2:05PM Eastern
Red Sox
Chris Sale (L)
1. Andrew Benintendi (L) LF
2. Mookie Betts (R) RF
3. Mitch Moreland (L) 1B
4. J.D. Martinez (R) DH
5. Xander Bogaerts (R) SS
6. Rafael Devers (L) 3B
7. Dustin Pedroia (R) 2B
8. Jackie Bradley Jr. (L) CF
9. Christian Vazquez (R) C
Blue Jays
Matt Shoemaker (R)
1. Freddy Galvis (S) SS
2. Teoscar Hernandez (R) LF
3. Brandon Drury (R) 3B
4. Randal Grichuk (R) CF
5. Danny Jansen (R) C
6. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (R) DH
7. Richard Urena (S) 2B
8. Alen Hanson (S) 1B
9. Billy McKinney (L) RF
Crappy weather for the home opener.
A note on the Jays, seven regulars batting below the Mendoza, only two above. Winless on the road. An opportune opponent in these days and times.
Weather looks to be okay to get the game in. I believe game time is 2PM and rain isn't expected until around 5:30.
Quote from: longgame on April 09, 2019, 10:53:37 AM
Weather looks to be okay to get the game in. I believe game time is 2PM and rain isn't expected until around 5:30.
Somebody please tell Chris Sale to wear a warm undershirt today because I don't want to hear of him hurting his elbow or his shoulder. And watch out for calf injuries. We had a couple of them after our big ceremony in 2014 and the season went to hell from there. But this is not 2014 and I expect the Red Sox to go out today and start validating why they were the best team in baseball last season.
GO RED SOX!!!!!!!
1-0 lead in the first. Moreland continues to carry the team.
What has happened to the Sox? Good start, but fumbling, stumbling in front of the home folks.
The little I watched even before they were hitting Sale he was leaving everything right over the plate.
Is there anybody out there who still doubts this team was not ready for the season? Catcher and pitcher can't get their pitches straight and we lose a run, a Toronto player steals home without a move by the defense, our supposed ace pitcher is getting hammered by a team that has the lowest batting average in all of baseball----and we are headed for an embarrassing and disgraceful defeat in our Home Opener to celebrate our WS Title last season. Hear the boos erupting in the ballpark? This just may be 2014 all over again. I predicted what happened then right after our home opening series when Milwaukee swept us three straight while we looked like crap on the field. It never got better. This is beginning to look like a replica of that season. Right now, sorry guys, we look like a totally shitty team, one that seems to have two left feet and can't get our of their own way. Can we even come back today? Can we come back Thursday? Can we come back this year? God almighty we right now stink.
The Sox seem determined to own the basement.
Meatball Matt is doing his best to put the game out of reach.
Sigh. So much for home field advantage.
Quote from: markj on April 09, 2019, 04:24:39 PM
Meatball Matt is doing his best to put the game out of reach.
One o Meatball's problems has been his inability to retire the first man he faces and lordy lord he did it again. OTOH, Bogaerts actually got a big hit in the eighth inning to drive in a run and get us one down until the Meatball gave it back. Our ability was to win games late last season but it is a new season and we failed today with Mookie up there with two on and two out and K'd. You keep doing that Mook and you will be hard pressed to get a Harper, Trout or Machado contract. Right now we stink and we could actually be in last place by the end of the month, if not before. Sounds an awful lot like 2014 to me and you all know how much I hated that year above all others.
A SAD state of BASEBALL ???? It starts with PITCHING, PITCHING, PITCHING !!!! Oh YES, the CRAZY $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ adds to the DECLINE !!! WHEN will the OWNERS & MLB revert back to an INCENTIVE based CONTRACT ??? What a JOKE...… & those poor FANS sitting in the stands half FROZEN ??? Wake up RED SOX, it is already later than you think !!! thumb_d iono iono iono iono rofl rofl rofl rofl rofl
A cold day for Sale and the pen. But there are long days ahead it seems. With the starters worth 3 to 4 innings at best, the BP are going to be rag arms by June. OK the starters get in shape and can throw up to 95 by May. But getting the BP in shape four weeks ahead of the starters ain't gonna work if the pen is already shot.
