SB Nation User Blog: SoxDevil

Instant Replay In Effect Thursday

SoxDevil — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:39:23 -0000

Replay will go into use with three series scheduled to open Thursday: Philadelphia at the Chicago Cubs, Minnesota at Oakland and Texas at the Los Angeles Angels. For other games, replays will be available to umpires starting Friday.

For the initial deployment, Instant Replay will only be used to help Home Run rulings.

I'm all for this as long as the replay officials can keep the interruptions brief. For opponents who argue that this will cause games to be intolerably long, I have a suggestion: speed up pitching changes.

What's your take?

Poll

How do you feel about instant replay going into effect for boundary calls?

Sox eyeing Big Tex?

SoxDevil — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:07:17 -0000

The Red Sox are among many clubs closely monitoring Mark Teixeira, who is approaching free agency and could be dealt this month unless Atlanta's fortunes take a dramatic turn for the better. The Sox' interest in the switch-hitting first baseman indicates some concern about the health of designated hitter David Ortiz, who has not played since the end of May because of a wrist injury.

-- Boston Herald

Is the Sox' intention a 3-month rental to power into (and through) the post-season, or would they try to sign Teixeria to a long-term deal? Given the prohibitive prospect demands, you have to believe it's the latter. Where does that leave the Sox roster? We just re-signed fan-favorite Mike Lowell to a multi-year deal and Youkilis has come into his own as a tremendously valuable 1B. I can't see the Red Sox dealing either of those two. Could Teixeira or Youkilis be shifted to LF, signifying the end of Manny's Red Sox tenure? It's hard to see where Teixeira would fit in.

What's up with Manny's attitude?

SoxDevil — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:19:53 -0000

I'm concerned about Manny's attitude this year. If you recall he started off in baseball nirvana, meditating on being positive. But a belligerant and angry Manny has been occupying MBM's locker as of late. I can't ever remember Manny acting like this during his entire career. He's been silly, moody, and flakely, but never openly hostile towards teammates or club officials. What gives? I hate to even think "roid rage," but I'm really at a loss to explain away Manny's poor behavior.

Hey Steinbrenner, what's wrong with your wang?

SoxDevil — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:51:59 -0000

Chein Ming Wang will be sidelined until September with a partially torn tendon in his right ankle, which he sprained running the bases in an interleague game. Steinbrenner, of course, blames the Senior Circuit.

"My only message is simple. The National League needs to join the 21st century," Steinbrenner said in Tampa, Fla. "They need to grow up and join the 21st century.

"Am I [mad] about it? Yes," Steinbrenner added. "I've got my pitchers running the bases, and one of them gets hurt. He's going to be out. I don't like that, and it's about time they address it. That was a rule from the 1800s."

Oh, Hank. You lovable, wacky guy pompous, arrogant jerk.

Aside from reveling in the Yankees misery, this brings up some interesting mid-season questions. Will the Yankees mortgage the farm to bring in C.C. Sabathia or another big-name pitcher on the block? It's hard to imagine the Yankees going very far relying on Mussina to be their ace. Joba is not going to metamorphos into Jesus overnight.

Since 2006 Wang has the most wins of any ML pitcher with 46, followed by the likes of Brandon Webb, Josh Beckett, and Carlos Zambrano. While Wins are a misleading metric of talent, the fact of the matter is that he puts the Yankees in a position to win games.

I hope that I'll have the opportunity to watch the Yankees sink into the basement of the A.L. East.

It Might Be Dangerous... You Go First.

SoxDevil — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:32:12 -0000

Paul DePodesta has a blog.

Mr. DePodesta is the Assistant GM for the San Diego Padres, former Dodgers GM, and former Oakland Assistant GM (of moneyball fame). I encourage you all to check it out.

Time will tell how much he is willing or able to reveal, but DePodesta's blog could turn out to be an excellent window into the Front Office of a MLB team. I'm always really interested in reading about baseball from an insider's perspective. There are two ground rules: 1. he can't talk about old jobs; 2. he can't talk about opposing players (that's called "tampering").

