Showing posts with label nesn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nesn. Show all posts

April 1, 2023

G2: Red Sox 9, Orioles 8 

Orioles - 304 100 000 - 8 13  0
Red Sox - 014 000 202 - 9 11  0
I really don't like the trend I see emerging this season. In the first two games, the Red Sox have fallen behind by several runs in the early innings (5-1 and 8-2 on Thursday, 3-0 and 7-1 today), scratched and clawed their way back, getting to within a solitary run of tying the game, but going no further because their supply of outs has run dry. 


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Holy motherfucking shit!!! Orioles left fielder Ryan McKenna dropped a routine pop fly that should have ended Saturday's game in Baltimore's favour, 8-7. But McKenna's utterly unexpected error – which happened just as I was writing "P" on my score sheet and was about to add a "7" – put Masataka Yoshida on first base. Two pitches later, Adam Duvall lined a home run to left-center that just cleared the Wall – which must have made McKenna suddenly feel a lot worse – giving the Red Sox a truly shocking – and absolutely hilarious – 9-8 victory.

It had been a very long time since I've yelled at my TV during a baseball game – "Get out, you fucker, get out, Aaaahhhhh!" – and then devolved into cackling laughter as Fenway Park exploded. When the Orioles asked for a review, NESN's Kevin Youkilis scoffed, dismissing it as a waste of time. The home run was upheld within seconds. I doubt the Red Sox's celebration even slowed down to notice the challenge.

It was Duvall's second home run of the afternoon; his two-run shot in the third capped a four-run rally that cut Baltimore's 7-1 lead to a manageable 7-5. Duvall also doubled in a run in the seventh, finishing the day with five RBI.
It's best to start at the beginning. Chris Sale (3-7-7-2-6, 74) had velocity – his fastball hit 97 in the first inning – but his location came and went like spotty wifi. He struck out three in the first inning (actually, the first five Baltimore outs were Sale Ks), but he also gave up a single and two home runs. Sale said afterwards: "I was out there throwing batting practice".

Sale walked the leadoff man in the second and then gave up another single. He punched out two Birds – during which Baltimore had a double steal – and got out of the inning thanks to Rafael Devers's fantastic play on a slow roller by Adley Rutschman (who at that point was 6-for-6 (shades of Ted Cox) on the season). Devers ran in, barehanded the ball, and fired a one-hop throw to  first, which was expertly back-handed by Triston Casas.

Duvall tripled high off the garage door on center to start the home second. Dean Kremer's (3-6-5-1-3, 56) second pitch to Casas was wild and Boston was on the board. 

Sale got the first man in the third but it was tough sledding after that. Anthony Santander singled to short left and Austin Hays reached when his ground ball died in the grass in front of Devers. A walk to Gunnar Henderson loaded the bases. Jorge Mateo forced Henderson at second, but Christian Arroyo could not complete the relay, and Santander scored. With Cedric Mullins at-bat, Mateo stole second. On Sale's next pitch, Mullins homered to center, a three-run job that might have been helped by the wind gusting in that direction. (Youkilis referred to a "jet stream", which will always make me think of one thing and one thing only: Van Halen's "Everybody Wants Some!!") Sale wasn't quite done. He plunked McKenna, who stole second base before Ramón Urías went down swinging.

Return of The Cactus? Hays stole second in the top of the ninth. It was the Orioles' fifth steal of the game and with their five thefts on Opening Day, they became the only team in major league history to begin a season with five or more steals in each of its first two games. This will be part of the O's MO in 2023, it seems.

The Orioles led 7-1. Sale was likely done after three crappy innings. Not good. I wondered if there was something more productive I could be doing with my afternoon. There absolutely was, but I decided to keep watching, and the Red Sox turned what seemed like an emerging rout into an actual game by scoring four runs of their own.

Kiké Hernández walked and Alex Verdugo homered over the bullpens in right-center. That free money made it 7-3 and increased Boston's win possibility to 15%. Devers singled to right and made the stupid decision to try for a double. He was safe, but managed to over-slide the new, larger base and was tagged out. A runner on first would have been nice as Justin Turner hit a first-pitch double off the Wall. Yoshida flied to the dirt of the triangle for the second out, before Duvall reached down and hit a 1-0 pitch off one of the signs above the Monster Seats. 7-5 and 27.3%, okay. 

Zack Kelly took over for Sale and kind of pitched like Sale. With one out, he gave up a single to center and a double off the garage door in center. Hernández's relay from Duvall to the plate was both offline and late, but Reese McGuire's peg to third was on the money, nailing Santander. That meant the bases were empty when Hays doubled. A pop to left ended the inning.

And then both offenses took a nap for a while. Starting with Kelly's top of the fourth, the pitch counts for the next four half-innings went: 15, 16, 16, 15. In the bottom of the fourth, we learned Youkilis likes mullets and thinks rattails are "awesome". When Youkilis said Turner's pine tar stain was likely the biggest in the majors, Dave O'Brien estimated that it was "as big as Rhode Island". (It reminded me (and not in a good way) of Chris Berman calling the HR Derby (which will be playing non-stop and loudly for me in hell) "that one is headed for Montana" as it lands in the sixth row.) In the sixth, OB said Baltimore "was ahead 11-6 in hits", which is not – and will never be – a thing. The inning's third out was an easy 4-3 grounder, which OB stated was "rattled to Arroyo". Can ground balls be "rattled"?

The Red Sox very solid work from the bullpen. From the fifth inning on, Josh Winckowski (5th-6th), John Schreiber (7th), Chris Martin (8th), and Kenley Jansen (9th) kept the Orioles from adding to their lead. Their combined line: 5-3-0-2-5.