I guess they're counting on Poyner, Hernandez, Mejida, et al to come up for the ailing guys. Whatever, Cora should throw this year's ST plan in the trash heap.
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on April 09, 2019, 07:03:00 PM
A cold day for Sale and the pen. But there are long days ahead it seems. With the starters worth 3 to 4 innings at best, the BP are going to be rag arms by June. OK the starters get in shape and can throw up to 95 by May. But getting the BP in shape four weeks ahead of the starters ain't gonna work if the pen is already shot.
I guess they're counting on Poyner, Hernandez, Mejida, et al to come up for the ailing guys. Whatever, Cora should throw this year's ST plan in the trash heap.
That's for sure. They'll all be in great shape for golf in October.
Could not agree more. After the game Wakefield noted that Sale did not have the feel for his pitches yet. How does an athlete any athlete develop feel by repetition. A pitcher isn't going to develop feel over night. Moreover this club is still unfocused. Cora should be ashamed of himself because of the state of this club's readiness. It is all on him.
Quote from: elktonnick on April 09, 2019, 09:32:27 PM
Could not agree more. After the game Wakefield noted that Sale did not have the feel for his pitches yet. How does an athlete any athlete develop feel by repetition. A pitcher isn't going to develop feel over night. Moreover this club is still unfocused. Cora should be ashamed of himself because of the state of this club's readiness. It is all on him.
How can a man go from a near genius manager to a near baboon in less than six months? Somehow Alex has done it. The team was not ready for the season and Cora has learned a very bitter lesson but because of his malfeasance about Spring Training and getting the team ready to compete, he has taken down the team and its fans with him.
He keeps saying that it was the same routine he used last year but we would have noticed it. What he did last year was rest guys early, and he had the schedule to work with. But I'm amazed at how unprepared these guys are. Plus, every play they made last year is a ball dropping in for a hit this year. But most importantly they are just lazy for lack of a better word. Between some of the errors and things like stealing home, they clearly aren't up to game speed and intensity.
Not sure what it will take to snap out of this and there's plenty of time to do so, but it's discouraging.
There really isn't "plenty of time" if they don't start playing way better than .500 ball, which in itself would be a huge improvement over what they're doing now. There are 150 games left and they're 3 games under .500 and not showing any signs of improvement. If my math is correct, they'd need to play .750 ball over the next 12 games just to get to .500 (9-3). Unlike last season's team, these guys do not seem capable of ripping off 10+ wins in a row. That 17-2 start last year carried them to the record they ended up with. This 3-9 start may do the same thing, which is not good.
As I used to say to ROB FROM MASS, The games you win in March, April & May, you won't have to win in September !! iono iono iono
Quote from: SeaBeachFred on April 09, 2019, 09:38:07 PM
Quote from: elktonnick on April 09, 2019, 09:32:27 PM
Could not agree more. After the game Wakefield noted that Sale did not have the feel for his pitches yet. How does an athlete any athlete develop feel by repetition. A pitcher isn't going to develop feel over night. Moreover this club is still unfocused. Cora should be ashamed of himself because of the state of this club's readiness. It is all on him.
How can a man go from a near genius manager to a near baboon in less than six months? Somehow Alex has done it. The team was not ready for the season and Cora has learned a very bitter lesson but because of his malfeasance about Spring Training and getting the team ready to compete, he has taken down the team and its fans with him.
I AGREE!
I was at the Ring Ceremony and Banner display.
And yet, something was off.
It was almost as if the weather (cold 38 - 40 degrees, grey and misty) described
how this team has been playing thus far this season.
SO many opportunities to score.
TOO many singles allowed by Chris Sale.
