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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 26, 2021 3:22:46 GMT -5
Michael Chavis to WooSox: Boston Red Sox’s Alex Cora says, ‘There’s stuff offensively he needs to keep working on’ Updated May 25, 2021; Posted May 25, 2021
By Christopher Smith | csmith@masslive.com
BOSTON — The Red Sox optioned Michael Chavis to Triple-A Worcester on Monday, making room on the 26-man roster for Christian Arroyo who will be activated from the IL before Tuesday’s game.
Chavis appeared in 11 games for Boston, batting .273 (9-for-33) with a .273 on-base percentage, .485 slugging percentage, .758 OPS, one homer, four doubles, seven runs and two RBIs.
“I think Michael did a good job, especially defensively,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said Tuesday. “For a kid that we called up in ‘19 out of necessity — we needed somebody to stand at second and swing the bat — he’s become a good second baseman. He turned some good double plays. He made all the plays. He did well. Of course, there’s stuff offensively that he needs to keep working on. And now is a good time for him to go down there and do that.”
Chavis struggled to lay off high fastballs above the strike zone, something he has had difficulty with in previous seasons. He had 13 strikeouts and no walks. He had a 39.4% strikeout percentage in his small sample size with Boston this year.
“He’s become a good baserunner, a fast runner, to be honest with you,” Cora said. “And we were very pleased. But right now, he needs at-bats.”
Chavis should benefit from playing every day for Worcester. It should help his development. His playing time would be sporadic if he remained with Boston.
“I know it’s tough to be in this situation,” Cora said. “But Christian (Arroyo) has done a solid job with us. Now we’ve got Danny (Santana). We’ve got Marwin (Gonzalez). We’ve got Enrique (Hernández). We’ve got a lot of guys who can cover us at second, shortstop, third and first base.
“So it’s tough as a player. I can tell you that. I was in that situation in 2000. It sucks — the up and down. But that’s part of becoming a big leaguer. At one point, he’s going to be in the other situation. And hopefully, he can force our hand if he goes there and he dominates Triple A. It’s not that he hasn’t done it. It’s that he hasn’t had the opportunity to do that at the Triple-A level. And see what happens in the future. But we told him something might happen in the upcoming days, in the upcoming weeks, a month, whatever. He’ll be back with us and he’s ready to contribute. And he helped us win ballgames, which is very important.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 26, 2021 9:30:59 GMT -5
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 26, 2021 13:03:17 GMT -5
Wasteful Red Sox enter teeth of their schedule to date Bill Koch The Providence Journal Pablo Sandoval knocked out three hits and scored a run against his old team on Tuesday.
BOSTON --- The next 21 games mark a significant step up in class for the Red Sox, and what promises to be a challenging stretch didn’t start so well on Tuesday.
Boston faces nothing but postseason teams from 2020 until visiting Kansas City on June 18. Atlanta figures to be a contender in the National League East and punished the Red Sox for their wastefulness on a perfect night at Fenway Park.
This 3-1 defeat suffered by Boston to begin its five-game homestand came thanks to some empty at-bats in critical situation. Garrett Richards tried to take the blame onto his shoulders, but few looked toward the right-hander and two relievers after they scattered a combined eight hits.
“We haven’t done the job,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “In an era or a year where it’s hard to hit and runs are at a premium, I think – and I’ve been saying it all along – it's very important to make contact with men at third.
“You put the ball in play, you’re going to cash in.”
Charlie Morton allowed six of the first eight men he faced to reach base. The right-hander was punished to the tune of just one unearned run and ultimately rolled through seven strong innings. Morton set down the final 13 men he faced and didn’t allow another hit after a two-out Xander Bogaerts single in the bottom of the third.
“Sometimes it goes that way,” Richards said. “You start out slow and you kind of build momentum as the game goes. You find your groove, you start putting pitches together and you take off.”
Boston loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the first but allowed Morton to wriggle off the hook. Rafael Devers was hit by a bouncing curveball to force in the lone run. Bogaerts struck out swinging and J.D. Martinez was doubled off second base when Christian Vazquez sent a soft liner to short.
“He struggled early on with command, but he made some pitches,” Cora said. “He got out of those situations, and then after that he did what he usually does. That’s why he’s one of the best pitchers in the big leagues.”
