Game 161: FTL
By
(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Bartolo Colon has faced the Rays three times this year, and he’s 0-3 in those starts. No Yankees pitcher has ever (ever!) lost four games to the Tampa Bay franchise in a single season, but Big Bart has a chance to accomplish that tonight. Given where the team stands, it ‘s not really a big deal. It would be a big deal for the Rays and their wildcard chase though. Here’s the lineup…
Eduardo Nunez, SS
Curtis Granderson, CF
Robinson Cano, 2B
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Mark Teixeira, 1B – oh by the way, new lineup
Nick Swisher, RF
Jorge Posada, DH
Russell Martin, C
Brett Gardner, LF
Bartolo Colon, SP
It’s a My9 game tonight, so it’s only fitting that it’s raining in St. Petersburg. Luckily this place has a roof. Game starts at 7pm ET, enjoy.
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It would be great if we see two one-game playoffs this year. Kind of a like a preview for next year’s five-team playoff format.
LET’S GO ORIOLES
I am not one to root against the Yankees, but I wouldn’t mind one bit seeing a 1-0 Rays win.
Today’s Red Sox lineup:
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Ortiz DH
Lowrie 3B <——————-lol
Gonzalez 1B
Lavarnway C
McDonald RF
Crawford LF <——————-lol
Scutaro SS
Pitching: LHP Erik Bedard (5-9, 3.50)
wow what is with that lineup?
Reminds me of the playoff lineup where Torre dropped Arod to 7th (?) – didnt work for us, hopefully it doesnt work for them.
Except that Crawford has been batting towards the bottom of their lineup all season.
what’s the scouting report on Lavarnway’s defense?
Better than Montero’s
/Gammons’d
that’s why I asked here. I figured if I google’d it what I find might be a little…biased. lol
Keith Law said worse than Montero on the podcast at one point.
But when the RAB guys tell us that the batting order makes almost zero difference, we all accept it, right??? Typical RAB-commenter double-standard stupidity.
Trollolol
The media fealty to Boston knows no bounds.
Crawford was dropped to 8th in tonight’s line-up. On MLB, Boston stooge Nick Cafardo said he wasn’t dropped because he’s having a sucky season, but rather he was dropped to “strategically” boost the bottom of the line-up.
Oy vey.
Since that’s what we said about Alex when Torre dropped him to 8th. Hilarious.
I LOVE Robbie Cano batting 3rd. Hopefully Girardi keeps Cano and Tex batting in these slots throughout the playoffs.
Waaaaaaay too good of a line up.
The lineup for the next game will be terrible, at least.
Are you sure I thought I heard Joe say all the regulars should be in there tomorrow. This was during the YES pre game
I have no idea, actually. I never watch the pre game shows.
We’ll find out eventually
I heard that, too. That said, it doesn’t mean every one will play (Jeter’s resting today) or that they’ll play the entire game.
It’s the pitching tomorrow that will probably be the key. It could get ugly, and this may be the only time I can say that and not really care. In fact, it may be the only time I’ll view it as a good thing.
Good point
That’s true the D team pitchers will be in tomorrow. It’s going to be brutal.
He did, but they’re only going to play four or five innings.
Casey Kotchman had to be sent to a hospital in a stretcher after feeling tightness in his chest. Damn.
That’s scary, hope all is well.
Oh, cool that Jesus is getting his feet wet before the–
Wait a second.
No Jesus and the game is on my9 smh
this is bs but Posada will only be blocking Montero for another few weeks.
To be fair, Jorge has hit pretty well against righties.
Don’t get me wrong, I too would prefer that Jesus play everyday, but it’s not ridiculous that Joe is choosing Jorge over Jesus against righties.
Its pretty suprising that as well as Montero has hit, that they arent playing him everyday to get him as use to playing in the major leagues as possible before the playoffs. This Joe manages very much like the other Joe, if you havent been in the major leagues for 10 years you’re fucked. At least this Joe manages the bullpen much better.
Jorge has had a very good season vs righties.
Jorge has had a very good season vs righties. Not just very good compared to his overall stat line, but very good compared to the league.
Are sure about that because “although Montero has shown he can hit the Yankees have no place to play him. He hasn’t looked good at catcher from what I’ve seen and they already have a first baseman. So I still think he will end up being traded”
/Francesa’d
WTF, Again ?!?!?!?! Thought we were doing our best to “find him at bats,” Joe!
“FTL”
Love it.
Thoughts on flipping Tex/Cano, Mike?
Minor move, nothing to get worked up over.
Lol, they showed the best of ozzie on ESPN, it was great. Half of it was bleeps.
Priceless Ozzie parody
There seems to be this feeling in the media, and among fans, that this game is already a win for the Rays. Part of it, I think, is wishful thinking, driven by a hate of the Red Sox, or a desire to see a one-game playoff. Because of that, anyone not a Red Sox fan wants the Yankees to lose.
The issue, though, is that out of the three games, this is the game the Yankees have a good chance of winning. They have pretty much their A-line up, I expect all three of their top bullpen arms (Rivera, D-Rob and Soriano) to pitch, so it comes down to Colon. If his command is on, he can certainly put up some zeros over five innings or so.
Add it all up, and that’s a Yankee win.
Wednesday, however…
That’s the thing.
Girardi has already said he expects to get each of the top bullpen arms in the game so they have 2 days off prior to game 1. If colon turns in 5 good innings this could easily be a “W”
The only help for the Rays is batting Nunez leadoff instead of down at the bottom of the lineup, but I could see this lineup wearing out Hellboy
Uh, “hate of the Red Sox” in “the media”? What planet are you on, man???
Poorly constructed line. The media likes a story, and a collapse of the Red Sox and a one-game playoff is good for the media. The hate of the Red Sox refers more to fans, including lots of Yankee fans.
As I write this, I see Colon is doing his part to help the Rays. Unfortunately, I’d rather he look good in the process of losing.
nice to see those Rays fans showing up to follow their team’s playoff run…
…and then the other question is out of those fans, what percentage are actually Yankee fans living/visiting Tampa? Twenty percent, thirty percent? More?
40-55% is my guess
It’s usually easy to tell (or get a good estimate) how many Yankee fans are there since they cheer for the Yankees. Yet many Yankee fans there tonight might be rooting for the Rays.
So, should the Sox and Rays tie ultimately, will the ‘breaker go to the Rays because their record against the Sox is winning? (At least I think it is…)
one game playoff in Tampa
I wanna celebrate Cano hitting 3rd! and Tex hitting 5th. I said a long time ago, 28 wouldn’t come till Tex hit 5th.
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/s.....?GT1=39002
I think I just got dumber.
My two favorite parts were where he referenced Moneyball in claiming that Granderson’s low BA is no big deal and then alluded to Granderson’s runs scored and RBI as more important in assessing his value. And, ref: Matt Kemp, it’s “the Most Valuable Player award, not the Player of the Year.”
I recommend this if you want a good laugh.
for cya:
“3. CC Sabathia, New York. Lefty is the throwback. It’s all about winning. He’s not worried about residual stats, like ERA.”
Michael Kay approves.
Good lord. I couldn’t resist, wondering who wrote the article, and then I saw good ol’ Tracy’s cowboy hat. He always has the craziest choices for any awards.
I actually agree with his statement that Granderson’s low BA is no big deal, since BA is a component of OBP, and Granderson’s OBP has been solid all year in the .365-.375 range, and his runs scored and RBIs are partially a product of his SLG and HRs. Yet by focusing on his RBIs and runs scored without understanding the reason why is more craziness.
Lots of odd choices. In fact, he so off base in his reasoning at times, that I have to go back and check my reasoning when we actually agree on a choice, like Kershaw. He makes me doubt myself by agreeing with him!
His line about Williams is even more ridiculous, since he uses it to validate his opinion of Kemp’s candidacy: “Ted Williams actually won two Triple Crowns and didn’t win an MVP either time.”
In ’42, Joe Gordon had a 154 OPS+ … Williams’ OPS+ was 216!
In ’47, Joe D’s OPS+ was also 154, Williams’ OPS+ was 205.
To top all of that, Williams had an OPS+ of 234 in 1941, but, because he was on a losing team, lost out on the MVP award to Dimaggio, who had an OPS+ of 184. Both accomplished exceedingly memorable things during that season, but, because Williams was a victim of his inferior team, he was deemed less worthy of the MVP award.
So righties are batting sub .200 against Hellickson, and Joe has Nunez leadoff?
Does it matter?
Yes because this is the biggest game of the season.
Signed,
Fan that wants to go 162-0
No, it doesn’t. I just want Gardy to get more ABs and steal a few more bases in these last two games. Crisp tied him for the lead in SB last night.
Kotchman has looked weird recently. Heart troubles must have been showing.
Have they announced the starter for tomorrow? To me, you need a vet out there and that means Proctor.
I think it will be something like that. all the back end bullpen guys and then maybe some of the front end guys who need work.
