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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 27, 2021 16:59:54 GMT -5
Red Sox @ Orioles Tuesday, 28th September 7pm @ OPACY
Sale 5-0/ 2.57
5-0 with a 2.57 ERA in 7 starts of 2021. 10-2 with a 2.58 ERA in 22 career appearances (16 starts) vs BAL.
Zimmermann 4-4/4.83
Red Sox regroup for critical series in Baltimore
The Boston Red Sox continue their American League wild card chase when they open a three-game series at the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday.
A series against the team tied for the worst record in baseball could be just what the doctor ordered following Boston suffering a three-game sweep at the hands of the New York Yankees.
Boston (88-68) trails New York by one-game for the first wild card -- and the homefield advantage that goes with it -- and has only a one-game lead on the Toronto Blue Jays. But while Toronto and New York bang heads, the Red Sox kick off a run down the I-95 corridor with three in Baltimore (50-106) and finish the season with three against Washington.
"You've just got to make sure you're locked in Tuesday and start playing good baseball," manager Alex Cora said Sunday night. "It's not that we played bad baseball over the weekend. We just got beat."
Another plus for Boston is potentially two Chris Sale starts over the final six games if needed. The left-hander, who is 5-0 with a 2.57 ERA since his return from Tommy John surgery, faces Orioles left-hander Bruce Zimmermann (4-4, 4.83) in Tuesday's opener.
Since returning from the COVID-19 injured list, Sale is 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA in two starts. Last time out he allowed two runs on six hits in five innings to beat the New York Mets. He struck out eight.
Sale has dominated the Orioles in his career, posting a 10-2 mark with a 2.58 ERA in 22 games, 16 of them starts. Two of Sale's seven 2021 starts have come against Baltimore and he is 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA in those games.
Zimmermann, a rookie who has been out since June due to biceps tendinitis followed by a sprained right ankle, returns to the rotation after making a rehab start for Triple-A Norfolk on Thursday. He allowed two runs on four hits over four innings, while striking out six.
Zimmermann made two starts against the Red Sox in April, going 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA, striking out nine batters in 12 innings.
The Orioles are coming off a 7-4 loss on Sunday, which meant a split of a four-game series with the Texas Rangers. Cedric Mullins, who recently became the first 30-30 man in Orioles' history, was out of the lineup for the second straight day Sunday due to hamstring tightness but pinch-hit in the seventh. Anthony Santander left the game after making the final out in the eighth.
"He just came out with some leg discomfort," manager Brandon Hyde said.
Austin Hays (0-for-3 with a walk) saw his 11-game hitting streak end.
The Orioles may be without right-handed starter Chris Ellis (1-0, 2.15) the rest of the way due to arm fatigue.
"I think you're seeing more arm fatigue around the league, and core stuff, probably because of the length of this season compared to the last," Hyde said.
The Red Sox appeared ready to salvage the finale against the Yankees before New York scored four runs in the eighth inning for a 6-3 win. It was Boston's seventh loss in their last eight games versus New York.
"It's not what we wanted coming into the series," Cora said of getting swept. "We didn't get the job done. It's that simple."
--Field Level Media
Red Sox Nation Stats @rsnstats · 18h #RedSox game time Tuesday is 7:05 ET/4:05 PT. Expected conditions at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore: Scattered thunderstorms, 74°F / 23°C, Winds: NW 5 MPH. #MLB #Orioles #MLB
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 27, 2021 17:06:14 GMT -5
Tired of all this control their destiny shit and I am not rooting for anyone else this infuriating team had better suck it up for the last sprint hope they left the Analytic team at home, but hopefully the gas can gang won't be shit out the pen the defense can be half decent for once, no stupidity on the base paths
SP roto for the rest of this series. (taking a stab the Orioles, they actually have not released it)
Wednesday....Eovaldi 10-9/3.84 vs Lowther 1-2/7.66
Thursday.....Pivetta 9-7/4.52 vs Wells 1-3/7.61
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 28, 2021 2:52:54 GMT -5
4 teams, 6 games: Keys to securing AL WC September 27th, 2021
Byran Hoch, Ian Browne, Keegan Matheson and Daniel Kramer
If you love a good pennant race, it gets no better than this. With one week to go in the regular season, there are four teams right in the thick of it for two American League Wild Card spots. The Yankees (89-67) are in possession of the top spot by just one game over the Red Sox (88-68). The Blue Jays (87-69) and Mariners (86-70) are one and two games out, respectively, for the second spot. It's going to be a wild week.
With that in mind, our beat reporters for all four clubs went back and forth about what the keys will be as we head down the final stretch. Answers will come in order of the current standings.
The Week Ahead
• Yankees: at Blue Jays, home vs. Rays • Red Sox: at Orioles, at Nationals • Blue Jays: home vs. Yankees and Orioles • Mariners: home vs. A's and Angels.
What do you make of your team's chances to earn a WC spot?
Bryan Hoch (Yankees): I'm a believer again. This has been one of the streakiest Yankees groups in recent memory, lumping in their hot and cold streaks during last year's shortened season. Despite a loaded roster, they have looked absolutely awful at times, and there's no excuse for losing eight games to the Orioles. That alone doomed them in the division race. When they're clicking, as was the case when they swept the Red Sox in Boston over the weekend, they look like the kind of team that could get scorching hot and win the whole thing. That's how it felt during their 13-game win streak coming out of the Field of Dreams Game, and we might be seeing it once again.
Ian Browne (Red Sox): In a typical scenario, getting swept by the Yankees in a three-game series at Fenway in late September might have been a death blow for Boston. But the Red Sox have the scheduling Gods in their favor. While the Yankees head to Toronto to battle it out with the ultra-tough Blue Jays, the Red Sox will be in Baltimore licking their wounds against the 50-106 Orioles with ace Chris Sale taking the ball in the first game on Tuesday.
Sweeping the Orioles is very conceivable. And if the Red Sox can pull that off, they will gain a game on either the Yankees or the Blue Jays for three straight days. The Sox have another soft spot to close out the season when they face the 64-92 Nationals in D.C. this weekend. The Yankees, meanwhile, will be hosting the AL East champion Rays.
Keegan Matheson (Blue Jays): It looked like the Blue Jays would be chasing the Yankees, but it's now the Red Sox just one game ahead of them for the second Wild Card spot with the Mariners still trailing behind. With the Blue Jays hosting the Yankees to open their final homestand, they could have had more control over their own fate if Boston had beaten New York on Sunday, but now they'll need to go on one last run. The Red Sox close out with the Orioles and Nationals, a more favorable schedule than the Blue Jays, so this won't be easy.
Daniel Kramer (Mariners): A lot. Every time anyone counts the Mariners out, they take a proverbial shove and go out and keep winning. The math might not be on their side, but at this point, it's very clear that they are going to take this thing down to the very last day of the season.
