1391 replies to this topic

[AlNipper49]

Breaking out from the game thread... lots of stuff to discuss from last night. As for me... I still have my post-game boner. Hooya!

[hair and cheese]

To me, the biggest difference between Us and Them is defense. Pedroia's play where he saved a run and threw Jeter out at first was the game changer. Cano doesn't make that play. What a turnaround, that would have been a pretty crappy loss. Every Yankees series I have the same goal, take two out three and hopefully hang one on Mariano. There is only one thing better than 8 in a row...

[AlNipper49]

Their defense just took another hit with Ransom going down. He obviously wasn't the best ever but Berroa is worse...

Burnett hasn't been getting them to hit on the ground as much as he usually does this year, so we'll see what difference this makes. Hopefully someone lines a ball into Teixeira's Maddow-looking vagina.

[Eric Van]

Their defense just took another hit with Ransom going down. He obviously wasn't the best ever but Berroa is worse...

I think they'll play Pena there for at least the weekend, which means a wash on defense but a further hit on offense.

[AlNipper49]

I'm going off a hazy memory here but wasn't Berroa legitimately fricken awful defensively?

Atleast I won't have to hear Yankee fans in CT trying to patiently explain to me that Ransom was an excellent player because there was a Youtube of him jumping over a chair, or some such silliness.

[OilCanShotTupac]

Great Lupica column on last night's game link:

Then Jason Bay, the guy who replaced Manny Ramirez in left at Fenway, hit a ball off Mariano Rivera as hard as anyone has ever hit one, at Fenway or anywhere else, the kind of shot Youkilis would hit off Damaso Marte into the Monster seats in the bottom of the 11th to win this amazing game, 5-4, for the Boston Red Sox last night.

"I left a pitch over the plate," Rivera said in front of his locker when it was over, when it was a few minutes before midnight at Fenway.

"Too much of the plate," he said.

"It's hard," Mo Rivera said, "but it happens."

Not like this, not to him.

*****

A blown save that made Fenway sound the way it does for much bigger games than these, much later in the year. You knew it was only a matter of time after that, because sometimes there is an inevitability about these things, the way there was an inevitability to Game 4 after Bill Mueller's single scored Dave Roberts that night.

Youkilis hit the walk-off, Youkilis finished the Yankees off in the bottom of the 11th at Fenway. But Jason Bay did this. To Mo Rivera. Hit him as hard as anybody ever has.

[bankshot1]

To me, the biggest difference between Us and Them is defense. Pedroia's play where he saved a run and threw Jeter out at first was the game changer. Cano doesn't make that play. What a turnaround, that would have been a pretty crappy loss. Every Yankees series I have the same goal, take two out three and hopefully hang one on Mariano. There is only one thing better than 8 in a row...

Pedroia put on a clinic last night.

[Soxfan in Fla]

Their defense is not very good and neither is their pen. Sox are better in both these scenarios. Their lineup also seems to be taking hits. Not sure how wel they will score this season outside of their little bandbox.

Nice way to start round 1 with the Bay and Youk shots to their collective gut.

[bombdiggz]

Pedroia did indeed put on a defensive clinic last night (he was pretty solid at the plate too) and Bay (again on both sides of the ball) and Youks came up huge to send everyone home happy. I know they certainly turned the night around for me.

But, lets remember it wasn't all roses last night. Drew, Papi, and Taco all left a lot to be desired. The double plays were extremely frustrating. We scored 2 runs, 1 earned off a guy who allowed 13 baserunners in 5.1 IP. I'm going to chalk the double plays up to some really bad luck on BAPIP. But, the thing I found most frustrating was how aggressive some the Sox were in their approach against Chamberlain who did not have very good control last night, as evidenced by his 4 BBs. I was really hoping going into the game that the Sox would be patient in order to get into that bullpen which is now further weakened by the loss of Bruney, but they were not.

I'm specifically remembering a lot of swings on the first pitch of the at bat. Tek did it in the 2nd, Taco in the third, Lowell in the fourth, Drew with one out and two runners on in the fifth. I really think you have to make the opposing pitcher work a lot harder when the pitcher isn't showing very good control especially considering the opposing bullpen. On the flipside, Pedroia, Youk, Green, and Bay were all patient in their approach and were successful.

Edited by bombdiggz, 25 April 2009 - 11:17 AM.

