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  1. Savin Hillbilly

    Most exciting plays in Red Sox history (for the Casual Fan)

    I have to put in my vote for this one. Not the most consequential HR in Sox history, since they lost the series in the end. But in context, with Papi breaking out of a horrific slump to put the Sox right back into the thick of a game and a series that both looked lost, it was utterly...
  2. Savin Hillbilly

    Most exciting plays in Red Sox history (for the Casual Fan)

    "I'm just a simple alien. Your box scores and sabermetrics frighten me. I don't know what clutch is. But I do know that my client, David Ortiz, deserves both punitive and compensatory damages."
  3. Savin Hillbilly

    Revisiting the Xander-at-shortstop debate

    I have thought all along that a corner OF spot was X's ultimate destination. He has a bat to carry there, and tracking down flies has always seemed to me like one of the better parts of his defensive game.
  4. Savin Hillbilly

    All 2000s Red Sox Team

    As a general rule I think this is a good principle, but I'd be inclined to make an exception for Sale, because this.... View: https://youtu.be/ZTnZO5H-kAY
  5. Savin Hillbilly

    Bard is back! (on the Rockies, not the Red Sox)

    Ah yes, the 99 mph screwball that will never die. It wasn't just the absurd combination of velocity and movement, but the letter-perfect location; it leaves his hand looking like it's heading for the lower outside edge of the plate, where Swisher might have hoped to at least foul it off. By the...
  6. Savin Hillbilly

    Red Sox name 47 players to their player pool

    Now every time I see Mookie's name I'm going to hear it in Daffy Duck's voice.
  7. Savin Hillbilly

    David Laurila interview with Don Buford

    What a fun read. Love the Ed Runge story.
  8. Savin Hillbilly

    Would you feel safe attending a game at Fenway tonight?

    And the poll results tell you why. We took the virus seriously from fairly early on (though not quite early enough) and have shown good community discipline on the whole. The fact that this is working pretty well at the moment is a reason to keep doing it, not to stop. Second half of 2021 is...
  9. Savin Hillbilly

    MVP of 2004 Postseason

    You know, I had kind of forgotten the significance of that being Tito's first season. Of course it's impossible to forget that the previous year was the Tragedy of Grady, but Tito was such a low-key presence that his influence doesn't necessarily jump to the front of my mind as a factor in how...
  10. Savin Hillbilly

    MVP of 2004 Postseason

    I didn't exactly say they weren't a terrific offensive team; my point was that a disproportionate amount of the terrificness was concentrated at three lineup positions, compared with the Sox, who had good to outstanding hitters at all but two positions. I mean, yes, Sanders had an OPS+ of 103...
  11. Savin Hillbilly

    MVP of 2004 Postseason

    And that was really all they had to do, because that was surely one of the most lopsided lineups ever to make it to the WS. Their 3-5 guys were even better than ours, but that was basically all she wrote. They only had three batting order slots with an OPS over .825; the Sox only had three with...
  12. Savin Hillbilly

    MVP of 2004 Postseason

    Yeah, I don't think saying the ALCS was the real WS is a knock on the Cardinals, it's just an assessment of the relative importance and drama of the two series as experienced by fans in the moment. Getting past the Yankees in the way we did made everything else feel like an epilogue. Of course...
  13. Savin Hillbilly

    Red Sox release statement about multiple incidents of racism at Fenway Park

    Assuming you're right that Boston was not as much of a factor in the Great Migration as other northern cities, isn't it also true that Boston had a fairly sizable and long-standing pre-Migration black community? Is there a good history of African Americans in Boston out there? Googling, I find...
  14. Savin Hillbilly

    Red Sox release statement about multiple incidents of racism at Fenway Park

    Granted that this would be purely symbolic, how about a Black Lives Matter Day at Fenway? Obviously that doesn't take the place of more substantial uses of their economic and social clout to address structural racism, but it would at least be a very visible solidarity gesture and a step toward...
  15. Savin Hillbilly

    2020 MLB Draft Thread

    Seems like if Wong is going to make a contribution the organization has to figure out how to handle his type of player. Specifically, they need to be open to carrying three guys capable of catching at least in a pinch, so that they don't get locked into a "he's either a catcher or he's something...
  16. Savin Hillbilly

    Least Favorite Red Sox Heroes

    Thank you--couldn't agree more. I always felt like he was the anti-Napoli -- he was trying for the same good-old-boy vibe, except with Nap it seemed genuine and open-hearted and with Gomes it felt smarmy and douchey. That team mostly consisted of guys who were really easy to like--Nap...
  17. Savin Hillbilly

    It never gets old - reflections on Oct 17-20, 2004

    This sounds remarkably as if you think he didn't hit two home runs.
  18. Savin Hillbilly

    It never gets old - reflections on Oct 17-20, 2004

    I'll admit that I was about a half-game behind you in that arc. After Game 5, I was still mostly in the "well, at least they made a fight of it" phase, with maybe just a glimmer of hope fighting that. I think I reached "wow, this might actually happen" after the ruling on the Bellhorn tater in...
  19. Savin Hillbilly

    Ideal Realignment

    One way to align them geographically, while preserving most traditional rivalries, would be a three-conference setup with two divisions in each conference: Eastern Conference Taconic Division BOS NYY TOR NYM PHI Piedmont Division BAL WAS ATL TBR MIA Central Conference Lake Division CLE DET MIL...
  20. Savin Hillbilly

    It never gets old - reflections on Oct 17-20, 2004

    Me too, I confess, though I came back a little sooner than you. I turned off the TV halfway through game 3; I just couldn't take any more. I missed game 4 entirely--the shame is ineffaceable--and then was back in front of the TV for game 5. Which is equivalent, in the Church of Sox, to checking...