What will be the most important factor in determining your team's fate?
Hoch: We've been pointing to the pitching all year as a cause for concern, but that hasn't been as much of an issue as I would have anticipated. They're even getting help in that department now with the returns of Luis Severino, Domingo Germán and Jameson Taillon. They need to keep belting the ball out of the ballpark. When they do, they win -- Giancarlo Stanton's grand slam on Saturday was a perfect example, coming after the offense didn't manage much through the first seven innings. Stanton and Aaron Judge have carried the offense all year, and it's hard to see how they win a Wild Card Game and then 11 more to bring home a title if the big boys don't hit.
Browne: Given the aforementioned remaining schedule, the Red Sox must get the bats going again. If they can tee off on a Baltimore team that has the worst ERA in the Majors at 5.83, manager Alex Cora should be able to work his bullpen in moderation instead of overextending it. This is key at a time the Sox are without high-leverage relievers Garrett Whitlock and Josh Taylor. There's a chance Whitlock (right pectoral strain) returns for the final day in Baltimore, but Washington seems more likely. Taylor (low back strain) isn't eligible for activation until the final game of the regular season.
Matheson: The bats. Toronto's starting pitching has given them opportunities to win all month long, but the Blue Jays need this lineup to be at its best if they want to keep pace with the Yankees. That starts with George Springer, who busted out of his slump over the weekend in Minneapolis, and the run of Marcus Semien, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and Teoscar Hernández is dangerous. If Lourdes Gurriel Jr. can get back in the lineup after getting some stitches in his right hand, this lineup has the potential to take over a series and drag the Blue Jays into the postseason.
Kramer: The lineup. The Mariners' minus-61 run differential is a metric that they objectively, and perhaps rightfully, roll their eyes at. But only because they keep winning. They're going to need to essentially win every game on this final homestand, and while that might sound unreasonably ambitious, it's attainable. But only if Seattle's bats keep them in it.
What under-the-radar issue could derail your team's postseason dream?
Hoch: This is not a very good defensive team, made weaker by pushing Gleyber Torres from shortstop to second base. It seems to have helped take pressure off Torres in the field and at the plate, but they also now have two infielders playing out of position, with Gio Urshela at shortstop and DJ LeMahieu at third base. Urshela and LeMahieu usually catch whatever is hit at them, but there's not a lot of range there -- less now that LeMahieu is dealing with an unspecified hip/groin issue. On the plus side, Anthony Rizzo has been a defensive upgrade at first base and the Joey Gallo-Brett Gardner-Judge outfield alignment doesn't let much fall.
Browne: All season long, the Red Sox haven't looked quite the same against lefty starters (.541 winning percentage) as they have against righty starers (.585 winning percentage). And wouldn't you know the Orioles have three southpaw starters lined up to face the Sox Tuesday through Thursday? Alex Verdugo is a .227 hitter with a .556 OPS against lefties. Kyle Schwarber is decent against lefties (.755 OPS) but much more powerful against righties (.990 OPS). The same goes for Rafael Devers, who has a .752 OPS against lefties versus .965 against righties. Even J.D. Martinez, who you would expect to crush lefties, actually has a better OPS against righties (.888 vs. .822).
Matheson: Toronto's bullpen is far steadier than it was during those ugly, mid-season stretches, but if the Blue Jays can't get six or seven innings from their starters, they'll really need their middle relievers to step up. Jordan Romano is a stud in the ninth inning while Tim Mayza has been excellent as the setup man, but Toronto doesn't boast the same string of high-leverage arms other playoff-caliber teams do. Adam Cimber has been brilliant since joining the Blue Jays, but they'll need big performances from arms like Trevor Richards, Nate Pearson and Julian Merryweather down the stretch. At this point, every inning is high leverage.
Kramer: The bullpen stumbling. It's what got them here, and any hiccups, especially since there is almost no margin for error at this point, would be catastrophic.
OK, who's in, who's out? Why?
Hoch: Boston and New York. The series at Fenway Park convinced me that the Yankees will hang tough and get into that one-game playoff, whether it's in New York or at Fenway. They've got a tougher schedule than their competition, including three games in Toronto and three against a Rays team that would love to keep the Yankees out of the postseason, but this roller coaster ride isn't done yet. They'll find a way.
Browne: Red Sox and Blue Jays. I must admit: As someone who has followed Red Sox-Yankees since I started watching baseball at the age of 8 in 1980 and was fortunate enough to cover the epics that were the 2003 and '04 AL Championship Series, I want the spectacle of a Red Sox-Yankees Wild Card Game on Oct. 5 at either venue. But something tells me the Blue Jays are going to take two out of three in Toronto from the Yankees, who have been inconsistent all season. And given the rivalry between the Rays and Yankees, you know Tampa Bay would love to be the team that stifles New York short of its postseason dream this weekend. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays have the advantage of finishing up with the Orioles at home this weekend. If the Red Sox can exploit their weak schedule, they could go 5-1 this week.
Matheson: Boston and New York. That's where the odds point given their advantage entering the final week, and even though the Red Sox have just a one-game lead here, their closing schedule isn't as challenging as the Blue Jays'. If Toronto can draw even by the end of the New York series, though, we'll be looking at Toronto-Baltimore and Boston-Washington to end the season. In that case, the Blue Jays have an edge.
Kramer: It's hard to imagine an AL Wild Card Game not pitting two teams from the AL East. And that very well might play out. But a play-in Game 163 seems like it very much could be on the table -- because at this point, it's clear that the Mariners aren't going to go out quietly.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 28, 2021 2:55:01 GMT -5
hhahah why start now? jesus, other than the gas can gang bullpen this is the most inept defensive team I have seen a while for the Red Sox
Dropping the ball is no longer an option for these Red Sox Current Time 0:12 / Duration 1:16
By Rob Bradford 3 hours ago
Here we are, with the Red Sox staring down at their final six regular season games. They are currently a postseason team, sitting with the second Wild Card spot after being deluged by a Yankees three-games sweep at Fenway Park.
The reality is this: When the Sox woke up Monday morning and prepared to board the plane for their meeting with the defibrillator for every American League East contender - the Orioles - they were exactly what we thought they were five months ago, an imperfect team with a palatable path.
But, unfortunately for Alex Cora and Co., their road to playing beyond Game 162 has become increasingly bumpier thanks to the last three games. In fact, Baltimore or no Baltimore, it still feels like the Red Sox aren't done with dodging with Giancarlo Stanton-sized potholes.
"We got swept by the Yankees and we’re in the second Wild Card," said Cora after another punch-in-the-gut eighth inning handed his club a 6-3 loss to New York, Sunday night. "We played some competitive games, but we didn’t get the job done so very simple."
