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Mike_S View Drop Down
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    Posted: 02-16-2010 at 5:47pm
It gets worse...

Two game set against Toronto who lead the East.  Lost the first one 6-3 behind Bobby Crouch who is one of our better pitchers -- Toronto is just a good hitting team.  Anyway, we have had four solid-or-better starters all year, but one spot in the rotation has been horrible no matter who we've put in there, and that's the spot that's up next.  And so for game two we are stuck going with Eric Hall, a long reliever who has been good as a mop-up man, but who's making his first start of the season.

Four batters into the game it's 4-0 Jays and the rout was on.

Then suddenly something happened.  Down 7-0 in the 5th, we scored three runs.  Then in the sixth their starter got wild and started walking everybody and a few big hits later it was 7-7!  We have not had a comeback of that magnitude in ages, if ever.  However with two outs and a man on second, Mike Sweeney hit a ball off the wall that looked like a Fenway single -- and somehow, some way, I inexplicably screwed up the controls trying to send him back to first and sent BOTH runners back -- so instead of it being 8-7 Sox, it remained 7-all with men on first-and-third.  The next batter was out and the inning was over.  I make a controls mistake like that about once a season, it was just a horrible time for it to happen.

It now became a pitcher's duel.  Mel Cooper -- he of the 11.73 ERA entering the game who was just called back up from AAA -- was mopping up and he somehow threw 2.2 innings of shutout ball to keep us tied (and earn the start the next time our rotation comes around to the 5th spot).  Our pen did great, but we couldn't score against their pen either. 

Then in the 9th, Ned Nixon -- our good lefty reliever who just gave up his first HR of the season to lose the heartbreaker to KC (see last post) -- did the EXACT same thing.  A 2-R HR to a LHB slugger and we were down 9-7. 

Then, again similar to the KC game, we rallied in the last of the 9th.  Mike Sweeney who was red-hot tripled in a run with one out.  But we couldn't get him home in two tries, stranding him on third, and we lost it 9-8.

OK, so for our critical stretch we've now lost 4 straight.  We're 14-19, 4.5 GB in the East and fading, with three huge games left against Baltimore (2nd in the East).  It feels like we pretty much need to sweep it to stay in contention for either the Division or Wild Card.  We do have an easier-looking stretch of games coming up near the end of the season, but this is our last shot at a division contender.

On the plus side, we have shut Baltimore down the first two games we played them (1-0 and 3-1 wins).  And we have our best three pitchers going.  On the minus side we have now lost 4 straight against the iron of the AL, and Baltimore is on a 6-game winning streak coming into the series.





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Post Options Post Options   Quote TedSGN Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02-16-2010 at 8:30pm
47-52,  8.0 games back of Texas and last in the west.

I got pummeled in my start against Texas 11-0 on 5 hits.  My teammates bailed me out and won the next two.

Headed to Oakland next.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Mike_S Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02-18-2010 at 4:06pm
Played the three Baltimore games last night, badly needing the sweep.

We took the first game, 4-1, behind Jose Loftus our top pitcher who's also the top pitcher in the AL right now.

We also took the second game, 8-4.  Doug Davis was shaky and we were down 4-2 in the 5th, but then the bats came alive and the bullpen was awesome.  Solid satisfying win.

Unfortunately, Shawn Chacon had a bad game and we lost the finale, 6-4.  It was worse than the score, we got a 3R HR in the 9th to make it respectable.

So we're now 16-20.  4GB in the East, 4.5 in the Wild Card, with 12 games left to play.  Lots of teams ahead of us in both races.  We could still do it, but it's going to take a great stretch drive, probably need 9-3 or 10-2 to have a chance.  We need to get hot and stay hot.

The next two games against Anaheim, top team in the West; it's been a brutal stretch.  The schedule mostly lightens up the rest of the way after that. 