I’d imagine Proctor, even Brackman in there to start. Guess it doesn’t matter who. They’ll all be there.
It’d be nice for Betances to get an inning so that his only appearance this season wasn’t the four-walk-knee-dragging-the-grass outing.
1-0 O’s!
In play run(s) for the O’s.
Vlad hits an RBI double O’s up 1-0
SHOCKER!
Bedard is already falling apart in the 2nd.
nah, he didn’t even make it to the 2nd yet. still the bottom of the first. lol.
I’ve got to say, BJ Upton has a beautiful swing.
Sox already losing. lol.
Is this the first time Teix hit fifth? I think it’s a good spot but why do it this late?
holy shit Bartolo has quick feet
Wow, is it really the penultimate regular season game? How time flies. It seemed like just yesterday I was waxing poetic about Cone and Keaton’s uncanny resemblance to one another. Now what will I do?
It was just yesterday. I gotta give you credit, you certainly stuck with your schtick. Seriously what is the obsession?
Who is this? It’s uncanny…
http://www.bronxbanterblog.com.....15;851.jpg
I actually wouldn’t put that on Nunez. Tex closed his glove too quick by the looks of it.
Meh. Throw it to Tex’s chest and it doesn’t matter.
So who’s going to get fleeced by the Rays in a BJ Upton deal this winter? (thinking maybe the Nats)
Sure the guy has potential, but he’s hit ~.240 over the last 3 years and seems to make a bunch of boneheaded plays. Tools are nice but at some point performance has to trump tools/potential
lets go O’s!
Oh and wonderful let’s sit out the hottest bat who could use as much seasoning as he can get before the playoffs. But hey let’s risk our only great defensive catcher getting injured in a meaningless game.
At this point of the season, to find something to complain about as far as the team goes, if you weren’t a regular poster, I’d suggest you probably listen to A LOT of Cure albums in your spare time.
The team is absolutely perfect from what could have been constructed. I have an issue with the person behind it. You know the guy who had to start Jose Molina in a couple playoff games.
Don’t go pickin’ on the Cure. Very uplifting music, that is if you find existential pain and despair uplifting.
I don’t see why Martin needs to start tonight.
Give him the night off, start him for a few innings tomorrow night, and move on with life.
No need to put him behind the plate tonight. But, not my call.
If the Rays win tonight and the Red Sox lose, my starting pitcher tomorrow would be Robbie Cano’s father.
+24.
he could pitch better than Proctor.
Sox game is on MLBN. Is anyone watching that mostly and periodically checkng in on the Yanks, or am I the only one?
I am.
I have it on, and Yanks on MLB.tv.
leadoff double for Adam Jones. O’s need to keep tacking on.
Just got caught stealing third.
amen to that
Hooray for Johnny
What happened?
He passed Lou Gehrig on the all-time hits list.
yay? I don’t know how to feel. lol.
Good job Bartolo!
YES!..oh wait…I’m confused.
Mass panic has struk through Red Sox nation
*struck
hopefully the Sox saw that on the away score board and it takes what little wind is left in their sails out of it.
Nope.
Is Colon likely to see any important action in the playoffs? He’s not the pitcher he was prior to the ASG
I can’t see how he could start in the playoffs given the way he’s pitched recently.
looking like he doesn’t even make the playoff roster at this point
A choice the Yankees made when they chose not to baby him when he was pitching in such a dominant fashion earlier in the season despite the fact that he was coming back from an injury and hadn’t pitched very many innings in any single year since 2005 or thereabouts.
Of course, he may have broken down anyway. But it seemed to me that the team would be better off sacrificing a few wins in the regular season in exchange for a somewhat better chance that Colon would be the pitcher he was in the first half during the post season — and I said so. What the heck…
At some point he has to throw at the outside corner, right? All everyone looks for and gets is a 2 seam over the 1B corner of the plate.
Outside corner for LHB, that is.
I’m confused. Who am I rooting for tonight? Rays? Orioles?
My fandom is up for debate until Fri. Just liking watching Boston squirm. LOL!!!
You know whats amazing right now? Virtually the only people on the planet rooting for the Yankees right now are Red Sox fans…
This might be the only time in our lifetimes that can be said.
fuck. Sox up 2-1 now. Scutaro double, Ellsbury HR.
Ellsbury is the MVP again!
Ellsbury just won the MVP again.
oh shit, Ellsbury’s the MVP now.
Only if they make the postseason.
He’s the People’s Choice! at ESPN and FOX.
Yes, ESPN just announce it.
Red Sox take the lead. 2 run homer by Ellsbury.
hahahaha reid brignac has “gotta have it” as his walk up song
one of my favorite beginnings to a song ever
“lololololol white america, assassinate my character”
Bartolo’s pitching his way off of the postseason roster.
I’m so confused by this situation with the Rays and Boston. both winning = a tie still. Is this good? I think so. A one game playoff on Thursday could be entertaining.
Best scenario is the Rays and Red Sox end in a tie, and then the Red Sox lose the playoff.
Yet the Rays pitching is deep enough that I’d rather they just win it by tomorrow.
By the way, did anyone see Keith Law’s award picks column today? The comments have been PRICELESS!
I highly encourage you to check them out just for the hilarity.
Do you have a link?
I believe the article is ESPN Insider only.
Yea, it is, I forgot that.
For those of you have it:
http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb.....-roy-picks
I don’t disagree with the #1 choices, although I’ll have to take a look at some of his picks for second and third. I did notice he didn’t have Weaver in his top five for the Cy Young, but he did have Haren.
He has a BBWAA vote for the NL Cy Young, so no picks there yet.
His position on Weaver is that he receives a ton of help with his numbers by pitching in the AL West in those big AL West ballparks.
KLaw thinks context matters, which is why he has made a case that CC and Verlander are having similar years, and CC does it in a much tougher division.
Was it basically an fWAR regurgitation?
Don’t know. Don’t think so. Like I said, the comments are the good parts.
Also a good read: his Twitter feed. He engages with the morons and it’s almost always spit your drink on the computer funny.
I’d like Mason Willias to end up being like the 2011 Jacoby Ellsbury.
*Williams.
I don’t think I ever cheered for a homerun against the yanks.
Eh, go figure,
Damnit Martin!
RUSSELL WITH MUSCLE!!
Booyah. Fuck Tampa.
Russell just unloaded on that one. jeez.
Unclutch.
But…he hates the Red Sox!!!
IETC
What the fuck are you doing Russell?
If Lullsbury wills the MVP it’s not unprecedented for a boston player to win regular season MVP while playing for a team that had a case of the gags. Rice won the MVP in 78.
…meanwhile Guidry had one of the great pitching seasons in memory and enabled the great Yankee comeback, down to pitching the game-winner on short rest.
And finished miles behind in the MVP voting, because he was “just a pitcher”. Oddly, the exact opposite of what happened 8 years later, when Clemens topped Mattingly by a similarly wide margin. Yankees haven’t been treated real well in MVP voting for some time.
Yeah. IMO, Cano could have won last year. Or even Cabrera (Miguel) could have won it. I’m sorry, but giving the MVP to a guy who misses an entire month? I have issue with that.
SO there is a precedent. And Ellsbury does have reputable numbers.
I have no problem with him winning MVP, just means his arb case will be that much stronger and Boston will have to pay him and with their small market budget they may have trouble keeping him around for long.
RUN BRETT RUN
Bedahd at 53 pitches in just 2.1 IP.
And he was given a gift of a strikeout for that 1st out of the 3rd http://www.brooksbaseball.net/.....type=3.gif
No bunt… no out, really fast guy on 1st… doesn’t the binder say bunt?
only in games that count
Brett got away with that one.
Gardner, .191/.301/.292 since 28th of August. Not promising for the post-season, against main-line pitching.
a lot of Yankees slumping heading into the postseason: Granderson, Tex, Arod, Gardner
The regression will be GLORIOUS.
Exactly.
hopefully
holy shit you walk cano to pitch to a-rod?
damn, that’s some disrespect
Hellickson is much better against righties, I believe
and Cano still doesn’t get pitched to
Hopefully this pisses Arod off.
…but that would be bad in this instance.
Rays seem like the better team. I’d rather they didn’t go to the playoffs. Let Boston limp in. All their players are hurt and TB’s rotation is pretty scary.
JMHO, however.
Don’t even let Boston in, for the risk of giving them momentum and going on to win it all…just imagine the reaction. That, IMO, would be even worse than them winning 110 games and dominating the entire time. Slow start + great for 4 months + epic collapse + limp into the post season + world champions = nauseating narrative.
Totally.
I want the Yankees to win the World Series, but I also want to experience schadenfreude whenever the Red Sox are mentioned this offseason.
this perfectly sums up my feelings exactly.
I understand and have debated that, but I don’t really think Tampa is all that good. They’re good, but certainly beatable.
