Second Guesser's Club - The Yosts Come For a Visit

[absintheofmalaise]

[tablegrid= Probable Starters ]   W L G GS IP K/9 BB/9 HR/9 BABIP LOB% GB% HR/FB ERA FIP xFIP Game 1: 7:10 James Shields RHP 9 5 20 20 130.2 7.58 1.86 1.03 0.315 71.20% 46.00% 11.30% 3.65 3.75 3.55   Clay Buchholz RHP 4 5 14 14 79.2 7 2.82 1.36 0.328 66.90% 41.80% 12.00% 5.42 4.59 4.23                                   Game 2: 7:10 Danny Duffy LHP 5 9 19 13 84.2 7.12 3.08 0.74 0.239 78.00% 34.70% 6.40% 2.76 3.8 4.36   Rubby de la Rosa RHP 2 2 6 6 37.1 7.96 1.93 1.21 0.26 84.40% 47.60% 17.20% 2.89 3.75 3                                   Game 3: 1:35 Yordano Ventura RHP 7 7 18 17 103.1 7.66 2.7 0.78 0.296 78.70% 48.90% 9.90% 3.22 3.53 3.51 TBS Jon Lester LHP 9 7 19 19 129 9.35 2.02 0.56 0.313 72.10% 42.00% 6.30% 2.65 2.61 3.07 [/tablegrid]
 
 

 

[RedOctober3829]

Looking forward to Sunday's pitching matchup.

 

[absintheofmalaise]

[tablegrid= Splits ]vs. RHP PA BB% K% BB/K OBP SLG OPS ISO BABIP wRC wRAA wOBA wRC+ Salvador Perez 264 3.80% 12.10% 0.31 0.337 0.478 0.815 0.17 0.325 38 9.3 0.358 127 Alex Gordon 262 8.80% 15.60% 0.56 0.355 0.427 0.782 0.147 0.319 35 6.8 0.346 119 Lorenzo Cain 205 3.40% 20.00% 0.17 0.337 0.418 0.754 0.108 0.383 25 2.7 0.329 107 Omar Infante 227 5.30% 10.60% 0.5 0.332 0.411 0.743 0.115 0.314 27 2.5 0.326 105 Jarrod Dyson 137 8.00% 13.90% 0.58 0.353 0.339 0.692 0.041 0.343 15 0.1 0.313 96 Eric Hosmer 295 7.50% 14.90% 0.5 0.322 0.384 0.706 0.116 0.3 32 0 0.312 95 Alcides Escobar 273 4.40% 14.30% 0.31 0.317 0.371 0.688 0.092 0.324 28 -1.5 0.305 91 Billy Butler 284 6.70% 17.60% 0.38 0.313 0.349 0.662 0.081 0.316 27 -3.9 0.294 83 Mike Moustakas 227 7.90% 15.00% 0.53 0.261 0.376 0.637 0.176 0.199 19 -5.6 0.281 74 Norichika Aoki 231 8.70% 10.00% 0.87 0.307 0.284 0.591 0.054 0.258 18 -7.1 0.272 68 Danny Valencia 47 8.50% 34.00% 0.25 0.255 0.233 0.488 0.047 0.296 2 -3.1 0.227 37 Brett Hayes 30 0.00% 26.70% 0 0.167 0.3 0.467 0.133 0.19 1 -2.6 0.202 20 Raul Ibanez 28 0.00% 17.90% 0 0.143 0.25 0.393 0.107 0.136 0 -3.1 0.171 -1                             vs. LHP PA BB% K% BB/K OBP SLG OPS ISO BABIP wRC wRAA wOBA wRC+ Danny Valencia 60 5.00% 10.00% 0.5 0.4 0.536 0.936 0.161 0.388 11 4.4 0.407 160 Norichika Aoki 75 5.30% 9.30% 0.57 0.392 0.435 0.827 0.087 0.387 11 3.2 0.367 133 Lorenzo Cain 73 6.80% 21.90% 0.31 0.356 0.448 0.804 0.149 0.367 10 2.2 0.352 123 Alcides Escobar 85 3.50% 16.50% 0.21 0.329 0.432 0.762 0.136 0.348 11 1.5 0.335 111 Alex Gordon 106 11.30% 19.80% 0.57 0.33 0.419 0.75 0.183 0.265 13 1.8 0.335 111 Billy Butler 95 10.50% 17.90% 0.59 0.358 0.373 0.731 0.084 0.343 11 0.2 0.315 98 Jarrod Dyson 31 6.50% 19.40% 0.33 0.323 0.345 0.667 0.069 0.348 3 -0.3 0.298 86 Eric Hosmer 124 4.00% 16.90% 0.24 0.298 0.376 0.674 0.111 0.313 12 -1.7 0.294 83 Salvador Perez 83 10.80% 8.40% 1.29 0.301 0.292 0.593 0.097 0.19 6 -2.9 0.267 64 Omar Infante 84 7.10% 13.10% 0.55 0.277 0.299 0.576 0.078 0.246 6 -3.3 0.261 61 Mike Moustakas 39 10.30% 20.50% 0.5 0.231 0.343 0.574 0.2 0.12 3 -1.6 0.258 58 Brett Hayes 13 7.70% 7.70% 1 0.077 0 0.077 0 0 -1 -2.6 0.053 -82 Raul Ibanez 6 0.00% 33.30% 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1 -1.5 0 -100 [/tablegrid]