[Redkluzu]

For anyone who likes to revel in our victory, reading and comparing what everyone says, on Sox and Dawgs, a list of about 20 places to catch up on last night's glory.


Here's my fave from the New York Post:

BOSTON -- When Black Friday comes . . .It throws a black drape over the Yankees' universe.

Usually, it doesn't get any worse than a future Hall of Fame closer flushing a save by giving up a two-run, two-out ninth-inning home run to the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

[bombdiggz]

I'm remembering another observation from last night game, funny how a fine comeback win can make you forget somethings, I thought the umpiring last night was brutal.

Could someone please post the graph of pitch location and called strikes when they have a chance, I'm curious to know if the data actually supports that or if was just my angst before the polite canadian blasted that ball to deep center off Rivera. I thought Lester was getting squeezed a bit and it seemed like Oki got squeezed a couple of times too.

http://www.brooksbas...t...l&sp_type=1

Ok, so I found the data and it's pretty damn clear. The Sox had a lot of strikes lower in the zone and one right in the middle that were called balls, by my count five. On the other hand, there were 3 pitches thrown by a Red Sox outside of the zone called a strike by Cullbrith, while roughly 9 Yankee pitches outside the zone were called strikes. Cullbrith had a pretty bad night last night, missing about 20 calls and the majority of them in favor of the away aquad.

Edited by bombdiggz, 25 April 2009 - 11:35 AM.

[DannyHeep]

To me, the biggest difference between Us and Them is defense. Pedroia's play where he saved a run and threw Jeter out at first was the game changer. Cano doesn't make that play. What a turnaround, that would have been a pretty crappy loss. Every Yankees series I have the same goal, take two out three and hopefully hang one on Mariano. There is only one thing better than 8 in a row...

Lowell should get some love at third base as well. That was a great catch, which saves at least one run, maybe 2.

[bsj]

Lowell should get some love at third base as well. That was a great catch, which saves at least one run, maybe 2.

Lowell has done that multiple times this season. Its really amazing how quick his first step in the field seems to be despite his obvious slowing on the base paths.

[LahoudOrBillyC]

I was watching the MLB network last night and they showed the hit that Luis Gonzalez got to end the 2001 World Series. When that happened, I recall thinking that this was basically the only way to beat Rivera. Get a sawed off bloop hit that lands barely over Jeter's head.

I wonder how many saves Rivera has blown like last night. Not with a couple seeing-eye hits, but with an absolute rocket from Bernie Carbo, err, Jason Bay. Bay wasn't up there looking to "keep the rally alive" and "fight off a good pitch" and "put the ball in play". He was up there to belt the living crap out of the ball. It was incredible.

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

I was watching the MLB network last night and they showed the hit that Luis Gonzalez got to end the 2001 World Series. When that happened, I recall thinking that this was basically the only way to beat Rivera. Get a sawed off bloop hit that lands barely over Jeter's head.

I wonder how many saves Rivera has blown like last night. Not with a couple seeing-eye hits, but with an absolute rocket from Bernie Carbo, err, Jason Bay. Bay wasn't up there looking to "keep the rally alive" and "fight off a good pitch" and "put the ball in play". He was up there to belt the living crap out of the ball. It was incredible.

Rivera's given up at least two other game-winning home runs to the Sox, Hillenbrand's in April 2002 in the 8th inning, and of course Mueller's in Aug. 2004 on Brawl Day. He also gave up a game-tying HR to Varitek in April of 2004, but the Yankees won that game in the bottom of the 9th.

I've always thought that the way to beat Mo was via right-handed batters. Unless he's really off on a particular day, that cutter is murder on LHB, and saws them off exactly the way he sawed off Drew last night in the 9th. RHB have an OPS of 638 off Rivera over the course of his career; LHB are at 515, with a minuscule .259 slugging percentage.

It's always doubly gratifying to beat Rivera because his career has been magnificent.

[LahoudOrBillyC]

It's always doubly gratifying to beat Rivera because his career has been magnificent.

He also handles himself magnificently whether he wins or loses, which is one reason he is still here after all these years. When Mariano pitches on Sunday, he's not going to be all rattled because of what happened on Friday.

Relievers who pound their chest or whine about the boos tend to come and go, while Mariano stays.

Edited by LahoudOrBillyC, 25 April 2009 - 11:39 AM.

[rembrat]

There was also this game where Vernon Wells hit an absolute monster shot to left center.