The Red Sox are nowhere near as bad as they are showing, and if they can make it into the postseason, a weight can be lifted and they might start hitting again. They are an excellent hitting team. Then in a short series, Lester and Beckett can be deadly. In other words, as bad as they’ve been in September, they might be the more challenging team in October.
Go Rays.
if the rays and red sock r tied at the end of the season is their a 1 game playoff or what?
Yes. Thursday in Tampa.
I wanna see A-Rod hit a HR as a fuck you to the Rays, but I want the Rays to win. Ugh. Rays win 5-4?
Bedard 65 pitches through 3, lol. He won’t make it through the 5th.
ARod looks all fucked up.
FUCK YEAH!!! great walk
Still pitched him carefully.
Okay, that’s acceptable. He didn’t get Alex out.
Wow. Hellickson looks like he’s about 15. Does not look old enough to be in the MLB.
Phew, Tex bailed out Hellickson.
Wow, Jeremy Kyle is on in the US now? That’s scary.
I always loved the impressions that BBC’s Dead Ringers did of his show.
If this diminished ARod doesn’t kick-start himself, he’s going to be embarrassed a lot more in the post-season by intentional walks to Cano.
Too bad he can’t face Colon. It could boost his confidence.
Hey look, Bart hates the Red Sox too!
So AJ is the 4th starter should the Yankees get past the ALDS?
Is Bartolo even a long man in the pen at this point?
If it were I making the decision, I would tell Bartolo he’s free on Friday for golf, fishing, deer season, or whatever he does once baseball is over. With sincere gratitude, though, for what he did earlier in the season.
I guess Zach Britton realized he was on the Orioles.
Damn.
Yeah, in the end, they are still just the Orioles. Low expectations make for great surprises or just mediocrity.
Funny how the Red Sox reacted like it was the Carlton Fisk shot….how desperate the mighty have fallen.
Jesus-lite 3-run HR
I wish he were a poor-hitting, slick-fielding catcher. Then, we could simply call him The Anti-Christ.
fucking Sox.
I bet they still find a way to blow that lead.
Anything is possible with Bedard on the mound. But Britton needs to lock it down. Or Buck needs to take him out.
Ugh, 5-1 Sox. Tampa has to win this one.
Lavahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhnway. Infinitely better than Montero.
well that was always the case.
Lavarnway for MVP!
…so now we definitely have to lose to keep the Rays even. Good evening everybody…how are we this evening?
Damn Os.
at least it was Lavarnwhfdkhjdhf and not Varitek. Nothing worse than seeing that bum do anything positive.
+1
I was talking to my buddy at work about Varitek today and he asked me why I hate him so much(It’s known at work Varitek is my most hated Red Sock) I told him honestly “only a bitch starts a fight with his catchers mask still on. Be a man and if you’re going to start a fight with somebody on the field face them like a man and take of the mask.”
Vagitek
Varitek might possibly be the biggest douche on that team.
REALITY… just false hope for sox fans
stupid Tampa not taking advantage of the situation.
Tampa just cannot hit consistently. Rays have to win tonight or the Red Sox are going to the playoffs.
most beautiful WPA chart ever
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.c.....season-wpa
That’s what happens when you have a 0.71 ERA in 140 postseason innings.
i hope the sox win 30-1 and the yanks lose 2-1…
With Boston up 5-1 it’s time to just concede and start pulling the regulars. Put Proctor in there and let him work.
5-3 Sox now!!
Bedard giving it up!
Anyone who thinks that this game is over hasn’t been paying attention.
eric beedaaaaahd!
which ace # is he again?
i can only count to 11…and i didn’t see his name on that list so he’s probably #13 or #14.
12th after Beckett, Lester, Bucholz, Dice K, Lackey, Wakefield, Miller, Epstein, the midget (he’s so gritty he’s pitches all the way from 2nd), that douchebag (pick one), and the guy at the hotdog stand
lol I so saw that coming with Weiters
Fuck yeah, Wieters. Now it’s only 5-3 Boston.
Matt MF Wieters makes it 5-3!!!! Let’s go Baltimore.
Now I’ve made up my mind. MLB Network is broadcasting NESN. So you already know how insufferable an experience this is.
I think my season will be made if Boston blows it tonight and the Rays win. I might have to catch the new Sons of Anarchy at 11, instead of 10. Just to watch the carnage. LOL!!!
Doesn’t Singleton realize that a starting pitcher of Verlander’s level(at least this season) changes the rest of your pitching staff? You KNOW that Verlander is going to give you at least six innings and no more than 3 runs in those six, and he’s usually going to give you more than that. That changes a way a manager manages I think. Not saying that Verlander deserves the award(I still think it’s Bautista) but in my opinion saying a pitcher at Verlander’s level this season only effects 35 games is wrong.
Rays better think about tacking something on soon…. isn’t Girardi planning to use So/Ro/Mo tonight regardless of score?
yeah, he said they’re going to get 1IP each.
Isn’t So due to have one of those crappy innings where he give up like 2 or 3 runs?
O’s have the tying runs on base!!
And Bedahd is done after a ‘gritty’ 3.1 IP….
Let’s go Bodymore, Murdaland!
The Wire is awesome.
The minute I saw this:
http://espn.go.com/
“That’s More Like It”
I got confident…..lol
It’s amazing that they aren’t even subtle about it anymore.
Please! Have you seen Sport Center the last few days.
They are going to lose in painful fashion.
Ace PLEASE blow this.
Tito is playing with fire, Bedard got bailed out by the ump who called by 4 strike 3…walked the next guy, and gavae up a single while i was typing. He left em in 1 or 2 batters too long. Ace has been pitching so much his arm is gona fall off….lets hope hes out gas here.
damn..another sox pitcher fails to give 5 innings…
c’mon ACE..do it for your old teammates
Ace seems like a decent guy…he must hate being on the Sox.
GO O’s GO!!
The Red Sox are Scott Proctoring Ace’s arm. The funny thing though is that they don’t really have a choice.
Aceves’s arm is going to fall off.
I don’t know how he’s still going. After the back injury and only throwing 15 innings last year he’s gonna throw like 115 this year.
I don’t think the Sox care. They will abuse the F out of him to make it to the playoffs.
shit…Grit with a leadoff single! don’t steal
i feel like I’m in Bizarro World…up is down, down is up..
LMAO..
Same here.
ATTN: Noland Rymold: The dude has pitched 3days in a row…work the count a little maybe?
Sorry to change topics, but ESPN is killing it again with this “Catching Hell” documentary on the Chicago Cubs’ Bartman foul ball catch. Great work again.
i am watching it and the yanks game
it’s incredible
It is incredible. They got the entire story. They got all the footage.
Oh, if the Red Sox hadn’t won 2 WS last decade, this would’ve been their story. This might be worse than Buckner. I never realized how bad this was.
Fuck, Hellickson is gonna shit the bed.
Is this suprising?
The guy’s got a worse FIP and xFIP than Ivan Nova…. yet for some reason people are so willing to dismiss Nova’s results when Hellboy’s results are headed for an even sharper regression (he has an xFIP of 4.63
oh God! c’mon O’s!!
what the fuck are you doing Aceves? come on, man.
More like come on Orioles!! 3 pitches?!?!?! you have to do better than that…
I just…I can’t bring myself to root against the Yanks.
Hell effing no I can’t either.
do what I do…jsut view this as a spring training game for them. just trying to get the guys some work.
That’s probably the worst (best) thing Granderson could have done there.
It could have been worse, Yankees couldhave definately got more than 1 run this inning.
It actually gave me a bad feeling about how these Ray pitchers might provoke RISPfail in the playoffs.
Fuck, Robbie absolutely destroyed that baseball.
This is quite the slump Granderson is in
He’s been hitting the ball hard, but not getting anything. He’ll be fine in time for the play offs.
damn it everything went to crap, yankees tie it and Aceves bails out the red sox.
Still a lot of baseball in both games. Bahhd hasn’t been heard from yet, and I really really think Proctor and Vauldes should each get another audition for the post season tonight ;D
The Sox are hilarious on the bases. Pedroia with that nonsensical leap over Romine the other night, and now LOLsbury trying to evade the tag on the way to first.
Am I supposed to cheer for the Yanks? I’m really confused now. I wanted to cheer for Grandy to hit #42, but then I’m happy that only one run was scored.
Tough night.
Bart needs to give up some runs here
It’s concerning to me that Granderson, A-Rod, Teixeira, and Swisher look somewhat lost at the plate right now.
can’t have that in the post season or else they’re done, especially facing a hot lineup like the tigers or rangers
Yea, and theoretically they’re already going to have trouble scoring runs if they’re facing Verlander, even if they were swinging the bats well. It was especially concerning and after the batters behind Cano (A-Rod and Teixeira) weren’t able to capitalize after the Rays walked Cano intentionally
Absolutely! The way they’re hitting the last few days, they’d be sitting ducks for good pitchers. Yeah, the pressure’s been off, but I think too much can be made of this. ARod in particular looks awful up there.
