925, the starting catcher posted a 76 OPS+ and the starting third baseman was at 97. No league-average hitters in the entire infield, and the team as a whole had a 77 OPS+.

Jeff Frye’s OPS+ with Boston, by season: 93-103-77-81. Not great, but not as shabby as the 1920s.

I didn’t realize the twins beat the rangers last night as well. So, alone in the WC for now (still fearing the Rays).

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