Austin Voth pitched a clean sixth for the Orioles and he came back out for the seventh. He got a called strike on Hernández and then hung a curveball, which Kiké smoothly redirected over the Wall in left.  O's 8-6. Buh-bye, Voth; hello, Cionel Pérez. With one out, Devers smoked the first pitch into the left field corner, which got the crowd to start making some noise. Turner lined a single over shortstop into left; Devers had to stop at third. Yoshida fanned, but Duvall hit a high fly down the right field line. It looked it had a chance to sneak past the pole. It didn't quite make it, but Hays wasn't sure where it was. The ball came down on the dirt of the track about 15-20 feet beyond Hays and bounced into the stands. Devers scored and Turner, who thought he had tied the game when he crossed the plate, had to go back to third. The Red Sox's win expectancy had risen from 11.8% to 37.6% in this inning. Casas struck out to end the inning. I felt good knowing there were two innings to go, not only one.

Urías, Baltimore's leadoff man, did not have a good afternoon. He struck out swinging in the first. He struck out swinging in the second. He struck out swinging in the third. He struck out swinging in the fifth. When he came to the plate with one out in the top of the eighth, Youkilis noted he was already wearing a Golden Sombrero, but wondered what the term was for striking out all five times in a game, if such a thing were to occur. He soon reported that someone in the truck said it was a Platinum Sombrero. No. No, no, no, no. 0-for-5 with five strikeouts is a Golden Shower. Which is what Urías won when he struck out swinging in the eighth. (I wanted to put that bold in yellow as well, but you probably would not be able to see it. Let's try. Golden Shower)

The Red Sox were quiet in the eighth. Hernández was supposedly hit by a pitch, up and in, near his hands. That was the call by plate umpire Will Little, which was confirmed after a replay challenge. Watching the replays convinced me beyond doubt that the ball never touched Hernández or any part of his uniofrm or batting gloves. It always amazes me when the replay team can't get its review right, even when the visual evidence is clear. It happend early in this game. In the top of the fourth, when Santander was thrown out at third, the Orioles asked for a review. I thought the runner was safe, but the review team upheld the original call.

Jansen got into a bit of a jam in the ninth. OB kept reciting stats about his good seasons with the Dodgers and how he led the NL in saves last year and the fact that he's pitched in three World Series. Who gives a shit? I watched those World Series and Jansen was shaky as fuck. I did not like the signing and I know anytime he comes into a game, I'm going to expect him to shit the bed. He's my new Matt Barnes. With two outs (K and a nifty scoop at first by Casas on a hard grounder), Jansen gave up a single to Hays, who stole second. Jansen walked Henderson. After a mound visit, Jansen fired some serious smoke past Mateo, getting him to swing and miss at three pitches, the second one a little higher than the first, and the third one a little higher than the second. It was impressive.

Félix Bautista (who, like Jansen, wears #74) came in for the last of the ninth. Devers fouled off two pitches before striking out and being thrown out at first. Bautista was throwing 100 to both Devers and Turner. Last year, he threw 203 pitches at 100+ mph, which sounded like a lot, but it was only 7th in MLB. The count went full before Turner grounded out to short. The Red Sox's win expectancy dropped to 4.4%.

Yoshida took a ball and popped to left. Mateo went out from shortstop and McKenna came in. It was obviously the left fielder's ball. He caught it off to his left side. The ball did not hit the heel of his glove exactly; it hit a bit higher than the heel, but not high enough to stick in the glove. O'Brien was either stuck in calling what he expected to happen (which I was guilty of as well, with my "P") or was simply speechless, so it was Youkilis who cried out that he had dropped the ball. Rob Refsnyder ran for Yoshida at first base.

Duvall stepped in, knowing he had struck out against Bautista to end the Red Sox's loss on Opening Day. "It was kind of eerie. And with the error and then getting a chance to end the game there, it was very strange walking up to the plate like, 'Man, this just happened literally two days ago.'"

Duvall took a fastball (99.9 mph) too far inside before getting another fastball (99.7) low in the zone. He hit a rope to left that slammed into the little shelf above the top of the wall. "Off the bat . . . I wasn't sure if it was a homer or not. And then I saw them stop going for it. I saw the lights start to flicker. I was hoping that it was going to stand as a homer."

When the picture from the park got dark, I assumed this was due to some NESN cockup. Nope, it turns out it's some new LED display bullshit the team is debuting this year. Yeah, that seems like a good use of a pile of money that could have been spent paying good players.

On Thursday, Adley Rutschman went 5-for-5, the first player to go 5-for-5 with a home run on Opening Day since 1937. Today, Austin Hays went 5-for-5 with a home run (and two doubles and two singles). How many times has a team had guys go 5-for-5 (with or without a dong) in consecutive games (or the first two games of a season)? It may have never happened before in the first two games.

My scorecard is a mess because of all the announcers notes I took throughout the game. Yay! 

Early in the top of the third, O'Brien started talking about how one of Sale's best games of his career came against the Orioles, when he had struck out 14. That was May 2019. He fanned Steve Wilkerson and Richie Martin a couple of times. Why didn't that help him today? Then OB went full Orsillo Non-Sequitur, pointing out that Sale started three consecutive All-Star games. Yes, he did . . . it all happened when he was with the fucking White Sox!

After Duvall doubled in the seventh, OB said, "If you grew up coming to Fenway, you saw a lot of games like this." Simple enough comment, but the viewers tuning in grew up coming to Fenway in 1950, 1964, 1973, 1982, 1995, 2003, 2011, and 2018. What OB meant was "If you grew up coming to Fenway during the same years I did, you saw a lot of games like this."

Yoshida batted in the seventh against Cionel Pérez, a hard-throwing lefty who O'Brien said was short for a pitcher. OB got nostalgic for short-ish fireballing lefties like Billy Wagner [Yook voices an "Oof" in the background] . . . [and?] . . . Ron Guidry. Seriously?!? The memories are supposedly flooding back, but you got to back to the late 70s, close to a half-century ago, to name your second guy? Jesus! Who else you remembering? . . . Rube Waddell? Okay, maybe not Waddell. He's listed at 6-1. And Koufax was 6-2. Guidry (5-11) and Wagner (5-10) check out. Oh, look, Pérez is listed at 6-0.