And then Teixeira hammers a double and makes me look stupid lol. I would rather be stupid in this case, though.
And Swisher right after him. I’m going to say this every game.
I don’t think Aceves can pitch until Bard in the 8th. His arm is hanging by a thread. There’s still time.
Seems like if the Rays don’t score this inning they could be headed for the loss.
What the hell are the Rays doing? SCORE RUNS! Girardi is bringing in his best relievers soon. The Rays know we won’t field a good lineup tomorrow so they essentially have to win one game and they can’t even do that.
Red Sox have some more cooking. 2 on 1 out
Thankfully, Buck is going to the pen. Oh wait…the Os have a terrible pen. Jim Johnson can’t pitch every inning…
BTW Tigers up 4-1.
If the Yankees want to play Texas, they need a W and a Texas loss.
(Not sure it matters as both teams will be tough)
LOLry(boston’s newest clean up hitter) just got over matched by a dude with a 5ERA.
Speaking of the coldness of firing someone, I saw Moneyball last night and it was really freakin good.
I’m looking forward to seeing it, if only to atone for many years of sneering at Brad Pitt for no good reason. Then I saw him in a spy movie (with John Malkovich) and “Tree of Life,” and he was damned good.
You’re talking about “Burn After Reading”? Spy movie? Really?
not even sure why, but i hate Jed Lowrie.
He’s a redsock?
he seems like a harmless chap…looks like he should be delivering my morning newspaper.
i don’t like him.
Man, the Cards are REALLY giving up golden opportunities to tie the Braves.
I was just looking at the score. That’s pretty bad, they may get swept by the worst team in baseball.
5-0 to Houston?????
At least, Baltimore is a decent team outside of the AL East.
MARKAKIS SAVES THE BALLGAME!!!!!! WHAT A CATCH!
oh shit
O’s get out of the jam
Wait, am I supposed to be glad b/c Tex has 2 hits tonight?
Markakis I take back every bad thing I ever said about you, your mom, and your Greek heritage that I know you heard last season when I got hammered in the bleachers. My bad bro.
Swishie got that pitch he was looking for.
this is nuts!
DOES ANYONE IN MLB WANT TO WIN THE WILD CARD??!!!
PHI 6 – ATL 0
HOU!!!! 5 – STL 0
I don’t understand how STL can drop 2 to the Stros. that is so sad.
god dammit Swish, save your stat-padding for the playoffs
Did YES suddenly stop working for anyone else?
I have Time Warner Cable.
Wow, I missed a triple play…
Ok, Markakis, Now you can really do somethings to make me like you.
How often do you IBB someone to face the guy who homered off you earlier in the game? Maddon might have gotten too cute here.
UN-FUCKING-REAL
He looks like a mad scientist/genius after that.
A regular goddamn Nostradamus.
OMG!!
Russ really hates the Red Sox.
He hates those Red Sox…
Few things are dumber than sliding into 1B.
I’m sure hitting into a 5-4-3 triple play is up there though.
Yeah, especially given the context. Three days till the ALDS starts? He looked a little slow getting up after that. How much would that suck if he got injured? All the good will he’s garnered…
>poof<
Gone.
there you go Russell, now stop fucking sliding headfirst into first you dumb fuck
Wow…WOW…I’m not even mad, I’m impressed.
That was the most predictable triple play ever, if there is such a thing.
Can someone PLEASE tell Russell to NOT slide headfirst anymore? PLEASE?
what the hell are the chances of that happening with these circumstances???
LOL TRIPLE PLAY!
should I be excited about that triple play or sort of embarrassed? I need clarification.
Way to get out of that jam, Martin. Kept it within 1 run.
Rays just hit the jackpot.
That was an exciting play, but why is Martin going head-first at this point in the season?
Russell to the rescue!!!! Triple play to stop the bleeding. LOL!!!
Hellboy is pumped.
My feelings on the triple play:
[to Baxter]
Ron Burgundy: What? You pooped in the refrigerator? And you ate the whole… wheel of cheese? How’d you do that? Heck, I’m not even mad; that’s amazing. How ’bout we get you in your p.j.’s and we hit the hay.
HA!!
Now Bart needs to give up 2 runs.
Aceves 1.1IP on 13 pitches. god damn him.
Orioles were hacking away at every single pitch too…
Maddon needs to play this like the 9th.
I change my mind I don’t want extra wild card teams I can’t even deal with the two they have now.
Its madness tonight!!!!
It’s pretty miserable. You have the Braves and Red Sox who both blew huge wild card leads in Sept. Yet they want another game involving either of these teams???
There’s nothing “exciting” about this now. It’s sheer misery.
Only thing worse than sliding into 1B on a triple play, would’ve been pulling a NY Giants and diving on the ground, in fake injury mode.
He HATES the Red Sox. Hahahaha!!!!
A freaking triple play at that particular spot???
You couldn’t write this stuff up if you were a Rays fan.
That was hilarious.
Crawford just tripled off of Berken with one out
Scuturo Just went yard. Orioles FAILpen.
Does Cory Wade also hate the Red Sox?
the Orioles failpen is trying to blow the game wide open.
Oh god, Scutaro homers and it’s 7-3 Sox. Do something, Rays!
nope still hate markakis.
fucking Marco Scutaro
give up some runs Cory
Scutaro hits a two run homer. Its up to the Rays now.
Ellsbury – HUUUGE home run
Lahvahnway – BIG TIME home run
Scutaro – “little breathing room” home run
Aren’t narratives nice when they get adapted to the player?
maybe Girardi should…bring on Proctor and use SoRoMo tomorrow?
bring in Proctor now, let him give up the lead, and then still use SoRoMo
Shit, the yankees are going to put the Sox into the frikin playoffs.
No. I blame the Rays. If they played at a better level this month they might have a 2 or 3 game lead.
This. It was there for the taking.
fuck you, scutaro
If the Rays lose this, they should look back at that series with Baltimore a few weeks ago when they lost two of three.
The Noesi vs “Big Game” James loss last week was also not good.
not surprised the the Sox are hitting tonight. but where has that lineup been all month? the pitching has been terrible but the hitting just disappeared for most of the month.
i’m going to be very disappointed if the Sox make the playoffs. I’ve invested so much time Schadenfrauding and I don’t want it to go for naught.
Well, they are going to get at least a 1 game playoff. That Redsox game is over and the Rays really have thier work cut out now, if the yankees are using soriano,drob and mo tonight.
I’m still confident the Sox bullpen can give back a four run lead.
only if Fat Albers comes in.
or Bard and his 12 ERA in September
I have never been so pissed to see the Yankees have a lead.
Shit the Rays are going to lose and the Red Sox are going to win, or at least it’s looking that way.
Then they can flip flop tomorrow and win the play-in game.
They as in the Rays.
Yeah, I’m not exactly too sure how good Lester will be on 3 days rest…
True, but that’s very risky. I wanna see Boston miss the playoffs. This collapse is epic.
Yeah, I guess this collapse could actually affect them going forward next year too as they’d have to hear about it all winter.I keep flip flopping who I want to make it and not. SO effing glad we don’t have to deal with this shit.
Never thought I’d say this.
Girardi, Scott Proctor now please. Now, as in right now.
The freaking Rays don’t want to win this game.
that and sub for all the vets..now!
You mean you want him to pinch hit for Robbie?
Yeah, Ramiro Pena is warmed up for Cano’s spot. LOL!!!
It’s only fair.
7-4
Adam Jones brings the O’s one closer.
Somebody needs to instruct Soriano to take a dive. Robertson and Mo are too good to give up a lead in a game like this. Just one two run bomb to keep the Rays in it.
Jones hits a solo shot 7-4 Sox
This is bullshit.
It would be the biggest FU to boston ever, if Girardi did put proctor in to give up the lead and then went to Sori, Drob and Mo to get their work in.
Scott Proctor NOWWWWWW!
No – we have Soriano
Just recently woke up from a four hour nap, saw Colon went 5.1 innings and allowed two runs, how did he look from watching him?
He gave up some hard hit outs, but there was very good movement on his two seamer.
So over all pretty good.
Crap, Girardi is trying to win this game. LOL!!!
Can we see April Soriano for one game please?
What are you doing Joe? you stink.
now the O’s really need to win.
Come on Longoria!
Atta boy, Raph. He’s on the right page.
he got the memo…apparntly it wasn’t sent to everyone…
Good walk Soriano. Now just throw fastballs right down the middle.
So weird seeing ppl root for a Yankee loss
I consider it rooting for a Rays win, which just happens to mean the Yankees lose.
Sox hatred runs deep.
I’d be a lot more down with it if it were Valdez, Proctor and Laffey giving up the runs, not our best 3 relievers.
