Red Sox convicted of being a bad team

Before discussing this game, I am so happy that the NESN broadcast crew will be back. It's hard enough watching this lackluster Red Sox team, but to do so while ESPN's Matt Vasgersian has screaming orgasms that break my speakers whenever Aaron Judge hits a homerun is borderline torture.

By the way, Judge is still about 600 homeruns shy of Babe Ruth. He's great, but let's ease off the GOAT discussion, ESPN. More on that later.

Why are the Red Sox throwing strikes to Aaron Judge? Why not take a page out of the Bill Belichick Bible and force the opponent to beat you with someone other than their best player? Walk him. Throw pitches in the dirt. Hit him in the back. Give him one free base instead of letting him take four from you?

I'm genuinely insulted by the lack of starting pitchers on this team. I know there have been injuries and Edro got Covid-19 (please stop calling him E-Rod, it's the least original nickname in baseball history and it makes him sound like a terrible fielder). But the fact that this team can only put two actual starting pitchers on the field is a massive middle finger from the owners of Liverpool FC.

Man of the Game: Aaron Judge

I hate to add to Judge's accolades after ESPN compared him to Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Tiger Woods (I'm not exaggerating, that really happened). But the game changed on both of his homeruns. His first gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead in the 2nd, and his second a 9-7 lead in the 8th. Both were with 2 outs. 5 RBI in total.

Honorable Mentions:

Xander Bogaerts: 4 for 4, 2 HRs, 2B, 3 RBI

Rafael Devers: 2 for 5, HR, two great plays in the field

Shame Shares:

Matt Hall: 0.4 - 2 IP, 5 ER, HR, 4 H, 2 BB

Matt Barnes: 0.4 - IP, 3 ER, HR, 2 H, BB

Ownership: 0.1 - Lack of SPs

Ron Roenicke: 0.1 - For pitching to Judge

Bruins still hibernating from layoff

I have mixed feelings about round-robin playoff seeding. It's a good way to give the top 4 teams a bye while also giving them a chance to play meaningful and competitive hockey so they don't get rusty.

But it's also weird that the 4th seed can move up to #1 with just one or two good games. Maybe the better way to it would be to give the top team 2 bonus points for the group, the second team 1 point, and then that way they have an inside track for the higher seeds.

That being said, the Bruins have nobody to blame for this loss but themselves. Halak was poor. Most of the team played like it was a regular season game. They lost battles, they didn't support the puck, they made hopeful passes in dangerous areas of the ice.

The intensity from both teams didn't match that of most of the playoff qualifiers I saw this weekend, but the Flyers still brought more effort with them to the rink than the B's did.

As of Tuesday morning the Bruins sit in the cellar of the qualifying group, the only team in the group without any points.

Celtics get Bucked by refs while splitting weekend games

I hate blaming officiating for losses, so I'm not doing that regarding the Celtics' 119-112 loss to the Bucks on Friday. But is there a mandate among NBA refs to give Antetokounmpo every single call? It's frustrating to watch such a talented player be given even more advantages to play more aggressively on offense and defense because refs are afraid of fouling him out.

Mixed feelings from the Celtics' two games over the weekend. I didn't like the lack of a strong finish on Friday against the Bucks. I liked the strong finish on Sunday against the Trail Blazers, but didn't like that it was necessary after ending the first half up by nearly 20.

The Milwaukee game was a preview of what a series with the Bucks might potentially look like: Close games, bad calls, and the Celtics will need to play at 115% of their ability not only to counter the Bucks' talent, but the extra help the Bucks will get. And because all games will be in a neutral arena there won't be Boston crowds in some games to help subconsciously sway the refs. 

Ironically, the lack of home courts might make seeding an even bigger advantage than it traditionally is in the NBA. The refs love star players, and won't be alternating arenas to balance out some of that star love.

Wishful thinking: The Field of Dreams Game epitomizes everything wrong with MLB's inept Covid-19 plan

Covid-19 threatens to shut down Major League Baseball's season barely 1/6 of the way through its abbreviated schedule. And yet there's still a Field of Dreams gimmick game scheduled to be played in Iowa for some reason. Why was this game kept on the schedule at all?