I'm just hoping we go through today without hearing that JD Drew tweaked something on that double off of Jeter's bat that sent him crashing into the wall.

Edited by rembrat, 25 April 2009 - 11:51 AM.

[Dogman2]

There was also this game where Vernon Wells hit an absolute monster shot to left center.

I'm just hoping we go through today without hearing that JD Drew tweaked something on that double off of Jeter's bat that sent him crashing into the wall.

Hometown scorer. That play should have been ruled an error as the ball was in his glove. Drew's AB in the 9th shows he is healthy, he had a couple decent swings but Rivera's cutter demolished him.

[j44thor]

Hometown scorer. That play should have been ruled an error as the ball was in his glove. Drew's AB in the 9th shows he is healthy, he had a couple decent swings but Rivera's cutter demolished him.

No way was that an error, ball glanced off the tip of his glove as he was approaching the wall.
Pretty funny/sad that Drew's best play in the game was hitting the ball just weak enough so that they couldn't turn the double play in the 9th. If he hits that even 10% harder they likely hit into their 5th DP of the game and Drew leaves to a chorus of people not quite chanting his name.

[Nuf Ced]

Pedroia and Lowell made tremendous plays in the field, but so did Bay. His game tying HR in the ninth got alot of ink today, but he also made an important play in the seventh after Okajima had loaded the bases. Cano hit a line drive to left that could have cleared the bases, but Bay made a diving catch to hold the damage on that play to one run.

[Dogman2]

No way was that an error, ball glanced off the tip of his glove as he was approaching the wall.
Pretty funny/sad that Drew's best play in the game was hitting the ball just weak enough so that they couldn't turn the double play in the 9th. If he hits that even 10% harder they likely hit into their 5th DP of the game and Drew leaves to a chorus of people not quite chanting his name.

I just watched the replay again. Drew got to the ball, wasn't in a dive, and the ball hit his glove. He didn't slam into the wall at full speed, he had time to slow himself down to pick up the ball to keep Jeter on second. I think it should have been scored an error.

[AlNipper49]

He also handles himself magnificently whether he wins or loses, which is one reason he is still here after all these years. When Mariano pitches on Sunday, he's not going to be all rattled because of what happened on Friday.

Relievers who pound their chest or whine about the boos tend to come and go, while Mariano stays.

He's probably my favorite non-Sox ever. It's awesome seeing him pitch because he's one of the four or five baseball players you'll be able to tell your grandkids about, and your grandkids will be interested in hearing about him.

[E5 Yaz]

It's awesome seeing him pitch because he's one of the four or five baseball players you'll be able to tell your grandkids about, and your grandkids will be interested in hearing about him.

And yet, a half-dozen punchbowl turds won't vote for him as a first-ballot HOFer.

Rivera's great, obviously; and what's astonishing is how little you read about him beyond his performance. To be the guy in New York for that long and still be relatively unknown beyond his on-field excellence is amazing.

[Kevin Youkulele]

Pedroia and Lowell made tremendous plays in the field, but so did Bay. His game tying HR in the ninth got alot of ink today, but he also made an important play in the seventh after Okajima had loaded the bases. Cano hit a line drive to left that could have cleared the bases, but Bay made a diving catch to hold the damage on that play to one run.

This made me wonder how many runs above replacement the Sox defense was last night. I'm not going to go through every play, but the Bay catch was probably worth 2.5 (doing a totally qualitative guesstimate of how likely a replacement level LF catches that and how likely it was to be bases-clearing, plus the possibility of the inning continuing with one less out and an extra runner), Pedroia's stop on Jeter's grounder up the middle was probably 1.5, The 4-2-3 DP was worth something over replacement (Pedroia executed perfectly, quick release and perfect throw, followed by Varitek's perfect execution), call it 0.7. Jacoby made a nice catch at the wall earlier in the game, probably worth 0.3 or so. Lowell's diving catch of the liner saved a run plus the opportunity of a guy on second with one less out, easy; call it 1.5.

On the other hand, Drew did not make that catch near the wall, and there were two hits that I thought could have been outs (not that they were easy plays) in the Yankees' first 2 run inning.

So I think there's a decent case that the D was worth 4+ runs last night.

The Yankees were no slouches at turning DPs, but I do not remember many instances of taking hits away, whereas the Red Sox did that at least three times.