He added, "It’s not what we wanted coming into this series, we wanted to win the series and keep that first Wild Card but it didn't happen but we’re still in a position to make the playoffs. So that’s not the worst-case scenario."
The frustrating part of this whole equation for the Red Sox is how avoidable bringing up all their insecurities seemed to be.
For instance ...
With one out, the Red Sox holding a one-run lead and Yankees runners on second and third, it appeared Adam Ottavino set the stage or an escape act by striking out Aaron Judge. Sure, first baseman Bobby Dalbec may have missed a chance to end the at-bat by letting a foul pop drop in front of the wall just past the Sox' dugout, but, no matter, Judge's foul tip had landed safely in Christian Vazquez's glove for the key second out.
Nope.
Home plate umpire Joe West, the same man who had helped the Red Sox' 2004 World Series run with two key overturned calls (Mark Bellhorn's home run and Alex Rodriguez's swipe of Bronson Arroyo's glove), blew it at a most inopportune time for Boston.
West ruled Vazquez didn't have control even though it was clear his drop was on the exchange, and there was nowhere for the Red Sox to turn since such an instance isn't reviewable.
“I dropped it on the transfer. That’s the first time that happened to me. I don’t know how to react," said Vazquez, adding, "I think they should get together and get a better call there. ... It was in the top of the glove and I was looking at the ball in the middle of the glove so I dropped it finding the ball.”
And as we have discovered with this Red Sox team against good teams, there is little to no room for that kind of error. (They are now 8-21 against teams with winning records since the trade deadline.) That was a reality which was put on full display in this latest loss.
Two dropped pop-ups. One Judge two-run double. And, just for good measure, another Stanton moonshot. (As a quick aside, how does the player that the Yankees' designated hitter looked like at Fenway in July look like the guy we witnessed over the weekend?)
The easy avenue in putting the weekend in the rearview mirror is to take a peek at the combined record of the Red Sox' last two opponents, the Orioles and Nationals. That would be 114-198 with a combined run differential of minus-362.
And the Sox do have that luxury of watching their two chief Wild Card competitors playing each other for three games this week.
But, with the Yankees-induced wound still fresh, shaking off the images of Robert Andino celebrating at Camden Yards exactly 10 years ago Tuesday is easier said than done.
Massachusetts-born astronaut Story Musgrave once said, "The way you remember the past depends on your hope for the future."
The avenue to forget what just happened is there for the Red Sox' taking. Dropping any more opportunities, however, is no longer an option.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 28, 2021 2:56:52 GMT -5
Mastrodonato: Alex Cora says Red Sox aren’t playing bad baseball, and that’s a scary thing
By Jason Mastrodonato | jason.mastrodonato@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald PUBLISHED: September 27, 2021 at 5:30 a.m. | UPDATED: September 27, 2021 at 5:41 a.m.
Before the Red Sox’ recent series in Seattle, manager Alex Cora said his team had one last hot streak remaining.
“We haven’t had our hot stretch yet,” he said. “But we still have one more run in us.”
It would appear the hot stretch ended when the Yankees got to town.
The Sox ended up winning the last two games in Seattle, returned home, won all five against the historically-bad Orioles and an embarrassing Mets team, then got swept by the Yankees at Fenway Park this weekend.
The Sox blew a lead in the eighth inning in a 6-3 loss Sunday night after blowing a lead in the eighth inning in a 5-3 loss one night earlier to complete the sweep, fall behind the Yankees in the Wild Card chase and hold just a one-game lead on the Blue Jays for the second Wild Card spot.
“It’s not that we played bad baseball over the weekend,” Cora said. “We just got beat.
He also said this isn’t the worst-case scenario, since the Jays and Yankees have to play each other while the Sox get to fly to Baltimore, where they should take batting practice against an Orioles team that is allowing six runs per game.
The Red Sox may not have played bad baseball, but they didn’t play good baseball either.
The catcher dropped a third strike and blamed the umpire, the first baseman couldn’t make a medium-difficulty catch in foul territory and the eighth-inning set-up man couldn’t throw strikes on back-to-back nights.
Bad is a relative term.
The Red Sox are in bad position compared to where they were two months ago. It seems like forever ago now, but the division was theirs for the better part of April, May, June and July. With that as a backdrop, yes, the Sox are in bad position now.
Just three days ago they were in position to host the Wild Card Game. Now they might have to go to Yankee Stadium a week from Tuesday.
Comparatively, that’s bad, no matter how confident the Sox are that they can beat the Yankees in the Bronx.
“We went (to Yankee Stadium) in ’18 after we got beat here (in the A.L. Division Series) and the sky was falling here in Boston and everybody gave up on us going into there, and you saw what happened,” Cora said, replaying a narrative that the 108-win Sox were some kind of heavy underdogs in New York three years ago (the Vegas lines were pretty close to even, though the Yankees were slight favorites).
“It doesn’t matter,” Cora added. “We would love to play here if we make it to the Wild Card game. But there are a lot of guys in there that have been very successful over there (in New York) too.”
A Yankee Stadium matchup would be fun, but comes only if the Yanks handled Toronto and the Sox handle the O’s and Nats. And they should. They’ve done a good job beating up on bad teams all year, even while fading against the good teams over the last two months, winning just one series against a winning team while losing eight since the end of July.
Not playing good defense has been Problem No. 1 on their list.
Sunday night, there was a dropped foul-tip that would’ve been strike three on Aaron Judge, who ended up hammering a two-run, go-ahead double later in the at-bat.
Adam Ottavino thought he struck him out when Judge swung through it and it tipped into Christian Vazquez’s glove. But the Sox’ usually-sure-handed catcher dropped the ball trying to transfer it to his throwing hand, which under the rules would still be considered a catch if the umpire determines it was dropped on the transfer.
Joe West, the longtime umpire who also has a country music album, decided Vazquez never caught the ball.
“I dropped it on the transfer,” Vazquez said. “That’s the first time that happened to me. I didn’t know how to react. But I think they should get together and get a better call there.”
Vazquez couldn’t believe he dropped it and looked infuriated by the umpire’s decision. But the umps never got together, since it was West’s call to make behind the plate.
Cora didn’t seem to react at the time. He later explained that the play was not reviewable.
Previously in the same at-bat, Bobby Dalbec failed to make a medium-difficulty catch in foul territory, leaving a wide gap between him and the fence and then watching the ball drop between them.
Cora had little to say about either of the defensive mistakes.
The Yankees made a pair, too. It was a sloppy game.
At .981 and .982 respectively, the Yankees and Sox have two of the three worst fielding percentages in MLB this year.
The scary part is if Cora is right, and the Red Sox aren’t playing bad baseball, but they’re just getting beat.
Imagine for a second that the Red Sox played a good game, by their standards, on Sunday night.
What would that say about their chances?