It feels dirty, like stealing cable felt in the 80s/90s, but in the end, it is justified. Just hope the Rays can guarantee at least a play-in game tomorrow with the rookie league pitchers Girardi trots out there.
We’re not “rooting” for the Yankees to lose. More like “rooting” for Boston to choke. As stated, the hatred is very deep. We’re not hurting the Yanks at all. Girardi is, with this insistence on not resting or regulars, other than A-Rod.
And WOW. Matt Joyce goes yard. Incredible!!!
Soriano for MVP tonight.
http://www.sportsargumentwiki......=Joe_Torre
Bring me Scott Proctor!
Soriano is still a big Rays fan.
BTW Tim McClelland just missed a call at third base in the Reds Mets game. Gary and Ron were chiding him.
Cmon, Upton. Thought you was fast.
Ok Soriano, you’ve been lights out for the last couple weeks or so, if there’s one time to blow it, it’s now.
Come on, bring in Proctor!!
3 run homer please.
Rafeal Soriano Says YOUR WELCOME.
You called it.
Yessssssssss. Thank you Randy Levine.
sad, but i am rooting for the rays, really want to see a game 163. plus it so unfair that the yankees have such a high payroll and that they get all the calls from the umps, wait, sorry, got caught up cheering for the rays
Did So just walk two guys in a row?
This is called “get it out of your system.” So, Soriano, get a craptacular inning where you walk and give up runs and hits out of your system now before the playoffs.
lol Soriano.
YES!
MATT JOYYYYCCCCCEEEEEEE
YES! There is the big hit we needed!
Yes!!!!!!
Yeeesssss Matt Joyce!!!!!!!! (I feel so weird)
Woah.
Cognitive dissonance…
Soriano hates the Red Sox, evidently.
Not even upset about that.
ask and you shall receive…
http://riveraveblues.com/2011/.....nt-2918841
Yay Rafael!
JOYCE TO THE WORLD!!!
thats why soriano gets paid the big bucks, he absolutely kills the red sox
holy shit was i the only person who screamed in excitement for the rays?
No, I just did. And then caught myself. A very strange experience.
I laughed. A lot. It’s such a strange emotion to not be pissed about things like this.
Soriano in April form.
LOL!
thank you soriano I knew you wanted to help your old team.
Thank god, its hard to live with the thought of the Yankees being responsible for putting the sox in the postseason, and saving them from a historic collapse.
LETS GO O’S! LETS GO O’S!
now that felt weird…
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Soriano wanted to help his former team, now the bats just need to lay down the final two innings and I’ll be content even if the Red Sox win. Of course I’d like to see them lose, but I’ll take a tie on the last day.
I bet Red Sux Nation is thrilled.
Nice play TEX. He’s no Mark Reynolds though.
We’re really in Twilight Zone territory. If this were a normal game, I’d be cursing Soriano. But, here, I’d have been disappointed if he hadn’t done something like that.
Get it out of your system, Sori.
And holy shit I don’t want Soriano pitching at all in the postseason.
Really? I consider him pretty trustworthy. He’s the third man in there, after Mo and D-Rob.
He’s obviously mailing it in at this point. I’m not saying that was intentional but he wasn’t giving it 100%.
So the Yankees want to use their three main relievers in this one, and since TB leads there may not be a bottom of the 9th, so will Girardi have Robertson and Rivera share the 8th?
Soriano did his job. Somebody had to take the dive and tonight it was him. Tomorrow the spot starter can do the job. Now Farnsworth just needs to hold the lead. Rays win tomorrow and at least force a playoff.
for my own good, i’m going to think that soriano purposely gave up the 3 run homer, then just got 3 quick outs
Just getting it out of his system.
Love how OTM’ers actually posted that they think the players are throwing the game after the Joyce HR. But they weren’t in taking the lead earlier. The conspiracies know no bounds.
Soriano earned his 16m tonight :}
Rays should chip in for some of that now
Randy Levine: executive of the year.
i’m glad soriano did that..and I hope it holds b/c I didn’t want it to get to Mo…
Orioles…
Not the biggest fans of plate discipline.
Aceves is about to go 3.2 innings. He’s not being used tomorrow.
Once Yanks enetered the bottom of 7th with lead, in order for Rays to win, one of our top relievers would have to give it up.
Sorry, it had to be you Soriano – but better you than DRob or Mo.
2 walks and a bomb – pretty painless.
Aceve’s arm must be made of rubber, I want an official inquiry made to make sure he’s human lol.
He’s only thrown 30 pitches through 3.2 IP. That helps.
He’s being helped by the fact that the O’s are swinging at everything.
More likely his arm is being Proctorized.
This blog is hilarious tonight. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard for the Yankees to be losing.
Robertson and Mo are too good to let the Rays get back into it, so it was definitely Soriano’s duty to get it done. Good man.
What is the biggest play in the last two nights?
1. Andino’s inside the parker and Ellsbury/SaltiIsuckia’s crap defense.
2. Russell Martin hits into bases loaded DP
3. Three run bomb by Joyce
Martin grounds into bases loaded TP.
Joyce’s HR. That pretty much saved the Rays season.
Be careful what you wish for. If you let a team into the playoffs riding this kind of momentum, while many of your key hitters are continuing to struggle, that’s not a good thing. Letting Tampa beat you in dramatic fashion night after night is not something that you should be proud of.
Are you ever satisfied?
and on the flipside, winning and the red sox getting in: “well, now the sox get a do-over and could run the table; should have lost to the rays so the weaker on paper team got in.”
so, pretty much either way, complaints?
All this talk about how the Yankees have to worry about themselves?
Well guess what, A-Rod, Granderson, and Teix need to get going offensively. Swisher has been slumping of late, and so has Gardner.
It doesn’t matter who they face unless they get their own house in order first, and the offense has been very hit or miss this month.
Its worth it.
weren’t you just complaining on Sunday about the Yankees not doing everything they could to keep Boston out of the playoffs?
The Yankees had a chance to directly beat Boston. Giving games to Tampa is not something to be proud about, especially because the players ARE trying to win these. You can say all you want about it not mattering come Friday, but what makes you think that A-Rod will just find his swing from nothing?
2000 Yankees
2006 Cardinals
Look them up.
the same thinking that follows when any good player goes through a slump: they can break out of it at any time. Of course, he can also continue not hitting come friday, but thats baseball.
btw, I highly doubt yankee fans who want to see the sox fail are ‘proud’ of losing to anyone. It just so happens they pa=lay the rays in the last three games of the season and the results directly affect the sox’s chances of advancing. And being a Yankee fan means you always derive pleasure from Boston failing.
A-Rod is not slumping. To slump you have to have been hitting at some previous point. His mechanics are totally out of whack, and he is caught inbetween on everything. You just hope that it’s not the result of having to change his swing due to his thumb.
I’m not saying they can’t beat Tampa, or that players can’t just get it going in the Playoffs. What I am saying is that you should be careful of what you wish for. It’s nice to see Boston not make it, but you don’t want it to be because you gave it to the other team. They’re building confidence that they could end up carrying over, because they aren’t a team like the 2009 Twins that had very little true talent.
yes, ARod hasn’t hit at any point this season, right?
He hasn’t hit a lick since coming off of the DL. His numbers in July are clearly not relevant to the present discussion.
Way to go though, interpreting every word literally when the whole world knew what was meant to try to discount the argument. Is that all that you’ve got?
only commenting on what you wrote. If you don’t mean it, don’t write it
responding to criticisms or arguments to your posts by pretending you didn’t say what you actually said is incredibly weak
oh, and a hitter struggling for any reason is commonly referred to as a slump
Most slumps are because mechanics and/or timing is out of whack
the players are trying to win, and the team does have some players slumping, but Noesi and Colon aren’t going to be starting games, and the full lineup will be playing
There are definitely concerns about this team going in to the playoffs, just as there are concerns with every playoff team
whether the Yankees win or lose these 3 games or how they win or lose these 3 games will have absolutely no bearing on the playoffs
I agree with parts of this. Of course once the playoffs start the Yankees need to worry about Texas or Detroit.
The Yankees don’t care about TB until the ALCS.
If the Yankees kept Aceves I can’t imagine how bad off the red sox would be. He’s be a big help for that middle bullpen of theirs. They’d probably already be eliminated from the wild card if they didn’t have him.
And yet his fWAR is 1.0.
stats gone wild!!!!!!!!!!!
you have to be a supreme jackass to root for any one at any time to hit a 3 run homer and take the lead late in the game against the team you profess to attach yourself to all year, every year.
It’s not what the players on your team want to have happen. Ever.
But..jackasses are like that
If you’re serious, you should Look up the word “tool”
Don’t feed the trolls. They’re like strays, if you feed ‘em once they’ll keep coming back.
JACKASS. Juvenile and as rationale as 5 year old throwing a temper tantrum because his mommy won’t let him shit his pants any longer
Red Sox troll. Go elsewhere with that. We’ve clinched everything already for the AL. Just need our regulars to not get hurt. All else is fun and games.