There was more disappointment to come in the bottom of the second after Danny Santana whacked a leadoff triple to the corner in right. Hunter Renfroe drew a walk that ultimately came back to bite the Red Sox – it set up a double play. That’s exactly what happened after a Bobby Dalbec strikeout, as Kiké Hernandez sent a one-hopper to second that wound up going 4-6-3.
“We had Charlie on the ropes the first two innings,” Cora said. “You only score one – that's what good pitchers do. We had our chances early on. We didn’t cash in.”
Morton required 39 pitches to record his first six outs and just 64 to notch his next 15. Boston was powerless against him from there and managed one baserunner against a pair of relievers. Alex Verdugo drew a two-out walk from Edgar Santana in the bottom of the eighth but was stranded when Martinez bounced to third.
“Making contact is very important,” Cora said. “I know pitching – it's incredible what these guys are doing. But when you’ve got that runner at third you have to bear down. You have to put the ball in play.”
The Red Sox have enjoyed reasonable luck against some elite arms thus far, and there will be much more to follow over the next three weeks. Trevor Rogers, Lance McCullers Jr., Gerrit Cole, Hyun Jin Ryu – they all held an ERA of less than 3.00 entering Tuesday. Boston could see McCullers and Cole twice in addition to Morton once again during the June 15-16 rematch of this series at Truist Park.
Sound daunting? It certainly should, especially if nine more innings like these are in store.
bkoch@providencejournal.com
On Twitter: @billkoch25
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 26, 2021 13:05:32 GMT -5
Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats · 29m In the first inning this year Kiké is hitting 333/353/455.
In his first 5 games this year he went 2 for 18, 111/190/167.
In games 6 to 37 he's hit 285/333/480.
League average leadoff hitter: 263/338/430
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 26, 2021 14:17:22 GMT -5
Tomase: Syndergaard's setback validates Sox' careful approach with Sale 56M ago / by John Tomase John Tomase RED SOX INSIDER
The world had bigger problems last February and March than the fate of a trio of All-Star pitchers. But in a roughly one-month span, three hurlers gave baseball the unique opportunity to measure how standouts with different body types, arm angles, and ages would respond to the same surgery.T
On Feb. 27, Yankees right-hander Luis Severino underwent Tommy John surgery, followed exactly one month later by Mets horse Noah Syndergaard. Three days after that, on March 30, Sale celebrated his 31st birthday by going under the knife. Tomase: Danny Santana is looking like a steal for Red Sox
A little over a year later, we know a lot more about each pitcher's health and each team's approach. The Mets acted most aggressively and it may have backfired. The 28-year-old Syndergaard was pulled after just one inning of Tuesday's Single-A rehab assignment because of a sore elbow, short-circuiting a process that had him on track to return in early June.
Meanwhile, across town, the Yankees have taken things a little slower with the 27-year-old Severino. He recently threw his first simulated inning, tossing 23 pitches, including fastballs, sliders, and changeups. He's nearing a rehab assignment and is most likely looking at a July return.
That leaves Sale. He only recently began throwing off a mound after suffering a pair of road blocks this winter -- a sore neck that briefly shut him down in December, and then a bout with COVID that cost him two weeks in quarantine. He is not yet ready to face hitters, but he's at least able to envision a future that involves him pitching for the Red Sox this season. Advertisement
"He's building up and he feels really good about it," pitching coach Dave Bush said recently. "It's a really important step for him to be able to get on the mound and as he said, he feels like a pitcher again. That's a really big step, that he feels like he's getting close and he's going to be a part of the team sometime soon."
How soon remains to be seen, but the team's slow-and-steady approach appears particularly wise in light of Syndergaard's setback. While both Sale and the long-haired hurler known as Thor stand 6-foot-6, Sale is listed at only 180 pounds vs. Syndergaard's positively equine 242. The Mets felt comfortable with Syndergaard's accelerated return until the moment he had to ask out of Tuesday's start in Port St. Lucie after just 16 pitches.
He had been scheduled to throw four innings and then possibly make one more rehab start at Triple-A this weekend, with an eye on an early-June return. But according to Trackman data obtained by Baseball Prospectus, Syndergaard's velocity dropped from nearly 96 mph on his first pitch to 91 by his final offering, prompting his removal, which the Mets tried to brush off as "preventive," in the words of manager Luis Rojas.
