ALDS vs. MFY—Buckle Up

Captaincoop

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I'm sure this came up in the gamethread, but how does Eduardo Rodriguez blatantly dog it last night on the Judge grounder?

That's bad enough for a game against Minnesota in May. How can you pull something like that it in the seventh inning of a 3-1, still very winnable playoff game against the Yankees? And then he lies to the media and says he "slipped" on the mound when he clearly didn't.

It's just inexcusable, and it led to the whole three-run inning. How do you do that?
Did the Sox announce who the Game 3 and 4 starters were prior to last night?

I might have missed it, but I expected Ed to be starting a game in this series, especially with two games at Yankee Stadium. Maybe he did, too?
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Did the Sox announce who the Game 3 and 4 starters were prior to last night?
The Game 3/4 starters were announced today (Eovaldi/Porcello) but really the only news in today's announcement was the order they were going to throw. It was already established that ERod was going to be in the pen for this series.
 

JohntheBaptist

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Rodriguez was announced as part of the playoff bullpen sometime during the last two weeks of the season. He was pitching out of the bullpen to end the year, including the last series against the Yankees, in preparation.
 

54thMA

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The Yankees achieved their goal of winning one of the two games in Fenway. And really they have had all the momentum since the sixth inning of Game 1, which felt like if there was one more inning in that game the Yankees were going to take the lead.

The Yankees are 7-0 at home this post season and last. They have to feel confident moving forward in this series.
Maybe next year Costanza can petition the league to extend all playoff games in which the gashouse gorillas are trailing by one inning so that they have a shot at winning.
 

jon abbey

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I'm sure this came up in the gamethread, but how does Eduardo Rodriguez blatantly dog it last night on the Judge grounder?

That's bad enough for a game against Minnesota in May. How can you pull something like that it in the seventh inning of a 3-1, still very winnable playoff game against the Yankees? And then he lies to the media and says he "slipped" on the mound when he clearly didn't.

It's just inexcusable, and it led to the whole three-run inning. How do you do that?
This was definitely strange, but the majority of the time when something like this happens, it turns out later that the player has a mild strain or something that they are playing through and they've been instructed not to run hard if possible beforehand. If that was the case, of course he wouldn't say anything until the season is over.
 

RedOctober3829

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This was definitely strange, but the majority of the time when something like this happens, it turns out later that the player has a mild strain or something that they are playing through and they've been instructed not to run hard if possible beforehand. If that was the case, of course he wouldn't say anything until the season is over.
Cora addressed this today in his presser. He chastized Rodriguez for this play and made no excuses for him.
 

joyofsox

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mauidano

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https://nesn.com/2018/10/red-soxs-alex-cora-reacts-to-aaron-judges-new-york-new-york-troll-job/

Evan Drellich tweet: "Alex Cora said Dustin Pedroia mentioned the video of Aaron Judge playing New York, New York on way out of Fenway Park last night. Cora indicated he wasn’t bothered "You gotta ask him if it was something for us but I doubt it. … Just probably something they do when they win.""
Our problems are significantly larger than Judge's choice of music. Give me a break. Boston should win the freaking game and this is even less an non issue. Pedey would do well to focus on helping the players win than make something out of nothing.
 

curly2

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I was sitting with Clemente38 for that play and she opined that EdRo might have held up flashing back to his injury earlier this summer on a similar play, and I agreed
Maybe he was. I've never had something like that happen to me, so I'm sure I would be gun-shy going forward, and I would want to get within 10 feet of a running Aaron Judge either. But a pitcher is going to have to cover first, so he's going to have to get through it.

The postgame excuse is concerning, though.
 

geoduck no quahog

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Rewatch that play. Throw to first probably doesn’t get there in time even if Rodriguez is standing on the bag. Still, no excuse for not hustling.

Man, this Yankee team is good. That lineup 1-8 (plus shithead) has no soft spots. The bullpen is lights out. Hate to say it, but Voit is a huge get (until one of our guys drills him in the face). Red Sox need to start moving the line like they did during the season. All the talk about not relying on the long ball is great, unless they rely on the long ball.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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after the third inning of yesterdays game we had 3 hits..


5 of our 8 hits came either in the third inning or first inning...

Today, we had 5 hits...

our 5 hits consisted of.

