RED SOX V TIGERS
SUNDAY, APRIL 9, 2017, 1:10 PM AT COMERICA PARK
TV: NESN, MLBN, FS-D
BOSTON, 2-2.........................................................................DETROIT, 3-1
BOSTON:
RICK PORCELLO, RHP, 1-0, 4.26 ERA
After winning the Cy Young Award this year, Porcello began his season on a high
note, allowing three runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings versus the Pirates. Porcello,
who faces his former team, is 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA in two starts vs the Tigers.
DETROIT:
DANIEL NORRIS, LHP, 0-0, -.-, ERA
The Tigers are looking for an emergent season out of Norris after he posted a 3.04 ERA
over 10 starts in the rotation down the stretch last year. The 23 year-old lefty made a
point to try to pitch more efficiently this spring.
Porcello returns to Detroit; Norris set for '17 debut
Ian Browne
Rick Porcello has pitched at Comerica Park 92 times -- far more than any other venue in his career. But Sunday marks the first time the right-hander will step on the mound in Detroit as a Cy Young Award winner.
In a vote back in November, Porcello edged out his friend and former rotation mate Justin Verlander. A former top prospect and rotation member of the Tigers, Porcello is a co-ace on the Red Sox, along with Chris Sale.
Even after his breakthrough with Boston, Porcello -- who will be opposed by lefty Daniel Norris on Sunday -- acknowledges how much his time in Detroit helped his development.
"I think some of the older guys, watching [Max Scherzer] and [Verlander], [Anibal Sanchez], even Doug Fister, I think the biggest thing being a young pitcher for me and learning was how you have to carry yourself in between starts and what that routine is like," said Porcello. "Obviously that fifth day is your biggest day, but there's a lot of work that goes on in between that, and that can a lot of times kind of steer you in what direction you're going to go, how disciplined you are, the stuff that you do on the side."
This is the second time Porcello has pitched at Comerica Park as a visitor. On Aug. 19, 2016, he held the Tigers to one earned run over seven innings in a 10-2 win by Boston.
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THIS GAME
• The Red Sox are hoping to get Mookie Betts, their best all-around player, back in the lineup on Sunday. Betts is one of several Boston players who has been dealing with illness in recent days. He was cleared to fly to Detroit on Saturday morning after being out of the lineup for three straight days.
• After bouncing back and forth between Triple-A the last two years, Norris is expected to be a full-time member of Detroit's rotation this season. The key for the lefty's development this year will be consistency and efficiency. He lost his only start to the Red Sox last year, giving up eight hits and three runs over five innings.
• Red Sox righty Matt Barnes should be back in the bullpen for Sunday's game, as he returns to the team following the death of his grandmother. Barnes is one of the pitchers competing to be Boston's primary setup man in front of closer Craig Kimbrel.
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/20170408223065470/porcello-returns-to-detroit-norris-set-for-17-debut/?game_pk=490179
GAME #5, RED SOX V TIGERS
RED SOX LINEUP:
PEDROIA, 2B
BENINTENDI, LF
BETTS, RF
YOUNG, DH
MORELAND, 1B
SELSKY, CF
LEON, C
SANDOVAL, 3B
PORCELLO, PITCHER
Another makeshift lineup....not much Farrell can do.
TWITTER
J B J, what a glove !!! Hope he does not kill himself running into the wall !!! Looks like a well deserved day off today... thumb_u
I don't understand how they keep going. iono
Patchwork lineup trying to scrape runs together this weekend.....Porcello has been pretty good in spite of giving up 8 hits through 5.
Call overturned. Benintendi ties it up.
Quote from: ipot on April 09, 2017, 02:30:09 PM
Call overturned. Benintendi ties it up.
Shame he didn't beat that throw.
Porcello doing his best Clay Buchholz imitation, giving the lead back to the Tigers. thumb_u
Yep, not his best outing.
Great, MLB.TV craps out and by the time I get it back, I've missed all the Sox scoring. thumb_d
Up 7-4. Can the "Can't Do" pen hold onto this? Just as Meatball gives up a 1 out double.
And Meatball gets it done. Kimbrell time :-X
Kimbrell walks the first batter. Swell. sigh
Here we go....Kimbrel can't find the plate.
Throw strikes, you dope!!!
No one warming up. 2 men on. What a frickin mess this guy is.
Cabrera can put Kimbrel out of his misery.
WTF? He's not even close. Back-to-back walks. slap thumb_d :losers
Very hard to watch Kimbrel pitch. Comes to the Sox and becomes a BB magnet.
Whew, thought that was gone.
VMart almost sent Kimbrel to the showers. What a thin line between 1 strike and a tie game
7-5. Kimbrel stinks.
OB doesn't learn. Still going with the "one strike away" bit.
Technically a save, but I'd have to call it something else: escape job.
Finally. Maybe Kimbrell needs to do more warmups so he's ready when he comes in.
Plain and simple Kimbrel is no longer in the top tier of closers.Amazing what coming to the Fens has done to this guy.
Quote from: markj on April 09, 2017, 03:38:32 PM
Finally. Maybe Kimbrell needs to do more warmups so he's ready when he comes in.
Yeah like the 7th inning let him start throwing loosely.It sure can`t hurt him .
Even with the drama it's a helluva comeback W.Maybe now the bug has run its course and the team can get healthy.
The flu is a strange thing since the shot is said to be only 60% effective and takes 4-5 days to start to work.Big matchup tomorrow should be a dandy.
