RED SOX V O'S
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2017, 7 PM AT ORIOLE PARK
TV: NESN, ESPN, (OUT-OF-MARKET ONLY), MASN, ESPN[/center[/b]
BOSTON, (87-64)......................................................................................BALTIMORE, (73-79)
BOSTON:
CHRIS SALE, LHP, 16-7, 2.86 ERA, 287 K
Sales pitches caught too much of the plate against the Rays, resulting in
two homers and four runs against the lefty in 5 2/3 innings. He still struck out
nine pitchers. Four more whiffs will tie him for the second most in a season by
the Sox pitcher.
BALTIMORE:
WADE MILEY, LHP, 8-13, 5.32 ERA, 132 K
The lefty is coming off a career-low one-outing on Thursday night against
the Yankees. Miley gave up six earned runs over 19 pitches.
Sale can help punch Red Sox's playoff ticket
Brittany Ghiroli
Red Sox ace Chris Sale will look to get back on track in Wednesday's series finale in Baltimore and possibly punch Boston's ticket to the postseason.
The Red Sox hold a three-game lead over the Yankees in the American League East, but Boston can clinch a playoff spot Wednesday with a win over the Orioles and an Angels loss to the Indians.
Sale is 2-3 with a 4.64 ERA in his last six starts, a stark difference from his first 24 starts in which the lefty went 14-4 with a 2.51 ERA. Sale is a key cog in this Red Sox team's playoff hopes, and all eyes will be on him at Camden Yards for the 7:05 p.m. ET start.
Between his first 21 starts (2.37 ERA) and his past nine since the beginning of August (4.25 ERA), Sale actually has gotten more ground balls, and his opponents' rate of hard contact (95+ mph) has dropped from 30.4 percent to 28.8 percent, according to Statcast. Unfortunately for the lefty, his batting average allowed of .240 over those nine outings is well above his expected average of .190, a number based on the quality of contact made against him, plus his actual strikeouts.
Manager John Farrell has said several times the Sox can't focus on the postseason yet. They have to win as many games as possible to stay ahead of New York. The Orioles, who are 5-13 this month, have had their playoff hopes diminished.
The O's will counter with lefty Wade Miley, who is coming off a career-low one-out outing on Thursday night against the Yankees. Miley gave up six earned runs over 19 pitches. While the Orioles thought about putting him in the bullpen in between starts, they opted not to and he should be well-rested to face Boston's lineup.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS GAME
• The Red Sox are hopeful second baseman Dustin Pedroia can start Wednesday night after hitting a foul ball off his face on Monday and suffering a nasal contusion.
• Red Sox designated hitter Hanley Ramirez is expected to start for the first time since last Wednesday due to a right biceps injury and ongoing discomfort in both of his shoulders that he's dealt with all season.
• With 287 K's, Sale is five strikeouts shy of moving into second place all-time for single-season strikeouts by a Red Sox pitcher.
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/20170920255042486/sale-can-help-punch-red-soxs-playoff-ticket/?game_pk=492364
Red Sox @ O’s G3
Bogaerts SS
Pedroia 2B
Benintendi LF
Betts RF
Ramirez DH
Travis 1B
Marrero 3B
Leon C
Bradley Jr CF
Sale LHP.
Will we see the real Sale tonight?
Quote from: Rob from Mass on September 20, 2017, 07:49:55 AM
Will we see the real Sale tonight?
Equally importantly, will Wade Miley look like the second coming of Cy Young to this lineup?
Don't want to let those YANK$ hang around much longer..... As DAD would say, "SON, let a team hang around long enough & bad things happen" !!!! thumb_d rofl
Quote from: longgame on September 20, 2017, 07:59:15 AM
Quote from: Rob from Mass on September 20, 2017, 07:49:55 AM
Will we see the real Sale tonight?
Equally importantly, will Wade Miley look like the second coming of Cy Young to this lineup?
Yeah this poor hitting team has done that way to often this year.
The Twins did not help us at all.
Today, Yankees beat the Twins 11-3.
They swept the Twins.
The Twins were winning for several minutes
3 - 0, then the Yankees struck.
Let's GO Sox!
Just keep winning!!
HOPE that we get the 16 game winner Sale tonight.
Quote from: BoSoxFanNY on September 20, 2017, 03:48:08 PM
The Twins did not help us at all.
Today, Yankees beat the Twins 11-3.
They swept the Twins.
The Twins were winning for several minutes
3 - 0, then the Yankees struck.
Let's GO Sox!
Just keep winning!!
HOPE that we get the 16 game winner Sale tonight.
The Twins will never beat the Yankees when it matters. But, for us, the question was raised above: will Miley shut us down like Gausman did? Sale, at this point, is a toss up. Even if he goes 7 inns and gives up 3-4 runs we still should be able to pounce on Miley - even with 2/3rds of our lineup hitting like their vacationing in Double A.
Another way to get a dp. Golden chance missed. Not much Leon could do about it.
Mookie 2 run shot.
Marrero with a 2 run HR after a Hanley double. 4-0 Sox.
Sox offense showing a bit of power, although this is (or was) Miley they're facing. Sale is cruising. So far, so good.
Hanley with another double drives in two more runs. Very nice. thumb_u
Pedroia hits into a dp the conventional way this time. 6-4-3. He's 0-18 on this road trip now.
Nice to see an early lead and Sale cruising. Much easier to enjoy.
Also 20 straight scoreless innings vs. Baltimore.
I am happy to be wrong about Baltimore being a house of horrors.
This has worked out like the script so far. So rare to see. Let's just get this one in the books and lower the magic number.....
Hanley 3/5 with 3 RBI. Betts with a HR & triple with 2 RBI. Nice to see. Lot of good things tonight. Sale looked better than ever. Good all around game.