(3) innings with 1 hit

(1) innings of 2 hits

the rest of the innings Zero hits..
What is the point of this? And what does this have to do with Alex Cora, whom I was discussing in my post?

The Sox have played two games against the Yankees and haven't hit particularly well in either. That is a fact. However, the data you cite is from a very small sample size and is essentially meaningless. These series are short and anything can happen where random outcomes can and do determine who wins and whose season ends. It especially sucks if a less talented team somehow wins a series because they had a hot pitcher or the better team's bats go silent for a while. However that isn't the case in this instance.

I don't know if you are suggesting that Cora's failings have contributed to the Sox struggles at the plate but if you, or anyone else believes that, I would love to see any data that suggest modern managers affect a hitter's approach.

As a side note, whomever wins this series is deserving because both teams are damn good. People should also remind themselves of this when the Sox struggle against the Yankees too. The Sox aren't carrying a slightly better version of the Orioles here. This Yankees squad could easily win the whole thing and nobody should be surprised.

Finally, Kay Hanley is a Goddess and Ryan Braiser will forever have respect. "Get the f*** back in the box", indeed...
 

soxhop411

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What is the point of this? And what does this have to do with Alex Cora, whom I was discussing in my post?

The Sox have played two games against the Yankees and haven't hit particularly well in either. That is a fact. However, the data you cite is from a very small sample size and is essentially meaningless. These series are short and anything can happen where random outcomes can and do determine who wins and whose season ends. It especially sucks if a less talented team somehow wins a series because they had a hot pitcher or the better team's bats go silent for a while. However that isn't the case in this instance.

I don't know if you are suggesting that Cora's failings have contributed to the Sox struggles at the plate but if you, or anyone else believes that, I would love to see any data that suggest modern managers affect a hitter's approach.

As a side note, whomever wins this series is deserving because both teams are damn good. People should also remind themselves of this when the Sox struggle against the Yankees too. The Sox aren't carrying a slightly better version of the Orioles here. This Yankees squad could easily win the whole thing and nobody should be surprised.

Finally, Kay Hanley is a Goddess and Ryan Braiser will forever have respect. "Get the f*** back in the box", indeed...
No... I am in agreement with you.... Im just showing that even the "A" lineup i game 1 did very little outside the third inning
 

NJ_Sox_Fan

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I know everyone wanted the Sox to win both, but I’m not all that upset with a split. I was already pretty certain this would go 5, and if I got to choose how splitting the first two played out, I’d choose exactly like it did (Sale looking great, and Price looking like Price vs Yanks)

Sox offense hasn’t done much, and they’ve split. Hopefully they hit better in the toilet and can split to send it back home, and back to Sale.
 

dhappy42

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I know everyone wanted the Sox to win both, but I’m not all that upset with a split. I was already pretty certain this would go 5, and if I got to choose how splitting the first two played out, I’d choose exactly like it did (Sale looking great, and Price looking like Price vs Yanks)

Sox offense hasn’t done much, and they’ve split. Hopefully they hit better in the toilet and can split to send it back home, and back to Sale.
Fuck that. Win two at the Toilet and party on their lawn.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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No... I am in agreement with you.... Im just showing that even the "A" lineup i game 1 did very little outside the third inning
That is fair enough.

Five and even seven game series are just so subject to randomness. And when you have two very good teams playing one another, just about anything can happen.

As NJ Sox Fan and bosockboy point out, for the Red Sox to do anything in the post-season, they will need to win on the road.

Finally, we have been extremely blessed as Sox fans (Yankee fans too for that matter) in that we've seen plenty of meaningful October games. The one take-away I have is that it is almost never easy when teams are fairly evenly matched. Setting aside jokes about the Sox bullpen or the bottom of their line-up, there typically are no easy AAAA pitchers throwing straight fastballs down the middle of the plate nor are their super easy outs in a given lineup. Instead the games are tight and the team who executes better in one sequence may result in a tiny margin that means victory. Its not easy to watch but generally speaking, its what makes baseball better than any other sport. It just sucks when its your team who got out executed or when a slow roller finds a hole or when an error changes everything. On the other hand, when it goes right, there is nothing like it in sports imho.
 

bigq

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I'm sorry you missed Game 1. Leon was incredible behind the plate, best I've seen on all those 58 footers.
He certainly was. I'm not in favor of sitting Leon. I don't think the alternatives are upgrades. Anything he does offensively is a bonus.