Leading into Tuesday's start, it would've been natural to question how Syndergaard and Severino were on track to return sooner -- significantly so, in the case of the former -- than Sale. Now it feels like the Red Sox are taking things at the right speed, since the goal of any Tommy John rehab is to ensure that when a pitcher returns, it's for good.
What looked like a July comeback before his minor setbacks this winter has probably been pushed to August. With four years remaining on a five-year contract extension (barring an opt-out after the 2022 season), Sale is still being treated like someone whose greatest impact will come no sooner than next year.
"He's throwing. He's getting off the mound," Bush said. "It's a couple of times a week right now, and definitely a shorter number of throws, but he's on the mound as part of a throwing program. And he's building up strength and building up intensity." Tomase: Red Sox are in for a fight in historically loaded AL East
It will be fascinating to see if the Yankees push Severino given the fact that Corey Kluber, fresh off a no-hitter, departed Tuesday's start vs. the Blue Jays after just three innings because of shoulder tightness.
The Yankees are already operating at a deficiency in the rotation, especially with veteran Jameson Taillon yet to hit his stride. They can ill afford to lose Kluber, who had emerged as a legitimate complement to ace Gerrit Cole, and will undergo an MRI on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox are staying the course with Sale. They have no plans to rush his return because the last 24 hours have reminded us that little good comes of that.
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Post by Kimmi on May 26, 2021 15:52:25 GMT -5
Jon Couture @joncouture · 13h Bunch of other writers were posting their team's version, so I looked it up and am struck that so many you thought the City Connect #RedSox jerseys were bad.No. *This* is what bad looks like. Way too much stuff going on with this hat. Keep it simple.
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Post by scrappyunderdog on May 26, 2021 20:52:24 GMT -5
Alec Lewis @alec_lewis · 55m Andrew Benintendi so far in the month of May:
— .356 AVG (No. 9 in MLB) — .392 OBP — .452 SLG — .844 OPS — Nine multi-hit games
#Royals This one hurts me far more than losing Mookie does.Meh. Benni's full year OPS is still only .718, and his OPS since May 6th is .637. Even better, since May 6th, Cordero's OPS is .680. That will never make it into an article in Boston, but it worth noting.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 27, 2021 0:16:04 GMT -5
This one hurts me far more than losing Mookie does. Meh. Benni's full year OPS is still only .718, and his OPS since May 6th is .637. Even better, since May 6th, Cordero's OPS is .680. That will never make it into an article in Boston, but it worth noting.
It should be noted that most sane folks would rather have Wally in the line up over Cordero.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 27, 2021 11:14:02 GMT -5
another reason on why there is no rush for Chris Sale
Jon Heyman @jonheyman · 1h Noah Syndergaard update: No structural damage to UCL. Elbow inflammation. Won’t throw for six weeks
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Post by Kimmi on May 27, 2021 16:07:30 GMT -5
This one hurts me far more than losing Mookie does. Meh. Benni's full year OPS is still only .718, and his OPS since May 6th is .637. Even better, since May 6th, Cordero's OPS is .680. That will never make it into an article in Boston, but it worth noting. I think the move will turn out to be a good one for the long term.
I do not like it for this year.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2021 2:37:24 GMT -5
Nice seeing JBJ with yet another great play in the OF last night and a big walk off hit for the Brew Crew last night...
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2021 3:08:50 GMT -5
It’s time for Fenway Park, TD Garden, and Gillette Stadium to go full capacity. Here’s how it’s going to work By Michael Silverman Globe Staff,Updated May 27, 2021, 3:25 p.m.
Nothing says a pandemic is easing in New England quite like the “snip-snip” chorus of more than 25,000 zip ties being cut off Fenway Park’s seats.
In anticipation of the first full house at a Boston sports venue since mid-March 2020, a Fenway Park crew of 30-40 wielding snippers will begin roaming the aisles Friday to allow all 37,000-plus seat bottoms to swing freely again and permit the Red Sox to regain a full-throated home-field advantage for their 4:10 p.m. Saturday game against the Marlins.
As foreign as the experience of being in close proximity with tens of thousands of people at Fenway Park, TD Garden, and Gillette Stadium is sure to be after more than a year of quarantine and isolation, those prepping for the large-scale return of fans are doing their best to make it as natural as possible.
