April 27, 2018

Feast, Famine and a Tightrope Act in Toronto



Road Recap

 Record (6-3)          Season (19-5)  GB 00.0      Series Play (7-1-0)
  • Boston kicked off the west coast tour with a rampage for the ages in Angels Stadium. The Red Sox outscored Los Angeles 27-3 in the sweep and cranked 11 homers. Four of those dingers came off beleaguered Angels' reliever Luke Bard, younger brother of former Red Sox reliever Daniel Bard, and he was subsequently, and somewhat ironically, DFA'd four days later. With guns still blazing, they bolted into Oakland and took the opener on a Mitch Moreland grand slam. It was the second slam of the trip as Rafael Devers cleared the bags in Anaheim. This win pushed Boston's mark to 17-2 and they became the fifth team in the live-ball era to win 17 of its first 19 games. The last team to accomplish this feat was the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers. Hopefully, this is good karma as two of the other four teams to start 17-2, the 1984 Detroit Tigers and the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, went on to win the World Series. Then the flaps came down as the team embarked on a three-game tailspin, beginning with a historic defeat. Athletics' lefty Sean Manaea fired a no-hitter, the 12th in the history of the Athletics' franchise and the bats remained quiet in the finale managing only one run in a 4-1 loss. This loss was also significant due to the fact that it led to the first series loss of the 2018 campaign for Boston. While on the subject of firsts, it was Craig Kimbrel's turn in the first game in Toronto. Craig suffered his first loss in relief by allowing his first homer of the year to Curtis Granderson giving the Blue Jays a walk-off win in extras. The home run would be the cure to pull the Red Sox out of the doldrums as Mookie Betts blasted a game-winning two-run shot to tie the series, and JD Martinez drilled an opposite field three-run blast for a second consecutive comeback victory. All three games in "The Big Smoke" were decided by one run.
  • When a team is winning games at an extravagant pace, it's pretty hard to knock the formula for success. It's even harder to comprehend criticism of a player when they are getting precious few opportunities to improve. One such player that got a lot of heat right out of the gate was Brock Holt. Many felt Boston should have moved on from the amiable bench jockey. Brock was one of three players I felt folks should keep an eye on in my first blog entry for the 2018 season. With Xander Bogaerts on the DL, Holt got an opportunity to show that he still belongs. On this recent road trip, he led Boston with a .500 batting average clubbing his first homer and plating six. Toss in 5 doubles and half his hits went for extra bases. Unfortunately, he pulled up lame last night legging out a double, so he may indeed trade spots with Xander with Bogey ready to return today. That would be such a shame for a guy who could easily hold down second until Pedey returns.
  • My disappointment for Brock is compounded from watching Eduardo Nunez play second. Noonie gets quite a few big hits for the club, but his defense is poor. With limited range, he is better served as a relief option for Rafael Devers at third who needs a breather. Raffy has shown an appetite for the strikeout lately and wears his frustration on his sleeve when this occurs. He owns a 33% punchout rate on the road trip and is 3-22 in the last two series with 9 strikeouts. 
  • Starting pitching registered seven of the decisions on the road trip for a 5-2 record with a 3.60 ERA. Rick Porcello's still spotless in the loss and home run column. He picked up a win on the trip and punched out 15 batters in 13 innings. He is averaging a tick below a strikeout per inning on the season. Eduardo Rodriguez may actually be ready to realize his potential as he pushed his record to 3-0 with two wins on the road. Joltin' Joe Kelly was the road warrior in the bullpen logging 5 scoreless innings reinventing himself from the most hittable 100 mph pitcher in the majors to cult hero status from his altercation with Yankees' Tyler Austin. It looks as though Joe could miss the entire homestand as his 6 game suspension was upheld from the fracas. One interesting tidbit I just came across is Boston starters are tied with Houston for tops in the AL with only 2 games with at least 4 earned runs or greater allowed. On both of those occasions for the Red Sox, David Price was the pitcher.
  • The catching tandem of Sandy Leon and Christian Vazquez have been vital as architects of a fabulous start by Boston pitching. Boston sits first in the AL in wins by starters with 14 and second in both overall ERA (2.67) and strikeouts (145). Because of this, no one's talking about the fact these two have the Red Sox dead last in the AL in batting average for the position. Boston catchers are now hitting an unsightly .163. Hey, I get it. It's not a problem until the pitching starts to hit a rough patch and the run production dries up. With Swihart on the bench and no plans to insert him into the mix, Boston seems to be content in whistling past the graveyard for the time being. Here are numbers from the last homestand. 
Road Trip by the Numbers
Name G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA
▼		 OBP SLG OPS
Brock Holt7262641350160100.500.500.8081.308
J.D. Martinez83229611202521000.379.438.6551.093
Mitch Moreland724214710292500.333.375.6671.042
Hanley Ramirez8353171010014601.323.400.355.755
Mookie Betts8383491010674500.294.368.8531.221
Rafael Devers93936510102821210.278.308.472.780
Jackie Bradley Jr.830274710252800.259.333.519.852
Eduardo Nunez833312720012710.226.273.290.563
Andrew Benintendi835303510154930.167.257.300.557
Christian Vazquez726222310002400.136.269.182.451
Sandy Leon310100000000500.000.000.000.000
Tzu-Wei Lin513111000002500.000.154.000.154
Blake Swihart4880000000200.000.000.000.000
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/27/2018.

NameGGS
▼		WLSVIPHRERBBSOHRERAGB/FBBAbipSO9
Rick Porcello22113.093331502.0852%.26510.4
David Price221112.2125551213.5553%.3148.5
Eduardo Rodriguez22212.29554823.5556%.1845.7
Chris Sale221113.0106631434.1529%.2199.7
Drew Pomeranz113.25332707.3640%.50017.2
Matt Barnes202.20002500.00100%.00016.9
Heath Hembree302.11001200.0086%.1437.7
Brian Johnson203.02002300.0043%.2869.0
Joe Kelly405.02000500.0050%.1679.0
Craig Kimbrel40123.11110212.7033%.0005.4
Carson Smith403.02111203.0033%.2226.0
Hector Velazquez1013.04000100.0036%.3643.0
Marcus Walden202.00000200.0075%.0009.0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/27/2018.




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