I am in favor of getting Devers and Holt more at bats.
 
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Koufax

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Not hard to do, consider how shaky the 3B defense has been and how 2B and 3B have largely been a black hole offensively.
 

Wake49

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Rodriguez was announced as part of the playoff bullpen sometime during the last two weeks of the season. He was pitching out of the bullpen to end the year, including the last series against the Yankees, in preparation.
If last night was any indication, it looks like he needs some more preparation.
 

BaseballJones

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The Red Sox took the division by 8 games, which makes it feel like there's a huge gap between these two teams. There's not, especially over a 5-game series.

The Sox' winning percentage was .667. Project that over five games and it comes to 3.335 wins.
The Yanks' winning percentage was .617. Project that over five games and it comes to 3.085 wins.

We are talking about the difference of 0.25 wins over a five game series. A quarter of a game difference. In other words, when you're taking these two team and playing a five game series, it's basically a total crapshoot as to who wins. (The season series was 10-9...as close as it gets.)

After two games, here are some stats...

Starting pitching
NY: 7.0 ip, 7 h, 6 r, 6 er, 2 bb, 6 k, 7.71 era, 1.29 whip, 7.7 k/9
Bos: 7.0 ip, 8 h, 5 r, 5 er, 4 bb, 8 k, 6.43 era, 1.71 whip, 10.3 k/9

Relief pitching
NY: 10.0 ip, 6 h, 1 r, 1 er, 4 bb, 7 k, 0.90 era, 1.00 whip, 6.3 k/9
Bos: 11.0 ip, 10 h, 5 r, 5 er, 8 bb, 12 k, 4.09 era, 1.64 whip, 9.8 k/9

Batting
NY: .257/.366/.429/.794, 4 homers (Yanks' regular season team ops: .781)
Bos: .213/.279/.344/.624, 2 homers (Sox' regular season team ops: .792)
 

mfried

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My informal observation about pitching: the successful Sox starters vs. the Yanks over the year have been Sale and Eovaldi. What do they have in common? 95+ and some sort of secondary pitch. This spells trouble for Porcello and Price. Erod wasn’t throwing 95 as he can in a relief stint. He thought finesse would work. Probably not vs. mfy.
 

Zimmer's Helmet

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Cora addressed this today in his presser. He chastized Rodriguez for this play and made no excuses for him.
One thing I truly respect about your manager (and your GM who empowers him) - he doesn't sugarcoat squat. He publicly holds his players accountable. I wish Boone would have been allowed to do the same with Sanchez when he was loafing it earlier in the season.

Heck, one of the reasons Girardi lost his job was because he chose tough love over coddling Sanchez last year...
 

Wingack

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After two games, here are some stats...

Starting pitching
NY: 7.0 ip, 7 h, 6 r, 6 er, 2 bb, 6 k, 7.71 era, 1.29 whip, 7.7 k/9
Bos: 7.0 ip, 8 h, 5 r, 5 er, 4 bb, 8 k, 6.43 era, 1.71 whip, 10.3 k/9

Relief pitching
NY: 10.0 ip, 6 h, 1 r, 1 er, 4 bb, 7 k, 0.90 era, 1.00 whip, 6.3 k/9
Bos: 11.0 ip, 10 h, 5 r, 5 er, 8 bb, 12 k, 4.09 era, 1.64 whip, 9.8 k/9

Batting
NY: .257/.366/.429/.794, 4 homers (Yanks' regular season team ops: .781)
Bos: .213/.279/.344/.624, 2 homers (Sox' regular season team ops: .792)
That Boston WHIP is the most important number here. They are playing with fire putting that many men on base, they are probably lucky to have only given up 10 runs.

The BOS bullpen has made some big pitches after getting themselves in some trouble, but this is the type of thing that could tip the other way when they are pitching in high pressure on the road.
 

Byrdbrain

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My informal observation about pitching: the successful Sox starters vs. the Yanks over the year have been Sale and Eovaldi. What do they have in common? 95+ and some sort of secondary pitch. This spells trouble for Porcello and Price. Erod wasn’t throwing 95 as he can in a relief stint. He thought finesse would work. Probably not vs. mfy.
I can't imagine the bolded is true. The Sox know that high heat is the way to pitch to the Yankees, that is why Eovaldi is going today.
I did notice that ERod wasn't throwing as hard as we've seen him at times but I don't think it was because he thought finesse would work. I'm sure if he could have humped it up to 96 he would have but for whatever reason he only had 93 that night.
 

