There has been no official word, but Bobby Kielty could get the nod in right field over J.D. Drew in Game 1 against C.C. Sabathia tomorrow night. A team source says it's a "strong possibility".
Kielty has hit .310 (9-for-29) against Sabathia, with four doubles and two home runs. However, only three of those 29 AB have come since 2005 -- the two home runs were hit in 2001 and 2002. Drew has struck out in all three of his appearances against Sabathia (all on July 24 of this year).
Of all MLB players with at least 20 PA against Sabathia, Manny Ramirez has the best numbers: .571 (12-for-21) with four home runs. And since returning to the Red Sox lineup on September 25, the Bad Man is 10-for-26 (.385).
Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched in Cleveland on July 24 (7-4-0-3-5, Sox beat Sabathia 1-0) and likes the mound: "I feel the mound there was good to pitch off of compared to others. It was a comfortable mound. It will be good to pitch there."
News: The 1-2 punch of Sabathia and Fausto Carmona. ... Gordon Edes profiles Jason Varitek. ... Mike Lupica of the Daily News says Derek Jeter should be called "the Teflon Captain". And not keeping Joe Torre could damage the Chokers' chances to resign Mariano Rivera, who turns 38 next month.
That Dice-K quote made me laugh. Yeah, I like that mound. Feels comfortable. Can't wait.
ReplyDeleteWell, as funny as that is, it's also good.
And speaking of good, Kielty starting instead of Drew would be a good idea because of how good Kielty can be from the right side, and you already highlighted his numbers against Sabathia. He'll probably be rusty in his first PA or two, but I think the worst that happens is Kielty equals Drew's last performance against Sabathia. It's good move, even considering J.D.'s excellent numbers in the past month.
Plus, if this all works out well - Kielty getting his hits off Sabathia, you can always use J.D. off the bench when Sabathia's through. I say good move.
I'm not too sure where to put Kielty in the lineup, though. Do you keep him as your #6? The way the Indians are, you really need to mix your righties and lefties. Luckily Varitek and oCoC are switch-hitters.
I think batting Varitek 6th and Kielty 7th would be okay. So would the other way around.
We'll see.
Thanks for the link on the story about Tek. I know his batting performance has been disappointing, but I still love the guy.
ReplyDeleteI posted this below, but it will probably get lost in the shuffle, so I hope it's okay to post it again. I thought this post on a Cleveland fan blog rather uplifting and thought I would share it. You can find it here .
It made me feel like Cleveland fans would be people I'd like to watch a game and have a beer with.
So Drew is getting the start vs the southpaw car moaner i would presume...
ReplyDeleteIgnore that idiotic comment. I got my lefty-righty mixed up...CC's the lefty, in which case it makes sense that they're thinking of starting Kielty.
ReplyDeleteBraves GM John Schuerholz Calls it Quits
ReplyDeleteRe: Mo and Torre, I heard FOX's Rosenthal on 'EEI yesterday say that "Torre is a capitalist. He charges to go to birthday parties." Meaning he's all about the money. You wonder how much of all this is "true Yankee" bullshit or simply leveraging for more money. Oh wait, maybe that's the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI really don't see why I should care that Kielty mashes the league average pitcher that sabathia was at the time. Not only do samples like this generally correlate to absolutely nothing in a handful of postseason at bats, but come ON. sabathia pre-06 was NOT remarkable.
ReplyDeleteFuck....no?
ReplyDeleteRonnie Mac should definitely get the start over JD when Sabathia pitches, and it has little to do with a few ancient AB's.
ReplyDeleteHere is Kielty's 3-year line vs. lefties:
.313/.372/.494 (.866)
Here is Drew's:
.234/.338/.347 (.685)
In fact, Kielty should probably pinch-hit for Drew in any meaningful late-inning situation vs. any lefty reliever, and particulaly against Perez who has an insane platoon split.
Fuck....no?
ReplyDeleteWas gonna post that as well, haha...I could just see little Dusty gallavanting up the stairs to see a huge throng of media and being like "oh shit!" then hiding behind the curtain.
Mike Lupica of the Daily News says Derek Jeter should be called "the Teflon Captain".
ReplyDeleteDoes he read JoS? :) I hope I soon have reason to stop calling Tek the same name.
I haven't seen Amy's link yet, but my experience at Jacobs Field gave me a very bad impression of the majority of Cleveland fans. In the late 90s, at least, they appeared to know very little about baseball - extremely bandwagony. They are also very attached to their racist logo, which they plaster on everyone and everything.
Here is Kielty's 3-year line vs. lefties:
ReplyDelete.313/.372/.494 (.866)
Also known as higher than papi's OPS career LHP split...does this mean we should be pinching for papi against tough lefties? no.
but I don't really have anything against starting kielty...i just don't expect him to be hitting homers off of cc.
WEEI is saying that it is offical. Kielty will be starting in RF. Good move by Terry!!!
ReplyDeleteLUGO as ALCS MVP, hmmm. ON FIRE as co-mvp!!!!
I read Amy's link, and that is so good to see. It seems like common-sense to me, not to hate the Red Sox or Red Sox fans, if you're anything but a Yankee fan. For the main reason that we don't hate anybody but the Yanks. We're just there. We don't go to your park to see your team lose, we just want to see our team. I like when other teams realize that we're all in this world together, sharing a common goal of hating the Yankees. Another reason not to hate us is that other teams never had to watch us win all the time while their team lost. Chances are, your team had more titles than us for eight decades.
ReplyDeleteSo it was good to see another team's fan agree with me, instead of these trendy, "Fox's overexposure of 'the curse' made me sick of the Red Sox" types.
Not sure if you guys saw this via the Boston Globe. Inside edge scouting reports. It has some very, very good details!
ReplyDeleteI posted in that thread on Letsgotribe.com.
ReplyDeleteLook for the longest comment, and that's mine.
Also known as higher than papi's OPS career LHP split...does this mean we should be pinching for papi against tough lefties? no.
ReplyDeleteCourse not. For many reasons. Not the least of which is career stats for Tizzle are worse than useless, since they include that "Li'l Papi" guy the Twins released.
Over the last three years, as Ortiz' hitting in general has gone stratospheric, he has become a force of nature even against lefties: .296/.375/.536 (.914).
Yeah, I'm not expecting anything too earth-shattering from Kielty, but he's a signigicant upgrade over Drew, who vs. lefties is barely better than Alex Cora.
Great post, Ish, and looks like you generated some good will in their responses.
ReplyDeleteOf course, there are some nasty posts there, but what the hell. We all know that there are some obnoxious Red Sox fans, just like there are some really nice Yankee fans. Oh, OK, maybe just one. The one I married.
Over the last three years, as Ortiz' hitting in general has gone stratospheric, he has become a force of nature even against lefties: .296/.375/.536 (.914).
ReplyDeleteNot in 07, with the torn meniscus.
It really just depends how you want to slice it.
Kielty in 07, small sample, is worse. Drew, since september, has an OPS of well over 1.
However...Drew undoubtedly looks stupid versus lefthanders, so I don't really care. I hope kielty makes tito look like a genius. Chances are he will have a completely unremarkable game, but that's life.