Posts Tagged ‘boston red sox’

1972 League Playoff Review Wild Card Round American League California Angels at Boston Red Sox

Posted: September 28, 2024 by datechguy in baseball, Dynasty, dynasty baseball, gaming, online gaming
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The first round of our 1972 league playoffs kick off this week in a best of three series between the 2nd and 3rd wild card teams. The winner will face the top seeded NY Yankees in the Division series in round two (Best of 5):

California Angels 82-80 2nd in AL Alpha 29 GB 3rd wild Card

Offense: The Angels played pretty much .500 ball this season with a team that didn’t scare many people with their bats hitting .241 as a team despite Manny Mota being 2nd in the AL in hits (202) and hitting .314 (6th in the league) and walking even less (16th out of 20 MLB teams) hitting only 75 Home runs all season and finishing 14th in slugging although they had three players in the top 8 in the AL for Triples Mota with 10 (8th), Jerry Moralas 12 (tied 3rd) and Tommy McGraw who was 2nd with 13 and also 7th in OBP .374. Their most dangerous offensive player being Jose Cardinal who finished the season at .288 17 HR 107 RBI (4th in league) and 39 doubles (tied 5th) and 95 runs scored (7th)

Defense: A team with little offence needs solid defense and California certainly qualified in that score their .986 fielding percentage was tied for 5th in the majors and only .001 off the MLB lead and their 89 Errors were 6th in the majors. Bobby Valentine at 2nd (.984) Don Money at 3rd (.980) and Dave Concepcion (.980). The two weak links. 2nd Catcher Bill Plummer who let 10 of 11 baseruners steal on him and Cardinal whose 5 errors in right and .978 fielding percentages were a problem.

Pitching: Clay Carrol was lights out in the pen saving 28 in 31 chances with a WHIP of .092 (2nd in AL) but the starters ran hot at cold. Tommy John’s 2.46 ERA in 248 innings only produced a 15-14 record. Another innings eater was Tom Bradley who pitched 275 1/3 innings (6th in AL) but at a cost of 18 losses (tied 3rd in AL) against only 10 wins. The Ace of the team was Clay Kirby who led all American league pitchers with a .193 Avg against finishing with a 18-12 Record with a 3.33 ERA

Red Sox 86-76 3rd in AL Beta 14 GB 2nd Wild Card

Offense: Boston’s .256 avg and .326 OBP were both 3rd in the Majors and 2nd in the AL led by Carl Yazstremski whose .335 led the AL. Yaz also led the Majors with a .431 OBP and his .519 Slugging pct was good enough for 4th in the AL and top 10 in the majors. He was helped by Vada Pinson whose .311 avg (7th in AL (37 doubles (6th in AL) did their job and Rookie Carlton Fisk who managed 39 doubles of his own and Willie Davis whose 97 walks led the AL and Rico Petrocelli whose 24 Home Runs led the team (yet only drove in 67). Despite playing in Fenway they only managed 96 round trippers although their 244 doubles, no doubt aided by the green monster were good enough for 6th in the Majors and 2nd in the AL.

Defense: Boston .987 fielding percentage was part of a 4 way tie for the best in the majors and their paltry 83 errors were part of a 3 way tie for 2nd in the Majors (and 2nd in the AL) Fisk’s arm discouraged base stealing as he threw out 5 of the mere 12 who attempted to steal. Boston was one of three teams who allowed less that 10 SB all season (9). In the rest of the field things were just as good. Wes Parker only committed 4 errors in 1389 1/3 innings while helping to turn 100 DP getting to balls most fielders would not be able to touch while Rick Petrocelli only committed 7 errors at 3rd in 537 chances for an .987 fielding percentage while Vada Pinson committed only a single error in the OF primarily in Right while Willie Davis in center threw out 12 runners this season. One surprise down side was Left Fielder Carl Yazstremski who managed 6 errors as age seemed to catch up but was perfect at 1B when spelling Wes Parker.

