ALDS (BOS/HOU) series discussion thread (GM1@4:08PM, GM2@2:05PM)

Ale Xander

Hamilton
SoSH Member
Oct 31, 2013
72,436
He went longer yesterday than any of the starters so far.
We still have both Pomeranz and Edro. Price isn't starting game 5 (although he may have a long relief appearance) unless today's game goes either 15 innings or 15 hours.
 

Harry Hooper

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jan 4, 2002
34,368
I'd rather have Sale or Pomeranz start Wednesday capable of going 100+ pitches if they're throwing well than start Price and need to pull him after 50-60 pitches even if he's throwing a perfect game.
You would rather do it that way, but it's easy to imagine many Sox players might feel differently. It's not their call, though.
 

porschefan

New Member
Oct 31, 2005
362
No, I didn't mean he's ready to throw a full start. What I meant is his results so far have been better than what we've gotten from the starters.

I'm not sure I agree the chances are better that they get 100+ good pitches from Sale or Pom.

So clearly, he's now conditioned to throw a full start's worth of pitches on Wednesday, two days after that lengthy relief outing.

Let's not confuse quick hook in a poor outing with an inability to throw 100 pitches if needed. I'd rather have Sale or Pomeranz start Wednesday capable of going 100+ pitches if they're throwing well than start Price and need to pull him after 50-60 pitches even if he's throwing a perfect game.
 

czar

fanboy
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Jul 16, 2005
4,312
Ann Arbor
Pete Abraham‏Verified account @PeteAbe 34m34 minutes ago
Second time all season Kimbrel allowed 3 hits in an outing.

When one of your best players submits a wildly bad performance like this, that can decide a short series. happened this time.
Posted this on Twitter, but Kimbrel had zero whiffs (swings/misses) on 25 fastballs today.

That percentage was 15% during the regular season.

Happens, just an unfortunate time for it to happen.
 

brandonchristensen

Loves Aaron Judge
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Feb 4, 2012
38,144
Sox played two hard fought games, and two shitty games. Luckily the hard fought ones were the last two of the season.

Go Astros. Go Indians.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,375
Update on starting pitching the past two playoffs...

2016 Porcello: 4.1 ip, 6 h, 5 r, 5 er, 0 bb, 6 k
2016 Price: 3.1 ip, 6 h, 5 r, 5 er, 2 bb, 3 k
2016 Buchholz: 4.0 ip, 6 h, 2 r, 2 er, 1 bb, 4 k
2017 Sale: 5.0 ip, 9 h, 7 r, 7 er, 1 bb, 6 k
2017 Pomeranz: 2.0 ip, 5 h, 4 r, 4 er, 1 bb, 1 k
2017 Fister: 1.1 ip, 4 h, 3 r, 3 er, 1 bb, 1 k
2017 Porcello: 3.0 ip, 5 h, 2 r, 2 er, 3 bb, 4 k

TOTALS: 23.0 ip, 41 h, 26 r, 26 er, 9 bb, 22 k, 10.17 era, 2.17 whip, 8.6 k/9

That is just unbelievable. Seven games, pitched by some really good pitchers, and THAT is how they perform? Not a single even remotely decent start in seven straight playoff games. Nothing. Every one of them was BAD, and some were far worse than bad.
 

Dr Manhattan

New Member
Oct 9, 2017
46
Something I am curious about which is kind of tangential to this thread but probably not worthy of a separate one is how much the bullpen narrows once you get into the playoffs, but why is that, it seems like most teams decide only 1 or 2 guys can be trusted "when its close" and often run out their nominated aces into unusual usage patterns. But is that defensible. I mean if you have an ERA of 4.5 it stands to reason that in general you are giving up a run every other inning, like one run. and half the time blanks (and probably its more likely that you give up 2 or 3 runs in an inning sometimes and nothing at all the majority of times). I get you dont want to risk the 2 or 3 run innings in a tense situation, and that in the playoffs maybe nerves get to the poorer players, or the hitters are better, but mostly discussions tend to focus along the lines of "Sale to Kimbrel" or else. But everyone in baseball gets the batter out more often than not. A good batting avg is one third. That means two thirds of the time they're out. "Bad" relievers still would seem to be more likely to get people out than not, and to let in not lots of runs but the odd one. I know someone was looking at the goose egg stat for closers, but has anyone ever looked into goose eggs across the whole gamut of relievers and if it supports just ignoring the majority of your bullpen on a regular basis in order to get long or unusual usage out of the one or two guys with the "trusted" label?
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,375
Just wanted to point out that Corey Kluber, erstwhile AL Cy Young award winner, had these two outings in the ALDS against the Yankees:

2.2 ip, 7 h, 6 r, 6 er, 1 bb, 4 k
3.2 ip, 3 h, 3 r, 3 er, 2 bb, 6 k

6.1 ip, 10 h, 9 r, 9 er, 3 bb, 10 k, 12.79 era, 2.05 whip, 14.2 k/9

Nice k/9 number, but otherwise a total, absolute, horrific, Hindenburg-level disaster. As frustrated as we were with Pomeranz, Porcello, and Sale, imagine how we'd feel if Kluber gave us THAT.

Holy cow.