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 28, 2021 3:15:35 GMT -5
Red Sox late-game bullpen structure facing scrutiny following latest meltdowns By Alex Speier Globe Staff,Updated September 27, 2021, 9:04 p.m.
On Saturday morning, an AL scout took stock of the Red Sox bullpen.
“A real mess,” he texted.
Hours later, the group gave up four runs in the eighth inning to turn a 4-2 advantage into a 5-3 loss to the Yankees. One day later, the Red Sox bullpen again held an eighth-inning advantage. And again, it gave up four runs to the Yankees as a 3-2 lead transformed into a 6-3 loss.
The scout circled back after witnessing the second meltdown.
“This,” he texted, “is nuts.”
The two crucial defeats not only left the Red Sox trailing the Yankees for the top wild-card spot — and just ahead of the Blue Jays for the second and final spot — but also put a spotlight on a late-innings structure (or lack thereof) that has created a nightly exercise in chaos in the Red Sox bullpen.
Relievers typically know their number will be called long before a phone rings. At certain points in a game, you might see one or two pitchers — or at most, three — ascend from the bullpen bench without any official word. The stage of the game as well as the hitters usually make clear who needs to start stretching in anticipation of possible entry into a game.
But that sort of anticipation relies on structure. The Red Sox bullpen currently has almost none.
Closer? Long man? Setup role? Middle innings? Those terms no longer serve an identifying function for Red Sox relievers in a bullpen that has become position-less.
Red Sox relievers have combined for six saves this month, with five pitchers — Adam Ottavino, Garrett Richards, Garrett Whitlock, Hansel Robles, and Josh Taylor — each getting credit for at least one. (Darwinzon Hernandez recently entered in the middle of the ninth inning to record the final outs of a 6-3 win, but wasn’t credited with a save because he recorded fewer than three outs.) All of those pitchers also have seen action in the sixth inning or earlier at in September.
Against that backdrop, the dynamic of games has changed. At any given moment, a snapshot of the Red Sox bullpen in the middle and late innings looks like a yoga studio, with a half-dozen pitchers simultaneously stretching. When bullpen coach Kevin Walker answers an incoming call from the dugout, everyone’s head turns with curiosity.
“It’s been about a month that all these guys are committed to throwing and helping the team out whenever it is. I think everybody’s all on the same page about, we’re trying to reach a goal of getting to the postseason and whatever it takes, everybody’s up for the call,” said Walker. “Structure is great, but as of right now, it’s all hands on deck and everybody’s out there and they’re ready to pitch whenever they’re called upon.”
The development represents the crumpling of a blueprint that had worked very well and very consistently through the first half of the season.
Matt Barnes emerged as an All-Star closer, striking out roughly half of the hitters he faced. Ottavino performed as a reliably effective, high-leverage setup reliever. Taylor had a run of 26 straight scoreless appearances, the longest in franchise history by a lefty. Every few days, Whitlock overpowered opponents for a couple of innings at a time.
But right now, Barnes — who was out for 2½ weeks this month while on the COVID-19 IL and a subsequent rehab assignment — has allowed 11 runs in nine innings over 14 appearances since the start of August. He’s been removed from the high-leverage equation, with his reassignment to lower-leverage situations representing the first step toward an amorphous bullpen.
His most recent outing was his most encouraging in some time, with the righthander getting swings and misses on his fastball and curveball in a scoreless inning against the Yankees on Friday.
“I felt like I was out there with stuff that I could command, that played, that was powerful,” said Barnes. “I’d love to see it a bunch more. I definitely feel much better now.”
Whitlock — who has a 4.42 ERA in his last 13 appearances since Aug. 10, with a 4.82 mark in 9⅔ innings in September — is on the injured list with a pectoral strain. Taylor just joined him with a lower back strain.
“It’s a tough one,” said manager Alex Cora.
Ottavino, who hadn’t allowed a homer through his first 58 appearances this year, has now been taken deep in four of his last eight outings, most recently when Giancarlo Stanton launched a slider into geosynchronous orbit Sunday.
The struggles of Ottavino and Barnes and the absence of Whitlock and Taylor have led to change on a game-to-game and inning-to-inning basis. The Sox bullpen has tried to adapt.
“You try to play along [with Cora’s decisions]. Sometimes, you don’t know [who will be called], sometimes you can kind of piece together, but it’s definitely a little different now than it was in May,” said Barnes. “A.C.’s managing it like it’s the playoffs right now. Every game we’ve got to do whatever we can to win today and figure out tomorrow as we go.”
The blown games against the Yankees highlighted the short-handedness of the Sox bullpen, with Hernandez giving up a grand slam to Stanton on Saturday in a situation where Taylor would have been more likely to enter, and the eighth inning unraveling Sunday in a spot where Whitlock likely would have been asked to clean up.
Yet there have been other instances this month — particularly in a series win in Seattle against a wild-card contender — where the bullpen has played an enormous part in the Red Sox’ continued contention. Should the Red Sox advance to the postseason, a case can be made that the shifting roles have prepared the bullpen for the urgency and unpredictability that greets every out in October.
“Right now everybody’s kind of ready for everything,” said Ottavino. “I know it can be frustrating as a fan because you’re going to disagree with whatever doesn’t work … [But] it’s only going to help everybody’s growth.
“Everybody’s getting chances. Everybody’s getting in there. It’s training everybody to be ready for [the playoffs].”
That is, of course, if it doesn’t become an impediment to getting there.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 28, 2021 3:29:38 GMT -5
Wild Card Standings
Nyy 89-67 +1 Red Sox 88-68 Blue Jays 87-69 1 Mariners 87-70 +1.5 Oakland 85-72 +3.5
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 28, 2021 8:06:42 GMT -5
Mastrodonato: Red Sox return to Baltimore, where another collapse would draw comparisons to 2011 But the same was true in 2011 when the Sox went to Baltimore
By Jason Mastrodonato | jason.mastrodonato@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald September 28, 2021 at 4:51 a.m.
The biggest difference was in the expectations.
The 2011 Red Sox were expected to be World Series contenders. John Henry and Co. spent $161 million on their roster, third-highest in baseball that year, and added Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, among others, to give Terry Francona his best chance at a third World Series title in Boston.
The 2021 Red Sox weren’t expected to do much. They spent about $180 million on their opening day payroll, eighth in MLB, and after finishing in last place a year ago while making only minor additions, the Sox were expected to finish third or fourth in their own division.
But then, just like in 2011, the Sox spent much of the summer in first place.
Expectations change.
Monday, the Red Sox returned to Baltimore, where 10 years ago they arrived with a chance to control their own destiny if they could just handle the last-place Orioles. Instead, the Sox lost two of three to the lowly O’s, including a heartbreaker in Game 162 as they completed one of the most memorable collapses in Boston sports history.
