Second Guesser's Club - Let's Go Bird Hunting

[absintheofmalaise]

Game 1: 7:10pm MLBN
Game 2: 7:10pm
Game 3: 4:05pm
 
[tablegrid= Pitching Match Ups ] W L G GS IP K/9 BB/9 HR/9 BABIP LOB% GB% HR/FB ERA FIP xFIP                                 J.A. Happ LHP 2 1 6 3 17.2 7.13 6.11 2.04 0.288 94.50% 44.40% 22.20% 3.57 6.47 4.87 Fekix Doubront LHP 2 3 8 8 41.2 6.26 3.46 1.08 0.302 66.70% 37.80% 8.80% 4.54 4.47 4.71                                 Drew Hutchison RHP 2 3 9 9 54.1 9.11 2.65 0.66 0.297 71.90% 39.30% 6.60% 3.64 2.95 3.47 Clay Buchholz RHP 2 3 8 8 42.1 7.02 2.98 1.06 0.385 64.30% 44.40% 9.40% 6.17 4.11 4.23                                 Mark Buehrle LHP 7 1 9 9 59.2 5.28 2.72 0.15 0.293 80.40% 44.60% 1.80% 2.11 3.12 4.17 Jon Lester LHP 4 5 9 9 60.2 10.83 2.37 0.45 0.318 66.90% 37.20% 5.20% 2.67 2.1 2.72 [/tablegrid]

 

[genivive]

Well at least we miss R.A. Dickey and Lester matches Buerhle.  The Sox still need to score some runs though.

 

[pokey_reese]

We have to treat Bautista the same way teams are treating Ortiz right now, right?  There's just no reason to give him much to hit.

 

[absintheofmalaise]

Sox line up:
 
Pedroia 2B
Victorino RF
Ortiz DH
Napoli 1B
Gomes LF
Bogaerts SS
Holt 3B
Ross C
Bradley Jr., CF
Doubront LHP
 
Jays:
 
Reyes SS
Cabrera LF
Bautista RF
Encarnacion 1B
Lawrie 1B
Navarro DH
Tolleson 2B
Kratz C
Pillar CF
Happ LHP

 

[teddywingman]

Absolutely indefensible bunt call by Farrell in the 6th tonight. Nobody out with runners on first and second, two runs already in, reliever throwing meat. Farrell has Ross bunting, (Ross who is the tying run mind you) and of course he pops it up. Rally deflates. Bradley flies out to warning track and Pedey Ks.

 

[mwonow]

I'll say it - Mujica is not a good pitcher. So, second guessing when he pitches to ML batters seems okay, right?

 

[JakeRae]

Twice in tonight's game, the Red Sox have sacrifice bunted with runners on 1st and 2nd and down by 3 runs. I am having trouble imagining a worse tactical decision a manager could make.

 

[glennhoffmania]

Yeah what was the point of that bunt? Bottom of the 8th down 3 and you give up an out there? Farrell is baffling at times.

 

[JimBoSox9]

Twice in tonight's game, the Red Sox have sacrifice bunted with runners on 1st and 2nd and down by 3 runs. I am having trouble imagining a worse tactical decision a manager could make.

I'll go on record as being able to live with the first one. Earlier in the game, Ross can't hit but can bunt, and you get Pedey up for sure.

The second one is just about the worst thing I've ever seen. On top of the inning, the next two up...Brock Holt was trying to have himself a game, dammit.

 

[TheYellowDart5]

Yeah what was the point of that bunt? Bottom of the 8th down 3 and you give up an out there? Farrell is baffling at times.

 
Bottom of the eighth, down three with two hitters up next who struggle to make contact. Confusing beyond belief.

 

[rembrat]

He wouldn't try to bunt as much if this bunch didn't GIDP at will.

 

[glennhoffmania]

He wouldn't try to bunt as much if this bunch didn't GIDP at will.

 
He had Holt bunt when it didn't put the tying run in scoring position and Ross was on deck.  Let Holt swing the bat.  Giving up an out with Ross coming up is basically the same thing as hitting into a DP.

 

[nattysez]

What happened to this team's intelligent approach of last season where they refused to give away outs on offense or defense?  
 
13 steals in 24 attempts.  Bunting down multiple runs.  X throwing the ball all over the place.  Sizemore's poor OF play.  Farrell needs to tighten things up beyond just telling Pedroia to stop trying to steal bases.  