If nothing else, he links to instructional videos on how to take one for the team.

Game 14 recap: Sox come back to beat Tribe in 9th

SoxDevil — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:07:59 -0000

via www.fangraphs.com

Summary:

The Red Sox jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, but fell behind in the 4th as the Indians put a few hits together. By the end of the 5th was 1-4, Tribe. Both of the Indians' 2-run innings began with a lead-off walk by Lester.

Fast forward to the 9th inning.

With the Red Sox trailing 3-4, Julio Lugo doubles off Joe-Bo to lead off the inning.

Cleveland, do you hear the footsteps?

Consecutive sacrifices from Crisp and the Destroya brought him home to tie the game. With two outs in the 9th, Big Papi hit an opposite-field single to left, against the shift. Ellsbury came in to pinch run, causing a nice distraction at 1B. Then, as only Manny can, the bad man mashed a homer to put the Red Sox up 6-4.

Papelbon slammed the door to finish the Indians off.

Player of the Game:

via l.yimg.com

Great job, Joe Borowski, for winning the game for the Red Sox!

The runner up for yesterday's game is:

via l.yimg.com

Manny Ramirez. That man has one of the sweetest swings in baseball. No one else can smoothly transition his swing follow-through to HR pimp as well as Manny.

"Being", Youk, and Pedroia all had 2 ribbies for the Good Guys.

For Cleveland's part, the top half of their line-up was productive against Lester.

Game 7 Recap: Red Sox @ Blue Jays

SoxDevil — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:00:44 -0000

(courtesy www.fangraphs.com)

Summary:

Swept. The Red Sox lost their 3rd straight against our division rivals. Headlines this morning read along the lines of "Beckett Shelled", but that doesn't tell the whole story. Beckett went 4.2 innings, whiffed 6, and walked 4. His only real gaff was giving up a two-run moon shot to Vernon Wells on a middle-out curve that didn't break well. Thank Delcarmen for coughing up a grand slam to the Big Hurt on the first pitch.

The good news is that Beckett's velocity was good and he felt healthy before and after the game. Tacoby and 'Tek hit HRs for the good guys in the losing effort.

Come home and get some rest, boys.

Player of the Game:

(courtesy yahoo.com)

Credit Frank Thomas for mashing a bases-loaded home run that put the game out of reach for the Red Sox.

Comment of the Game:

"Well, that was a crap weekend" -- tommy.otm

Word.

Red Sox record: 3-4

Game 3 recap: Red Sox @ Athletics

SoxDevil — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:49:48 -0000

courtesy of www.fangraphs.com

Summary:

This was a tight game for the Red Sox, who improve to a 2-1 record. The game was much closer than it should have been since 'Tek was robbed of a 2-run HR on a bad call by the umps.

Dice-K went 6.2 innings strong. Mr. Okie-Dokie and Papelbon recorded the remaining outs allowing only 1 hit, notching a hold and save respectively.

Believe it or not, Youk hit a triple.

Player of the Game:

Dice-K had a great outing, striking out 9, walking none, and allowing just 1 ER over 6.2 IP. The 0 BB is the point I'd like to emphasize.

Dice-K will be extremely effective this year if can keep his walks down and be efficient. He threw 64% of his pitches for strikes, which is good, but not exactly "attacking" the strike zone. Dice-K is going to throw some cheese with his diverse breaking stuff, so 96 pitches over 6.2 is pretty efficient for him. Can he get that IP number up to or over 7?

Fantasy Baseball league

SoxDevil — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:29:47 -0000

Hi everyone,
I have a Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball League that needs 3 more teams (12 total). It's a head-to-head league that counts the following stats:

R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, OBP, SLG
W, SV, K, HLD, ERA, WHIP

If you're interested, email me at
otmonster[at]gmail[dot]com

We're doing a live draft this Monday (3/24) at 7:30pm.

Top 10 Moments of 2007: #2, Mother's Day Miracle

SoxDevil — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:32:50 -0000

Jason Varitek crosses the plate, tying the score 5-5 in this dramatization.
Photo courtesy of the Boston Globe.