 

[E5 Yaz]

Looking forward to Sunday's pitching matchup.

 
All three, actually. The middle game should be fun

 

[absintheofmalaise]

Holt RF
Pedroia 2B
Ortiz DH
Napoli 1B
Nava LF
Bogaerts 3B
Drew SS
Ross C
JBJ CF
Buchholz RHP

 

[Hee Sox Choi]

I thought Ross was just catching Peavy and Lester?

 

[Byrdbrain]

So assuming Victorino doesn't break tonight in Pawtucket I imagine he gets called up and Betts goes back down so he can play every day.
 
Also what HSC said, I really expected Vasquez tonight wonder what the deal is with that.

 

[pokey_reese]

To second guess Farrell here, I would have thought that after the success just a week ago, he would want Clay to pitch to CV again and try to build that relationship.  Especially since there is no batting platoon advantage for Ross over Vazquez.

 

[DavidTai]

Maybe they're switching up and trying Lester with CV? One can hope, right?

 

[MuzzyField]

To second guess Farrell here, I would have thought that after the success just a week ago, he would want Clay to pitch to CV again and try to build that relationship.  Especially since there is no batting platoon advantage for Ross over Vazquez.

It's just another example of the Sox brain-trust avoiding the obvious and opting for the perplexing.

Also, I'd like to see Drew batting 11th, get well sooner WMB.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

So assuming Victorino doesn't break tonight in Pawtucket I imagine he gets called up and Betts goes back down so he can play every day.
 
Also what HSC said, I really expected Vasquez tonight wonder what the deal is with that.

 
Good chance, but maybe after Saturday's game as I doubt they'd play him tomorrow after playing B2B

 

[joe dokes]

It's just another example of the Sox brain-trust avoiding the obvious and opting for the perplexing.

Also, I'd like to see Drew batting 11th, get well sooner WMB.

 
http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2014/07/17/john-farrell-knows-do-or-die-time-is-upon-his-red-sox-each-game-has-increasing-signficance/
 
On the role of rookie catcher Christian Vazquez going forward and whether he might take over lead catching duties. Farrell is throwing his support behind the value of David Ross and his leadership for now:“I’m not saying [Vazquez passing Ross] couldn’t happen. Christian’s done an excellent job in the games he’s caught. David Ross has a valued role on this team and makes a large impact. We’ll still continue to have him catch Jon [Lester] and likely Jake [Peavy], if it lines up. But where David Ross can serve as mentor to Christian even further is a scenario that unfolds where the first game of a series is handled by David. He can have conversations with Christian. That’s another arrangement we’ve discussed internally.”

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

I would imagine it's as simple as they're not ready to play Vazquez in back to back games yet.  Since he was called up, he and Ross have alternated starts. Starting Ross tonight just continues that alternation and keeps Ross lined up with Lester and Peavy as well.
 
First opportunity for back to back is probably going to be Ross, either Tuesday (Peavy) and Wednesday (Buchholz) or Thursday (RDLR) and Friday (Lester).  Thursday is a day game after a night game so I doubt they have CV handle Wednesday and Thursday back to back.
 
Eventually, they'll let CV pull back to backs.  They'll have to if Ross is going to caddy for Lester and Peavy.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

What's the logic of Buchholz pitching this game as well? Kind of curious why it wouldn't be Lester.

 
They like to use the all star break to give starters extra days of rest.  Buchholz spent a month on the DL...he's the pitcher least in need of those extra days.  Lester, Lackey, and Peavy, none having missed a start yet, are arguably the most in need of the extra rest.

 

[soxhop411]

What's the logic of Buchholz pitching this game as well? Kind of curious why it wouldn't be Lester.

Today would be his start on normal rest I think

 

[caminante11]

 
They like to use the all star break to give starters extra days of rest.  Buchholz spent a month on the DL...he's the pitcher least in need of those extra days.  Lester, Lackey, and Peavy, none having missed a start yet, are arguably the most in need of the extra rest.