They are once again are in the driver’s seat this year, with six games left against a pair of last-place teams in the Orioles and Nationals. With an additional Wild Card spot that didn’t exist a decade ago, the Sox are in playoff position while sitting one game behind the Yankees and one game up on the Blue Jays, and they start a three-game series against each other tonight in Toronto.
If the Sox take care of business, they’re in. FanGraphs gives them an 87% chance of making the postseason, highest percentage of any of the teams in Wild Card contention.
If the Sox fail to make the playoffs now, there’s no escaping the narrative that will make the rounds all winter in New England: the Sox collapsed. Again.
“We still have a Wild Card spot,” manager Alex Cora said after the Sox were swept by the Yankees this weekend. “We know that the Jays and the Yankees are playing against each other. So for how big this weekend was, I think Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, they’re probably bigger, because we know that somebody is going to lose in the next three games and you can gain ground. So you’ve just got to make sure you’re locked in Tuesday and start playing good baseball. It’s not that we played bad baseball over the weekend. We just got beat.”
How did the Red Sox get beat? In the same fashion they got beat so often in the final month of 2011, when the Sox went 7-20 while set-up man Daniel Bard took four losses and the bullpen as a whole was on the hook for nine of the 20 defeats in September.
This weekend, the Sox’ bullpen revealed that it has no clear closer, no clear set-up man and it largely depends on how Cora feels and who is healthy that given day.
Sox relievers have accounted for five of the nine losses this month, while blowing each of the last two games vs. the Yankees, despite holding a lead in the eighth inning each time.
Just like in 2011, the offense has continued to hit well and hasn’t been much of a problem.
And just like in 2011, the defense has completely fallen apart.
Jacoby Ellsbury should’ve won the MVP that year, but his defense faltered over the final month, when he dropped fly balls and his poor throwing arm was routinely exposed. Nobody will forget Carl Crawford’s apathetic efforts in left field, where his lazy sliding catch attempt and tortoise-like speed in which he threw the ball back to the infield cost the Red Sox the game, and subsequently a playoff spot.
The only difference between this year’s team and the team 10 years ago is the starting rotation, which is actually holding up OK this time around.
Overall, the Sox have a 13-9 record this month while each of their starting pitchers has an ERA under 5.00. In 2011, every starter had an ERA over 5.00 in September.
This year’s Sox are at least beating the bad teams, something the 2011 team had no interest in doing, as they went 4-9 in September against the O’s and Blue Jays, the two worst teams in the division.
And who could forget the infamous chicken-and-beer story published in the Globe two weeks later? Here’s one line that stands out: “Sox owners soon suspected the team’s poor play was related to lingering resentment over the scheduling dispute, sources said.”
There can’t be any complaints over the schedule this time around. The Sox couldn’t have had an easier one, with four days off in a 12-day span and a six-game slate that should be as difficult as a trip to Disney World to end the season.
“For four months of the season, they were a team that was that good,” Jerry Remy said on the NESN broadcast following the final game of 2011.
The same could be said about the 2021 team.
All they have to do is not collapse.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 28, 2021 8:08:14 GMT -5
AL Wild Card standings: Boston Red Sox hold 1-game lead over Blue Jays, 1.5-game lead over Mariners for second spot entering Tuesday Updated: 8:58 a.m. | Published: 8:14 a.m.
By Chris Cotillo | ccotillo@MassLive.com
The Red Sox, Blue Jays and Yankees were all off Monday night, but the Mariners were able to pick up a half-game in the wild-card race with a win over the A’s. On Tuesday night, two pivotal AL East series -- Red Sox-Orioles and Yankees-Blue Jays begin.
Here’s where things stand entering Monday:
If the season ended today: Yankees would host the Red Sox in the wild-card game on Oct. 5.
Where the Red Sox stand:
1 game behind the Yankees for the first American League wild-card spot
1 game ahead of the Blue Jays for the second American League wild-card spot SCORES:
Mariners 13, Athletics 4 (Mariners pick up ½ game on Red Sox, Athletics lose ½ game to Red Sox)
Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays OFF STANDINGS (AND POSTSEASON PROBABILITIES, VIA ESPN):
Yankees: 89-67 (1 game up on Red Sox; 2 games up on Blue Jays) -- 80.8% chance to make postseason (per ESPN)
Red Sox: 88-68 (1 game behind Yankees; 1 game up on Blue Jays) -- 86.1% chance to make postseason (per ESPN)
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Blue Jays: 87-69 (1 game behind Red Sox; 2 games behind Yankees) -- 27.9% chance to make postseason (per ESPN)
Mariners: 87-70 (1½ games behind Red Sox; 2½ games behind Yankees) -- 5.2% chance to make postseason (per ESPN)
Athletics: 85-72 (3½ games behind Red Sox; 4½ games behind Yankees) -- 0.1% chance to make postseason (per ESPN) REMAINING SCHEDULES:
Yankees: 3 at Toronto (Tue-Thu), 3 vs. Tampa Bay (Fri-Sun)
Red Sox: 3 at Baltimore (Tue-Thu), 3 at Washington (Fri-Sun)
Blue Jays: 3 vs. Yankees (Tue-Thu), 3 vs. Baltimore (Fri-Sun)
Mariners: 2 vs. Oakland (Mon-Wed), 3 vs. Angels (Fri-Sun)
Athletics: 2 at Seattle (Mon-Wed), 3 at Houston (Fri-Sun)
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 28, 2021 8:13:56 GMT -5
John Tomase @jtomase · Sep 27 Here are a couple of numbers since the trade deadline that won't fill you with confidence if the Red Sox reach the playoffs.
vs. teams with losing records: 17-6 vs. teams with winning records: 8-21
Ian Browne @ianmbrowne · 32m At least it bodes well this week for them beating the teams they should beat? A realistic expectation for these guys is maybe they catch lightning in a bottle in the Wild Card game. Seems doubtful they have enough to win a Division Series.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 28, 2021 9:22:41 GMT -5
Dan Shaughnessy @dan_Shaughnessy · 4m Chris Sale gets O's tonight for 3rd time. Sale's made 7 starts: two vs. O's, one vs Rangers, Twins, Mets. Sox are 5-0 in those, by aggregate 53-10. Sale faced Rays twice. Sox 1-1, aggregate 13-13. Sale did not pitch vs. Yanks, White Sox. Boston 1-8 in those.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 28, 2021 9:53:51 GMT -5
The Red Sox can't possibly duplicate the chaos in Baltimore 10 years ago Current Time 0:00 / Duration 12:17 By Rob Bradford 24 minutes ago
Sept. 28, 2011. Ten years later, the wounds haven't fully healed.
Evidence? Well, take the utterances of what happened at Camden Yards that night when looking at what faces these 2021 Red Sox. Season on the line for the Red Sox. Nothing to play for from the Orioles side of things.