RedOctober3829

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That Boston WHIP is the most important number here. They are playing with fire putting that many men on base, they are probably lucky to have only given up 10 runs.

The BOS bullpen has made some big pitches after getting themselves in some trouble, but this is the type of thing that could tip the other way when they are pitching in high pressure on the road.
The hope tonight is that Eovaldi's strike throwing abilities will limit the needless men on base.
 

BaseballJones

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Game 3 sim on my game...

Bos 8, NY 6

Betts led off the game against Severino by grounding to first, which Voit bobbled for an error. After Benintendi and Martinez were retired, the Red Sox exploded. Bogaerts with a triple to score Betts. Moreland with a single to score Bogaerts. Nunez with a two-run homer. Kinsler followed with another homer. Lance Lynn replaced Severino and gave up a double to Bradley before Leon was retired. After 1/2 of an inning, the Sox were up 5-0.

Eovaldi held firm through three, and Lynn quieted the Red Sox' bats until the bottom of the fourth. Eovaldi had given up just two singles when the Yankees took their turn to erupt. Voit led off the bottom of the fourth with a homer. Sanchez, Andujar, and Torres all singled. Gardner followed with a two run double. Hembree was brought in to stop the bleeding, and gave up a walk and a single and a run-scoring fielder's choice. He finally got out of the inning by striking out Stanton, but the Yankees had tied it up.

Chad Green retired the Sox in the 5th and 6th, and the Yankees took the lead off Joe Kelly in the bottom of the 6th on a Gardner triple and McCutchen single. Up 6-5, the Yankees turned to Betances for the 7th. He retired Betts on a groundout and Benintendi slapped a single to left. Betances then faced Martinez, who launched a two-run homer to give Boston a 7-6 lead. Barnes, who had gotten two outs in relief of Kelly in the bottom of the 6th, pitched a 1-2-3 7th inning. Brasier pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning against the bottom third of the Yankee lineup.

In the top of the 9th, the Sox added an insurance run as Benintendi singled off Robertson. Martinez doubled Benny to third. Following a Bogaerts pop out and Moreland walk to load the bases, Nunez hit a sacrifice fly to score Benintendi.

Kimbrel came on in the 9th to face the top of the Yankee lineup. He mowed them down on two strikeouts to preserve the victory. Barnes got the win in relief, Betances the loss. Martinez went 2-5 with a homer and a double. Nunez and Kinsler had homers for Boston. For NY, Gardner had a double, a triple, two runs scored, and two RBI.
 
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jon abbey

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Gardner probably won’t be in the lineup, Hicks is almost definitely back.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Game 3 sim on my game...

Bos 8, NY 6

Betts led off the game against Severino by grounding to first, which Voit bobbled for an error. After Benintendi and Martinez were retired, the Red Sox exploded. Bogaerts with a triple to score Betts. Moreland with a single to score Bogaerts. Nunez with a two-run homer. Kinsler followed with another homer. Lance Lynn replaced Severino and gave up a double to Bradley before Leon was retired. After 1/2 of an inning, the Sox were up 5-0.

Eovaldi held firm through three, and Lynn quieted the Red Sox' bats until the bottom of the fourth. Eovaldi had given up just two singles when the Yankees took their turn to erupt. Voit led off the bottom of the fourth with a homer. Sanchez, Andujar, and Torres all singled. Gardner followed with a two run double. Hembree was brought in to stop the bleeding, and gave up a walk and a single and a run-scoring fielder's choice. He finally got out of the inning by striking out Stanton, but the Yankees had tied it up.

Chad Green retired the Sox in the 5th and 6th, and the Yankees took the lead off Joe Kelly in the bottom of the 6th on a Gardner triple and McCutchen single. Up 6-5, the Yankees turned to Betances for the 7th. He retired Betts on a groundout and Benintendi slapped a single to left. Betances then faced Martinez, who launched a two-run homer to give Boston a 7-6 lead. Barnes, who had gotten two outs in relief of Kelly in the bottom of the 6th, pitched a 1-2-3 7th inning. Brasier pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning against the bottom third of the Yankee lineup.

In the top of the 9th, the Sox added an insurance run as Benintendi singled off Robertson. Martinez doubled Benny to third. Following a Bogaerts pop out and Moreland walk to load the bases, Nunez hit a sacrifice fly to score Benintendi.

