Red Sox - 000 010 100 - 2 9 0Lester (6-6-5-3-4, 100) faltered in the fifth inning, with Justin Morneau's three-run line drive home run to right being the big blow. Lester's ERA rose to 6.07.
Twins - 000 050 00x - 5 7 1
Jacoby Ellsbury scored both Red Sox runs. He also singled to begin the game, and extend his hit streak to 21 games. He stole two bases and made a tremendous diving catch in deep right-center in the fifth inning, before the Twins did their damage. He scored on Dustin Pedroia's double in the fifth and on an infield error in the seventh.
David Ortiz doubled to right center in his first time up and walked in the fourth. He finished his night with a strikeout and pop out to left.
The Minnesota fifth: Brendan Harris singled, Delmon Young lined out to deep center, Matt Tolbert singled, Nick Punto singled (RBI), Denard Span grounded out to second (RBI), Joe Mauer walked, Morneau homered (3 RBI), Michael Cuddyer grounded out to third.
***
Lineup!
***Ellsbury, CF
Pedroia, 2B
Drew, RF
Youkilis, 3B
Bay, LF
Ortiz, DH
Varitek, C
Bailey, 1B
Lugo, SS
Jon Lester (5.91, 83 ERA+) / Nick Blackburn (3.83, 112 ERA+)
Lester and Blackburn hooked up back on July 8, 2008; Boston won the game 6-5. It was the last appearance each pitcher had against the opposing team.
Jacoby Ellsbury's hitting streak has reached 20 games, but he's not having a good year at the plate. His slash stats since the streak began on May 2: .330/.365/.418 for a .782 OPS -- which is below what Nick Green has done this season (.794). LBJ has collected only one hit in nine of his last 11 games: .275/.310/.350.
Ellsbury has drawn five walks during the streak (96 PA). He has walked only 10 times all year, in 201 PA. In five fewer trips to the plate, Jason Bay has walked 24 more times (34 in 196).
Ellsbury's season stats are .300/.333/.374 for a paltry 79 OPS+. (For reference: Jeff Bailey is at 86 and Julio Lugo is at 73.) Lyndon has led off in all but three of Boston's 45 games and the Red Sox are 9th in the AL in leadoff batter OBP.
Finally, in his 12 stolen base attempts during the streak, he has been caught four times.
My suggested lineup for tonight (Lowell has a scheduled night off):
I'm not crazy about Ellsbury batting 6th, but if he was on first base, Tek and Lugo might get some tasty fastballs.R - Pedroia, 2B
L - Drew, RF
R - Youkilis, 3B
R - Bay, LF
L - Ortiz, DH
L - Ellsbury, CF
S - Varitek, C
R - Lugo, SS
R - Bailey, 1B
225 comments:
1 – 200 of 225 Newer› Newest»You are going to LBJ during a hitting streak.......mean
Laura thinks I insult him too much anyway (for his upteen grounders earlier this year). She's not going to like this post - at all!
I'm not a fan of the low OBP. I agree with Redsock. LBJ hasn't been an impact player with his bat. Hopefully he will improve.
Ellsbury, CF
Pedroia, 2B
Drew, RF
Youkilis, 3B
Bay, LF
Ortiz, DH
Varitek, C
Bailey, 1B
Lugo, SS
And we have talked about the little things with Ellsbury, particularly his baserunning, that gets him into trouble. If anything this 20-game hitting streak is a mask. Be patient at the plate and be a smarter baserunner - and talk to FY about sliding!
When asked by my Globe colleague Amalie Benjamin if he was going to talk to the media before the game, Ortiz replied, "After I go deep tonight.".
Oooooooo it is ON
LETS GO PAPI.
Tito explains (sort of) dropping Tiz.
9casey said...
You are going to LBJ during a hitting streak.......mean
I missed a word there, can't remember which one.....must have been move...
Who are these people slagging on Ellsbury when he has hit in the last 20 games?!
Fuck is wrong wit' you??
Who are these people slagging on Ellsbury when he has hit in the last 20 games?!
That would be me, I guess. ... Not slagging so much as pointing out the flaws.
nesn - yay
Is tomorrow the last game in the baggydome for us?
day game on thursday too.
"Laura thinks I insult him too much anyway (for his upteen grounders earlier this year). She's not going to like this post - at all!"
I'll do better than that - I won't read it!
I'm watching sans thread tonight, or mostly anyway, see you all later.
A mask? If that's a mask, let's get one for everyone.
21!
Blackjack!
21 motherhumpers
Hey L if you're still here, I got a really nice pic of Jacoby Sunday.
Lyndon trying to improve his reputation by getting a hit to lead off the game.