“We were just talking about resetting some of the furniture in one of the areas at the ballpark and how it feels really full,” said Pete Nesbit, Fenway Park’s senior vice president of ballpark operations, “so to have 25,000, 30,000, 35,000 people in the ballpark over the next few weeks, it’s going to be great — we can’t wait to have it here — but I think there is some level of anxiety with crowds being back in the building.”
The Red Sox expect 25,000-30,000 fans to turn up Saturday, though a sketchy forecast calling for rain adds some uncertainty.
Along with the emotional edge for the home teams and the monetary boost for employees and team ownership that a full house brings comes the never-disappearing specter of racism from Boston fans, an issue ex-Celtic Kyrie Irving raised before his return this week with the Brooklyn Nets. How that plays out when the Celtics face the Nets at the Garden Friday before 25 percent capacity and then close to 100 percent Sunday night remains to be seen.
In the meantime, TD Garden, Gillette Stadium, and Fenway Park are preparing to welcome back every possible fan for the first time in more than 14 months.
Hearing cheers at top volume will be appreciated by the players, said Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo.
“I think it’s going to help just having that home-field advantage,” said Verdugo. “It’s one of those things, just having a sold-out crowd.
“They’ve already been great now — the fans we’ve been able to have have been loud, making a lot of noise —it’s just something different about having a full sold-out crowd. It’s going to be fun again and it will kind of help us just have that extra adrenaline right off the bat.”
Besides the removal of zip ties — a time-consuming process that needs to start before Friday night’s 25-percent capacity game so that crews won’t have to work overnight — Fenway Park is undergoing a transformation that should make it look almost identical to what the last full-capacity crowd saw on Sept. 29, 2019.
Plexiglass at the concession stands is being removed (some of it will be saved, just in case, but most will be disposed of because there’s not enough storage space at the ballpark). Signage about outdated CDC safety guidelines is coming down, and portable concession stands and those along Jersey Street are being outfitted and inspected.
More cleaning crews will be needed to dispose of more trash after games, and a full crew of ushers and security guards will be brought back, with the ballpark’s concessionaire, Aramark, handling the return of food and beverage workers.
“Overall, everyone’s very happy to get back to work,” said 67-year-old Robert “Dutch” Leonard of Boston, who’s returning for his 11th season as a Fenway Park bartender. “They like that job there, they like seeing season ticket-holders back and the bonds returned that were built over many years.
“Even during COVID, I had some regulars that would call back and check up every two months to see how we’re doing and making sure everything was well.
“Let’s hope there’s no bumps in the road, and if there are, we can get through them quickly. And the Sox are having a good season, so that’s another big plus.”
Red Sox ticketing will remain mobile-only, but the ballpark for now will still accept cash. The squad of sanitation “robots” will continue their tasks, air-purification units will remain in use, with hand-sanitizing stations and wipes remaining available.
Vaccination status will not be checked. Masks are recommended but not required for fans and some workers; Aramark workers will have to wear masks.
The Red Sox said they “do not anticipate any challenges finding enough Red Sox personnel to work the remaining games once we return to 100 percent capacity,” said Zineb Curran, vice president of corporate communications, in an email. “We are fortunate as an organization that we have long-tenured members of our game day staff that are as excited as our fans are to return to Fenway Park.”
Different at Gillette
Because of NBA and NHL guidelines, patrons and workers at TD Garden will still have to wear masks. The Garden will be at nearly full capacity, with tarps separating the seating bowl from both the rink and court for Bruins and Celtics playoff games..
A full cohort of ushers, security, concession, and Bull Gang workers will be in place by Sunday, said Bruins president Cam Neely.
“I have not heard that we are going to have issues in that regard, which is fortunate,” said Neely.
Attendance at Revolution and Cannons games this summer will not present a challenge to Gillette Stadium’s 65,000-plus capacity, but beginning with the Patriots’ exhibition opener Aug. 12 and over the nine regular-season home games through next January, every seat at Gillette will be filled.
The football team has the luxury of time to learn from the Red Sox, Bruins, and Celtics.
“We’re in a different position than other venues like TD Garden and Fenway Park in that we’re not faced with the challenge of going from 25 percent one day to 100 percent the next, so we have the benefit, a little bit, of drafting off their wake,” said Jim Nolan, chief operating officer of the Kraft Group, which owns the stadium, the Patriots, and the Revolution.