The fact that this game wasn't removed from the 2020 schedule is an illustration of the wishful thinking underlying, and now undermining MLB's Covid-19 plans. Compared to other sports leagues in the US and around the world, Major League Baseball's plan to avoid Covid-19 looks more like a plan designed intentionally for players to catch and spread the virus as much as possible.

There was a half-assed effort to reduce travel in the 2020 season by limiting each team's opponents. But how does forcing the White Sox and Cardinals to travel to Iowa for one game reduce travel? (Aside: it should have been the Reds instead of the Cardinals (or the initial opponent, the Yankees) to oppose the White Sox. Reds vs. White Sox would be a rematch of the 1919 World Series that Shoeless Joe played in, but that's besides the point)

The schedule change was superficial and insufficient. And this purely promotional Iowa game was kept on the schedule as an indicator of the lack of serious thought MLB put into their plan: Teams weren't isolating themselves from the public, the schedules were adjusted to minimize the number of different opponents, but there wasn't much of a change to the basics of how a baseball schedule works; with 3 game series, along with some 2 and 4 game series mixed in. And games would still be played in every team's home ballpark.

The Red Sox will play the Orioles 10 times in 3 series. That could have easily been two series of 5 in each team's ballpark. The Sox will move cities 12 times in 65 days, moving every 5.4 days. That's way too high.

Which begs the question: why are teams playing in their own ballpark at all? I get that baseball fields have more unique characteristics from park to park compared to other sports. It's hard to imagine a Red Sox season without the Green Monster, or a Yankees season without the swaths of empty executive seats behind home plate. 

But this isn't the time for sentimentalism. This isn't the time for clinging to the status quo as much as possible. There was NO evidence to suggest Major League Baseball could run a semi-normal season the way it always has, with 15 games played in 15 ballparks each night.

To save the season, baseball could make bubbles for each of its three regions, with all games held in a limited number of cities:

East: New York + DC/Baltimore (4 ballparks)

Central: Chicago/Milwaukee + Cleveland (4 ballparks)

West: LA/San Diego + Oakland/San Fran (5 ballparks)

Yes, many teams would not get to play in their empty home ballparks. Yes, there would be many cases of stadiums hosting 2 games per day (or you could play in nearby college or minor league parks). But travel would be dramatically minimized. Instead of 30 teams playing in 26 cities, with teams bouncing around them every 5 or 6 days, you'd have 10 teams playing in 2 bubbles each. The Red Sox could stay in New York for a few weeks playing the Yankees, Mets, and "hosting" other East teams, or being "hosted" by other East teams.

And no games in Iowa just for promotional reasons.

If you build the bubbles, they will stay uninfected.

Yankees take Godley deep to hell

As bad as the pitching has been, the Red Sox offense has been a bigger disappointment. I expected crap from most of the pitching staff. I didn't expect it from the offense. Since the 13 run home opener, this team has averaged 3.25 runs scored per game. They've been held to 3 runs or fewer four times. They've only scored 5+ runs twice (including that 13 run outing).

The Yankees are good. They hit lots of homeruns. That's my super hot take. Because they hit homeruns it's especially important to keep the bases as empty as possible. Which Zach Godley failed to do that in the 2nd,  and he was subsequently punished by a Gio Urshela Grand Slam, which was as close to a 2nd inning walk off as is possible.

Six hits and 2 walks for Godley in his 3.1 innings of work.

I've reached my Andrew Benintendi limit. I guess the good news is there's no way he will finish the season below .100, right? However currently he's killing the lineup. He managed a pair of walks this evening but no hits, and struck out to end the game when the Sox had a rally building in the 9th.

Man of the Game: Gio Urshela

Only had one hit but it won the game. He also walked and stole a base to ice that cake.

Honorable Mentions:

Mike Tauchman: 3 for 4, Run, 2 SBs

Aaron Judge: 1 for 3, HR, BB

Nick Nelson: 3 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 BB, 4 K

Shame Shares:

Zack Godley: 0.5 - 3.1 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 2 HR, 2 BB

Ownership; 0.1 - They're responsible for this

Chaim Bloom: 0.1 - So is he

Mitch Moreland: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2 K

Alex Verdugo: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2 K

Andrew Benintendi: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 2 K

A Bronx Fail: Red Sox waste their talent on offense

Red Sox pitching kept the team in the game for 8 innings, but the offense slept through their at-bats as if they had bus lag from their traveling from Queens to the Bronx.