O'Brien did combine with me to call Duvall's third-inning homer. He said something about the wind, adding "he doesn't need any help from the wind". I replied: "If you want to show us how you do it right now, that'd be all right." Next pitch . . . Dongo!

NESN's super-zoom of the ball coming to the plate is often used when batters are hit or so we can really see the ball come off the bat. More than half the time, what we are supposed to see is off-screen because NESN has zoomed in way too close. This has been going on for years. Why is this still a problem after five years (at least; I'm being generous)? Why didn't someone see it happen once, twice, and fix the goddamn thing? If we can't see the ball hit the batter, you might as well put up some "live" video of fans eating hot dogs (from 2015). This also happened on double plays, when the second baseman getting the toss from short was out of the frame.

With less time between pitches and half-innings, the Red Sox appear to have adding more advertising behind home plate and on the wall in center. 


There's five different ads behind the plate. There is often a sixth ad in the score bug and a seventh ad superimposed on the third base side of the mound. If redsox.com counts as an ad, that's eight.


How many ads can you find in this picture?

I counted 20!!!

That's terrible and it's ugly as shit, too. There's also numerous ads on the Wall, but the white-on-green is far more (I can't believe I'm tying this) "aesethically pleasing" than this garbage.

Dean Kremer / Chris Sale

Chris Sale has made only 11 starts since 2019. While Opening Day was his 34th birthday, Sale claims, because of his limited playing time over the past three seasons, his left arm is only 31 — "athletically speaking".

Dr. Robert Parisien, an orthopedic sports medicine surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York:
We certainly don't have any data that suggests taking a full year to two or three years off, you're going to have some sort of increased improvement [compared to] the typical offseason.
Chad Jennings, The Athletic:
Doctors do have data that shows the kinetic chain — the core, lumbar musculature, dynamic hip stabilizers, and lower extremities — play a role in arm health and strength. If the time off allowed Sale to improve those aspects of his body, perhaps a relatively fresh arm could be better equipped to perform as it did a few years ago.
Dr. Parisien:
He might be stronger from that perspective. And this may all contribute to a few points in the velocity.
It's raining in Boston, but as of 11 AM ET, the game was expected to start on time.

From SoSHer LynnRice75:
Game one showed that this team can hit.
Unfortunately, we pitched like shit.
But my undying faith won't yield
And when we take the soggy field,
I'll watch as Chris Sale takes the ball
(And hope he doesn't slip and fall.)
The Sox will prove they are not meek
And start their first great winning streak.
Remember that a rainy day
Just means "water" is on the way.
The 2022 Red Sox's pitching staff walked 9+ batters in a game twice (July 1 and 6).

The 2023 Red Sox' pitching staff is already halfway to that total.


Some Things Never Change
by allan at 10:34 AM 3 comments
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January 25, 2023

NESN Admits It Edited Out Loud Boos And Steady Catcalls As John Henry And Chaim Bloom Spouted Epic Levels Of Tone Deaf Bullshit Excuses At Winter Weekend

Many Red Sox fans have been less than impressed with the front office's recent actions. After enduring a dismal 2022 season that resulted in a last-place finish, fans watched Xander Bogaerts leave for San Diego as the team announced an increase in ticket prices.

Last weekend, Red Sox owner John Henry and Chief Baseball Officer Claim Bloom were booed and heckled at the team's Winter Weekend in Springfield, but if the only coverage you saw was NESN, you would not have known that, because the network saw fit to edit out the boos and catcalls.

NESN admitted it, too, although its excuse was as lame as its game production and camerawork (my emphasis).

The show tonight at 8p — as is always the case with television production, we made tweaks where needed to accommodate sound quality in the unique amphitheater environment at MGM and condensing a 90-min period to the hour-long format of the show. With that said, the lion share of the ownership/front office Q&A is included in the show.

John Tomase (NBC Sports) said disgruntled fans "turn[ed] the made-for-NESN event into the woodchipper scene from Fargo":

Simply put, the fans are not having this offseason, not one bit. They booed Henry when he walked onto the stage. They booed chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom when he tried to explain how much better off the team is now than three years ago. They booed the response to a question about the cost of attending a game.

They booed and booed and booed to the point that one attendee described it as "uncomfortable."

If the Red Sox didn't realize the world of hurt they were in with their fans before, it's clear now. The people have spoken. . . .

They directed most of their vitriol at Bloom . . . I believe Bloom believes what he's selling. It's just tough to share his vision, since a club that is effectively replacing Xander Bogaerts with Adam Duvall probably isn't going to improve.

One of the cringiest moments in video posted to Twitter occurred when Bloom tried to explain how far the Red Sox have come since 2020. The fans began booing him almost immediately . . . [H]e shifted to the decision to trade Mookie Betts, using the unfortunate homonym of "big bets" to describe the contract it would've taken to keep him, which led to another torrent of boos. . . .

It was the perfect evening for a franchise riven by dysfunction. The Red Sox have spent all winter in a bubble of their own making, insisting that everything is fine. If they expected a friendly audience on Friday, they encountered a revolt.

These three tweets (h/t Toucher & Rich) show the fans in atttendance were not buying management's bullshit. These tone deaf fuckers yapped about making Fenway Park "accessible" and how important it is to "grow" the next generation of fans and then unhelpfully point out there are a few tickets for every home game that cost only $9.00 . . . blah blah blah . . . It's fucking embarrassing.

Henry: I think the most informed thing I can say is that it's expensive to have baseball players, to have the best —

Audience: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! [for 20 seconds]

by allan at 2:35 PM 0 comments
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October 5, 2022

Dennis Eckersley Will Retire From Broadcasting After Today's Game

Dennis Eckerlsey's last game as a broadcaster will be this afternoon, when the Red Sox finish the 2022 season against the Rays at Fenway Park.

Eck celebrated his 68th birthday two days ago and he and his wife Jennifer are looking forward to moving to the Bay Area and spending time with their grandchildren. "Does that make me feel old? Yeah, possibly. But that's a good thing, you know? I embrace it. I really embrace it. It doesn't make me depressed."