If wasn't for Tom Brady returning to Foxboro in a few days, you would half-expect office pools guessing who will become Baltimore's modern-day Robert Andino. (Andino, of course, was the journeyman who sealed the Red Sox' historic 2011 collapse with a game-winning single off Jonathan Papelbon on that rainy night in Baltimore.)
Fear not, Red Sox fans. There will be no repeat of that chaotic evening in Charm City. Sure, Alex Cora's team could unexpectedly come up on the losing end against the 106-loss Orioles, putting themselves in a tough spot heading into the final week of the regular season.
But this will never come close to being an apples-to-apples situation. It is scientifically impossible.
For starters, this Red Sox team is just about where most hoped they might be heading into Sept. 28. That 2011 version was viewed as one of most talented teams in franchise history, carrying Major League Baseball's best record prior to its Sept. 7-20 collapse.
There is also no chance that once the season is done we will get the kind of tidal wave of controversy that came with those 2011 "chicken and beer" reports. That year, one player after another either orchestrated either an on-the-record defense or off-the-record baking of blame pie. It was a level of individual butt-covering we will likely never see again.
But what we're talking about is that one night, and how unique the whole scene was. There was so much to pick through, with many of the particulars still likely hidden away. Here is, however, just one perspective ...
- While much of the true chaos - that would later be revealed in pieces by John Tomase and Bob Hohler - would be surfaced in the days after the final game, the Red Sox did a good job of hiding it to those covering the team at the time. The first inclination I got of these sort of issues came the day before the last game when one player sat in the dugout shaking his head, insinuating how dysfunctional the group was without going into details. It struck me why this would be the mindset with a chance for the postseason still well within reach.
- The fact that the Red Sox hadn't committed to picking up Terry Francona's contract option was clearly a team-wide talking point ... even on the field less than a couple of hours before first pitch.
- The Red Sox had no idea how they were going to function if they were afforded a one-game playoff with Tampa Bay. Jon Lester was needed for the all-important Game 162. Clay Buchholz was out for the season. The next-best option was Josh Beckett, who made it clear he was headed home to attend to the birth of his daughter. The solution? The buzz was building that they were trying to acquire then-Royals starter Bruce Chen for ONE day. At the time, it was a piece of chaos that just felt like part of the pile.
- As for the game, everything was before and after the rain delay. The Red Sox led with the Rays trailing, 7-0, to the Yankees. But the time they returned Tampa Bay was deadlocked at 7-7, ultimately winning. But one of the bizarre images still etched in my mind was Alfredo Aceves warming up on the mound in preparation for his fourth appearance in as many days ... and still coming back out for an inning after the 1-hour, 26-minute delay.
- The final pitch to Andino would be the last one thrown by Papelbon in a Red Sox uniform. It was crazy to see everything unravel after the closer struck out his first two batters in the ninth with Red Sox leading by a run. It seemed predictable that Carl Crawford wasn't going to come up with the low-liner considering his struggles all season. But what truly resonated was Papelbon standing in the middle of the visitors' clubhouse after the game answering every last question for perhaps the longest postgame interview session I had ever seen. One reporter after another kept coming, and he never budged from his perch of accountability.
Those are just a few parts of that day 10 days ago that jump to mind. Obviously, there are plenty of others, even 3,650 days later. It was that unforgettable.
Don't count on it happening again.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 28, 2021 9:55:37 GMT -5
The Red Sox are still in control of their own destiny
They only have to do what they’ve done all year. By Matt_Collins@MattRyCollins Sep 28, 2021, 10:30am EDT
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It was an absolutely brutal weekend at Fenway, a fact that no one could reasonably deny. Having won their previous seven games heading into that series, expecting them to extend that streak to 10 was probably far-fetched, but really the goal was to just not get swept. That would have guaranteed an entry into the final week of the regular season with sole possession of the top wildcard spot, a pretty position in which to be sitting, second half woes be damned. Except, we know that didn’t happen, and it didn’t happen in the most brutal of fashions.
And so, coming off that series, it is fair to be feeling down about this team. They have struggled this entire second half against quality teams, but getting swept at home against both their arch rival and the team with whom they were battling for their postseason lives in the biggest series of the year? Well that just hits different. But despite the result, as indefensible as it may be, and despite not having that aforementioned sole possession of the top wildcard spot, the Red Sox still hold their own destiny in their hands.
There’s honestly really not much to it, and the playoff odds back it up pretty nicely. As people are won to point out, high odds don’t always mean things are sure to work out, which is obviously implied by the odds. If something has, say, a 90 percent chance of happening, we all know that is not the same thing as a 100 percent chance of happening. And to that end, FanGraphs has the Red Sox’ playoff odds at a tidy 87.2 percent. Baseball Prospectus is a bit more bearish, with the odds still coming in at a solid 67.6 percent.
Again, neither of those numbers are zero, but they both paint a pretty good picture — FanGraphs actually has Boston’s adds a tad bit higher than New York’s — and it comes down to the schedule. For the last few weeks we’ve heard about how big the soft schedule at the end is for the Red Sox, and we’re seeing why in realtime. The final two series of the season come against the Orioles and Nationals, teams whose combined winning percentage is .365 and who have two of the four worst records of all teams in baseball over their last 30 games. This should not be much of a challenge at all for the Red Sox.
But the real benefit for the Red Sox schedule is how things shake out for the other main contenders, as the Yankees and Blue Jays play each other for three games up in Toronto starting on Tuesday. Them beating up on each other means the Red Sox have a chance to gain ground on at least one of those teams as long as they take care of their own business. More pointedly, if Boston wins at least two of three from Baltimore, they are guaranteed to gain at least a game over one of the Yankees or Blue Jays, which in turn means they’d be guaranteed to have at least a share of a postseason spot.
And that works out as we drag this out all the way to the end of the season as well. As things stand here on Tuesday morning, if the Red Sox take two of three in each of their last two series — again, a more than reasonable expectation — then they are sitting pretty. In that scenario, the Blue Jays can pull out in front of them, but that would mean the Yankees won at most one game in their series, which means the Red Sox would be tied with at least one of those teams by the end. They could also be tied with the Mariners if Seattle wins out. That would be the worst-case scenario for the Red Sox as long as they win both series.
And if they were able to win at least five of these last six? Well, then there’s no way they’d even need to be in a tiebreaker for a wildcard spot, even in the worst-case scenario. On the flip side, if they were to go 3-3, things still shake out okay for them. That would put them at 91 wins to finish, in which case we’d likely be rooting for the Yankees to take two of three from Toronto. If that were to happen, the Blue Jays would have to sweep their final series to tie Boston. Even if the Blue Jays were to win two of three from New York, they would have to take two of three from Baltimore to end the year to tie. Again, Seattle factors in here as well, and if Boston goes 3-3 they could only lose one game the rest of the way to tie.