 

[Ed Hillel]

He wouldn't try to bunt as much if this bunch didn't GIDP at will.

 
By that logic, they shouldn't be sacrificing, or even trying to get runners into scoring position, because they aren't hitting well in those situations either. Sacrifice bunting down 3 in the 8th inning is a special kind of stupid, especially with a guy who has been hitting well the past month and a half or so.

 

[Hee Sox Choi]

I was watching the game with a Halos fan at a bar.  He said "even Scioscia wouldn't do those two bunts."  EVEN SCIOSCIA WOULDN'T DO IT.
 
That's how stupid those two bunts were.

 

[Reverend]

From Speier's Twitter feed:  Sizemore CF, Pedroia 2B, Ortiz DH, Gomes LF, Pierzynski C, Victorino RF, Carp 1B, Bogaerts SS, Holt 3B, Buchholz RHP
 
/vomits

 
Bogaerts is an on-base machine and he's been on a tear the last 7 games, but while going .360/.429/.600/1.029 he still only has 2 rbi in that span and sports a .139/.225/.194/.419 w/RiSP on the season.
 
Sizemore has been very poor in his last 7 games, but on the season, a disproportionate amount of his production has come w/RiSP where he's hitting .310/.400/.517/.917 in 34 PAs.
 
I know these are small samples, but would it kill Farrell to try Bogaerts at the top of the order?

 

[glennhoffmania]

And I'm still trying to understand why AJP should be hitting ahead of anyone except Bradley and, for the moment, Holt.

 

[JakeRae]

Bogaerts has the third highest OBP on the team. He absolutely needs to be batting in front of Ortiz. I don't really care what order he and Pedroia bat in, but they are the obvious 1/2 guys and fixing this would go a long ways toward helping vitalize the offense.

 

[teddywingman]

As the crowd thinned at the game tonight, we moved down to some great seats. I can't remember the exact situation but Capuano had done a nice job getting out of the 5th, through the 6th, and then he's there in the 7th and you could just see that he was gassed. Lawrie had scorched a couple fastballs that he pulled foul. Then Capuano walks Navarro. I remember a mound meeting here at pitch 34--looking out at the bullpen to see who's coming in to face Gose--but Farrell left him in.
 
I said "this is going to be bad." Next pitch was the Jay's 6th run.

 

[absintheofmalaise]

Sox line up:
 
Pedroia 2B
Victorino RF
Ortiz DH
Gomes LF
Pierzynski C
Bogaerts SS
Carp 1B
Holt 3B
Bradley Jr. CF
Lester LHP

 

[JakeRae]

Bogaerts is up to being the 51st best hitter in all of baseball, by wOBA, and is the 3rd best hitter on the Red Sox. His .381 OBP is 21st in baseball. Out of the 20 players with a higher OBP, 15 of them virtually always bat in the top 4 lineup slots (or always do). Adam Dunn and Jonathan Lucroy stay in the top 5 spots but spend about half their time batting 5th, Kendrick has bounced around, and spent some time lower in the order, but has spent the vast majority of his time hitting 4th or 5th, and then Ruiz and Solarte are the only 2 players to have actually spent most of their seasons as true bottom half of the order hitters. And, even with Ruiz, he's spent about 40% of his time in the top half of the order.
 
Every game that Bogaerts spends in the bottom half of the order is a game where this team is sacrificing potential runs for no good reason. It is inexcusable to have a player who is as good a hitter as Bogaerts, and as good at getting on base as Bogaerts, hitting in the bottom half of a lineup composed of the players currently on the Red Sox. The top 4 hitters on this team need to be batting in the top 4 lineup slots. 

 

[glennhoffmania]

Signing AJP instead of giving Salty 21m seems like a huge mistake so far.  Salty is hitting .267/.361/.452.  Why AJP and his .258/.293/.363 line have become the new 5th hitter is above my intellectual capacity.

 

[Coachster]

Signing AJP instead of giving Salty 21m seems like a huge mistake so far.  Salty is hitting .267/.361/.452.  Why AJP and his .258/.293/.363 line have become the new 5th hitter is above my intellectual capacity.

If AJP's defense was better, that would be one thing, but it's not. Two other 2014 signees, Dioner Navarro (signed 2, years 8M) .276/.321/.339 and Kurt Suzuki (signed 1-year, 2.75M) .303/.371/.424 certainly have raked against us.