Godspeed to Eck, who I remember pitching for Cleveland for a couple of seasons before joining the Red Sox in 1978. Fourteen-year-old me saw him pitch in Fenway that season in a memorable (not in a good way) September game. 

Red Sox games won't be the same without Eckersley's entertaining commentary (did he ever sound like he wasn't having a great time?) and extraordinarily accurate memory, getting excited about some guy who's got serious gas or educated cheese (no salad), a fastball with some hair on it, leaving a pair of shoes (maybe a closet full of shoes before he's done), a guy who can avoid anything center cut that'll make a batter try to leave Earth, to go bridge with a dong to dead central or a three-run johnson, to be reminded that you never want to get your lunch from jump street, so you need easy cheddar, maybe mix in a yakker or a frisbee (I got to have that!) or a slide piece, get some punchouts, stay away from branch work. You'll get some iron, a lot of beans, and you can grab some oil and it'll be time to party. And that's a beautiful thing. Take care of your moss, Eck, and maybe swing by the NESN booth when the Red Sox are in Oakland next year just to stay in shape.

by allan at 1:17 AM 3 comments
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July 9, 2022

The Wild Card Standings Are The Only Standings That Matter
After A 19-4 Run, The Red Sox Have Lost 8 Of 11

The Red Sox lost two of three games to the Rays and have lost the first two games of a four-game series against the Yankees.

I tuned in last night, but did not last three innings. New York scored four runs in the top of the first and even though Boston got two back in its half, they trailed 7-2 as they batted in the third and lost 12-5. It was the most runs the MFY had scored at Fenway since September 2, 2015 (13-8).

Sad to say, it's "Wild Card Or Bust" this season. Friday night's loss dropped the third-place Red Sox a whopping 16 GB the Yankees in the AL East. A Reverse-78 ain't happening in '22. New York (61-23) is on pace to win 118 games, which would break the AL record of 116 set by the 2001 Mariners. Boston does hold the second WC spot, 0.5 GB the Rays and 0.5 GB the Blue Jays.

The Red Sox have lost four straight games and 8 of their last 11. In those 11 games, they are 18-for-101 (.178) with RATS. They are 9-20 against AL East teams (with a -36 run diff.), which is super-shitty; even the Orioles are 15-19. Boston also has a losing record against teams under .500 (19-21).

Things have not been right for nearly two weeks:
June 1-26:      19-4 
June 27-July 8:  3-8
Jackie Bradley pitched the ninth inning. He allowed a leadoff single, which came around to score because he also walked three batters. Of his 30 pitches, only 13 were strikes. But he actually changed speeds well and struck out D.J. LeMahieu — swinging!

JBJ was the first Boston position player to pitch against the Yankees since Mike Carp, who walked five of the seven batters he faced on April 24, 2014.

Also: Rob Refsnyder went 4-for-5 and J.D. Martinez and Christian Vázquez each had three hits.

French novelist and journalist Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr must have had NESN on his mind back in 1849, when he wrote: "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose":
by allan at 11:05 AM 2 comments
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April 24, 2022

Bill Burr On NESN: Canadians "Try To Act Like They're The Best White People"

I'm not sure I can be friends with Bill Burr anymore.

Ol' Billy Breaking Balls expressed respect for Derek Jeter during Tuesday's Red Sox game.

On the plus side, though, he ragged on Canadians (after being incredulous that Torontonians could be mean) and insulted what I really hope is a NESN sponsor.

Burr will be the first comedian to perform at Fenway Park when he does a show on August 21.
Burr: I gotta tell you, Toronto talking trash really kind of lit a fire. It's really bugging me.

Kevin Youkilis: Oh, they got some rough fans, too, up at the Rogers Centre now.

Burr: Toronto?

Youkilis: Oh, they get nasty. In that bullpen.

Burr: Toronto? . . . 

* * *

Burr: Toronto, actually Canada in general, is low-key hostile. You know what I mean? They try to act like they're the best white people. And it's like, dude, there were people here before you, so get off your high horse. . . . Oh, I got a vitamin water! Who drinks this stuff? You guys advertising on that – look at that. What – that looks like a dirty pool.

Youkilis: It's electrolytes.

Burr: Are electrolytes even real?
Burr is just old enough (b. 1968) to do a decent Looie impression.
by allan at 10:02 AM 2 comments
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April 21, 2022

Orsillo: Red Sox Told Me My Remy Tribute "Would No Longer Be Needed"
Red Sox's Numerous Attempts To Explain = Sideshow Bob Stepping On Rakes

There was no mention of longtime Red Sox television play-by-play announcer Don Orsillo during last night's on-field remembrance of Jerry Remy, who passed away last October, at the age of 66.

Orsillo's absence was a glaring omission that has only been made worse by the Red Sox's inability to explain why the wildly popular announcer, who is now a broadcaster for the Padres, was excluded. Remy spent 34 years in the Red Sox broadcast booth, 15 of them with Orsillo, who was unceremoniously dumped after the 2015 season. It boggles the mind to think the Red Sox could be so petty, so childish, after nearly seven years, of seemingly wanting to punish fans of the team (and Orsillo) for strongly disagreeing with the decision to get rid of Orsillo.

WBZ's Michael Hurley called it "a true disgrace". The Red Sox told the Globe that "ultimately, videos weren't part of the ceremony". Except the ceremony did include multiple montages of Remy, some of which included images of Orsillo. So why not show his short tribute?

OTM's Matt Collins says the move "seems more like incompetence than malice". I don't think so. (Does anyone think they simply forgot to include Orsillo?) But, hey, I'm feeling generous, so . . . why not both?
It's hard to put into words how truly shameful this is . . . The duo had the kind of chemistry that can not be faked, and has largely not been replicated in any other booth I've seen in any sport. They made the great moments greater, and they made what should have been dull blowouts must-watch television. . . .

They're forever linked in the hearts and minds of so many Red Sox fans. . . .