TOO many passed balls by Vazquez.
This team seems to LOSE when they score first. EXCEPT the 1 - 0 win.
Sad.
I know this will cause some disagreement with my good friend, Fred but this team misses Leon's steady hand and head behind the plate.
Quote from: elktonnick on April 10, 2019, 01:17:35 PM
I know this will cause some disagreement with my good friend, Fred but this team misses Leon's steady hand and head behind the plate.
I agree.
AND why wasn't he at the Ring Ceremony yesterday??
Quote from: elktonnick on April 10, 2019, 01:17:35 PM
I know this will cause some disagreement with my good friend, Fred but this team misses Leon's steady hand and head behind the plate.
Elk, my possible disagreement with you on this shouldn't worry or concern you at all. It is your opinion and I respect it. The problem from where I'm sitting is that Leon wouldn't be helping all that much and not because of his 170 type hitting. The problem is ALL five of our starters are getting hammered and battered about and that has more to do with the miserable program Cora ran in Spring Training. The pitchers never got the feel of pitching because they didn't pitch much at all in March. Al Leiter today on MLB insisted that starting pitchers should be pitching five and six innings by the end of ST and none of our pitchers to my knowledge pitched six innings and only Sale pitched five on one occasion. Hitters, as you well know, need to get their timing down before they can hit with any authority when it counts. Pitchers need to throw in competition and work on all their stuff for equal standing. None of this happened in Florida and Leon would not have been that big a help because he wouldn't have given us much hitting at all, and we know Bradley is off to another one of his slow starts. Hell, Bogey, Benny, Nunez and others haven't been hitting much either. Still, you never have to worry about be jumping you for your opinions. I know you know the gamed back and front. And we can disagree from time to time.
Fred what is noteworthy is one respected ex-player after another is making the same point without mentioning Cora by name, that is Sox pitchers still aren't ready because of the lack of work in Spring Training. The cold weather in Boston isn't likely to help since Cora squandered the warm weather games on the West Coast by not having his starters ready. Moreover, the implicit message to the rest of the team was that no one needed to exert too much effort getting up to speed.
As I posted after the opener two weeks ago, the Sox were going to limp back to Boston after their West Coast trip. It is now up to one of the players to play the role that Ortiz use to play and knock some sense into the rest of the club. I don't see Cora as capable of doing that after he tacitly let the team slack off for the past month. Cora to regain any credibility with me must admit that he screwed up during ST with his handling of the starters and hope this team has enough character to knock the cobwebs off and start playing focused baseball.
Quote from: elktonnick on April 10, 2019, 09:10:33 PM
Fred what is noteworthy is one respected ex-player after another is making the same point without mentioning Cora by name, that is Sox pitchers still aren't ready because of the lack of work in Spring Training. The cold weather in Boston isn't likely to help since Cora squandered the warm weather games on the West Coast by not having his starters ready. Moreover, the implicit message to the rest of the team was that no one needed to exert too much effort getting up to speed.
As I posted after the opener two weeks ago, the Sox were going to limp back to Boston after their West Coast trip. It is now up to one of the players to play the role that Ortiz use to play and knock some sense into the rest of the club. I don't see Cora as capable of doing that after he tacitly let the team slack off for the past month. Cora to regain any credibility with me must admit that he screwed up during ST with his handling of the starters and hope this team has enough character to knock the cobwebs off and start playing focused baseball.
Well you called that limping back to Boston part but I'll bet you were grinding your teeth when you had to write that. You know, those of us who have coached baseball have an advantage of seeing some things that baseball fans in general might have passing their sights. What is startling, though, is that just about everyone on this board seems to concur that the team looked lazy, unfocused and out of sorts. One more thing....if Cora wants to keep his credibility with the press, media and fans, he can't sit there and insist that his Spring Training program this past March was pretty much what they did last March because we all know it wasn't even close. Facing up to his mistake would go a long way to restoring the trust and affection he earned in 2018.