10/8 ALDS game 4 @ the toilet that is the Trop.

[Rdsxmbnt]

Hard not to look at Bogaerts and see a future star. So composed, and despite limited playing time so far he had a huge impact in game 4. I remember watching David Price in the 2008 ALCS come in for the final 4 outs of game 7 and just being awestruck at how little chance we had against this guy. Got the same feeling watching Xander last night.

[yankees228]

Enjoy it, guys and gals. The much, much better team won.

[seabeachfred]

In 2008 and 2009 they were exposed as a Top 3 offensive team that averaged 95 wins a year?? Oh-kayyyy ... the Red Sox have been aggressive because they have the personnel to be opportunistic. This ain't the 1985 Cardinals or anything. The Red Sox stole 123 bases in 2013 ... they stole 120 in 2008 and 126 in 2009. What is different is the unsustainably crazy percentage (only caught 10 times all season). They have picked their spots beautifully. The station to station legend of 2007 is also not very true - 96 stolen bases, 7th in the AL. Hell, the go-go Red Sox of 2013 were 3rd in the AL in steals. 4th? The station to station Indians.

Moving runners, hit and run ... they sound interesting but giving away outs is generally bad. They didn't score a run because they missed in a couple of key spots and Tampa pitched well - none of this is new fangled, this is stuff Earl Weaver figured out 40 years ago. Get baserunners, wait for the crooked number - that is higher percentage than over-bunting and wasting time on so-called productive outs. That it doesn't work all the time doesn't prove that it's not the right door to go through.

Last night's rally was thrilling. But it is much more a triumph of the stuff that carried the 2004-2010 era than it looks - zero extra base hits yes, but great at bat after great at bat ... sixteen baserunners in 9 innings and being able to shake off some really awful luck. The lineup and approach just wears down teams that whose pitchers aren't dialed in the entire way.

The team is a reflection on what a mistake it was to panic like they did in 2012 - this team has had a winning approach for the better part of a decade ... you just never know how October will shake out.

Great post sk7. I had forgotten that we did score a lot of runs in 2009 and 2010 but I also recollect that we were pretty much feast or famine most of the time, one of those years didn't we get off to a 2-10 start? It was 2010 when Pedroia, Martinez and Buchholz all went down in that series in SF ( I was there), and in 2009 we slumped badly after the ASB. Both years we were very inconsistent. I think those teams were stripped clean by all those injuries we suffered those two seasons; this year we seemed to stay a lot healthier----and I think this may have the most resourceful Red Sox team in this century---which is how long I've followed the Red Sox.

[SoxSport]

Verlander, 7 2/3rds, 3-0 shutout, 97 pitches. Think Leyland is worried about pitch counts? LOL

[sk7326]

Great post sk7. I had forgotten that we did score a lot of runs in 2009 and 2010 but I also recollect that we were pretty much feast or famine most of the time, one of those years didn't we get off to a 2-10 start? It was 2010 when Pedroia, Martinez and Buchholz all went down in that series in SF ( I was there), and in 2009 we slumped badly after the ASB. Both years we were very inconsistent. I think those teams were stripped clean by all those injuries we suffered those two seasons; this year we seemed to stay a lot healthier----and I think this may have the most resourceful Red Sox team in this century---which is how long I've followed the Red Sox.

I don't know if it was feast or famine - I'd say it is fairly similar. The difference between then and 2013 was honestly that this year we were coming off of the Valentine disaster. In those years we were coming off of perennial contenders. But you look at 2007 when we had a juggernaut. 2008 it was a tough loss to Tampa but an incredibly gritty, tough series against a team that was clearly not a fluke. 2010 was one of Francona's finest managing jobs - 89 wins with a team that had to play Darnell McDonald a lot and were just torched by injury all season. Injuries also were a primary driver of 2011's stuff.

I look at it this way - 8 years is a long time, so Francona might have been right to leave. But the Red Sox have regained their mojo with Theo's right hand man and Francona's pitching coach ... that speaks volumes about the real verdict on the 2003-2011 system that was in place. I am just grateful the opportunity was there to correct the panic-driven overreaction that was the 2011 offseason.

[User Name?]

Verlander, 7 2/3rds, 3-0 shutout, 97 pitches. Think Leyland is worried about pitch counts? LOL

Yes he is, *insert oft-repeated idea about SS being a bot or a senile old man*

[Bellhorn04]

Yes he is, *insert oft-repeated idea about SS being a bot or a senile old man*

And his numbers weren't even right. Wacky.