The cynic in me found it hard to believe this was anything but pride. The Red Sox have been reminded time and time again by this fanbase what a big mistake it was to let Orsillo go, and he certainly would have received a large applause had he been present, whether in-person or on video. That would have looked bad for the team. . . .

There is absolutely, 100 percent no reason for the team to have not played the video. . . . [It's] a sign of an organization that, at least in this instance, can't help but trip over themselves. . . .

The Red Sox blew it, plain and simple, and it's something that will take a long, long time to forget and forgive, if it ever even gets to that point.
Collins quotes Red Sox senior vice president Pam Kenn's initial response: "Two sides to all stories."

Really. That's what she said, which is more of an insult than explanation. Kenn later posted a longer, but no less feeble, excuse.
Yes, you read that right. Kenn is implying Orsillo wanted to grab all the attention for himself on a night devoted to Remy. (For christ's sake, Pam, quit digging.) A quick scroll indicates that exactly 100% of of the replies to her tweet (correctly) recognized it as Grade-A, Unadulterated Horseshit.
Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy's mealy-mouthed response:
Strike 1: Purposefully excluding Orsillo.
Strike 2: Lying about not using videos.
Strike 3: Kenn's nonsense (including insulting Orsillo).
Strike 4: Kennedy's blathering.
Strike 5: [It's best if you shut the fuck up now, Red Sox]
by allan at 9:35 AM 3 comments
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April 17, 2022

LOL

Well worth bookmarking.

Maybe NESN Isn't So Bad Who Am I Kidding? They're Completely Inept & Make The Same Embarrassing Mistakes Year After Year After Year
by allan at 11:17 PM 0 comments
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April 11, 2022

NESN's Production Team Might Be A Raccoon And A Squirrel

We're Back From Commercial Already?!?
by allan at 8:29 PM 0 comments
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April 8, 2022

G1: Yankees 6, Red Sox 5 (11) 

Red Sox - 300 001 000 10 - 5  9  2
Yankees - 200 100 010 11 - 6  9  0
After taking a 3-0 lead in the top of the first before making an out, the Red Sox spent the rest of Friday afternoon doing a whole lot of nothing, watching the Yankees come back and win the opening game of the season in 11 innings.

Over a span of eight innings (from the second to the ninth), Boston got a man past first base in only one frame. Meanwhile, Alex Cora made some questionable decisions:
After the Yankees tied the game in the bottom of the eighth, he brought Matt Strahm out of the bullpen. The hirsute lefty finished the inning unscathed, but he threw only six strikes in 15 pitches.

When Xander Bogaerts came out of the game with a possible hamstring injury, after his bloop single gave the Red Sox a 5-4 lead in the 10th, Cora put Jonathan Araúz at shortstop instead of moving Trevor Story to his natural position (shortstop) and having Araúz at his natural position (second base) (rather than risk starting an X-or-Story-At-Shortstop debate?). Araúz then erred in going for a ground ball when he should have been covering second for a possible double play, and that mistake helped the Yankees tied the game in the 10th.

For the bottom of the 11th, Cora felt Kutter Crawford was his best option. Crawford lost the game in three pitches.
By the time Josh Donaldson singled off K-Craw, bringing in Extra-Runner Fuck You Rob Manfred ("ERFURM") Isiah Kiner-Falefa (and giving the Yankees their sixth walkoff in a season-opener and first since 1957*), the fun of the first inning seemed far more distant than the 3:56 time of game.

*: The Red Sox have not had a season-opening walkoff win since 1941, the longest drought of any major league team.

Gerrit Cole's first four pitches of the season were wide of the zone and Kiké Hernández walked. Rafael Devers took a strike before banging a two-run homer into the second deck in right field. Bogaerts followed with a line drive to the base of the wall in left; he was slow out of the box (on your first at-bat of the season?) and had to stop at first. J.D. Martinez doubled into the right-field corner and Bogaerts scored. 3-0 and no outs.
Then the offense went into a coma (it was serious). Cole (4-4-3-1-3, 68) got three weak outs (1-3, PF5, K) and then cruised through the next three innings. He hit Christian Vázquez with one out in the second, but Hernández hit into a first-pitch double play. A leadoff single in the fourth led to nothing.

Nathan Eovaldi (5-5-3-1-7, 76) nearly gave back the entire lead in the bottom half of the first. With one out, Aaron Judge dropped a single into right and Anthony Rizzo homered to right-center. He allowed a game-tying, cheap-ass dong by Giancarlo Stanton that barely cleared the wall in right-center.

In the fifth, New York had runners on first and second with two outs. D.J. LeMahieu lined a ball to left and Alex Verdugo made a diving catch to his right to end the threat (and Eovaldi's day).

Boston took the lead in the sixth off Clay Holmes. Bogaerts lined the ball down the left field line, hustling (this time) for a double. He took third on Martinez's groundout and scored on Verdugo's single to right-center. Story forced Verdugo at second and Bobby Dalbec singled. Miguel Castro relieved Holmes and walked Jackie Bradley, loading the bases. But Vázquez struck out.

The Red Sox went in order in the seventh and eighth innings on 16 total pitches. Garrett Whitlock relieved Eovaldi. He struck out three in the sixth, got the MFY in order in the seventh, and began the eighth by striking out Stanton. Then LeMahieu homered to right-center, another cheap-ass shot that (like Stanton's solo in the fourth) would not have been a home run in any of the other 29 major league parks.

Aroldis Chapman's first pitch of the ninth sailed to the backstop. Sadly, he did not, as he often does, pull a choke-job against the Red Sox. Dalbec popped to third and Bradley and Vázquez fanned.

Hansel Robles got the first two outs of the bottom of the ninth, but Judge doubled and Cora decided to intentionally walk the lefty Rizzo and have Robles (a righty) face the righty Stanton. The MFY's clean-up hitter must have been anxious because the first pitch was so in the dirt, it was practically underground, and he waved at it. After a foul, he chased another low pitch for an inning-ending K.