So this is what it all comes down to. Boston’s inability to beat good teams is at least mildly concerning for the postseason, but we’ll cross that bridge when it comes. For the time being, they just need to beat bad teams to make that happen. The good news? Only four teams in baseball have been better against teams with losing records this season. The Red Sox made things harder this weekend than they needed to be, but even with the sweep their destiny still lies in their own hands. It’s just about beating the teams they’re supposed to beat, and the rest will take care of itself.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 28, 2021 11:16:32 GMT -5
Red Sox at Orioles Series Preview
A look at the regular season’s penultimate series. By Matt_Collins@MattRyCollins Sep 28, 2021, 12:01pm EDT
The opponent in one sentence
The Orioles are in what feels like a perpetual rebuild, and while their pitching is just not major-league caliber right now and they remain one of the worst teams in the league, their offense is surprisingly frisky. Record
50-106 Head-to-head record
Red Sox 12, Orioles 4 Trend
Down, though maybe not as much as usual. Baltimore is coming off a series against the Rangers, who happen to be another one of the league’s worst teams. They split that four-game set, but before that they had lost 10 of their previous 12. Pitching Matchups
9/28: Chris Sale vs. Bruce Zimmermann, 7:05 PM ET
There was a little bit of controversy surrounding Sale’s last start since he didn’t get a chance to pitch against the Yankees, but with eyes now set forward on the final six games, they have the opportunity to use the southpaw twice if they need to, and to get off to a good start in this final stretch with their ace. This will be Sale’s third time facing Baltimore since returning in the middle of August, and he went exactly five innings in each of the first two while allowing a combined three runs with nine strikeouts — eight came in one start — and no walks. While the strikeout numbers have been typically Sales-ian since coming back, he has been leaving some hittable pitches over the plate, something he’ll want to correct before a potential October appearance.
Zimmermann made his major-league debut for a quick cup of coffee last summer, and he’s missed some time with injury this year, giving him just 66 2⁄3 innings over his career. The southpaw is purportedly a command-oriented pitcher, though his walk rates in both the majors and minors suggest maybe that’s not a huge strength. He can miss some bats here and there, but for the most part he’s average or slightly below in each of the three true outcomes, which is reflected in his career 5.13 ERA. Boston saw him twice in a row at the very start of the season, scoring six runs total over 12 innings, striking out nine times and only walking twice. This will be his first major-league start since the middle of June as he’s been working back from an ankle injury. Zimmermann will feature a low-90s fastball to go with a curveball, changeup, and slider.
9/29: Nathan Eovaldi vs. Zac Lowther, 7:05 PM ET
Eovaldi was a popular pick to pitch the Wildcard Game for the Red Sox in the scenario where they’d get to line things up and have their choice, though his last outing against the Yankees was certainly a shaky one. The good thing about the righty this year has been that he’s very rarely strung bad starts together. In that outing last weekend, his secondaries were just not working at all, and if he doesn’t have confidence in all of his pitches then he suddenly becomes much easier to hit. Look specifically for how his splitter and curveball are working. He’s somehow only faced Baltimore twice this year — once to start the season, and once just over a week ago — combining to allow four runs over 10 1⁄3 innings, striking out 12 and walking two.
Lowther, a rookie lefty, is becoming awfully familiar with the Red Sox. The southpaw has made only nine career appearances — five starts and four out of the bullpen — and this will be his third meeting with Boston. He has not had a whole lot of luck in the first two, both of which came as a starter. The Red Sox have scored a combined 10 runs off Lowther in those two appearances over 5 2⁄3 innings, striking out five times and walking four. He will have a bit of confidence coming into this one, however, having tossed five shutout innings against the Rangers in his last start. Lowther will feature a low-90s fastball along with a changeup, curveball, and slider.
9/30: TBD vs. Alexander Wells, 7:05 PM ET
This would seem to me to be a true TBD for the Red Sox, and it will likely hinge on what happens in the first two games. They could use Nick Pivetta on normal rest, or they could go with something of a bullpen game, perhaps with Tanner Houck starting just for a couple of innings. Or they could even call up someone like Connor Seabold, whose last start in Worcester was cut short due to food poisoning. If they lose one or both of the first two games, I suspect Pivetta will be out there. But if they take the first two, I wouldn’t be surprised if they hold Pivetta back for the Nationals series.
Wells makes it three straight lefties for the Red Sox to face this weekend, which could be something of a minor issue as Boston has been slightly worse against southpaws this year with a 103 wRC+ compared to a mark of 109 against righties. That said, they’ve gotten to Lowther as we mentioned above, and against Wells earlier this month they scored five runs in five innings, so there’s really no excuse here. Wells is another rookie, and while he got by alright in the minors with a low walk rate, that number has creeped around average in the majors, which just won’t cut it given his lack of stuff. Wells features a high-80s fastball with a curveball, slider, and changeup. In fact, all three of these pitchers they’ll face this week have very similar repertoires, which should be helpful by the time they get to this game. Old Friends
Fernando Abad was a member of not one but two division-winning Red Sox bullpens, though he was used infuriatingly by a manager who insisted on pitching him against right-handed batters. Now 35, Abad is in middle relief with Baltimore.
Travis Lakins never really was able to fit into a role in the Red Sox organization but has been a mostly solid reliever for the Orioles, though he struggled this year before going down with an injury. Notable Position Players
Cedric Mullins is easily the best player on this team, and has simply been one of the best players in baseball this year, ranking eighth in fWAR. He just made it into the 30/30 club, which gives a good sense of both his power and athleticism, and he pairs with above-average rates in terms of both strikeouts and walks.
Austin Hays is not going to draw a ton of walks or get too deep into most counts, but he makes a solid amount of contact and has hit for good power this year, keeping his line better than average.
Trey Mancini and his comeback have been one of the best stories in baseball this year, and he’s been able to provide solid production in the lineup by being good, though not great, in all facets at the plate.
Anthony Santander got off to a slow start following a breakout year in 2020, but he’s looked much better of late and still may able to provide at least some of the upside he showed last summer.
Ryan Mountcastle is something of an all-or-nothing hitter, carrying a strikeout rate a bit higher than average and a walk rate a bit lower than average, but mostly getting by on his plus power.
Pedro Severino will draw a walk here and there, but beyond that the catcher typically doesn’t provide too much at the dish.
Kevin Gutierrez has been awful since landing with the Orioles, striking out over 30 percent of the time while hitting for below-average power.
Pat Valaika hasn’t been able to get anything going this year, and only two batters (one of whom is Jackie Bradley Jr.) has been worse by wRC+ with at least 250 plate appearances.