“For the Premier Lacrosse League events [in June], we’re going to maintain distancing in seats just for the comfort of people. Since we’re a 65,000-plus-seat building, we can maintain distance for the comfort of the fans for an event like that.”
Revolution and Cannons fans can request to be seated at least 6 feet from other fans, and stadium personnel will accommodate their wishes.
Gillette went 100 percent cashless during the pandemic, and it’s not going back. For those patrons who forget their plastic, there will be cash-to-credit machines that convert paper currency into a universal VISA card.
Hand-sanitizer stations will remain in place, as well as new cleaning standards for high-touch points and bathrooms during games. Bathroom fixtures are all touchless.
“We’ve been in constant communication throughout the pandemic with both the folks at Fenway Park and the folks at TD Garden to really establish best practices across the venues so that not only is there consistency but there’s a higher level of fan safety and comfort,” Nolan said.
“We have been to Fenway Park and TD Garden already to look at their operations at 12 and at 25 percent, and we will certainly be looking at their operations at 100 percent. You can learn lessons from other people.
“Having both of those in our backyard before us is a great opportunity for us to see how they do it. Every time we go, we pick up something we can bring back here.”
Alex Speier and Kevin Paul Dupont of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2021 11:31:39 GMT -5
Red Sox Notes @soxnotes · 49m American League OPS leaders:
1. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1.104) 2. XANDER BOGAERTS (.989) 3. Aaron Judge (.983) 4. J.D. MARTINEZ (.965) 5. RAFAEL DEVERS (.954)
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2021 11:39:55 GMT -5
Is the Red Sox lineup too top heavy? Probably less than you think.
By Jon Couture May 28, 2021 | 11:02 AM
Just how different are these Red Sox from what we expected? Just how good are they?
Every team has games like Tuesday’s, when Boston squandered two golden chances to pile up runs against Atlanta’s Charlie Morton, then were shut down almost entirely in a 3-1 loss. Those games seem more worthy of focus, though, when we’re constantly trying to judge how we got this team wrong. Or whether we did.
They’re in the midst of a testing part of the schedule: This weekend’s series against middling Miami is the Red Sox’ last stop before seven games at Houston and Yankee Stadium, followed by Houston and Toronto at Fenway, followed by the return two-game set at those better-than-their-record Braves.
It should be a clarifying couple weeks, even if they just muddle through around .500 — nothing wrong with that. As colleague Chad Finn noted, the playoff odds calculators don’t give the Sox a lot of credit because Baltimore’s been 20 percent of their schedule. Nights like Wednesday, however, when the Sox plugged through an early 3-0 hole and got critical sixth-inning hits to win 9-5, don’t feel like a surprise.
That’s despite what I think are the two big general criticisms of this team: They’re not deep enough, especially in the sense of reinforcements summonable from Worcester, and their lineup is top-heavy. The first feels eminently fair given the only non-injured pitching with the WooSox on the 40-man roster is Colten Brewer and the recently acquired Brandon Brennan. (The guy he got his 40-man spot from, Ryan Brasier, is closing on a return.)
The other, though? I’m not so sure.
Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez, and Rafael Devers are quite the three-headed offensive monster, all among MLB’s top seven in total bases. Bogaerts leads the AL in hits (60), two ahead of Martinez. Devers, meanwhile, consistently clocks the ball as hard as anyone in the majors. He took the RBI lead on Wednesday, reaching 43 with his team-leading 14th home run, and is tied with Shohei Ohtani for the extra-base hit lead with 29.
Beyond that … Alex Verdugo’s .809 OPS is top 20 among outfielders. Kiké Hernández has, outside of his hamstring problems, brought his offensive numbers up to league average with a strong May. Christian Vázquez is fourth on the team in RBI, hitting slightly better with runners on base, but just got dropped in the order. (Offense is not the best way to judge his value.)
Most anything’s going to look slim compared to that big trio, but suffice to say: It’s pretty slim.
Bogaerts/Devers/Martinez — .312 batting/.382 on-base/.587 slugging Everybody Else, 2021 Red Sox — .236 batting/.293 on-base/.381 slugging
That latter group’s .673 OPS would rank 23rd among the 30 teams, and the only ones lower with winning records are the Mets (who have one of baseball’s best pitching staffs) and Cleveland. Exactly one team in the last 17 seasons, the 2011 Giants, has finished with a winning record and an OPS that low.