'After I go deep tonight'
Dude, Ortiz, you can help the team hitting for average, ya know?
FY said some naughty words.
Lyndon must have been reading this thread
JD is so good at not swinging
LOB.
Bleh, wasted opportunity.
If Ellsbury didn't have the hitting streak going - let's say he had a 15 game hitting streak and hit in 20 of his last 21 you might be more apt to looking at more of his flaws. Not that we really NEED to be but these are things with Ellsbury that he can improve on and I hope he does. But you look at the OPS+ and it tells you all you need to know. Yes he's getting a hit each game but doesn't seem to be doing much more than that.
People get so enamoured in name-calling. Hitting streaks. No-hitters. Perfect games.
For instance, I think a game where you give up a single and nothing else is more impressive than if you throw a 3-walk no-hitter.
The good kind of DP DP.
"But you look at the OPS+ and it tells you all you need to know."
I don't buy that--he's not supposed to hit home runs. If the guy hits .350 with a .400 OBP and 60 SB, but all his hits are singles, his OPS+ would still be below 100 but that would be an incredible year.
lugo atones!
Nice! Just how Lugo planned it. 6-4-6. The "new to Manhattan" DP.
That's the equivalent of rolling your race car and being able to continue.
Lugo with a tactical bobble. Sneaky bastard.
Hilarious.
but ellsbury is not going to hit .350.
I'm just saying, OPS is not the ultimate judge of a hitter for guys that don't have power.
if he hits .300 and slugs .300, I don't think anyone would care if his OBP was .350-.360, and he was effectively stealing bases.
speed
Papi double!
"if he hits .300 and slugs .300, I don't think anyone would care if his OBP was .350-.360, and he was effectively stealing bases."
I don't know what you mean.
Jere, I buy that.
so look at obp -- how often does he get on base - by a hit or a walk -- that is key
If he hits only singles, is what I'm getting at.
Right, OBP is key for him. Exactly. That's the thing that's more likely to "say it all." To me.
And obviously if he's not on base he can't use his speed offensively. Obviously.
"If he hits only singles, is what I'm getting at."
Okay, well I'm saying that would be fine if he had all singles, as long as his OBP was high, and with the steals, that'd be like doubles anyway.
and to have an acceptable obp with few walks, he is going to have to hit .360. which is hard to do.
What concerns me more about Ellsbury this year than his lack of power is his high CS rate. Getting on base and stealing second is almost as good as hitting a double.
BAL 3 - TOR 2
Man, Lugo on that play was kind of waiting and seeing with the runner before going back to cover, instead of assuming he'd go for it and get right to the bag. He really could've screwed us twice on that play.
nyy at tex - rain delay
Another wasted opportunity
Here's another one for you all: You know how people used to want Papi to bunt or do a little check swing to hit one toward third when the shift was on? And the response was, "that's what the other team wants." (Meaning, for Papi to get ONLY a single.) Well, since he's lost power, why not have him do that against the shift, if only occasionally? (One reason not to would be that he's not gonna get the power stroke back by doing that--but don't we just want him to get on base at this point?)
Hi, everyone. Just tuning in and catching up.
K please?
Okay, well how about a pizza place where you make your own pie?!
OK, two away.
There's the K
i always wanted flo to bunt more, to make the shift less extreme and open up some holes when he pulls it to rcf.
"merchantsauto.com stadium"??????
w t fin' f?
way to get out of it Sid
Yes, now SCORE.
5-2 birds
Another K
Let's score some runs
To me Fieldin Culbreth is the best umpire.
"blacky"
jesus christ.
Weird inning. All three of those looked like possible dongs off the bat.
How many K's does Lester have?
Scoring some runs would be nice now.
I think Papi may be liking this sixth spot.
(Is there anyone here??)
These guys have good outfield Defense. It bugs me, like when we play the rays.
BOOOOOOOOOOO
Damn. Damn.
Patrick, good to know I am not just talking to myself.
Tek robbed two days in a row.
I'm here but I don't have anything to say yet.
Should have seen yesterday's thread.
here
Tek with a .244 BABIP. We've witnessed what that means all year.
I think I was at the tail end of that one, Ish. Pretty quiet --- but it was a national holiday and a gorgeous day, so not surprising.
I'm busy writing something about a picture of Luis Tiant.
I am watching over you all.
Amy it really was a gorgeous day yesterday.
Nice day today but it was chilly! Relatively. Cheer up it's only gonna get worse. Low to mid 50s throughout central New England tomorrow with wet and clammy dreary rainy weather.
Hanley Ramirez left tonight's game with a groin injury...
"with a groin injury..."
left or right?
OK, I looked up BABIP and have no idea what it means even after reading the description.
