Series Recap - Red Sox @ Blue Jays
If this series proved anything, it is the importance of having Alex Cora. He knows his players better than any manager I have ever seen. He has pitchers in the game for the exact right amount of time, he knows which of his bench guys can be successful against different pitchers, his guys want to win for him. His absence and subsequent return really made me remember that.
The Good
All of Wednesday's game. I will call out specific people, but it was truly a masterful performance all around. One of the few times this season that I have really enjoyed watching Red Sox baseball.
Xander Bogaerts, our city's handsomest shortstop, is batting .391 and leads the AL in batting average.
Pivetta finds himself in the "Good" portion of my blog for the first time this year. I would have liked to see him finish the 5th inning, but this was certainly an improvement upon his previous three starts
Michael Wacha is the best pitcher in baseball right now. He looks like he did back in St. Louis. Yet another reason to trust in Chaim.
The Red Sox did this thing on Wednesday where Devers gets a hit, then Bogaerts get a hit, then JD gets a hit. I liked that. They should do that more. It's a strong play.
This Schreiber fella can throw. Wouldn't mind him sticking around for a bit.
The Bad
Monday's game was exactly the same as the first time we faced Berrios. Hit the shit out of the ball, but it doesn't translate to runs. Again, it is either flyouts to the warning track, or we bail him out with double plays. It sucked.
I legitimately think Eovaldi can be one of the best pitchers in the AL, but man he needs to stop giving up home runs. I don't know how what the solution is, but there has to be something.
I think I may be done with Dalbec. He has been so hard to watch this year, and it is getting super unhealthy for my mental health to think he is going to hit a 500 foot home run each time he steps up, then he strikes out on three straight pitches.
Refsnyder DHing for JD late in the game Wednesday night tells me that he is not 100% with his hamstring which is a little concerning this early in the season.
The Red Sox have an inability to turn double plays. Story twice on Wednesday and then Arroyo today. What the fuck guys? Bail out the pitchers just a little bit.
The Ugly
Tuesday's game. Full disclosure, I was watching this on my phone at the Bruins game but I did catch the 9th at The Greatest Bar. I am no longer allowed back at The Greatest Bar for how I reacted to the Springer home run. Diekman knows he needs to be better, but JFC dude figure it out.
Thursday's game. I can't believe we are giving Whitlock the old Sale treatment. He throws great, as did the rest of our bullpen, and we give him quite literally zero run support.
I was wrong in my preview, this bullpen needs Whitlock in it, at least for the moment. It is a massive hole to not have a reliable long reliever, even if he can't go every night. I understand that the circumstances with Houck and Crawford forced him into a starting role, but we need to fix that going forward. Especially if he isn't going to break 4 innings anytime soon.
Get Shaw the fuck out of here. At this point I would rather see fucking Rob Refsnyder in our lineup.
Other Notes
Monday's game was the fastest baseball game I have ever watched. You blinked and it was the 6th inning. I really am a huge fan of PitchCom, I think that may be the solution to the pace of play, as well as help to eliminate sign stealing. Middlebrooks said it on the post-game, if you are caught sign stealing with the PitchCom then I think it needs to be year long suspension minimum.
I was reminded this series how much I love a pitcher that has a funky delivery. We saw a guy throwing submarine and another guy throwing side arm. The one who threw submarine kinda stunk, but it was fun to watch.
This ump needs to be drawn and quartered:
I am going to do a full investigation into the balls being dead this weekend.
Pick Record
3-1 this series and 9-7 on the season