My hopes had been up for the ERFURM to be gone this season, but #FireManfred changed his mind and the Union agreed. My limited viewing of the 2021 regular season allowed me to never see a tenth inning. I was not so lucky in 2022.

Araúz began the top of the tenth at second. Hernández struck out and Devers was put on first. Bogaerts's flair dropped into left and Joey Gallo made a terrible throw to the plate. The run scored and Boston had a 5-4 lead. (Bogaerts was slow to run on this too, but it was likely his hamstring, as he also grabbed at it after sliding into second base when Martinez GIDP.)

Jake Diekman got the ball for the bottom of the tenth. He plunked LeMahieu and after a groundout, walked Aaron Hicks intentionally. That left the bases loaded for pinch-hitter Gleyber Torres. Ryan Brasier made Torres look horrible on a couple of swings (and fouls) at outside stuff before he lifted a fly to center. The runner tagged and scored. Brasier battled Kiner-Falefa for 10 pitches before striking him out (csffbbbffs).

King's second inning of work, the Boston eleventh, passed without incident. Verdugo struck out. Story struck out. Dalbec grounded to short.

Crawford threw a ball and a called strike to Donaldson in the home eleventh and then Donaldson grounded a ball up the middle to the left of second base. Araúz dove to his left but it went between him and Story for a game-winning single.

MLB continues to employ Laz Diaz.
Other Stuff:

The Yankees flew the Ukrainian flag and had a Ukrainian woman sing before the game. Why do they have to cram politics down our throats when all we want to do is relax and watch a game? Why can't they "stick to sports"? Oh, right, it's not political when it's the culture's dominant view. . . . Yes, the gesture is nice. I fully support the Ukraine people against this genocidal mass murderer (who tens of millions of Americans support (or, at the very least, who worship a guy who worships the mass murderer)). But the gesture is also off-the-goddamn-charts hypocritical and stupendously galling because, holy motherfucking drone strike, Batman, the horrific pictures of Ukraine streets strewn with dead bodies that have rightly disgusted a large majority of Americans and the US media could have been taken by photographers in Iraq at any time in the last 20 years. (I'm somewhat surprised there was not a military jet flyover after the Ukrainian women finished singing.) For all intents and purposes, no one in the US gave a single fuck about the US's war crimes in Iraq for two decades (and the numerous war crimes Joe Biden is committing right now in Syria (and the war crimes in so many countries during the US's entire existence (including the seven countries Barack "Cool" Obama was at war with at the same time))); in fact, they cheered the murder of innocents. It turns out it never really mattered to those millions of innocent dead people down through the ages whether they were murdered by a Democrat or a Republican.

Why did Yankees management play the "Evil Empire" theme as the Red Sox roster and lineup was being announced and the players lined up along the third base line? The Yankees used to play that music for themselves, gladly accepting the label Larry Lucchino put on them way back in December 2002. Google "yankees evil empire" and you'll see hundreds of examples of the MFY's idiot fans (and media) embracing the sobriquet. Are the Yankees now saying the Red Sox are the Evil Empire?

NESN's Dave O'Brien was in mid-season form when it came to saying stupid things and making mistakes. Which i expected. The first words I heard him say this season was this opening: "The Opening Week is brought to you by FTM, Major League Baseball's official crypto-currency exchange." That's not his fault; he had to read the commercials, but there are many things wrong with that sentence, the least of among them being that Opening Week is not a thing.

T2: O'Brien was saying good things about Cole' strikeout totals and ERAs, but then said that because he hasn't won a Cy Young, he has not started an All-Star Game, and he has not won a World Series game, there are "holes in his resume". He names three things that Cole cannot control at all and calls them holes in his resume.

T3: When Devers batted for the second time, O'Brien said he "hit the first pitch he saw for a home run". Actually, Devers homered on an 0-1 pitch in the first inning and O'Brien had noted the called strike because it was Cole's first of the game, coming after four balls to Hernández.

T4 & T6: O'Brien told us twice that Story "hits well against the Yankees". In fact, he has "hit nearly .400 for his career" against the Yankees. Story has played a grand total of seven games against the MFY and his batting average is .393. Four games in 2016 and three games in 2019. On June 14, 2016, he homered off Nathan Eovaldi, so that should help . . .. oh, wait. On July 20, 2019, Story had two hits off Masahiro Tanaka, who is no longer a major leaguer. I am afraid that OB thinks what Story did six years ago against someone with absolutely no connection to the 2022 Yankees is actually relevant and can predict what he will do this summer.

O'Brien asked Dennis Eckersley if Bogaerts's contract situation would be a "distraction" this season if Cora was not the manager. Has the Boston media acted any differently with Cora in the dugout? Did the media run roughshod all over Francona or Farrell? It's a stunningly stupid question.

Early in the game, Eckersley pointed out that you "don't see a lot of ground balls up the middle for hits". You don't? I am somewhat amused by the fact that the hit that won the game was . . . a ground ball more or less up the middle.

I had to work in the middle of the sixth, so I muted NESN. I'd prefer not un-mute it for the rest of the season. .  .. Why oh why are we cursed with Dave O'Brien and how long must our suffering last?

Finally (and please understand that this last comment has absolutely nothing to do with the outcome of today's game):

I FUCKING HATE HATE HATE MANFRED'S STUPID GODDAMN EXTRA-INNING RUNNER WITH THE HEAT OF 10,000 FUCKING SUNS!!! CHRIST! MANFRED! WHY ARE YOU SO INTENT ON RUINING EVERYTHING ABOUT BASEBALL, YOU USELESS FUCKING ASSHAT? 


Nathan Eovaldi / Gerrit Cole
Hernández, CF
Devers, 3B
Bogaerts, SS
Martinez, DH
Verdugo, LF
Story, 2B
Dalbec, 1B
Bradley, RF
Vázquez, C

Happy Opening Day!

The Red Sox's 122nd season begins in the Bronx – with the pitchers from last season's Wild Card game facing off again.