[Archer1979]

Anyone else think that Girardi overmanaged this one? Specifically, I found it odd that he chose to twice make pitching changes (one mid at bat) with Ellsbury coming to the plate. I though Joba had enough left in the tank to get Ellsbury. And bringing in Rivera for the four out-save seemed like a move you make in September, not in April.


Just looking at the Sox page on ESPN, they quoted the Elias Sports Bureau with:

YOUK BEATS NEW YORK

Kevin Youkilis hit an 11th inning home run to beat the Yankees at Fenway Park Friday night. The last Red Sox player to hit an extra-inning walk-off home run against the Yankees was Jim Gosger, who connected in the 16th inning off Dooley Womack on June 4, 1966.

This must be one of those things where playoff games don't count.

[SoxFanSince57]

Did folks notice that Jeter was thrown out at first base twice last night by 6-10 feet each time? It just caught me by surprise. I know the circumstances, but he was not even close to the bag.

Love to hate on Jeter. His wheels are slowing down. A lot.

[Pandemonium67]

In the other thread Browndog rightfully mentions that Tek deserves some glove love too for saving Lopez from a WP or two with RsISP.

[JohntheBaptist]

It really is pretty amazing what Kevin Youkilis has become. My initial impression of him beyond what Moneyball brought was that he would be a useful, flexible guy that would get on base, hit a few bombs, and play adequate defense.

Since the start of 08, he's been one of the best hitters in the game, a legit MVP candidate, a Gold Glove 1B who rarely seems to make mistakes and can easily slide over to 3B if need be and give you solid, above average defense. He's been incredibly durable and his power has developed to the point where his SLG has risen every season since 05.

He won't maintain his current Barry Bonds impression, but it really is impressive how much he has wrung out of what he was given. People hang that collar on Pedroia, but that story always seemed to fit Youkilis a bit more to me. Such an interesting player.

[Philip Jeff Frye]

It really is pretty amazing what Kevin Youkilis has become. My initial impression of him beyond what Moneyball brought was that he would be a useful, flexible guy that would get on base, hit a few bombs, and play adequate defense.

Since the start of 08, he's been one of the best hitters in the game, a legit MVP candidate, a Gold Glove 1B who rarely seems to make mistakes and can easily slide over to 3B if need be and give you solid, above average defense. He's been incredibly durable and his power has developed to the point where his SLG has risen every season since 05.

He won't maintain his current Barry Bonds impression, but it really is impressive how much he has wrung out of what he was given. People hang that collar on Pedroia, but that story always seemed to fit Youkilis a bit more to me. Such an interesting player.

Not only that, but how often did we hear over the offseason (and I was one of them saying it) that last season was probably his career year, a season from which we could only reasonably expect some backsliding? Lots of season to go obviously, but he's been amazing.

Edited by Kevin Mortons Ghost, 25 April 2009 - 03:00 PM.

[cwright]

Here are a few pictures from last night's game - not the greatest, but a few worth seeing anyway:



first inning troubles for Joba:


Game over?



Papelbon gets out of a jam:


Game (really) over:

[LoweTek]

...an absolute rocket from Bernie Carbo, err, Jason Bay. Bay wasn't up there looking to "keep the rally alive" and "fight off a good pitch" and "put the ball in play". He was up there to belt the living crap out of the ball. It was incredible.

I too was reminded of the Carbo moment by this game. Had Youk's not been a no doubter (or happened in the 12th), the similarities would have been more interesting.

I was forced by circumstances to miss the second half of the game last night. This morning I did not pick up the paper or look elsewhere and went straight to the game thread, picking up where I had left off not knowing the result. I don't know if anyone has ever done that before but the moans and groans were incredible to read the morning after not knowing the outcome. The thrown in towels, "worst loss I ever saw," dog kicking, etc. was gold. Funny thing is as I was reading, especially after the Paps K of Teixeira, I could sense somehow something would happen. I'm confident the "find a way to lose" days are far behind this team. They are just too good. Big play defense when behind is always a very good sign.

And I am convinced the Yankees are in deep, deep trouble. Mo is no longer invulnerable and the bridge to him is ricketty at best, not to mention the road leading the bridge. If CC and Burnett don't make a run at 20 each and Pettitte doesn't contribute an unexpected share, these guys have serious dependency and depth problems and will struggle to stay in it. I don't think Joba has proven anything yet. Not what their suffering followers expected I bet.

There is a deliciousness about it.

[Pearl Wilson]

Great, cwright, love the Papelbon pic.