Sandy doing his best to help Swihart become a good defensive catcher by hitting in the clutch which is keeping Swihart at AAA where he belongs at least for a while.
Nice W, but I've had it already with Kimbrel. If Dombrowski isn't already turning over rocks to try to find a legit closer he's a dope.
In the interest of fairness, nice move by Farrell in the 7th on the DP challenge that allowed Beni to come back out and tie the game.
Any game that ends in a W is ok with me.
Quote from: markj on April 09, 2017, 03:37:31 PM
OB doesn't learn. Still going with the "one strike away" bit.
Talking about all that sucks about us right now, put OB into that mix. He isn't a good scab off of Don Orsillo's ass as far as I'm concerned. He just dull, diffident and a total blob. I heard Don on a MLB Padres-Giants game the other night and I immediately got my Italian up to know that rotten Prune Face fired this guy and replaced him with a dud like O'Brien. Talk about going backwards. Well, I saw our bullpen doing their thing again and let me say that when you have meatball Barnes has your relief savior of the day you are entering into a cave of cow turd. Still, thank God we won. Now can we depend on Chris coming back tomorrow and getting us a split and maybe getting our full team on the field within the next couple of days?
Quote from: markj on April 09, 2017, 03:38:32 PM
Finally. Maybe Kimbrell needs to do more warmups so he's ready when he comes in.
How about a pitching coach who knows what he hell he's doing. On MLB a few nights ago John Smoltz and Harold Reynolds even emphasized the fact that Kimbrel overthrows and pulls himself too far to the right after releasing the ball. What the hell is our pitching coach doing to even earn his salary instead of drinking gatorade and scratching his ass in the dugout?
Correction just not to confuse anyone. Kimbrel pulls too far to his left----it is the right if you are looking at him. But no matter how you slice it this is a problem that needs correcting and who knows if he's doing even more out there to throw him off.
Quote from: SeaBeachFred on April 09, 2017, 06:49:07 PM
Quote from: markj on April 09, 2017, 03:38:32 PM
Finally. Maybe Kimbrell needs to do more warmups so he's ready when he comes in.
How about a pitching coach who knows what he hell he's doing. On MLB a few nights ago John Smoltz and Harold Reynolds even emphasized the fact that Kimbrel overthrows and pulls himself too far to the right after releasing the ball. What the hell is our pitching coach doing to even earn his salary instead of drinking gatorade and scratching his ass in the dugout?
This was so obvious on the first 2 batters. And the ball kept sailing to the outside left of the plate. It seems like a no-brainer to see for the pitching coach, right? Good point.
If you recall I've been saying that Kimbrel over rotates and overthrows for two years. To be fair, I think that's what the Sox pitching coach (who doesn't impress me at all) said to Kimbrel when he came out. I certainly agree that something has got to be done about getting him to focus when he comes into a game. He throws 99 for Pete's sake. He has got to quit trying to be too fine with his pitches and quit aiming when he throws. I agree with Remy's observation that Kimbrel was aiming his pitches.
As irritating as Kimbrel is, Sandoval really ticked me off today. Twice he came up with a runner on third with less than two outs and both times instead of trying to lift the ball, he swings early in the count and rolls a low pitch to the third baseman. The first time Moreland for some idiotic reason, decides to go on contact and is out by ten feet at home. Sandoval and Moreland need to be called out for stupid baseball.
This is why I'm already climbing the walls around my house. Here I can see what Kimbrel is doing incorrectly and I'm not alone because my pals Elk and IPOT see the same thing I'm seeing and I'll bet others can too. Yet the problem persists. As Elk said, the guy throws 99MPH so there is no reason to try and be fine and certainly no reason to aim your pitches as Remy observed. I just wonder if fans of other teams see the things their teams are doing wrong or is this thing just novel with the Red Sox and their frustrated fans. I have plans on going to the ALCS this fall and that only means that the Red Sox have got to be in it. Right now, even though it is early, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if one of my friends on this board tells me to CHANGE MY PLANS.
I think through these first 5 games we've learned, or at least confirmed, what we know about this year's edition.
First of all, the bullpen sucks. They are horrible and haven't been getting it done, period. There is nobody in that group that I have any confidence in. To top it off, if the closer is unreliable, it puts the rest of the pen in jeopardy. I don't know what they saw in Kimbrel other than a hard fastball that he can't seem to control. The guy is just not particularly good.
The lineup is okay, but we've been woefully undermanned between flu and bereavement. Let's hope they have a full complement soon. The need becomes obvious when you have Marco Hernandez (who gets credit for a great offensive start) as your backup SS. I'd expect Pedey to be injured at some point (he always is) and Sandoval is likely to have a fat-related injury so that depth will be important. I'd like to see the regular lineup and how it flows for a few games. Of course Farrell is likely to start giving other guys the day off when the guys who have been out come back.
Starting pitching so far has been what we expected. Porcello pitched fine yesterday. 11 hits and 3 R, but he also had 8 Ks and I think no walks, maybe one. He kept them in the game and they took advantage of it. Remy made the point over and over again yesterday. A good pitcher keeps you in the game when he doesn't have his best stuff. (Yes, we're talking to you David Price.) I liked Sale's first outing and he gets a shot to do it again today. The rest of the guys are the stiffs we expect them to be. Price will the difference this year.
Then there's Farrell. He isn't going anywhere, so we'll have to win in spite of him once again.