Kimbrel came on in the 9th to face the top of the Yankee lineup. He mowed them down on two strikeouts to preserve the victory. Barnes got the win in relief, Betances the loss. Martinez went 2-5 with a homer and a double. Nunez and Kinsler had homers for Boston. For NY, Gardner had a double, a triple, two runs scored, and two RBI.
Man, blowing a 5-0 lead is gonna take a few weeks off my life, but it'll help knowing how it all turns out.

I missed the Game 2 sim, btw. How did that turn out?
 

geoduck no quahog

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Hadn't considered that thing about fast balls. It's certainly true so far (look at Kelly's performance, for example). Can the fastball thing be confirmed with season stats on the Yankee hitters?

BTW, my faded memory tells me that the Sox are just the opposite. Their kryptonite seems to be breaking pitches.

I need the SoSH brain trust to write an article.

(out of curiosity, what ever happened to Iayork?)
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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My informal observation about pitching: the successful Sox starters vs. the Yanks over the year have been Sale and Eovaldi. What do they have in common? 95+ and some sort of secondary pitch. This spells trouble for Porcello and Price. Erod wasn’t throwing 95 as he can in a relief stint. He thought finesse would work. Probably not vs. mfy.
Porcello handled them masterfully in August. If he's sharp, he doesn't need 95+ to get the Yankees out. In truth, any good pitcher who is throwing strikes and mixing pitches effectively can get the Yankees out. While Sale does have 95+ stuff, he was mixing in an awful lot of off-speed stuff to good effect on Friday (he threw more sliders than fastballs).

I suppose if you have 95+ stuff and they have to keep that in the back of their mind, it has an impact. But I don't think a lack of it means the Yankees are going to feast.
 

BaseballJones

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Porcello handled them masterfully in August. If he's sharp, he doesn't need 95+ to get the Yankees out. In truth, any good pitcher who is throwing strikes and mixing pitches effectively can get the Yankees out. While Sale does have 95+ stuff, he was mixing in an awful lot of off-speed stuff to good effect on Friday (he threw more sliders than fastballs).

I suppose if you have 95+ stuff and they have to keep that in the back of their mind, it has an impact. But I don't think a lack of it means the Yankees are going to feast.
And let's be honest, a lot of it is just luck. Meatballs that are crushed for home runs by good home run hitters, eh, that's not so much luck. But these soft dribblers that the Yankees have had like a half dozen of already that either result in singles, or keep them out of double plays and save outs...that's luck. In a game or two that can be one-sided but you hope that stuff evens out. The Yankees are winning both the HR battle AND the soft bloop/dribbler crap battle. The Sox have struck out 7 more Yankees than the Yankees have struck out Red Sox. So the BABIP luck (even if it's just to keep out of a DP) has all been with NY so far. Hoping that changes, because that alone could make a huge difference.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Stats from two games are interesting and they tell the story of what happened to some degree. However they are meaningless in terms of predicting trends given the sample size.
 

mfried

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The projected game is fun and quite convincing. However, I think Vasquez, Devers and Pearce will be playing - not Leon, Nunez and Moreland.
 

BaseballJones

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The projected game is fun and quite convincing. However, I think Vasquez, Devers and Pearce will be playing - not Leon, Nunez and Moreland.
Pearce maybe. But I think otherwise, Cora said yesterday that he expects no lineup changes for tonight. That's what I went with.
 

jon abbey

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Certainly, he needs to give them length though too, because I don’t know how anyone can be trusted in that pen on the road in a big spot.
They don’t have to be trusted, they just have to get outs. Anyone can get outs, you never know.
 

jon abbey

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Jon & Wingack. Do we know who's starting game 4 for the Yankees? Does it change with them being 2-1 versus 1-2?
CC is scheduled, Boone said yesterday he is pretty locked into that, and I don't see it changing either way. Personally I don't think Happ on 3 days rest (although he didn't throw many pitches) is necessarily better than the very experienced CC on like 10 days rest, CC pitched game 5 in the ALDS last year on the road against CLE.
 

brandonchristensen

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I will run a sim soon too. Mine was 6-1 for game two. Pretty close.

I wonder if I can broadcast it on Twitch and then someone can tune in if they want (I let it play in broadcast mode).