I expect to see that same pose in a few more minutes.

[Worst Trade Evah]

Still can't really believe Lopez got out of that inning. I thought that was going to be a huge add-on inning making the game look like a blow-out. Pedroia was so solid defensively last night.

Delcarmen did a nice job cleaning up Okajima's mess.

The game thread was pretty funny -- for 8 1/2 innings it was pretty tough to watch, and felt like one of those nut-buster games. But it ended up pretty great after all.

Edited by Worst Trade Evah, 25 April 2009 - 07:53 PM.

[Rudy Pemberton]

Don't think it's worthy of a new thread as the season is still fairly early, but in the midst of all the worries about Ortiz (which clearly get more real every day), it's worth noting that Mike Lowell who was clearly cooked in the minds of many is having a pretty frieking good start to '08. Sure, he can't really move but he's playing every day and hitting the hell out of the ball. I'm not sure any of us expected a bounce back like what we've seen so far.

Seconding the Youkilis love; imagine if the Sox had traded him for Teixeira a few years back and seen Teixeira leave? I don't think that was ever a move the Sox seriously considered, but sheesh.

Ramon Ramirez is pretty awesome too.

[Snodgrass'Muff]

While, overall I'm very happy with how Tito has managed these last two games, I do want to point out an obvious mistake today. First, I can understand bringing Beckett out to start one more inning, but when he led that inning off with a walk and Tito decided to leave him in, I was pulling my hair out. Of course, Damon hit a home run in the next at bat. I really can't think of a reason to have left him in at that point. Sox had come back from down 6-0, were finally leading, Beckett was looking shaky all day... and he walked the first batter. Seemed like a no brainer to me.

Otherwise, these have been some really enjoyable games to watch. And I'm feeling much better about the offense than I was after the first week.

[DieHardSoxFan1]

Here's a thought that just occurred to me about the difference between Theo and Cashman. It always has seemed to me that Cashman's weakness is in crossing the t's and dotting the i's; it's amazing how a club with so many big-salaried star players could so consistently be undermined or undone by a lack of depth and hence problems with the bench and middle relief. It just occurs to me now that I am thinking of it the wrong way: I should be asking why Theo is so good.

And I think the answer may be simply that he works harder (and by stetting the tone gets the same from his assistants) . How did the Sox F.O. decide that Nick Green was one of the best mlFA MI to sign while Cashman and crew settled for Angel Berroa? Well, it may just involve staying in the office until midnight reading scouting reports (and, at the meta-level, staying there till midnight deciding which scouts to employ). To dominate in this industry takes more than consistently sound decision making (and I think Cashman has been very good once you factor in the "it's not my money he's spending" factor); it takes not just thoroughness but a degree of thoroughness that, when done right, would boggle the mind of the average fan (and probably more than a few rival GMs).

This is great and all, but have you forgotten about Aaron Small, Shawn Chacon, Karim Garcia and Glenallen Hill? Small, a veritable castoff, was scooped up by Cashman in 2005 and was arguably the club's most valuable pitcher down the stretch. In 15 games, Small went 10-0 with a 3.20 ERA and helped the Yankees achieve their 11th consecutive postseason appearance. Moreover, the trade for Chacon was basically laughed off around here in July 2005, and all the right-hander did was post a 149 ERA+ 79 innings. I guess old Cashman must've exercised his due diligence on this pair while Theo was off shooting pool at Billiard's. How else to explain these acquisitions without intimating laziness?

Nick Green is a nice story and he's certainly filled in for Lugo/Lowrie admirably, but the hard truth is we don't know what happened behind the scenes. Furthermore, your rose-colored postulating adds nothing to this discussion.

[OilCanShotTupac]

And I am convinced the Yankees are in deep, deep trouble. Mo is no longer invulnerable and the bridge to him is ricketty at best, not to mention the road leading the bridge. If CC and Burnett don't make a run at 20 each and Pettitte doesn't contribute an unexpected share, these guys have serious dependency and depth problems and will struggle to stay in it. I don't think Joba has proven anything yet. Not what their suffering followers expected I bet.

There is a deliciousness about it.

I think this is exactly right. The Yanks are an old, unathletic team with a crappy bench, a lack of depth in starting pitching, and a shallow pen.

They are in trouble, IMO.