The Red Sox and Yankees last began the season playing each other in 2013. (That season ended well.) It was Jackie Bradley's major league debut and Boston won 8-2.

Rafael Devers was hotter than a two-peckered billy goat this spring (10-for-27, .370/.438/1.074 for a 1.512 OPS), with six home runs, three singles, and a double. He led the Red Sox in dongs, runs scored (8) and runs batted in (12). Bobby Dalbec also had a great spring (.333/.385/.667/1.052).

MLB teams will start the season with a 28-man roster and no limit on the number of pitchers. Rosters will shrink to 26 players on May 2 (about 3.5 weeks into the season). Alex Cora is carrying 15 pitchers on his Opening Day roster:

Starting Pitchers: Nathan Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta, Tanner Houck, Michael Wacha, Rich Hill
Relief Pitchers: Matt Barnes, Garrett Whitlock, Ryan Brasier, Kutter Crawford, Hansel Robles, Hirokazu Sawamura, Jake Diekman, Austin Davis, Matt Strahm, Phillips Valdez
Catcher: Christian Vázquez, Kevin Plawecki
First Base: Bobby Dalbec, Travis Shaw
Second Base: Trevor Story
Shortstop: Xander Bogaerts
Third Base: Rafael Devers
Outfield: Alex Verdugo, Kiké Hernández, Jackie Bradley
Designated Hitter: J.D. Martinez
Utility: Christian Arroyo, Jonathan Aráuz

Chris Sale begins the season on the injured list (for the third consecutive year). A stress fracture in his right rib cage will keep Sale out until at least June. (Also, let's hope he doesn't get Covid for a third time.) James Paxton is also out until June (TJ surgery). Reliever Josh Taylor is on the 10-day IL, retroactive to April 4.

More than 12,000 fans voted in The Athletic's Hope-O-Meter ("Are you optimistic about your team's chances in 2022?") and Stephen J. Nesbitt ranked teams by how many of their fans were optimistic. The Yankees ranked 21st (48%) and the Red Sox were 11th (88%). . . . In other words, 12% of Red Sox fans were pessimistic about this season versus 52% of MFY fans.


There's a bit of pressure on Cole today.



When we last saw "The Anti-Dent" . . . 


Yes, he does. It's Red Sox 6, Yankees 2!


To me, the most embarrassing part of the 2017 Astros cheating scandal is how bad they were at hiding it. . . . Banging on a trashcan to communicate what pitches are coming in real-time during home games is…not subtle? How embarrassing, I thought, to cheat and get caught! But somehow this whole scandal has become even more of an embarrassment a full four years later. . . .

Beltrán [now an employee of the YES Network] has been lying since the beginning of the investigation. . . . Beltrán still believes that this whole scandal wasn't fair, that they weren't doing anything wrong. The reason he can't seem to apologize earnestly for his role in the scandal is because he clearly doesn't believe he needs to. So far, that's worked out fine for him. None of the 2017 Astros players received a suspension from MLB.
by allan at 12:33 AM 6 comments
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October 3, 2021

G162: Red Sox 7, Nationals 5 

Red Sox   - 000 101 302 - 7 13  0
Nationals - 011 030 000 - 5  7  1

Rafael Devers crushed a two-run home run with one out in the top of the ninth, snapping a 5-5 tie, and  allowing the Red Sox to clinch the first wild card spot. It was Devers's fourth hit of the day and his second home run. He scored three runs and drove in four.

Equally important was Alex Verdugo's two-out, two-run, game-tying double in the seventh, a rope that split the gap in right-center and complete the Red Sox's comeback from a four-run deficit.

The Red Sox's 92nd victory of the season spared them the prospect of hosting a tiebreaker against the Blue Jays on Monday for the right to play a do-or-die game at the Yankees in the WC game. Instead, Boston will host the Yankees in the Wild Card Game at Fenway Park on Tuesday evening (Gerrit Cole vs Nathan Eovaldi).

A look at the box score shows Eduardo Rodriguez with the W and Nick Pivetta with the save. Chris Sale was pulled after only 2.1 innings, not an indefensible move, as Sale had allowed four hits and three walks by that time (2.1-4-2-3-7, 62), but it obligated manager Alex Cora to to steer the bullpen through at least 20 outs.

Which he was able to do, with only one bad inning, when Garrett Richards allowed two doubles, two walks (one intentional), and three runs in the fifth. Alex Avila's double put Washington up 5-1, but it turned out also to be the Nationals' final hit of the season.

Sale struck out the side in the first inning, but he needed 18 pitched to do so. 

Boston squandered an early chance to score off Nats starter Joan Adon (making his major league debut, with only four innings pitched above AA) in the second when Devers led off with a single and J.D. Martinez (who later left the game after tripping over second base while jogging out to his position in the middle of the fifth) was hit by a pitch. Two strikeouts and a force at third ended that threat.

Josh Bell opened the home second with a double off Sale and scored on Jordy Mercer's one-out double to left-center. Sale began the third by walking Lane Thomas. Alcides Escobar dropped a single into short center and Thomas (who misread the play) advanced only to second. Juan Soto struck out looking, but Bell lined a single to left, loading the bases. Plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth appeared to squeeze Sale on the first pitch to Ryan Zimmerman (who is expected to retire after this season and got a lengthy standing ovation) and then a check-swing was not called a strike. the play-by-play will show that Sale  eventually walked Zimmerman on four pitches, forcing in a run, but he perhaps should have been ahead 0-2. After that walk, Hirokazu Sawamura came in and got an inning-ending double play.

Devers led off the fourth with a solo home run. Verdugo singled through the infield into left with one out, but he got stupid, rounding first and thinking about a double and was tagged out retreating to the bag 8-4-3-4-3-6. In the fifth, the Red Sox had runners at second and third with one out, but Schwarber grounded weakly to first and Bogaerts grounded to third.