It was cool here also, Ish. But at least no rain. Guess it is coming.
These innings are flying by.
No idea.
Amy I went out for a walk around 5:30 and brought my jacket! I took it off halfway through the mile-and-a-half walk, especially in the sunshine but it was a tad cool.
Can't wait until the weekend when the 70s and 80s will come back.
A leadoff hit. Let's not leave him on base.
Same here, Ish. Definite sweater weather. I want summer!
Lugo did something useful!
BABIP: balls that are hit into play, usually end up as outs 70% of the time. Meaning 30% or .300 end up as hits.
It's a way of measuring luck. If a player is hitting his line drives into gloves, it will show up in BABIP.
after reading what I wrote, I realize that I probably did little to help you understand. Oh well.
Ellsbury just ten steals behind Carl Crawford.
Thanks, Patrick. On BR it seemed to relate to the pitcher, so I was confused. So are you saying Tek is having bad luck because his BABIP is less than 300?
Yes! We score! FY!
FY!
there's a run that's a run
FY for a two-bagger! Big SB there for Lyndon.
Lead!
I'm saying Varitek's average should be better based on the balls he's hit onto the field. He's been unlucky because so many of his hits have been right at players.
At least we got one.
and his BABIP is what measures that.
That helps, Patrick. I appreciate it. I find all these stats baffling and can never quite remember what half of them mean. After ERA, BA, and the other old traditional ones, I am always going back and looking them up.
By the end of the season, I want Amy talking about DIPS, VORP and UZR.
LBJ!
oh my word
HOLY MOSES MALONE!
wowie
WOW!!!! LYNDON with the highlight reel catch!
RUGBURN!!
VORP is value over replacement player
NICE CATCH!!
However, I have no real idea how they calculate it.
The others mean nothing to me. :)
DIPS, VORP and UZR.
Sounds like something you'd do in a science fiction movie.
I can't wait for gameday audio to let me watch that highlight. I can't imagine it wasn't worthy of it.
cheap hit.
SHIT. And the lead is gone. So fast.
Drew opts against hitting the cutoff man, and now it's 2nd and 3rd
argh, Lester's been hit hard this inning.
Amy said...
The others mean nothing to me. :)
Amy , as you can tell, I am old school, Only stat I care about W's and L's......
I'll leave all the other stuff to the baseball actuaries of the world....
vorp - show off!
Crap
K please?
"I'll leave all the other stuff to the baseball actuaries of the world...."
I actually went to school for actuary science back in the 90s (because I was so into baseball stats), and most of this stuff STILL means nothing to me.
I have to say when I look at some of these formulas (VORP, BABIP, ERA+), I think, "What kind of nut sat around figuring out THAT?" But I guess they must have some value. I just can't keep it all straight. TMI. I am happy with ERA, BA, and W and L. :)
Safer to walk this guy.
being happy with avg and w/l is like being happy your doctor still uses leeches. there are better alternatives now.
Well shit.
Well, that REALLY sucks.
them: fucking five. Us: fucking one.
Lester with the bad inning. frowny face.
OK, I like OBP also. How's that?
Oh cock. So much for that good outing.
FUCK
being happy with avg and w/l is like being happy your doctor still uses leeches. there are better alternatives now.
Medicinal leeches are used in certain modern surgeries for their anti-coagulation properties.
Someone should've stuck some leeches on Lester before he threw to Morneau.
Looked a lot like baseball coagulation to me.
"being happy with avg and w/l is like being happy your doctor still uses leeches. there are better alternatives now."
Ah, but these doctors today, they have all the technology, but they have no communication skills, and seem to have no interest in the patient as a human being.
Jays lose
shitty jays lose again!
The person who's made the biggest deal tonight about Ortiz's spot in the lineup is Dave O'Brien.
When announcing the line-up before the game he talked so much about Ortiz not batting third that he didn't even say who WAS batting third!
OK, Tek finally got the break that time.
BABIP and all that.
O'B: Here are your lineups: leading off it's not David Ortiz, batting second it's not David Ortiz, hitting third is definitely not David Ortiz...
Jere said...
"I'll leave all the other stuff to the baseball actuaries of the world...."
I actually went to school for actuary science back in the 90s (because I was so into baseball stats), and most of this stuff STILL means nothing to me.
My ex majored in that in Linclon as well jere..
O'Brien: The Red Sox need a little lightning.
Yup. Because you have to almost bat around to get to the Thunder.
Jere you could tell O'B really didn't want to say Ellsbury and Pedroia were batting first and second. He just wanted to get down to third! Then to sixth!
1 hit a game with his speed makes LBJ more of a threat then the current number 6 man in the lineup. What is LBJ's gameshare stat?
i am not optimistic.