[paulftodd]

Tito did his Grady Little impression tonight leaving Beckett in. I figure he was trying to save the BP and make Josh "earn" the win and not too concerned about the game being tied up in the 6th, given our BP advantage, so he is forgiven. His going with Lopez last night was beyond belief, but someone must have made a sacrifice to the BABIP gods to escape unscathed.

It used to be that playing the MFY meant it was a 7 inning game, you either had a healthy lead or you were going to lose in some fashion since they had a better BP and always got the bad calls to go their way. It's a complete reversal now, it's still a 7 inning game, but now it's the MFY that need a 6 run lead in the 8th to be sure they win. They can't relax with that pen. What they spend, 12 million for Marte after he was terrible for them in 2008?

Dustin gave us a Buckner moment, but that will go down the memory hole due to a better outcome, and he looked like Manny on the basebaths getting deked by Jeter. But he has got his average up to 314 and all is forgiven.

Our 6, 7 and 8 hitters accounted for 13 of the RBI's. Youks hitting 4th and scoring 4 R w/o a RBI. He must feel like a secondary leadoff hitter in the batting order.

Dreamboat has now surpassed Big Papi in HR's. A nice homestand for Papi, 700 OPS, but a number of those wall ball doubles are outs in other parks.

Paps continues to do his Foulke act. A 1.2 Whip, BB/9 close to 5, needing more than 20 pitches/IP. Glad to see him go more to the splitter tonight though.

Teks grand slam was huge, and is on pace to hit 40 HR. Surely the ball is juiced this year, or has Tek got his swing back.

Lowell has returned to being the RBI machine that he was in 2007, leading the league in RBI's batting 7th. I thank the lord we never got Teixeira, and that Theo listened to the fans and gave Lowell a 3 yr deal (assuming he stays healthy).

Of course, the MFY are without A-Rod and Wang, but they have some serious problems IMHO. Joba is nowhere near his 2008 velocity, 3-4 mph slower and that BP has serious issues, especially with Bruney out injured. There is no bridge to Rivera, and I do believe the Red Sox are in his head in any event. And Jeter as pointed out earlier has slowed down significantly. His defense in the WBC was horrible, and he looks to continue to decline on defense in the regular season. At 35 yo, he is a SS that should be looking for another position to play.

Girardi is a manager from the neck down. Inexcusable benching Melky as hot as he has been and going with Gardner, and then not having Melky replace Gardner in CF after he pinch hit, with the MFY behind, in case his bat was needed in the 9th (turned out to be moot after we scored 4 more). His willingness to sacrifice and give up an out with no outs and very slow runners on 1B when behind at Fenway last night had me scratching my head. How they let Wang start the season when he has not been able to do any running is incredible. Pitchers can not pitch with weak legs. Not complaining of course, just saying. Also, after CC being abused last year, Girardi lets CC throw 120 pitches in April.

My prediction is the MFY self destruct by June and Girardi gets sent packing in July. Still early, only 16 games, but the Red Sox look like the upper dawgs for the AL East title at this point. Toronto can not be for real.

Edited by paulftodd, 26 April 2009 - 01:13 AM.

[geoduck no quahog]

After 17 games, the Red Sox lead all of baseball in OPS.

And they haven't yet played in the newest lyrical little bandbox known as Yankee Stadium.

[Redkluzu]

From the Herald:

The best Red Sox-Yankees games can be remembered with just a couple of words. Pedro-Clemens in 2000. Aaron Bleeping Boone in 2003. The Varitek-A-Rod melee in 2004. To this list, the squads can add a new name - The Ellsbury Steal in 2009.

Plus some good commentary here by Lamothe on the "anatomy" of the steal, highlighting:

Lefty pitcher = bad view of third base....
Lefty batter = prime conditions: Ellsbury swiped home with J.D. Drew hitting, a situation that improves the chances of stealing home from near-impossible to at least unlikely (Ellsbury, after all, does have those Looney Tunes wheels). First, a lefty like Drew being up kept him out of the way of Ellsbury, who barreled through the right-handed batter's box so fast, he stumbled before he scored. It also led to Yankees third baseman Angel Berroa playing further off the bag than he would have if, say, Mike Lowell was up. Without Berroa in the picture, Ellsbury wandered well down the third-base line, pretty much daring the Yankees to react to him. They didn't until it was too late....
The Yankees didn't want to pitch to Youkilis....
Drew's poker face sealed the deal....

