*OFFICIAL* MLB 2013 thread

[rcpratt]

West made some poor calls, but more than anything he was in the Sox head. Ortiz bitching about a clear not-checked swing, Pedroia crying like a girl about a ball that was on the outside black. Hope they continue with that.

The call on Ellsbury was bad, but that was the only egregious one. When you have a pitcher who has no idea where his pitches are going, a lot are going to end up in that 50/50 gray zone. Deal.

The Ellsbury pitch is obvious, but outside of that, looks to me like West actually called a pretty decent game. The Tigers RHers took a LOT (5, vs. 1 for Sox) of low strikes.

 

[manly]

Oaklands large field, coastal air and extreme foul territory severely impact their home batting averages. Not to mention that batting average is an old school stat that is fairly inaccurate at predicting hitting ability. Anything else I can explain to you that you could easily google?

Great point on the ballpark, but BA is a huge component of OPS. I don't care if it's an older less "reliable" stat, it's pretty hard to score runs in the playoffs if you're not able to get hits off the opposition.

I will agree with you that Oakland fans in general are pretty solid. Well, except for Raider fan, that's an entirely different species of wild animal.

 

[TechBoyJK]

LOL if the Cards win ANOTHER series.

If there's ever a time to visit St. Louis, it's when the Cardinals are doing well in the playoffs.

 

[marmasatt]

Can someone explain this to me like I'm a five year old please? When the K-Zone first came out it was somewhat controversial because it was "showing up" the umps.

I will admit I'm a sox fan, but I'm confused about the Fox trax last night. Lester was missing some pitches that appeared to hit the strike zone and there were various pitches that plate ump West appeared to call (against both teams) that were NOT strikes at a glance. Farrell took the high road saying it had nothing to do with the loss. But I'm not Farrell.

So my question is, if the home plate ump makes the call, is the Fox trax marking where the "alleged" pitch landed in relation to the call? Or is it really where it hit? It doesn't seem to be matching the called strikes.

 

[rcpratt]

Can someone explain this to me like I'm a five year old please? When the K-Zone first came out it was somewhat controversial because it was "showing up" the umps.

I will admit I'm a sox fan, but I'm confused about the Fox trax last night. Lester was missing some pitches that appeared to hit the strike zone and there were various pitches that plate ump West appeared to call (against both teams) that were NOT strikes at a glance. Farrell took the high road saying it had nothing to do with the loss. But I'm not Farrell.

So my question is, if the home plate ump makes the call, is the Fox trax marking where the "alleged" pitch landed in relation to the call? Or is it really where it hit? It doesn't seem to be matching the called strikes.

The TV strike zones are based on crappy center field camera angles. None of them are straight on, and most of them aren't close.

Pitch f/x strike zones are accurate and based on a basically triangulated location from 3+ cameras. But they've not on TV.

 

[dbk]

Wow what a backbreaker...Benoit....yikes.. Boston Sports pulling shit out of their asses!

 

[KLin]

Big Papi wow

 

[TraumaRN]

Leyland is a fucking idiot who worries about the pitch count too much. You pull the hot hand at 108 pitches?? Why?

Ugh.

 

[dbk]

Yeah i cant imagine Scherzer wanting to come out at that point..is that wayy past his typical pitch count? Sanchez threw more yesterday.. This is all on Leyland. Cant wait to hear the post game

 

[manly]

Leyland is a fucking idiot who worries about the pitch count too much. You pull the hot hand at 108 pitches?? Why?

Ugh.

most big league managers handle their starter the same way these days. I don't think that makes Leyland an idiot.

You also have the flip side of the argument, Grady Little losing his job because he left Pedro Martinez in for too long.

 

[TraumaRN]

He had at least another ten pitches in him. Its the playoffs you need to play it like its the last game. Another ten to fifteen pitches wouldn't have been been harmful for Max at this point in the season.

 

[dbk]

Oh man..how the heck did Tigers blow a 4 run lead in the last two innings? Next is a must win for them now. Such a gutwrenching loss

 

[KLin]

Leyland is gonna be answering for this loss lol.

 

[manly]

He had at least another ten pitches in him. Its the playoffs you need to play it like its the last game. Another ten to fifteen pitches wouldn't have been been harmful for Max at this point in the season.

I agree with you, but that hardly makes Leyland an idiot.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Good day to be a Boston fan.

 

[dbk]

Wow how could Benoit be so casual with that 86mph fastball right down the middle? Bases were juiced ffs!

 

[BUTCH1]

The TV strike zones are based on crappy center field camera angles. None of them are straight on, and most of them aren't close.

Pitch f/x strike zones are accurate and based on a basically triangulated location from 3+ cameras. But they've not on TV.

The real problem was the Sox were unable to get any read on what Sanchez was trying to do, plus he walked quite a few batters, throw in a couple of iffy calls by West makes for a tough nite, but my hat's off to Sanchez, even though he was erratic he'd pull out that devastating slider to get a critical SO.

 

[BUTCH1]

most big league managers handle their starter the same way these days. I don't think that makes Leyland an idiot.

You also have the flip side of the argument, Grady Little losing his job because he left Pedro Martinez in for too long.

Yea, but Pedro was a 165lb dude and he could top out at 97, throw in all the other pitches in his arsenal and he was awesome but ALWAYS tired in the late innings, being that small and throwing that hard took it's toll, Grady had a very good bullpen at his disposal and he should have gone to it..

 

[acheron]

Leyland definitely overmanaged his way to that loss. The four runs from Papi's grand slam were each charged to a different pitcher.

Still a long way to go for either team though. You can ask the World Series champion 1975 Red Sox about "momentum" after a big home run...

 

[iRONic]

Should be another great game this afternoon @ Comerica.

My only ALCS complaint; Buck & McCarver are beyond terrible.

 

[BUTCH1]

Amazing performance by Lacky, probably tired of hearing about how good Verlander is he went out and threw his own gem, 8 K's zero runs allowed, Sox win 1-0 on the HR blast off Napoli's bat in the 7th..

 

[dbk]

Cabrera and Fielder striking out in the 8th on 7 total pitches (all fastballs, I think) was brutal!

 

[Wingznut]

These Tigers are going to give me an ulcer.

 

[acheron]

My only ALCS complaint; Buck & McCarver are beyond terrible.

Yes. At least this is McCarver's last year, though someone equally awful will probably replace him.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Poor Dodgers....