Good news today: pivetta with another impressive outing! Dalbec bails out to the bullpen!
Bad news today: the Yankees won!
Good news today: pivetta with another impressive outing! Dalbec bails out to the bullpen!
Bad news today: the Yankees won!
Very impressed with the game last night. Pivetta and Richards are locked in a tight race for the title of best starting pitcher on the roster, a race I am enjoying very much. Should Cora have gone to Andriese? Perhaps not. Whitlock was unavailable, Darwinzon has been shaky of late, and Sawamura has pitched better recently, but still has been known to blow it up. So, Andriese was probably his most viable options. I don't think Pivetta should have come out for the 7th in the first place. I always like to see relievers come into a clean inning, so I think that might have helped Andriese a little. But how about Ottavino? Striking out Ohtani and Trout in the 8th? I bet that got the crowd charged up. Barnes continues to dominate in the 9th. On a night to night basis, if we can just get to the 9th with a lead, we'll be fine.
No, the offense wasn't great, but it produced when it needed to. If we are starting to witness the true extent of what Bobby Dalbec can do, this next week or so could be a lot of fun. The bottom of the order is starting to produce, between Renfroe, Dalbec, and Chavis, if you lump him in with the bottom of the order. It doesn't matter who does what on what night, just as long as we end up outscoring our opponents. But, very happy to see us win a game where the bullpen blew a lead. We know they will blow leads for us, so it's important to grab as many of those wins as possible
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
So maybe Bloom gets an A for the rotation and something lower for the bullpen. The WAR's and ERA's for the staff are:
Pivetta 1.1, 3.16
Barnes 1.0, 1.89
Whitlock .7, 1.77
Eovaldi .6, 4.20
ERod .5, 4.15
Richards .3, 3.89
Perez .2, 4.01
Sawamu .2, 3.31
Valdez .1, 3.38
Houck 0, 4.35
Ottavi -.2, 4.02
Taylor -.2, 6.39
Brice -.3, 7.39
Hernan -.3, 4.63
Andries -.3, 4.91
Here's something interesting.
I track the Sox pitching staff ERA and it's position with respect to the 29 other MLB teams. The team ERA has been dropping recently and is now 3.85. But not that long ago 3.85 had the Sox ranked 9th, and now 3.85 has them ranked 15th.
Relatedly, of the top 17 MLB teams in ERA, only the Marlins (8th, ERA 3.49) and Nationals (14th, ERA 3.84) have losing records.
Meanwhile, in the hitting and especially run scoring department, The Reds, ranked 5th in run scoring, have a losing record; the Rockies, 6th, ditto; the Diamondbacks 7th, ditto; the Braves, 10th, ditto; the Rangers, 11th, ditto; the Angels, 12th, ditto; the Cubs, 14th, ditto; the Twins, tied for 14th, ditto (in fact, at 12 and 24 they are the worst team in MLB).
So it sure seems to me that, as much as I like the fact that the Sox are 2d in MLB in scoring runs and 1st in team OPS, that good pitching is more vital than ever.
Which gets us back to the argument about the active roster. I say again, more pitching choices are more useful than more position players. Cora actually believes in resting position players by giving them a day off, but this year he seems to want to keep those good bats in the lineup, so in the last two games first Bogie and then Devers were DH while JDM patrolled LF.
Last edited by Maxbialystock; 05-15-2021 at 09:53 AM.
Very interesting take about ERA. Middle of the road ERA and a top 5 offense is about what most people thought heading into the year. If we're right on those numbers, and 24-16, that's a sign that this level of play can be maintained.
What do the offensive numbers look like for the Marlins and Nats, those 2 teams in the top of the ERA category that are under .500? The Nats scoring 17 last night should have an impact on those numbers though