Kudos to Sale. He's been dominant tonight. Love easy games like this.
Quit farting round and end this with a shutout.
That's more like it. Sweet game.
Quote from: longgame on September 20, 2017, 07:59:15 AM
Quote from: Rob from Mass on September 20, 2017, 07:49:55 AM
Will we see the real Sale tonight?
Equally importantly, will Wade Miley look like the second coming of Cy Young to this lineup?
Tel Rob the answer was yes, you question the answer was no......at least from the fourth inning on.
Quote from: Bill-806 on September 20, 2017, 09:45:08 AM
Don't want to let those YANK$ hang around much longer..... As DAD would say, "SON, let a team hang around long enough & bad things happen" !!!! thumb_d rofl
As long as we keep winning our games they can hang around all they want. The ball is in our court and so far we have met every challenge. I know there are ten games left for us and anything can happen but this team now looks like they are driven and determined to keep moving the ship along, though I too would like to see the Yankees stumble two or three times before the season ends.
Quote from: markj on September 20, 2017, 07:30:18 PM
Sox offense showing a bit of power, although this is (or was) Miley they're facing. Sale is cruising. So far, so good.
mark, if I had been on the board when you wrote that missive I would have implored you to cool it a little because this same Miley embarrassed us in Boston a couple of weeks ago. But reading it now, who cares????? We got to him and Sale was magnificent. He has two more starts in the regular season and need him like he was tonight, don't you agree?
Well, a little footnote: we've clinched at least a WC berth or "the buy-in game" depending on how one looks at it. I'm not a fan of the 1 game WC. Don't like it at all. It should be a 2 out of 3.
But we want and MUST get the ALE title!
Why Hanley Ramirez is buying into 'The TB12 Method'
Rob Bradford
BALTIMORE -- The conversation started as some enlightenment as to how Hanley Ramirez was going to manage these bad shoulders of his, the ones that have kept him out the lineup for almost week.
Wednesday night marked the first time since last Thursday he was back in the batting order, so some kind of plan had to be put in place during the layoff to get the designated hitter ready for a possible postseason run. So, what was it?
"What I've been doing this past week, a lot of bands," Ramirez said. "You get stronger and faster. You have to send the message to your brain that you work fast. Quick hands."
The wording rang a bell. It sounded a lot like what we've been hearing every time Tom Brady's recently-book book 'The TB12 Method' was mentioned. Could what Ramirez was talking about be in line with the quarterback's message? It seems so.
"It does [work]," Ramirez said of the aforementioned kind of workout. "Five championships? Yeah, it does."
Ramirez went on to offer proof that he was practicing at least some of what Brady was preaching.
"I've got them right here. You want to see them?" he asked, referencing the bands he had been wearing out over the past week.
So off he went, through the clubhouse, across the hallway and into the visitors' weight room. A few seconds later, there they were: Exercise bands with the "TB12" logo imprinted on each.
The workout is all part of a process Ramirez planning to get him to a better place with his shoulders and entire body. The 33-year-old is entering potentially the final year of his contract, which has a vesting option for 2019 if he reaches 1,050 plate appearacnes between this season and next. Heading into Wednesday night he stood at 523 plate appearances for 2017.
Ramirez -- who says he has no plans to undergo any kind of surgery -- understands a new plan has to be put in place.
"Hell, yeah," he said when asked if he was going to do anything differently this offseason. "I'm going to jump in right after the last out of the World Series, go right back into the guy and I'm going to focus on my little muscles around my rotator cuff, hips and core.
"I'm not going to try and get too big but really, really strong, deep in my body. I'm already strong mentally. I just have to be strong with my small muscles because I'm getting older. That's exactly what I'm going to do. A lot of Yoga."
It isn't the first time Ramirez has chosen strengthening his shoulders instead of going the surgery route, having made a similar decision after the 2015 season. But, as he explained, last season heavier weights were prioritized, an approach the DH plans to go away from this time around.
"I was a little bit heavier with my weights. I was lifting a lot. I'm going to go lighter," he explained. "I just have to get [the shoulders] stronger. I've done it before."
http://www.weei.com/blogs/rob-bradford/why-hanley-ramirez-buying-tb12-method
NICE game...... Well played & Managed..... Sale gets his 300th "K" .... That is something !!! thumb_u
Quote from: ipot on September 21, 2017, 02:04:10 AM
Well, a little footnote: we've clinched at least a WC berth or "the buy-in game" depending on how one looks at it. I'm not a fan of the 1 game WC. Don't like it at all. It should be a 2 out of 3.
But we want and MUST get the ALE title!
Right, the AL East Title we must get. At least it gives us a chance to set up our rotation and bullpen if we can take the prize and I would like to do it with about two or three games left and not let it draw down to the last day. That is up to us to get it done.
Quote from: SeaBeachFred on September 21, 2017, 12:29:05 PM
Quote from: ipot on September 21, 2017, 02:04:10 AM
Well, a little footnote: we've clinched at least a WC berth or "the buy-in game" depending on how one looks at it. I'm not a fan of the 1 game WC. Don't like it at all. It should be a 2 out of 3.
But we want and MUST get the ALE title!
Right, the AL East Title we must get. At least it gives us a chance to set up our rotation and bullpen if we can take the prize and I would like to do it with about two or three games left and not let it draw down to the last day. That is up to us to get it done.
Yup. Exactly the point. Don't want to waste Sale on the WC and then, should we win, end up having him for 1 start in a 5 game ALDS. Do we really want Porcello to open an ALDS? Pomeranz has been really really good this year, but he's only going to give 6 inns. This is when the "David Price as Andrew Miller" strategy becomes interesting....