You are not optimistic, Allan, about this game?
this game, yes.
Score at least four runs. Please.
lugo
lyndon
fy
"My ex majored in that in Linclon as well jere.."
That's crazy, I'd say maybe she was in one of my classes, but I didn't get very far in that line of study. Not enough baseball.
But Brook Berringer was in my accounting class! And I'd pass both Tommie Frazier and Johnny Rodgers on my way to English. Rodgers was there working on getting a degree like 20 years after the fact.
life! come on dusty
more life! come on, on fire!
Hope to have some Thunder in this inning.
I am ever hopeful. It's only the 7th.
Damn, at least we got one.
Don't want to get a run that way. But at least ONE scores before the end of the inning.
Jere said...
But Brook Berringer was in my accounting class!
BB was good friends with Phil Ellis who lived on my floor and was from GI which alot of my friends were from....
not enough foul terr. to just head off to 2B.
GI= Grand Island, ha.
That play right there is why I'm no fan of JD Drew.
Don't bother arguing Tito. They won't reverse the call.
Or maybe they will! There was one umpire who reverse a call after Gardenhire argued vehemently about a ball that hit Joe Mauer on the hands. Call was it hit the bat. Then the umpire randomly overturned the call.
Wait, wasn't Phil Ellis like a linebacker or something??
Jere that's pretty crazy about the people you see from home in Connecticut, at a college in Lincoln, Nebraska! If I'm getting all this right.
bard K'd his first batter, then no more Ks.
Well we have 1 inning to come up with 3 runs it looks here.
wait, dosn't Nathan always suck against the sox?
ish--you're not getting it right:)
Talking about guys on the football team--and me and 9casey just happened to have both gone to school there--we didn't know each other until, ya know, Joy of Sox.
"baseball at its best"
man, roberts's bland, cliched pablum annoys me -- it would fit right in at espn.
smoke 'em dan-o!
Hi all.
Feels like it's been ages since I've stopped by. Been working or conferencing or dealing with a broken laptop power cable or....
I've been reading the posts, but haven't really dived into comments.
:>) That makes more sense. I'm thinking to myself, who knew Lincoln would be a college hotspot for Nutmeg staters?
Sort of;
1 1 2.76 6/8
rays lose to spiders
YES!
rays lose to spiders • Carl Pavano!
MFY/TEX game supposed to start in about 5 minutes.
Hi, Nick. Maybe you can change the luck of the game here.
I'm sure this has been discussed somewhere, but I've often wondered about the psychological effect on the current pitcher of having the bullpen visible on the field.
I still can't get over the fact that his changeup sits at 90mph.
Nick, I can't say I've ever thought of that.
OK, three runs.
Had my hopes up there, Don.
shit ... foul
time for the big boys to bash
shit ... YooKKK
I'm ready for a big inning of baseball here. I'm perfectly willing to take my presence here to be just what the Sox needed to give 'em that extra oomph (cept youk there).
fuck!
Maybe Papi being switched has quieted everyone else's bat.
I'm mildly surprised by that, Jere. You seem much in tune with so many details of the game, the parks, the players, and so on.
Not that I have any insight into it, just wondering.
fuck. screw the strikeouts.
Well, Allan, your lack of optimism is looking justified.
fucK, fucK, Pop fuck Up.
that inning was pure shit.
i'd love for them to make me look dumb next inning.
we're waiting till the 9th to win this.
Nick--thanks. Maybe it's just because Fenway has the "normal" bullpens, I'm just not often thinking of those weird side ones in general. Then again, I thought numbers on the fronts of uniforms was the rare way to do it, and I was wrong on that. And the 3rd base dugout being the home dugout isn't as rare as I thought either. So maybe those side pens are more common than I realize. Not that this helps at all with your question...
he means to say "disservice" here...
but he says "disadvantage." Other than that, Smoltz is a well-spoken dude.
speaking of 3rd base dugouts, I'm just realizing now that the guy that Lester hit, Spann I think?, actually threw hit bat toward OUR dugout, so that made Lester be even more pissed at the guy.
I am downright ignorant of which dugout is usually the home one, but I have wondered how it came to be that way (whatever it is).
Texas has a 2B, 3B, and walk in the 1st against Joba, but have yet to score!
if he called time, why did he hack?
That's impressive, jere, and lame. score runs! (here too, please)
I used to think all home dugouts were on the first base side because that's where the three parks I knew best had them (Fenway, Shea and YS). I was surprised the first time I realized a home team was on the third base side. It still feels "wrong."
2-run single, 2-0 Rangers.
Joba can still pitch a perfect game thought. Because for him, the first inning just doesn't count.
Last chance to dirty the water.
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