BIG night for the Red Sox. At least they scored 5 runs.
BIG night for the Red Sox. At least they scored 5 runs.
Actually, no. Here are six decent OPS's Cora can call on: Duran .784; Abreu .830; Wong .900; Devers .902; O'Neill .924; Refsnyder .964. Rafaela, batting 9th with his .595 OPS, leads the team in rbi's with 23. So that's 7 semi-decent bats.Originally Posted by SPLENDIDSPLINTER
The problem with this team is that they simply can't score/drive in runs.
And, since we're talking about the lineup, it's worth adding that the Sox defense has given up 36 unearned runs. The Yankees have the 2d best ERA (2.91) and have given up just 19 unearned runs.
In short, while the Sox lineup can sort of, kind of hit, they can't drive in runs and they give up way too many unearned runs.
One more time on Kenley Jansen. He's been an effective closer for a very long time, including this season. However, for most of this season he has relied heavily on his cutter and only occasionally uses his slider. He does move that cutter around in the strike zone, but last night it was obvious the Rays knew exactly what to expect from Jansen and capitalized on it. Other teams should be able to do the same because I can think of few other closers who were effective with just one pitch.
Jansen has had 4 bad games out of 16. He had 3 other games with 2 BBs but no runs allowed.
He's not the same guy he was years ago, but he seems to be okay.
A .542 OPS Against is awesome.
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
Jansen is walking 14.7% of all the hitters he faces (1 out of every 7). That's not only a career high, but also pretty damn ridiculous and well above the league average of 8.6%. And walking hitters is the absolute worst thing a closer can do, because there is absolutely no defense for that.
Really, without the walk, the Rays got to him for a pair of singles and a sac fly. If he made Arozarena hit the ball, chances are the Sox get out of that inning unscathed...
Very true, but no HRs allowed (0.0 HR/9 vs career 0.8)
His 6.3 H/9 is above his career 5.8 mark but is his 2nd best number in the last 6 seasons. (it was 8.1, last year.)
He's pushing his luck with all the BBs, but not letting up the key hits has saved hime, more often than not.
BTW...
8 BBs in his first 5.2 IP
2 BBs in his last 10 IP (2 in his last 5 or 6 IP)
He did miss some ST'ing, so maybe he is okay, now.
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
Mariano Rivera. He did pretty well with mainly one pitch.
Did Koji throw anything other than that unhittable splitter?
"Fans have become more entitled than anything. So they're starting to question our motives for the game, or how we approach the game. The ones that do question -- like who are you? Just shut up and watch the game tonight." --Kevin Durant on players' lack of effort in regular season games.
John Wetteland, Rob Dibble, Randy Myers, etc. These guys didn’t call themselves the Brain Dead Heavers because they mixed up their pitches.
I can’t remember the rest of the Heavers, but I think there were a few more…
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