Escobar started the fifth off by hammering a high changeup from Richards down the left field line for a double. Soto was walked intentionally and then Richards unintentionally walked Bell (with some possible assistance from Culbreth). Bases loaded, no outs, Nats up 2-1. Richards struck out Zimmerman on a 1-2 fastball. Mercer grounded back to the box. Richards bobbled the ball, did not have a play at the plate, and threw out the batter at first. 3-1. Then Avila ripped a double past first base and towards the right-field corner for two more enemy runs.

The Red Sox trailed by four runs with 12 outs remaining. They got one run back right away. With one out, Jose Iglesias, batting for JDM, singled into left and Verdugo grounded a hit into right. That ended Adon's day, which went far better (5.1-6-2-3-9, 93) than I had expected (he has a dynamite curveball). Patrick Murphy recorded the second out, but Christian Vazquez grounded a pitch up the middle. Escobar grabbed it behind the second base bag and flung the ball to Mercer, trying to force Verdugo at second. The call was "safe" and it was upheld after Washington challenged. NESN did not have a decent replay, from any angle, and perhaps there was no evidence to clearly dispute the original call. It was for naught, though, as Travis Shaw was rung up by third base umpire Phil Cuzzi on a check swing (Eck: "Phil's gonna get ya.")

The Red Sox faced Erick Fedde (a starter who had moved to the pen) in the seventh. Hernandez whiffed, but Schwarber singled to center and Bogaerts singled to left. Devers took a massive cut on 2-1 and missed a curveball. He got another bender on 2-2 and he grounded it into right-center, scoring a run. Iglesias was jammed and fouled out to first. Verdugo barrelled a 1-1 pitch and shot it into right-center. It rolled to the wall and both baserunners scored, tying the game at 5-5.

Martin Perez had pitched the sixth, issuing a two-out walk but nothing else. Rookie Garrett Whitlock, just off the IL and out of action since September 19, turned in a clean seventh, striking out two and throwing only 10 pitches.

The Red Sox went in order in the eighth. During that inning, it was learned the Yankees had scored in a run in the bottom of the ninth and beaten the Rays 1-0. The Blue Jays were already cruising to a 12-4 win over the Orioles, so the stakes were now clear. A win would place the Red Sox as the home team for the WC game against New York and a loss would force them to play Toronto in a tiebreaker, hoping for a shot at going to New York for the one-game WC game.

Eduardo Rodriguez came out of the pen to face the bottom third of the Nats' lineup. He got two fly outs on three pitches and then struck out pinch-hitter Riley Adams.

Kyle Schwarber opened the ninth by grounding Kyle Finnegan's 1-0 pitch into the shift. Second baseman Mercer was back on the right field grass. He bobble the easy grounder twice, made no throw, and was charged with an error. Bogaerts struck out. Devers swung at missed the first pitch before looking at two pitches in the dirt. Finnegan hung a splitter on 2-1 and Devers took full advantage. He crushed the ball 447 feet to dead center for his 38th home run of the season, and he knew it as soon as he made contact. (One kid in the picture above knew it was gone about the same time Raffy did!) Thank goodness for the Nationals' chronically porous bullpen (5.05 ERA after 161 games).

Nick Pivetta was tasked with the bottom of the ninth. For some reason, it felt perfunctory. Thomas got ahead 3-0, but took a strike, fouled another pitch off, and then popped to second. Escobar grounded to third. Pivetta got two strikes on Soto before dropping a 78 mph knuckle-curve into the heart of the zone. All Soto did was watch it before turning around and walking away from the Red Sox's celebration!

NESN:

Dave O'Brien had been off on Saturday, which was a blessing. He returned to the booth today, which was a curse. In the third, as Nationals leadoff man Lane Thomas batted for the second time, he said: "He whiffed to begin the ball game." To my knowledge, 108 years have passed since a home team batted first in a game. Although it was regularly done in the 19th century, the last time was reportedly in 1913. A formal rule designating that the visiting team bat first was made in 1950. I guess what I'm trying to say is: Try to keep up, Dave.

In the top of the first, Dennis Eckersley noted that if batters have never seen a pitcher (like newcomer Joan Adon), they "have no idea" what he throws, despite having told viewers exactly what Adon threw (and what his better pitches are) only a batter or two earlier.

They were not all bad, though. O'Brien said that Culbreth had "granted a strike" to Adon on a questionable 3-0 pitch to Verdugo in the sixth, a nice choice of words and a change from the usual "gift". As Mercer swung and missed a pitch in the fifth, making the count 2-2, Eck said: "This guy wants to strike out!" Mercer did not whiff, but it was still a funny line in the moment.

Also, Eck turned 67 today. Happy Birthday!!

2021 Postseason Bracket (with advertisements erased):

by allan at 5:15 PM 3 comments
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September 23, 2021

Schwarber Leads Red Sox In 12-5 Rout Of Mets; Replay Review Upholds Incorrect Call

In the top of the fifth inning of last night's game, Brandon Nimmo of the Mets hit a little trickler in front of the plate. Chris Sale ran in from the mound, grabbed the ball, and fired a seed to first base, where Kyle Schwarber made a nice catch, but ended up pulling his foot off the bag to avoid a collision. The screen shot above shows the baseball going into Schwarber's glove, with "daylight" between his left foot and the bag.

Umpire Phil Cuzzi called Nimmo out, which was (once NESN got around to showing a proper replay in which viewers could see Schwarber's left foot and its position to the bag) very obviously an incorrect call.

Cuzzi was in poor position to make an accurate call on this play. Even if he had been looking specifically at Schwarber's feet, he likely was far enough out of position to not see the left cleat lose contact with the bag. The ball beat the runner, so he called the runner out.

The Mets asked for a review, which ended up taking much longer than this clear open-and-shut case should have. Finally, the umpires in Fenway Park received the official ruling "from New York".

OUT! They upheld the blown call?!?

What is the point of having replay review if the people running the review give the thumbs up to blown calls?

(Also, Schwarber went 3-for-4, with a double, two home runs (in each of the first two innings), a walk, four RBI and four runs scored.)

More evidence for Robots!!
by allan at 12:11 AM 3 comments
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