[AlNipper49]

Making this into a general purpose megathread discussion. We'll regularly pull out pertinent discussions that can survive on their own into their own threads. PLEASE do not let this stop you from making new threads... as it stands I'm not sure this idea will work as the biggest problem in here is folks hesitant to start new threads. We shall see.

[mabrowndog]

Pedroia will be featured in a segment on ESPN's E:60 this Tuesday at 7 pm. Michael Smith is the reporter. Here's a preview:

[Eric Van]

Jason Bay in his seven highest-leverage PA: 3/3, 2B, 2 HR, 3 BB (1 IBB), and a SF that was actually a positive event by WPA. In all 23 high-lev PA, he is .467 / .609 / 1.133.

In contrast, Mike Lowell is 1/16, HR, 2 GDP in his highest-lev PA (the HR being the 3-run bomb off of Alabaladejo). He's .200 / .231 / .480 in all 26 high-lev PA.

It's strange how people can get reputations for being clutch in defiance of the objective reality. Lowell's clutch differentials starting from 2001: -1.09, -1.80, -0.29, -0.60, -1.21, -0.29, -0.15, +0.07, -0.68 so far this year. Admittedly, he was good, and clutch to boot, in the '07 post-season, but I think people were already thinking of him that way. If they hadn't, I'm not sure anyone would have noticed it, the way no one noticed Mark Bellhorn's +1.49 clutch in the 2004 regular season and .371 wOBA and +0.27 clutch in the post-season.

[Eric Van]

Jason Bay in his seven highest-leverage PA: 3/3, 2B, 2 HR, 3 BB (1 IBB), and a SF that was actually a positive event by WPA. In all 23 high-lev PA, he is .467 / .609 / 1.133.

Bay has come up three more times with LI > 2.25 and has doubled (tied the game off of Sowers in the bottom of the 6th on May 7th), homered (game-tying bomb off of Shields in the 6th the next night), and had an RBI groundout that was a positive event by WPA (grounder with the bases loaded that tied the game off of Scott Sheilds two nights ago).

He now has 12 PA with LI > 2.25 and has a perfect record: single, two doubles, three home runs, three walks (one of them intentional), positive WPA SF, and two positive WPA RBI groundouts.

Edited by Eric Van, 14 May 2009 - 11:36 AM.

[SoxScout]

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Mariners left-hander Erik Bedard will likely miss his next scheduled start Saturday night in Boston.

Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu said Thursday that Bedard is a probable scratch because of a tight right hamstring. Wakamatsu said he should be able to make a decision on Friday.

Bedard threw a season-high 110 pitches in a season-low 4 2-3 innings Sunday at Minnesota. He is 2-1 with a 2.53 ERA.

Wakamatsu said the Mariners would likely fill his spot in the rotation from the current staff. Left-hander Garrett Olson, who has a 2.57 ERA, is among the possibilities.

http://www.usatoday....967111027_x.htm

Niiice.

[Foulkey Reese]

So no Bedard or Felix for that series. Niiice indeed.

[Eric Van]

So no Bedard or Felix for that series. Niiice indeed.

I've often wondered how much luck like that evens off over the course of a season.

Great historical project for some winter: take a look at some classic pennant races and see if the teams involved had equal luck getting or avoiding opposition aces.

[glennhoffmania]

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Mariners left-hander Erik Bedard will likely miss his next scheduled start Saturday night in Boston.

Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu said Thursday that Bedard is a probable scratch because of a tight right hamstring. Wakamatsu said he should be able to make a decision on Friday.

Bedard threw a season-high 110 pitches in a season-low 4 2-3 innings Sunday at Minnesota. He is 2-1 with a 2.53 ERA.

Wakamatsu said the Mariners would likely fill his spot in the rotation from the current staff. Left-hander Garrett Olson, who has a 2.57 ERA, is among the possibilities.

I'm pretty sure that the game is in Seattle.

[trekfan55]

I'm not excited at seeing the Sox face Garret Olson either. Young lefty is usually death to this lineup. Combined with the fact that Safeco seems to suck whatever remains of their abilities and that just gives me the creeps.

[LondonSox]

I'm not excited at seeing the Sox face Garret Olson either. Young lefty is usually death to this lineup. Combined with the fact that Safeco seems to suck whatever remains of their abilities and that just gives me the creeps.

On the Ellsbury, Lugo, Bailey, Green, Bay core of the lineup you mean? Or the normal red sox lineup?