Freaking Babe Lavarnway now??? C’mon Buck, step it up. Drill the next batter.
Like someone posted earlier, if that inning happened to proctor or Ayala or someone like that, then fine. But there’s nothing good about soriano giving up 2 walks and a 3 run homer. Nothing at all.
Meh, consider it a “get it out of your system” thing. I’d rather it happen in a meaningless game against the Rays than on friday.
In a meaningless game that hurts our biggest rival it doesn’t do anything bad either. It’s just meaningless come Friday. Soriano isn’t going to pitch any worse on Friday because of this.
Well, at least he got three quick outs after that. Let’s be honest, Soriano probably couldn’t keep up his run he’s been on through the postseason, so get it out of your system now and move on. In fact, I remember in 2009 CC Sabathia got absolutely lit up against the Rays in his final start. At the time I thought, “ok get it out of your system”. He then was absolutely dominant in the postseason.
Rays better hold on… Just realized it would really suck if he basically give the Rays these 3 games and then they beat us in the ALCS
But it would still be worth it.
Soriano just earned True Yankee(tm) status.
If the Yankees don’t win it all, I doubt it’s going to be because of poor pitching. Most likely the kinds of things that you have seen all night- garbage at bats with runners on base that keep teams in the game until they finally get that one big hit.
It is not a positive to give away a game like tonight to Tampa. This is a huge game against good pitching and the Yankees offense is nowhere to be found. That’s concerning.
this is not in any way, shape, or form a huge game for the Yankees
As a matter of fact, it’s a completely meaningless game for the Yankees.
That is not what I said, read my post again.
It’s a huge game for somebody, and the players are definitely trying to win this game. Anyone who says that they are “purposely losing” is an idiot. They are playing hard and getting beaten.
There is nothing stopping the offense in this game from coming out and beating up a pitcher while they tune up. They have not been hitting even when the games were important for them. The offense really needs to step it up, because they haven’t for most of the season.
How do you know they’re playing hard? Are you in the Yankee dugout? They are playing this like a ST game
You are hilarious. Just say the opposite to everything to be contradictory.
When people say that the players look lazy, you’ll say that they are playing hard. Of course they are playing hard now, are you kidding me? They aren’t going all in for the win, but if you think they are taking this easy, you are insane.
Teams take a lot of pride from knocking a team out of the playoffs. They aren’t going to sacrifice the playoffs for tonight’s game, but there is no way they are treating this like Spring Training. Girardi ran almost the entire lineup out there and these guys are fighting at the plate.
Teams take a lot of pride from knocking a team out of the playoff
Which is exactly what they are doing to the Red Sox. But as I said, it’s pointless arguing with you.
Yes, because a team takes pride in LOSING to allow a team into the playoffs? You are completely clueless. Nobody on this roster is proud of their performance tonight.
And if that was their goal, why is Girardi playing most of his regulars in these games? Oh right, because he thinks that he owes it to the Red Sox to put a representative team on the field and try to win these games.
Despite what the clueless media and fans, and you in particular, seem to think, nobody is giving these games away. The players aren’t going to cry about a loss, but they certainly would like to grab some of these.
The Yankees aren’t giving this game away, or trying to lose it, or taking pride in losing it. They just plain lost. They don’t take pride in it all all but it also means nothing to them. We the fans though can enjoy this loss because it keeps the Rays chances of knocking the Red Sox out alive.
Exactly, but read the post I just responded to in this thread.
The brilliant poster, who seems to think that people still take him seriously, tried to argue the exact opposite. Saying the exact opposite and trying to start a fight doesn’t work when what you said is so blatantly wrong that nobody joins you.
“why is Girardi playing most of his regulars in these games?”
to get them ready for the playoffs
that is all
You did say this was a huge game, and I read it again in the post. Yes the offense needs to step it up, but saying they haven’t done so for most of the season is about the dumbest comment ever posted here
Second best offense (by only .04 runs)
Yes the offense has been horrible for most of the season
You must be joking? You cited that they have scored a nice AVERAGE number of runs as evidence that they have been a great offensive club?
You do realize that scoring 11 runs and 0 runs is the same “average” number of runs as 5 and 6?
The offense has put up good numbers, but that is not what I said. They haven’t carried this team, the pitching has done so. They are 4-11 in extra innings games this year, and have lost 14 games in which they allowed 3 or fewer runs in 83 tries. The Rays, a “weak” hitting team, have lost 16 in 81 tries, and the Red Sox 12 in 77.
yes, scoring a lot of runs is indicative of a great offensive club
EVERY TEAM has high scoring games and low scoring games
Notice which of those teams has received the most 3 or fewer runs pitching performances. Saying the offense is why this team is in this position is very naive.
nobody said that
making up points to argue against is very weak
very, very weak
I also never said it was a huge game for the YANKEES. Read the post again. It’s a huge game for somebody, and you have an obligation to the game to at least put a representative effort out there because of it.
The Yankees only obligation is to their team to get prepared for the playoffs. That it’s a huge game for the other team has absolute no bearing on what the Yankees do.
ITS. WORTH. IT.
remember how they couldn’t score down the stretch last year and got swept in the ALDS?
Remember how they didn’t hit a lick for much of the ALCS and lost in 6 games? It’s easy to mask your problems when you are facing a team running Carl Pavano and Brian Duensing out there in Games 2 and 3.
This is a very erratic offense, and don’t try to tell me that these at bats are meaningless. Is A-Rod going to find his swing when it’s completely out of whack mechanically? You forget that A-Rod had that huge game right before the playoffs to build confidence in his swing in 2009.
Pavano was pretty good last year and they got 4 runs against Liriano which you conveniently left out. But why even argue with you? You’ll never be convinced.
It doesn’t matter. Again, I said they are STREAKY. Having a few good games followed up by many equally bad games is EXACTLY the definition of a streaky team.
Also, those runs all came after Liriano tired and started to hang pitches, and Gardenhire should have taken him out a few batters earlier.
Why bother arguing with you? You will twist anything to suit your argument, no matter how irrelevant. You will even make things up that simply never happened to support your point.
I would like an example of a team that is not streaky on offense, please.
the Matt All-Stars
This made me laugh uncontrollably.
That one team, you know, that won 162 games in a season, uh…
I’m thinking, I’m thinking…
Wait, is it the 2011 Red Sox?
“I said they are STREAKY. Having a few good games followed up by many equally bad games is EXACTLY the definition of a streaky team.”
You know who that sounds like? EVERY TEAM IN BASEBALL HISTORY.
i think you’ve just described the Sox month of September…meanwhile, the yanks did their job and kept winning. the Yanks have earned the right to do whatever the hell they want to.
Dude, they’ve dialed it in for the regular season. Just getting ready for Fri. This is like a spring training warmup game for up. We gain nothing further from winning this game.
Bragging rights for the best record in MLB??? Means nothing, since the NL has the HFA this year.
Yup. Make the ASG “count” but not a game like this. Always clever, Selig.
“A huge game”, best line of the night.
Positivly Swishalicious!
This has been weirdly fun. And I like running out Robertson here so he’s “unavailable” for the game tomorrow.
I am ready for a DRob lock it down inning though.
Sox were playing the wrong catcher all year. Two home runs for the rookie. Looks like it’ll be all tied up tomorrow for ultimate drama.
nah, a Thursday game, now that would be the ultimate drama.
Lavarnway pulling a Montero I see. 2nd homer of the night
Lavahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhnway is obviously better than Jesus. Both Montero and Christ.
I lol’d
something tells me that there’s gonna be a debate for many years on who’s the better catcher
Lavahhhhhhhhhhhhhhnway vs. Jesus will be the new Nomar vs. Jeter or Robbie vs. Pedroia.
so who are the red sox going to throw out there in 163?
Schilling.
Lackey. Or maybe Wakefield. Or whoever else they can find on the waiver market in the next 20 minutes.
lackey would be on short rest
Everyone would be on short rest, since Lester pitched Saturday, and is pitching tomorrow.
who’s pitching tomorrow? i heard they were coming the high schools in the greater baltimore area looking for a quality arm.
I can’t wait to see the ball washing ESPN gives Lavarnaway. I bet Gammons will say he’s the next Joe Mauer and Theo will con someone into giving him top level starter for him.
Gammons just tweeted that he put his knee pads on for the post game interview.
And when he’s done talking to Pedroia, he’ll get some quotes from Lavarnway. Rimshot!
Man, I just held back from going on an absolute tirade on that Sox Troll up there. Oh god it was hard not to.
Have at it you internet tough guy. Maybe you need some other 8th graders to restrain you, though.
I would have put a comma between “it” and “you”.
They don’t get to commas until the 3rd grade.
Nah, I’m good…since your here though, maybe you can tell us how you guys feel about this article…it’s been a running joke here for a couple weeks now
http://www.nesn.com/2011/01/20.....story.html
Oh, absolute silence? Some how I kind of saw that coming.