That isn’t really fair, of course. “If you take the best hitters off a team, they’ll be bad” isn’t exactly a sliced-bread level revelation. To compare apples to apples, I took the top three total-base producers off each American League contender and ran the numbers. How do the Red Sox compare to that group?
Houston (minus Yuli Gurriel, Yordan Álvarez, Carlos Correa): .721 Chicago (minus Yermin Mercedes, José Abreu, Nick Madrigal): .710 Minnesota (minus Nelson Cruz, Byron Buxton, Jorge Polanco): .700 Tampa (minus Austin Meadows, Joey Wendle, Randy Arozarena): .674 RED SOX (.673) Oakland (minus Matt Olson, Ramon Laureano, Mark Canha): .653 Toronto (minus Vlad Guerrero Jr., Marcus Semien, Bo Bichette): .652 New York (minus Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gio Urshela): .629 Cleveland (minus Jose Ramirez, Franmil Reyes, Cesar Hernandez): .610
In a word, fine.
The four ahead of the Red Sox all have at least six better-than-league-average hitters — anyone with an OPS+ better than 100 — in their regular lineups. That makes up for not having any one player producing at a Bogaerts/Devers/Martinez level, though Gurriel and Mercedes are in the neighborhood.
Can Boston’s Big Three maintain their pace? Nothing in the batted-ball data raises any significant flags, though Bogaerts is slugging about 60 points higher than history would predict. (Tampa’s Wendle, for comparison, has hit .303 with a .535 slugging than his data predicts should be closer to .240 and .375.)
Should they recede a little, there’s no reason to think Bobby Dalbec can’t pick up some of that slack. Or Marwin Gonzalez, who’s better than we’ve seen. Or, perhaps, Danny Santana, who’s starting to crack the lineup and already siphoning away playing time from those failing to perform.
As we’ve said here before, the offense was never expected to be the problem, and it’s not. The production from Bogaerts, Devers, and Martinez is perhaps a little more than expected, but nothing about it is supremely unexpected given their histories. Certainly not compared to the competency of the starting staff, and the degree to which Matt Barnes has embraced attacking the zone in the closer’s role.
Worrying about the overall lineup isn’t unfair, but it’s also not the best use of energy on a team that’s pieced together 29 starts from Garrett Richards, Nick Pivetta, and Martín Pérez as well as this one has.
With two weeks coming up like the ones these Red Sox have coming up, in a division with two hard chargers in New York and Tampa plus the lurking Blue Jays, that’s the three receiving the lion’s share of my concern.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on May 28, 2021 13:19:21 GMT -5
Boston Red Sox pitching coach Dave Bush, who took no-hitters into 8th inning three times in career, reflects on why so many have been thrown in 2021 | Chris Cotillo (MLB Notebook) Updated 1:16 PM; Today 1:16 PM
By Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
For Red Sox pitching coach Dave Bush, the rash of recent no-hitters across Major League Baseball has served as a frequent reminder of what could have been years ago.
Bush, who made 187 big-league starts for Toronto, Milwaukee and Texas between 2004 and 2013, pitched into the eighth inning with a no-hitter on three occasions during his career. He came within five outs twice and six outs once but was never able to complete the feat.
Every no-hitter thrown in the big leagues -- including the six that have already happened this year -- brings Bush back to the nights when he flirted with history.
“I could take you back through almost every pitch of all those games,” Bush said last weekend in Philadelphia. “They were special games that sort of got imprinted in my mind. The days when I had those kind of games going, everything was locked in. My mind was good, my body was good. Pitches were going where I wanted them to. Everything just seemed to work out, so I think those are the moments where the totality of being a pitcher all falls together in one day.”
Bush considers all three of his close calls to be equally special. The first one, in which he tossed 7 ⅓ hitless innings for the Blue Jays in Oakland on July 20, 2004, was just his third big-league start. The second -- on June 19, 2008 -- came while Bush was with the Brewers pitching against Toronto and was broken up by one of the players he was traded for (Lyle Overbay) to lead off the eighth. The last instance, on April 23, 2009, took place in Philadelphia, near his hometown of Berwyn, Pa., as he lasted 7 ⅓ hitless innings in front of his parents and friends.