Richie Martin hasn’t really played much this year, and when he has he’s been significantly below-average as a hitter. Bullpen Snapshot
While the Orioles offense is actually a bit friskier than I think most people would think, their bullpen decidedly is not. To be fair to them, their closer, Cole Sulser, is having a good season. His ERA is below 3.00 and exactly in line with his FIP. If the Red Sox are behind in the ninth, they will have a legitimate challenge in coming back. That said, the rest of the bullpen is not impressive. Connor Greene is probably the next scariest reliever they’d have to face, but his command is just off enough that he’s more fine than good. Injuries
The Orioles have a few names on the injured list, but it’s not anyone of too much consequence. Jorge López did give the Red Sox trouble in one start early in the year, but his season numbers are not impressive. Tanner Scott would add big stuff from the left side to their bullpen, but his control issues largely cancel that out. The Harveys Matt and Hunter are both out with injuries as well. Weather Forecast
The weather should be cooperative in this penultimate series of the regular season. There is some rain in the forecasts for Tuesday, but it should clear out by first pitch.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 28, 2021 11:27:09 GMT -5
Then as now, Red Sox reaching for a Baltimore life preserver after fumbling, infuriating weekend The Red Sox are supposed to get back on track against the Orioles, but will they?
By Jon Couture September 28, 2021 | 11:38 AM
COMMENTARY
A decade ago this week, the golden era of Red Sox baseball bottomed out in Baltimore. It then spent the next year doing exploratory drilling of said bottom, but that’s a narrative device for another day.
The 2011 Red Sox were, in the most significant way, the anti-2021 Red Sox. The 2021 Red Sox took money from the Twins to fit deadline exclamation point Hansel Robles under the luxury tax threshold. The 2011 Red Sox signed Carl Crawford a week after trading for Adrian Gonzalez. ADVERTISING
They were offseason champions and everybody’s spring favorite, and played that way (lest you have forgotten) for four months. And yet there they were as we are now: Bereft of pitching, limping into Baltimore off a flop series with the Yankees, thankful the Orioles are there as a big, orange life preserver in the season’s final days.
That was not enough 10 years ago. It might not be enough now, either, because then as now it implies someone is going to step forward to grab the brass ring.
“The weird part was,” former Sox manager Terry Francona told The Athletic in a piece from earlier this week, “we had our destiny in our control. As bad as things had gone, that was still a comforting thought.”
So has this team, every step of the way. And yet, here we are again.
It is not as egregious now as it was then, because this is decidedly not a superteam. It’s a group that has without question exceeded expectations, that deserves praise for 88 wins with a week to go and meaningful baseball into the final week.
But they can have that down the line, eager as they seem to be to take it now.
“We’ve got some capable guys and somebody has to step up,” manager Alex Cora told reporters when Garrett Whitlock went on the injured list a week ago.
How’d that go this weekend? Needing one win to carry a wild-card edge into a soft final road trip, they imploded just about from Nos. 1-25.
Nate Eovaldi, admittedly nails against the Yankees all year, couldn’t grip his offspeed stuff or finish the third inning. (New York, in its sixth look at him this year, might’ve solved the puzzle when it didn’t chase one Eovaldi breaking ball outside the zone.)
Nick Pivetta and Eduardo Rodriguez delivered the solid five innings Cora’s asked of his rotation all season, but no more. And that plan is a lot harder to manage when Whitlock, Josh Taylor, and Matt Barnes are all absent from the back end.
Step up? Tanner Houck opened with eight non-competitive pitches on Saturday, and could not nick one final corner with a slider, a half dozen times. I was critical of Cora in the moment when he went to Darwinzon Hernandez, who promptly hit a batter and heaved Giancarlo Stanton a dead-center meatball, but Sunday made that harder to justify when Adam Ottavino threw him a pitch just as bad.
“When the lights shine brightest, this guy always seems to have an impact on the game,” MLB Network’s Mark DeRosa said of Stanton on Monday.
Meanwhile, Xander Bogaerts was 1 for 12 in the three games. Bobby Dalbec, torrid for a month, was 1 for 9 with seven strikeouts and looked like a Little Leaguer scared of the fence in missing two critical foul pop-ups.
J.D. Martinez was 2 for 9, albeit with two of the six (Six! Against 30 strikeouts!) walks Boston drew in three games. Rafael Devers was good (4 for 11), but in his biggest spot of the weekend — the homer off Gerrit Cole came with it 7-0 — he got a crushable 3-0 mistake and … just barely missed it.
And then there’s Christian Vázquez, who I’ve previously talked about in this space as far higher in the MLB catcher rankings than he gets credit for. Not only was he hitless in three games, but in one of the biggest moments of the weekend — his drop-on-the-transfer on strike three to Aaron Judge on Sunday — he also came up small.
I’m among the minority who doesn’t really blame home-plate umpire Joe West. Grandstanding buffoon on the way out that West may be, Vázquez dropped the ball with his back to the ump, tucked next to his leg, immediately in the manner foul tips have been dropped since the game’s beginnings. By the time West’s eyes had shifted from the hitter to the catcher, same as any umpire’s would, the ball was out.
There’s a real short list of umpires who are going to see that and make the right call. (Which, as a catch/no-catch in the infield, isn’t reviewable under MLB rules.) Vázquez himself said it was the first time it had ever happened to him.
“I think they should get together and get a better call there,” Vázquez told reporters on Sunday.
Which is a heck of a thing to bring up postgame when it appears he barely conveyed that to West, and certainly didn’t convey it to Cora, who can be seen on the broadcast mouthing “he dropped it?” on the phone with his replay room before signaling to continue the game.
Does anything change if Vázquez makes a huge stink, or if Cora comes out to argue? Probably not. (It is, after all, Joe West we’re talking about.) But it certainly won’t if no one makes the effort, or puts forth their most vociferous criticism in front of a Zoom camera.
Of course, that even tempered “eh, we’re good” response has been the Red Sox messaging in the Cora era. On Saturday night, Cora proclaimed “we had a few of these throughout the season. We should be fine.” On Sunday, it was “I mean, it’s not what we wanted . . . but we still are in position to make the playoffs.”
They still have destiny in their control, to borrow a phrase. They have 106-loss Baltimore and the husk of the Washington Nationals while the Yankees play Toronto/Tampa and Seattle … well, they’re the ones with their hair on fire here, on a 9-2 tear after pulverizing Oakland on Monday.
No analysis is needed for the Baltimore series. It’s Baltimore, with Chris Sale on Tuesday and Eovaldi on Wednesday. Anything less than two out of three and the whole team should be court martialed.
Maybe that’s been the problem. Going 4-2 this week should get them there. Going 4-2, against these two, should not be an issue. It is right there for these Sox to take, and they know that as much as we do.
It was this weekend, too. And yet, here we are.
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