Haha this fan thought it would happen: http://www.overthemonster.com/.....d#78573571
Yes!! 100!!!
100!!!
Atta boy D-Rob, 100 Ks.
It is true that we may regret Rays being in playoffs. But can you imagine the relief and ease the Red Sox will feel if the Red Sox hold on and make it in – all you will hear is how gritty and gutty they are – they will feel they are playing with house money – witness the premature media orgasm after Ellsbury home run on Sunday (why would anybody think their bad play was over given who they beat on Sunday?) – I will take my chances with an offensively challenged Rays club on a hot streak than a Red Sox team that would have barely escaped the worst regular season collapse in history. If we hit at all, we should beat Rays.
If red Sox win their first ALDS series, the overreaction to them being the most gritty comeback team will be nauseating.
I’ve come to conclusion that for some of you, the World Series is played out in the press and the most you want outta of every baseball season is less a Yankees championship and more the press saying bad things about the Red Sox.
The fear that somehow, someway, the press is going to write good things about the Sox tomorrow night seems absolutely paralyzing for some of you.
blow it out your ass
Congrats D-Rob!
This is so awesome. Just burn Rivera now so you can say he’s not able to go tomorrow.
OH THAT WAS A FUCKING STRI … nevermind.
Congrats D-Rob on 100Ks.
Is Mariano really on the mound right now?????
This sets up….Ayala in the 9th.
Then tomorrow, a steady diet of Proctor, Laffey, and Valdes. I would hope for Brackman and Betances, but we know Girardi won’t use them.
There won’t be a bottom of the ninth (It looks that way) so that’s why Mo pitched. They want their three main relievers to have two days off before Game 1 of the ALDS.
Won’t be a 9th unless the Yanks score two runs here.
My bad, not paying too much attention. Forgot we’re on the road.
Let’s go Orioles. 8-6, runner on 3rd.
Daniel Baaaaahhhd…
Best set up man evvvaaaahhhh
Just get Andino to the plate with a chance.
Mo so so smart that he fooled around and let Upton foul some off just to get his proper work in.
Holy shit his ears are HUGE!!! Seriously, I think they might get Dish Network.
How can you put Mark Reynolds and Chris davis back to back in a lineup? They are the Mantle and Maris of K’s.
8-5 now
8-6 Tying run at the plate
Grittiest missed diving stop EVAR!!!!
Now 8-5 in Baltimore. C’mon O’s.
Gawd, Pedey is so gritty.
Daniel Bard…wow.
Not awesome.
OH MY GOD BAAHHHD IS GONNA BLOW IT AGAIN?!?!
But he’s the best setup man evahhhhhh!!!!!
He throws wicked haaaahhhhd!
RAYS WIN! RAYS WIN!!! THA-AAA-AAA … RAYS … WIN!!!!!!!
8-6
come on O’s
the Bamdino is up
boy, would i be pissed if this game meant something..a triple play with the bases juiced and then a 3 run HR to boot?
Now 8-6!!!!!
C’mon Two run dinger here!
Time for MVP Andino to tie this with a HR
I will personally start a campaign for Andino to be MVP if he does that.
Robert Andino. It can’t be. Can it?
Bard…LOL!
make my night complete witha game tying dinger here!
Bard’s Sept ERA now @ 13.96 in 9.2 innings.
that’s closer material right there..
if the sox miss the playoffs I can see papelbon leaving. althought Bard’s struggles increases his value to the sox tremendously.
Andino’s up! hit it to Ellsbury
Off his bat it looked like a bomb to left.
Robert Bambino lets do it!
Got really excited when that ball left the bat.
Same here.
That was a pitch he could have crushed. Still 8-6.
If there’s one thing the sox have, it’s PapelBitch…him and Aceves have been the only two bright spots this past month.
I was always partial to Papelsmear myself….
Papeldouche is my favorite.
I can go either way, I do like Papelsmear a little bit more though.
I have to go with Papelblown.
If he blows the game tonight I will never call him anything else for his entire career.
I second this notion.
I’m praying that he’s off after the 30 pitches over 2.1 innings on Sunday night
I always preferred “Poopelbon”
Damn. A tie is still good tho. A tie that holds through tomorrow is a game 163. And you gotta like the Rays chances in a Game 163 with the Sox rotation and pen being absolutely destroyed.
Ok so if the Yankees play the Tigers I believe the Tigers are using a four man rotation with Verlander, Fister, Scherzer, and Porcello. And it looks like the Yankees will use a three man rotation with CC, Nova, and probably Freddy, let’s say it’s Freddy for the sake of argument. So, it’d look like this:
Game 1: Sabathia vs Verlander
Game 2: Nova vs Fister
Game 3: Garcia vs Scherzer
Game 4: Sabathia vs Porcello
Game 5: Nova vs Verlander
If that’s really the case, I really, really, really hope the Yanks wrap it up in four games at the most. Of course you want to avoid game five in the ALDS in any situation, but Nova vs Verlander scares the living shit outta me.
Ha! Ortiz with some batter interference takes a SB away from Pedroia.
reply fail.
I’d rather us use a four man just in case it goes 5 then we can match up CC with Verlander. Porcello doesn’t scare me at all, I think we can score on him so if Colon can hold the Tigers to 4 over 6 that would be enough.
I wouldn’t mind that. That game 4 if it was Porcello vs Colon would end up probably being a battle of the bullpens, and I’d like the Yankees chances in that situation.
Yeah, I agree 100%
Tigers fans really hope they aren’t down two games to one if there’s a game four. Sabathia vs. Porcello scares the living shit outta them.
That’s true, but I’m just thinking from a Yankee perspective.
still sucks that the Yankees drafted Fister. I really like him.
The Yanks drafted Fister? Damn.
I brought this up before but how in gods name does Hardy reach the outside corner? he stands so far away from the plate.
I think the better question is why do the Red Sox keep trying to pitch him in?
The answer to the your question – I have no idea.
Seriously, I’d throw it middle away every time and dare him to hit it.
Os have the tying run against Papelblown
PapelPrick
If Papelbon blows this save…I think Boston will just roll out Weiland tomorrow and call it a season.
Hardy is on. Let’s hit a home run and tie this up.
Hardy singles
nice hit Hardy, now capitalize O’s
C’mon Papelbitch blow this game.
Wally Bell you piece of garbage.
The NESN broadcasters, as much as I hate them, are completely right…Bells been calling that pitch all night and it’s nowhere near the zone.
Makeup call on pitch 5
Sending the runner? Yikes that’s risky….
NESN has shown the Rays score at least 3 times in this 9th inning
God, that would have been ball 4, but you never know with this ump.
Nah, Wally Bell has been calling that pitch a strike all night. It’s the widest outside corner since the invention of Questek
Markakis is serious about this game. Love it.
So is Buck. I give kudos to him for actually giving a damn.
The get paid millions to take their jobs seriously. They aren’t exactly heroes.
Jesus that was scary.
Sending the runner turned out to be a good move. Need a HR.
At least Markakis was smart enough to foul off those pitches 6-8 inches off the plate… he would have been rung up on every one of them.
Sox always get those pitches called strikes.
Umps = 10th man on the field for Boston
Os have the tying runs on base!!
Vlad with a single! God, a walk off 3 run HR would be epic here.
Alright Vlad. You have no success off Papelbon in your career? clearly it is time for some regression!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My God, why do teams even think about throwing first pitch fastballs to Vlad?
a homerun would be nice Matt Weiters!
Wieters*
Sure beats a pop up.
Gotta run early in the count on Johnny Bench jr
Are the Sox going to walk Wieters to set up the DP?
god, Wieters is slower than Ortiz.
Fuck. If Wieters wasn’t a sloth that would have been an infield hit.
Wow Wieters is slow… that should have been an epic fail
If that wasn’t a catcher running it would have been an epic miscue. Idiots.
Wow, huge miscommunication that would have been hilarious.
Wieter grounds out.
Damn, Wieters. You need to run faster.
Awesome D by the Sox.
damn!!
Wow, he made Posada look fast.
Papelbon isn’t even looking back at 2nd… I know stealing 3rd with 2 out is marginal…. but take it…
But the great Lavarnway will throw him out!
Cause he’s Pudges Fisck and Rodriguez rolled into one.
You forgot about Salty and Tek. Obviously he is the incarnation of all those guys in one.
Papelsmearbitchblown wanted that one.
I wish Jones were any good…
That was the pitch to hit and he didnt.
He actually is.
OBP of .319 …
That Papelbon squat/dump was hilarious…. he was all set for fist pump/ugly face
I laughed so hard when it happened.
I’ll take two balks.
I’ll take a two run homer.
+1
There is so much to like about this situation with the WC.
Its too bad the Yankees won’t play the WC in the ALDS.
fuck
Sox hang on
Damn. Well at least it took Papelbitch to use 30 pitches though.