 
Also Lester pitched an inning on Tuesday.

 

[MuzzyField]

 
http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2014/07/17/john-farrell-knows-do-or-die-time-is-upon-his-red-sox-each-game-has-increasing-signficance/
 
On the role of rookie catcher Christian Vazquez going forward and whether he might take over lead catching duties. Farrell is throwing his support behind the value of David Ross and his leadership for now:“I’m not saying [Vazquez passing Ross] couldn’t happen. Christian’s done an excellent job in the games he’s caught. David Ross has a valued role on this team and makes a large impact. We’ll still continue to have him catch Jon [Lester] and likely Jake [Peavy], if it lines up. But where David Ross can serve as mentor to Christian even further is a scenario that unfolds where the first game of a series is handled by David. He can have conversations with Christian. That’s another arrangement we’ve discussed internally.”

Great idea, just not applicable when the first game of the series is following a 4-game break. It's not like the team is dealing with a quick turnaround following travel to start this series. As mentioned, this would have been a nice time to let CV build on his last start with Clay. Maybe the staff could have used the break to actually work with CV and make this a teaching moment. It's not like there wasn't a chance to do that yesterday, if the wanted to.

 

[Plympton91]

Why not start the 8th with Miller? 2 lefties out of 3 hitters. Crazy the way they don't know what they have there.

Edit: Why not Carp for Gomes in the 8th?

 

[Rasputin]

Great idea, just not applicable when the first game of the series is following a 4-game break. It's not like the team is dealing with a quick turnaround following travel to start this series. As mentioned, this would have been a nice time to let CV build on his last start with Clay. Maybe the staff could have used the break to actually work with CV and make this a teaching moment. It's not like there wasn't a chance to do that yesterday, if the wanted to.

I think the point is to get Vazquez some time watching the game plan being implemented against the specific hitters before he has to go call it himself. It sounds like a reasonable approach to take with a guy who really hasn't seen any of these guys.

 

[Rasputin]

Why not start the 8th with Miller? 2 lefties out of 3 hitters. Crazy the way they don't know what they have there.

Edit: Why not Carp for Gomes in the 8th?

My guess is the Gomes thing was a combination of not wanting to further delete the bench in a close game and the fact that all Gomes really needed to do was hit a fly ball. I'm pretty sure I'd have pinch hit Carp then pinch run with Mookie.

 

[Rasputin]

Orioles lose. 8.5 back in the division, 7.5 in the wild card.

 

[The Gray Eagle]

I would have sent Carp up for Ross when Shields was obviously tiring and the lefty in the pen wasn't ready to come in. Ross is a crappy hitter and the K was no surprise.

Shows what i know, things worked out way better the way Farrell went. Good to see Farrell stop rolling snake eyes and finally roll a 7 when we really needed it. I really disagree with a lot of his moves, but he has been really unlucky this year too. Most of the year, anything he tried blew up in his face more than Wile E. Coyote. Maybe it's time for Farrell to catch some breaks.

 

[absintheofmalaise]

Victorino back and the Bash game!
 
Holt SS
Pedroia 2B
Ortiz DH
Napoli 1B
Gomes LF
Victorino RF
Bogaerts 3B
JBJ CF
Vazquez C
de la Rosa RHP

 

[benhogan]

I would have brought Drew in for defense at SS and moved Brock to LF after Gomes batted in the bottom of the 6th.  
 
Farrell continues to ignore the splits, he let Gomes hit in the 8th against RHP.  
 
Farrell continues to ignore obvious defensive upgrades, Jonny went out and played the field in the 9th.  
 
With so many 1 run ballgames we need every little edge we can get.

 

[joe dokes]

nm

 

[Byrdbrain]

I would have brought Drew in for defense at SS and moved Brock to LF after Gomes batted in the bottom of the 6th.  
 
Farrell continues to ignore the splits, he let Gomes hit in the 8th against RHP.  
 
Farrell continues to ignore obvious defensive upgrades, Jonny went out and played the field in the 9th.  
 
With so many 1 run ballgames we need every little edge we can get.

I was surprised he let Gomes hit in the 8th but Davis was really bringing it and I assume the thought was Gomes had a better chance against the heat than Nava did, Gomes did make good contact.
I really expected Drew or Nava in the 9th what with the adventures of Johny in the field last night.

 

[absintheofmalaise]

Gomes Free Zone
 
Holt 3B
Nava LF
Pedroia 2B
Ortiz DH
Carp 1B
Victorino RF
Drew SS
Ross C
JBJ CF
Lester LHP