Game 1: 5/2 7:10pm Straily RHP vs. Buchholz RHP MLBN
Game 2: 5/3 1:35pm Milone LHP vs. Lester LHP
Game 3: 5/4 1:35pm Gray RHP vs. Lackey RHP
Game 2: 5/3 1:35pm Milone LHP vs. Lester LHP
Game 3: 5/4 1:35pm Gray RHP vs. Lackey RHP
TheoShmeo said:I mentioned this in the game thread but this is for second guesses.
Why rest Napoli today?
Possible answers are that Gray is really tough and tomorrow is an off day, and players like two in a row off. And I know that JF (and Tito before him) does this as part of the regular routine -- gets guys rest and keeps the whole roster involved.
Counter-arguments:
- this line-up hasn't exactly been relentless so derpriving it of one of the best all around hitters in such a tough match-up is questionable.
- Does Napoli really need two days off? It's early May. Unless he's hurting, one would think that Monday would be sufficient.
- Mike Carp hasn't been particularly effective this year. Inserting him in the 4-hole seems like a good way to kill some rallies.
- Carp's defense at first is a good deal inferior to Napoli's. This isn't like inserting Eye-Chart into the 9 hole and at least getting some great defense in the exchange.
Is this the biggest of deals? No. But it strikes me as the wrong decision.
Tangled Up In Red said:I missed yesterday, but why Sizemore in CF and JBJ in right? Is that the preferred option when Victorino isn't playing?
Thanks for that. Makes much more sense now. And come to think of it, I recall him grabbing his hand at some point duirng yesterday's game.Red(s)HawksFan said:
Farrell says he's still dealing with soreness in his dislocated finger. Maybe two consecutive days off will help. He's only sat for one game since returning from the initial injury.
https://twitter.com/brianmacp/status/462968236594565120
Hey Carp has a leadoff hit and has scored the team's only run so far so it has worked out.TheoShmeo said:I mentioned this in the game thread but this is for second guesses.
Why rest Napoli today?
Possible answers are that Gray is really tough and tomorrow is an off day, and players like two in a row off. And I know that JF (and Tito before him) does this as part of the regular routine -- gets guys rest and keeps the whole roster involved.
Counter-arguments:
- this line-up hasn't exactly been relentless so derpriving it of one of the best all around hitters in such a tough match-up is questionable.
- Does Napoli really need two days off? It's early May. Unless he's hurting, one would think that Monday would be sufficient.
- Mike Carp hasn't been particularly effective this year. Inserting him in the 4-hole seems like a good way to kill some rallies.
- Carp's defense at first is a good deal inferior to Napoli's. This isn't like inserting Eye-Chart into the 9 hole and at least getting some great defense in the exchange.
Is this the biggest of deals? No. But it strikes me as the wrong decision.
canderson said:Bottom 7th, tie game, runners on 2nd and 3rd, 1 out, JBJ at bat. He bunts. Not a squeeze, just a straight bunt.
IMO, that's an inexcusable play.
Red(s)HawksFan said:A safety squeeze isn't a terrible play IF (and only if) he puts the bunt down where he's supposed to...up the 3rd line forcing Donaldson to field it. Instead it was a terrible bunt on top of a terrible call.
radsoxfan said:
Bad bunt, but it really needed to be perfect to work. No margin for error. Unless he deadens it exactly right, a bunt to the 3B probably still ends up with Xander out at home.
Red(s)HawksFan said:
The theory on a safety squeeze is to bunt it at the third baseman, ideally making him charge to field the ball. The runner at third then comes down the line a step or two behind the 3B. As soon as the 3B makes the throw to first, the runner breaks for home. It takes good but not necessarily perfect execution, but it has to start with making the 3B field the ball.
Rudy's Curve said:Between the seventh inning fiasco and what happened in the 10th, it was not Farrell's best day.
1) Why not bring in Badenhop to face Donaldson with a runner on second and two out? Donaldson is good but Badenhop has held RHH to a .647 career OPS and I rarely like IBBing unless one run loses the game. One run was likely to lose it and it did, but don't increase the potential for a multirun inning when you can have a pretty decent matchup.
2) Why not bring in Badenhop to face Callaspo after he IBBd Donaldson? Badenhop has allowed a .278/.368/.430 career line to LHH, but Callaspo is a better hitter from the right side (.762 vs. .698 career OPS and .763 vs. .672 last year) and Capuano has allowed a career .276/.335/.471 line to RHH. Badenhop seems like the lesser of two evils there.
3) Why waste two strikes having JBJ bunt in the 10th? Johnson is a heavy groundball pitcher who doesn't strike LHH out very often (15.4% career). The odds are JBJ's going to be able to hit a GB to the right side (which he did) with the potential that it sneaks through for a hit. If he had been swinging from the start he may not have had such a defensive approach on 1-2.
4) I would have brought Tazawa out for the ninth after a 13-pitch eighth. He's probably as good a bet to have a scoreless inning as Uehara and then you'd have Uehara for the 10th instead of Capuano.
Red(s)HawksFan said:A safety squeeze isn't a terrible play IF (and only if) he puts the bunt down where he's supposed to...up the 3rd line forcing Donaldson to field it. Instead it was a terrible bunt on top of a terrible call.
That said, there's little chance of a double play there so why not let him swing away? Safety squeeze is playing for one run, which you don't do in the seventh inning with the top of the order coming around. Dumb call.
Mujica was ostensibly signed to give some relief to Koji and Tazawa in high leverage spots. That really hasn't happened. When the game is in peril they are being used as much or more so than last season.Bob Montgomery's Helmet Hat said:I don't see how much is due to Mujica at all. He's simply moved down on the depth chart and Badenhop has moved up. Someone is always going to be the last man in the 'pen.
How do you know this? He could just as well have been signed to take some pressure off of Breslow, or the role that Breslow had at the end of last season.bosockboy said:Mujica was ostensibly signed to give some relief to Koji and Tazawa in high leverage spots. That really hasn't happened. When the game is in peril they are being used as much or more so than last season.
Bob Montgomery's Helmet Hat said:How do you know this? He could just as well have been signed to take some pressure off of Breslow, or the role that Breslow had at the end of last season.
EDIT--and this probably isn't the thread for this anyway
http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story/_/id/10499753/edward-mujica-gives-boston-red-sox-another-bullpen-weapon
And for roughly the same money with which Cherington signed Uehara last winter, the Red Sox have a closer in waiting should anything befall Uehara, who turns 39 on April 3 and threw 88 innings last season, his heaviest workload since 2008, his last season in Japan. Losing Joel Hanrahan andAndrew Bailey to season-ending injuries last season no doubt persuaded the Sox that having another closer on hand is never a bad thing.