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Post Options Post Options   Quote JasonSGN Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02-18-2010 at 4:17pm
I hope MLB 2K10 turns out to be a good game because I'm so excited about starting a franchise after following this thread all this time.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote TedSGN Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02-18-2010 at 5:42pm
Or you could start one with 2k9 if 10 turns out to be a dumper????
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Post Options Post Options   Quote TedSGN Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02-20-2010 at 4:26am
51-54, 7.5 back of Texas and last in the west.

We split a four game series with Oakland, my game being a heartbreaker 5-4 loss in the 9th inning.

We've been growing more and more impatient at the plate and I had enough.  I warned everyone that I'd fine any player that didn't take two strikes before swinging, or swung before getting to a 3-1 count.  (I just wanted to see what would happen walks wise if I always took two strikes).  We went down 1-0 in the first and came right back to tie it in our half.  Then it was 2-1 and 3-1, but we tied it 3-3 and finally took the lead 4-3 in the seventh.  I pulled Kyle Davies for left hander Rowland-Smith.  The A's lefties (Sweeney, Giambi, Cust, and Chavez) were pounding me and I counted on R-S to shut them down their last time through.  He did in the 7th, but not in the 9th.  We threatened in our half of the 9th when Clement hit a two out double, but Willingham struck out to end the game.

The patience at the plate did pay dividends though in 7 walks.  We chased the starter in the fourth inning with 100 pitches thrown and made the first reliever throw 45.  I'll have to keep up the discipline.

We host the Angels and Red Sox for three apiece next.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Mike_S Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02-22-2010 at 5:14pm
That's awesome about the walks, I bet it helps a lot if you can keep it up.  My team is last in the AL in walks this year, but we actually were in the middle of the pack when Sean Casey was still a regular in our lineup.

We have continued our up-and-down play and are now basically out of the division chase and a super-long shot for the wild card.  There are six games left and we're playing some bench and call-up guys to see who should be kept around for 2011.

Hopefully we will still finish .500 or close -- this has been our best team so far despite the poor close, and our best season so far is 22-26.  Will be off work tomorrow, so might get close to the end of the season.  In many ways the season was lost with the terrible 2-7 start before we traded Aubrey Huff for pitching, it just shows that if you think you MIGHT have to make a move, sometimes there are benefits in making it sooner-than-later!


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Post Options Post Options   Quote Mike_S Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02-24-2010 at 4:12pm
Finished 21-27, 5 GB in the East.  The pitching just didn't keep up its awesome pace the last three weeks of the season, and our offense still needs more power.  We have two top picks ready to come up for 2011, so hopefully our offense should be better.

Have done thorough analysis of who stays and goes, and hopefully 2011 will be our season to break through.  Will work on the off-season tasks tonight. 
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Post Options Post Options   Quote TedSGN Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02-24-2010 at 8:25pm
Good luck in 2011, Mike.  Did you manage to finish in a decent spot in the division?
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Mike_S Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02-25-2010 at 4:19pm
Finished 4th.  The frustrating thing is that Toronto, who led the division the whole way, lost their last 6 in a row and Tampa sneaked in and won it.  It felt like we were better than Tampa, they were in 3rd or 4th most of the season like us, and we beat them 3 out of 5 for the year.  For only maybe the second time it feels like we're pretty close.

Anyway, I spent a few hours doing a statistical analysis of the 2010 team compared to the opposition.  Our only real weaknesses came in outfield power and especially 5th starter -- our various 5th starters were a combined 1-12 for the season! 

So during the offseason we have brought up our two top prospects (both outfielders),  obtained a power-hitting CF and a solid veteran pitcher.  Hopefully these will plug those gaps, and everyone else can continue performing well.

Anyway, in the process, two more original Sox have departed: Carlos Beltran and Victor Martinez.  Beltran always hit for a decent average, but never consistently delivered the power I expected.  Victor was a long-time favorite, but has hit under .200 the last two years in a reserve role.  This leaves the 2011 squad with only 2 originals: Carl Crawford and Cristian Guzman, both of whom will be starting their 9th season with the Sox!!


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