Comments on: ALDS Coverage: Maybe Boston Left Their Bats at Fenway

By: Steve C

Steve C — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:16:03 +0000

CB Bucknor is making lots of new friends. Did Napoli knowingly lean into a big looping curveball being down in the count 0-2? I know I would. Was it a bad call? Yes. Did it have any effect on the outcome? No, take those late two runs off the board and the Angels still win.

That Mauer “double”, now that is something to complain about. The ump was looking right at the play and somehow missed that the ball hit Melky’s glove and landed in fair territory. All he had to do was see one OR the other. Instead he decided to take a prolonged blink.

He’ll he could have done a “shoe polish” investigation and looked in the area that the ball hit the ground for the indent.

By: Boggle

Boggle — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 06:58:08 +0000

No you’re not.

Dice-K’s wins and ERA may have been inflated last year, but he still had a solid 4.03 FIP which is pretty good for a fourth starter. Since he came back this year, he has been right about the same level (4.12 FIP).

Added to that he has as much big game experience as anyone going back to high school and including Japan, WBC and MLB playoffs. He has normally done well in those games.

I really don’t see why you would be so determined to find a way to avoid using him.

By: ineedanap

ineedanap — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:21:38 +0000

….poor Red Sox :(

By: Tom Jakubowski

Tom Jakubowski — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:34:08 +0000

It seems similarly weird to say that “Boston is averaging less than a run per game” when the sample is two games.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:19:50 +0000

wOBA isn’t a very good way to judge how well a team has performed over such a short period of time (calling two games a “prolonged slump” seems pretty strange to me) because luck can play such a big role. Boston is carrying a BABIP of .166 in the ALDS so I would certainly say that bad luck has been a big part of their offensive struggles. That BABIP means that Boston should have about 14 more hits so far in the series, as shown by Troy Patterson at http://www.ywacademy.com.

Anaheim is certainly pitching really well but part of the problem for Bean Town is simply balls in play that just aren’t finding holes. Far from engaging in childish pranks I’m willing to bet that the Red Sox are getting a pep talk about bad luck and keeping a steady approach at the plate.

By: Kampfer

Kampfer — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:47:00 +0000

I think it was a blown call too. Napoli was turning himself to the pitch.

By: walkoffblast

walkoffblast — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:37:10 +0000

Mike Napoli put his shoulder in front of a pitch.
Terry Francona did his best Francoma impersonation (not really sure what the point of improving your bullpen is if you are not going to use it).
Erick Aybar tripled; Izturis and Napoli scored.

Although none of it really matters when you cannot string together two hits to save your life. I am almost glad the sox offense has performed so poorly this series. Otherwise the bad calls, bad luck, bad decisions etc would be even more maddening.

Also, am I the only one confused by the aversion to giving Dice-K the baseball?