Every hit in this game was either a single or a homerun.

Michael Chavis hit a solo homerun but apart from that the Sox only mustered 4 singles and a pair of walks. They went down in order four times (1st, 2nd, 5th, and 7th). And they gave up another out on the bases, this time Pillar was caught too far off 1st on a shallow fly to right.

With this staff, there won't be too many games where they are able to stay this close with so few runs. Shame to waste it.

Man of the Game: Chad Green
In his 2 innings of relief he struck out 4 of the 6 batters he faced. He threw 29 pitches and 22 were strikes. He totally shut down the Sox for 2 innings.

Honorable Mentions:
Michael Chavis: 1 for 3, HR, some nice stretches at first
Xander Bogaerts: 2 for 3, BB, a pair of Gold Glove plays at short
Phillips Valdez: 2.2 IP, 0 ER, kept the Sox in the game
Jordan Montgomery: 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 K

Shame Shares:
Ryan Weber: 0.3 - 3.1 IP, 3 ER, 4 BB
Colten Brewer: 0.2 - IP, 2 ER
Alex Verdugo: 0.2 - 0 for 4 (0 for 2 with RISP)
Kevin Pillar: 0.1 - 1 for 4, thrown out on basepaths
Rafael Devers: 0.1 - 0 for 3, GIDP
Christian Vazquez: 0.1 - 0 for 4

Red Sox are going win streaking through the quad, and then to the gymnasium (with or without green hats)

Martin Perez might be the key to Red Sox success or failure in 2020. That's an unfortunate sentence to write.

Perez, as opposed to 40% of the current Sox rotation, is a legit Major League starter. He's made 150+ starts in the bigs. He can do a decent job and his upside isn't just 3 innings and 2-3 runs, he can make Quality Starts (6 or more IP, 3 or fewer earned runs).

Can someone tell the Red Sox to please stop running into outs? Alex Verdugo especially. I understand the emotional reaction to poor pitching is to try to eke out a few extra runs. However, risking the 27 precious outs the Sox have on offense for each game with steals and extending singles just isn't worth it. Losing an out hurts more than gaining a base helps. The Sox need all the outs they have to score as many runs as possible. So top running into outs!!!

Man of the Game: Christian Vazquez
Vaz-strzemski as someone more clever than I labelled him on Twitter, has continued to carry this team. Vazquez hit 2 homeruns Thursday night, including a homer with someone on base (what a novelty). He's slugging 1.105 at this point. Vazquez is the first player with multiple Man of the Game awards in 2020.

Honorable Mentions:
Martin Perez: 5.2 IP, 5 K, and a number of those K were in big situations
Drew Smith: 1.2 perfect innings of relief, 2 K, kept the Mets in the game

Red Sox silence Mets crowd, squeeze out 6-5 win

Seeing an actual Major League starter on the mound for the Red Sox was so refreshing. And if the Sox want to claim a playoff spot (a big if for some in the Fenway front office, and the ownership's office in Liverpool), they're going to need to win as many Eovaldi starts as possible.

The Sox fell behind 1-0 early, but unlike previous games the early damage was minimal and the starter was able to go reasonably deep into the game.

The timeliness of Red Sox hitting was nice to see, especially when facing a good opposing starter. Although I'm getting tired of all homeruns being solo homeruns. No need to social distance with the longball, let's see more 2 and 3 run shots.

Man of the Game: Christian Vazquez

Tough choice between Vazquez and Moreland. Vazquez hitting the homer put him over the top. He was 2 for 4 with 3 RBI. He's hitting .400 and slugging .867 in this young season.

Honorable Mentions:

Mitch Moreland: 2 for 4, 2B, 2 RBI

Pete Alonso: 4 for 4 (first opposing player with 2 Honorable Mentions in 2020)

Yoenis Cespedes: 2 for 5, HR

Photo credit: AP Photo/Seth Wenig