The Red Sox celebrate after Julio Lugo reaches 1B on a throwing error, scoring 2.
Photo courtesy of the Boston Globe.

May 13th, 2007

Bottom of the 9th, one out, and the Red Sox were down 5-0 to the Baltimore Orioles.

Beckett had given up 2 runs (both earned) while striking out 7 in only 4.0 innings. Kyle Snyder gave up an unearned run in the 5th, and Joel Piniero coughed up another two earned runs in 1.2 IP. Remember Joel? No? I can't say I blame you.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Guthrie had nearly gone the distance, beguiling the Red Sox lineup over 8.1 shutout innings with only 2 Ks and 2 BBs. TV sets across New England were being turned off and some people were leaving the park as fans gave up the ghost.

But this is why we watch baseball.

After a weak, Julio Lugo ground-out to short Coco "Trade Bait" Crisp managed to reach 1B on a throwing error by Ramon Hernandez. Danny Baez came to Guthrie's relief and Big Papi promptly doubled to deeep center field on the 2nd pitch, scoring Crisp. Whiffy Mo Pena somehow managed to hit a single to left. Moving Ortiz to 3B.

Enter the formidable closer, Chris Ray.

J.D. Drew finagled a walk without taking his bat off his shoulder. The Greek (Jewish) God of Walks followed with a walk of his own, once again without a swing, forcing home Ortiz. 5-2 Orioles.

Momentum was building for the Red Sox. Chris Ray had just unintentionally walked two without so much as a swinging strike. El Capitan came to the plate, and watched another ball. Chris Ray must have been going out of his head. 'Tek, being the savvy veteran he is, was probably looking for a big, Italian meat ball at this point. 'Tek tapped his spikes twice with his bat and then doubled to right-center, scoring Whiffy Mo and J.D. Drew. 5-4 Orioles.

Watching the game from my couch, I knew the Red Sox had the Orioles on the ropes. Baltimore had their closer in the game and Ray would have had better luck buying a vowel than a strike. But baseball is a capricious sport and punishes hubris like the Greek gods of old. The rally cap stayed put. Fingers stayed crossed. The Sox still needed at least another run to tie the game. It was still bottom of the 9th, one out.

Chris Ray, still in the game, intentionally walked Eric Hinske with 1B open. Hinske wasn't much of a hitter in '07, but this was still the smart move; put the force-out into effect with slow runners aboard. With the bases loaded Alex Cora came to bat and hit into a fielder's choice. Youkilis was out at home in a very close, sliding play.

Much shouting at the TV.

Julio Lugo walked to the plate, the Red Sox having hit through the lineup in the 9th.

Were the Red Sox going to still lose after a tremendous rally? Would all of the mothers celebrating at Fenway Park be forced to go home despondent?

Nope.

Lugo reached 1B on a throwing error by Ray, and both 'Tek and Hinske scored (think about how long it'd take Hinske to get home from 2B). Chris Ray was being punished. For what we'll never know, but it must have been bad. I jest, but this game was where Ray began to unravel due to injury. He was eventually shut down and required Tommy John surgery.

In one of the top, all-time comebacks I've seen, the Red Sox wrested victory from the Baltimore Orioles 6-5 in what was dubbed the "Mother's Day Miracle."

To give you a sense of how remarkable the comeback was, take a look at the Fangraph below.

Graph courtesy of fangraphs.com

Poll

SB Nation User Blog: SoxDevil

Instant Replay In Effect Thursday

How do you feel about instant replay going into effect for boundary calls?

Sox eyeing Big Tex?

What's up with Manny's attitude?

Hey Steinbrenner, what's wrong with your wang?

It Might Be Dangerous... You Go First.

Game 14 recap: Sox come back to beat Tribe in 9th

Game 7 Recap: Red Sox @ Blue Jays

Game 3 recap: Red Sox @ Athletics

Fantasy Baseball league

Top 10 Moments of 2007: #2, Mother's Day Miracle

Where does this moment fall on your Top 10 list?