Ok Yankees, go out there and complete the sweep tomorrow.
Hahahaha!!!! I think we’ll see the F team by the 5th tomorrow.
In other baseball news, the Atlanta Braves have completely tanked this season. A bigger choke job than Boston, but who cares about the Braves. Boston was supposed to go 150-12 this year.
all well…one game closer to a one game play off in which you’re going to have to start Lackey on short rest.
I actually listened to a bit of Francesa today and he had Peter Gammons on and he said that Boston will probably not use Lackey in a game 163. He suggested that they’d have Aceves start, go four innings and use their main relievers to try to shut it down, ei Morales, Bard, Papelbon.
I heard that too, but after tonight, Aceves pitched like 3 innings? and if they need him tomorrow? I don’t think there’s anyway he would be able to give them the 4 innings Gammons was talking about.
I bet Gammons thinks he’ll pitch a CGSHO tomorrow
Honestly he sounded like he had just lost a loved one when talking about The Collapse*…I almost felt bad for a second then remembered who it was
*The Collapse still isn’t complete so an asterisk will be put next to it until it is official.
Wow. They must really be Intent on destroying Aceves’s arm, Scott Proctor style.
So it comes down to this…Rays vs. Proctor and the O’s vs 3 days rest Lester. Gonna be fun.
tomorrow will be interesting for the Sox. whoever starts is on short rest of they suck and Aceves, Bard and Pap all pithced today..
And if both teams win tomorrow you are looking at a Lackey/Wakefield start on short rest the next day with potentially those bullpen arms completely fried (if they have to work tomorrow)
Oh well, 8-7. Aveces, Bard and Paplepuke are completely spent for tomorrow. Moral victory, I guess. It’s the Orioles.
One more game!!!
Schilling gushing over Papelbum on ESPN. “His stuff is so good right now.” As he almost blew the save vs the Os.
Couldn’t get a swing-and-miss from Markakis and Jones to save his life either.
those were epic at bats
His stuff is so good he can’t be used tomorrow because he threw 30 pitches tonight
It’s funny to see how the fickle announcers are completely hedging their bets on both sides of the collapse right now.
“They’re so gritty and clutch”, “never doubt the Sox grit” vs. “I told you earlier this month that they’re pitching will be the cause of something catastrophic.”
is it really short rest for Lester? he was gone by the 3rd inning in his last start.
There’s also gonna be a tie atop the NL WC tomorrow too…
Possibly two game 163′s. My God I love this game.
Never underestimate the ineptitude of the Cards bullpen though…. game ain’t over yet
Even though the Red Sox won, that game was very telling of what state they’re in right now. Outside of Aceves and PapelPrick, their entire pitching staff has gone to shit. Their offense has been carrying them, but should they make it into the playoffs they won’t get to face pitchers like Zach Britton and Scott Proctor.
O’s just need to win tomorrow.
Watch, Peter Gammons will write a piece on why Lavarnway should win the MVP…
Well he is gritty.
Let’s not get carried away…
…the piece will be on why he should be AL ROY!
Isn’t it funny that all 7 times the Sox have won in September, there’s been a new AL MVP?
Yep. IF Lester pitches a gem and wins and forces a game 163 or cliches the Wild Card Gammons will write a piece on why Lester should win the Cy Young AND MVP. haha.
Grit is spelled with an “ar” and ROY starts with an “R.”
#FuckGammons
If Bud Selig has his way there would be no drama tomorrow. Every single playoff spot would be locked up and the two wildcards would be preparing for their one game playoff. Selig is such an idiot.
If the Orioles can keep it close tomorrow, the Sux bullpen should be toast. Paplebon, Aceves and Bard all threw around 30 pitches tonite after pitching sunday.
If those guys pitch again tomorrow, Francona might have to throw an inning if there’s a playoff thursday.
I guess the Angels don’t feel like playing spoiler so I can see the Yanks in town next week. Stupid Angels.
Garrett Richards going tomorrow for the Angels too (9 career innings pitched)
Detroit’s got to be real happy about that when the Angels had Santana and Weaver setup to pitch on normal rest these last 2 games.
Damn you boston!
Huge win for the Sox, but its felt like this thing would end up tied going into the last day for a week or so now. And if things break the Rays way tomorrow…holy expletive. I mean, nothing can top the 1986 World Series/2004 ALCS. Those were key events late in the playoffs.
But as regular season collapses go, I think this would have to be the worst.
1. Outsized expectations…check.
2. Domninant for most of the season…check.
3. Chances of missing the playoffs less than one percent at one point…check.
4. Loooooong drawn out process of collapse, akin to chinese water torture…check.
5. Brutal losses coming at the end of the game coupled with dispiriting early blowouts where the game was over before the third inning…check and check.
5. All occuring during a time of increased sports coverage, during the information age, after the proliferation of social media…checkmate.
I don’t think there would be anything left to say. Literally. Everyone would just remain dumbfounded.
(As an aside, I wonder what the reaction in Red Sox Nation would be if Scott Proctor entered the game at any point tomorrow. I would venture a to say…not good).
Could care less about RSN, but over here, the reaction will be, popcorn and cold beer please, and get ready for the laser show!!!
I absolutely despise Scott Proctor’s 2011 presence on this Yankees club….until now.
Please tell me Matusz isn’t pitching tomorrow.
Pretty sure it’s Simon
I think he pitched on…Sunday, so no.
Alfredo Simon is pitching for the Os. I don’t expect the Os to win but as long as the Rays do their job it’ll go to a one game playoff and the Sox will be forced to throw Lackey or Wakefield out there with a tired bullpen backing them up.
If the Orioles knock out “3 days rest” Lestuh early, then the Sawx won’t have anyone decent to back him up. PapSmear should be unavailable after tonight, Bahhhhd has been awful, and Aceves has been downright abused. They’ll have to resort to Fat Albers or Felix Dourbront.
Simon is pitching but Guthrie should be available since he started saturday
Please tell me Scott Proctor is.
nope..he pitched in the final game of the last series.
i’m certain that I can pitch more effectivly than Matusz at this point.
I hate Curt Schilling (Paraphrasing) “The Tigers and Texas are both deeper than any team in the AL East both in the Line-up and Starting staff.”
as far as the rangers, he could make a strong argument about them especially their offense.
Red Sox battling to an 8-7 victory against the 3rd worse team in all baseball proves Boston is the greatest team evah assembled.
Fo-ev-ah, ev-ah, ev-ah???
so much feekkin’ heeeeaarrrrrttt!
New to the website. Someone fill me in on what Francessa,d and Gammons’d means. Have an idea and it makes me laugh everytime I see it
Don’t know if you’ll ever see this but when you see somebody says
Francessa’d or Gammmons’d or anything of that sort really it’s just basically saying “I mean this in a sarcastic way but this person actually believes what I’m saying.” For example
“Montero’s a good hitta, if he eva learns ta catch he’ll be a STAAAA!!! But the Yankees don’t have a passition foh him so they ahh definitely gonna trade him. And if you disagree with me, first I’m gonna hang up on you then I’m going to bash you and call you a dumbass while you can’t defend yourself.
/francessa’d
Wouldnt mind this
http://twitter.com/#!/BryanHoc.....7374272512
Is Sidney Ponson going to be signed for tomorrow’s game?
I’d be okay with it, if the regulars only go 5 innings. All of them. Nothing more. No Soriano, no D-Rob, no Mariano, no Logan, no Wade, no Ayala.
Hopefully Hughes is healthy enough to start or give us a couple of innings. Other than that, everyone gets reps in Game 162, down to Ramiro Pena batting cleanup again. A true, “everyone stay sharp and healthy, results don’t matter” game, if there ever was one.
lol 13th inning for the Mets down by 1
Pitcher Change: Francisco Cordero replaces Sam LeCure, batting 8th.
1.Nick Evans walks.
With Josh Thole batting, Nick Evans caught stealing 2nd base, catcher Ramon Hernandez to shortstop Edgar Renteria.
2.Josh Thole walks.
Coaching visit to mound.
Offensive Substitution: Pinch runner Jason Bay replaces Josh Thole.
With Josh Satin batting, Jason Bay advances to 2nd on a balk.
3.Josh Satin walks.
4.Jason Pridie walks. Jason Bay to 3rd. Josh Satin to 2nd.
5.Justin Turner lines into unassisted double play, second baseman Todd Frazier. Josh Satin doubled off 2nd.
God the Angels. Apparently after their top 3, the pitchers stink.
So, wow, Lavarnway really complicated the MVP picture, didn’t he? Now the Sawx have 4 legit candidates — the only question is what order the writers will put them in. I guess Ellsbury, Lavarnway, Gonzo and Pedroia. Has that ever been done? 1-4 in the MVP voting? Will certainly be another feather in the Sox cap, but fitting for the best team since the ’27 Yankees, I guess.