“For a different reason, each of them stuck in my mind,” Bush said. “But really fun games overall.”
Unlike some superstitious pitchers, Bush always knew exactly how many outs were left when he carried no-hitters deep into games. In the fifth or sixth inning of those outings, he said, he began actively counting down the outs.
“In the course of any game, I knew every hit that had happened, so whether it was the first batter of the game or it happened in the eighth inning, I always knew exactly where I was in the game and what was happening,” he said.
In the first two months of the 2021 season, no-hitters have been happening more frequently than ever. In April, San Diego’s Joe Musgrove and Chicago’s Carlos Rodón threw no-nos within five days of each other. In early May, Baltimore’s John Means tossed one only to be followed by Cincinnati’s Wade Miley two nights later. On May 18 and 19, Detroit’s Spencer Turnbull and the Yankees’ Corey Kluber threw no-hitters on back-to-back days.
The six no-hitters so far this season puts the league on pace to shatter the previous record of seven in a season, set four times (and most recently in 2015). Some have opined that the increased frequency makes the feat less sacred or special. Bush doesn’t buy that.
“It never takes away from the individual,” Bush said. “For the guys who throw no-hitters, those are special days whether it’s the first one of the year or the fifth one or sixth one. For each guy, it’s very special.
“I think the rate is a little bit of an aberration,” he added. “Things go in cycles. Sometimes, there are multiple years between no-hitters and then you see a string where there’s a whole bunch in a row. I do think what we have now is a little bit of a reflection of the game overall, just in the development of pitching and as velocity and stuff has increased.”
Bush does think -- in some aspects -- that modern pitching has surpassed hitting in a game in which strikeouts and home runs have increased dramatically. The fact that offense looks different -- and is down league-wide -- has allowed pitchers to run into less trouble and have more dominant outings.
“The game is always cyclical and the hitters are going to have to make adjustments,” Bush said. “If there’s going to continue to be two no-hitters a month here or three no-hitters a month, the hitters are going to have to make adjustments just like how in eras of big offense, pitchers had to figure out how they can combat it.”
Though the Red Sox’ starting rotation has pitched well all season, only one pitcher -- Nick Pivetta -- has flirted with a no-hitter, taking one into the sixth inning against Seattle on April 22. The last no-no by a Red Sox hurler came more than 13 years ago, when Jon Lester shut down the Royals on May 19, 2008.
“For guys who can get it done, it’s a pretty special day,” he said.
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10 observations from the last week in baseball:
1. Being sent to Worcester will allow Franchy Cordero the chance to get frequent at-bats, which isn’t something that was possible in the majors. He had started just four of the Sox’ last 11 games.
2. It will be interesting to see the kind of reaction Alex Cora gets when he returns to Houston early next week. That will start a tough stretch for the Red Sox as they face the Astros and Yankees for 10 straight games.
3. Rafael Devers’ cousin José -- an infielder for the Marlins -- will play at Fenway Park this weekend. He was acquired from the Yankees in the Giancarlo Stanton trade in Dec. 2017.
4. It was cool to hear how passionately Cora spoke about his daughter Camila and her impending high school graduation earlier this week. Cora will fly to Puerto Rico for the ceremony on Saturday while Will Venable manages the Sox.
5. Couple of big blows for the Yankees as Aaron Hicks will likely miss the rest of the season and Corey Kluber is out until the All-Star break.
6. The Red Sox are being cautious with Chris Sale and might take him along even more slowly in the wake of the news that Mets starter Noah Syndergaard is being shut down for six weeks due to elbow inflammation.
7. Playing for Team USA in Olympic qualifiers will be a great opportunity for Jarren Duran and Triston Casas. Jeter Downs is scheduled to play for Colombia.
8. Darwinzon Hernandez’s celebration on Saturday in Philadelphia could go down as one of the biggest moments of the season for the Red Sox. Also, are the Phillies always as bad defensively as they were against Boston?
9. Sounds like the Red Sox still aren’t one of the teams with 85% of their players and coaches vaccinated. That has to be irritating to some in the organization.
10. Two great episodes of The Fenway Rundown dropping soon -- one with Chris Smith and one with an exciting guest from the WooSox.
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