Pitching: Boston’s team era of 3.52 was decidedly middle of the pack (0.02 behind California) Gary Nolan (16-9 2.72 ERA in 254 1/3 innings) Claude Osteen (16-18 3.72 ERA in 276 innings) and Rick Wise (17-14 3.11 in 272 1/3 innings) carried the workload with a rotation by committee Tom Timmerman, Lynn McGlothen, Ken Bret and John Curtis carrying the rest of the load. Boston lead the AL with 51 complete games. Nolan did lead the league with a 1.01 WHIP and was top 10 in avg against and was top 10 in ERA but the Bullpen as a whole managed only 24 saves in 35 chances with an aging Joe Horlen demoted to the pen with only a single start managing 8 saves in 10 chances (10th in league) but on the whole the bullpen was unremarkable.

Boston vs Calif head to head.

Series 1:

The Angels visited Boston in May losing two of three. In game one the Redsox gave Jim McAndrew his first loss 5-1 with Hector Torres, Horace Clarke and winner Gary Nolan (3-1) all singling with 2 men on in the 4th to provide all they needed. In game two Tommy John broke an Angels four game losing streak holding Boston to one run while Jerry Moralas’ 2 run shot off of Tom Timmerman did the job with insurance added later and Clay Carroll closing it out. Boston won the series however with a 6-4 win with Clarke and Torres again doing the damage to give Boston the lead in the sixth. Rick Wise pitched a complete game for the win.

Series 2:

The Sox came to California in Junes and Swept the angels away starting with a 9-2 blowout with Six Redsox hitters driving in runs off of Tom Bradly including winning pitcher Claude Osteen. Game 2 was closer as the Angels bailed out Tommy John with 2 out in the 9th to tie the game but the Sox started the top of the tenth with four straight single to drive in 1 and a two out single by Bud Harrelson driving in two more for the 6-3 final. Game three was a dual between Rick Wise and Clay Kirby but despite a one out Leroy Stanton single in the 9th driving for the 2nd day in a row to narrow it to 4-3 Rick Wise held on to win the duel.

Series 3

For the 2nd Time Tommy John held the Redsox to a single run and Carroll provided the save as the Angles won 3-1 thanks to a Rusty Torrez Home run off of Ken Brett in the 7th but Boston answered back the next day at Fenway with a 5-4 win with doubles by Carlton Fisk and Hector Torrez making the difference. In game 3 Claude Osteen who like his foe Tom Bradly would lose 18 on the season shut out the Angels who would win 2-0 helped by a rare key error by shortstop Dave Conception which put Fisk on first. Yaz singled him to 3rd and Petrocelli fly to the warning track in the August night sent him home.

Series 4

The last visit meeting of teams in September was again good luck for the hard luck Osteen. Tommy John only gave up a single run through seven but John Rooker gave up 3 more in the 8th including a 2 run HR by light hitting Doug Griffin so that when the Halos finally got two off of Osteen in the 9th it wasn’t enough. Game two went worse as three Sox pitchers combined for a shutout meaning that the paltry two runs that Jim McAndrew gave up was enough to cost him the game. Finally the Redsox scored three solo runs in the 1st three innings off of Bradley and added three more to double up California 6-3 despite RBI triples from both Money and Morales which couldn’t overcome homers by Pinson and Petrocelli

Season Series Redsox win 7-2

Boston’s offense clearly give them the advantage as both teams have excellent defense and middling pitching staffs, Boston’s strength in the rotation while California has a shut down closer. The question is can the Angels score enough runs to get to the Sox mediocre bullpen. I think the series will come down to Tommy John and Clay Kirby vs Gary Nolan and Rick Wise. But with the Bats Boston has I can’t see the Halos managing to break through.

My prediction Boston wins series 2-1

Under the Fedora: Goals, No Debate on this, Protesting the Geek Prom, Barr None, Redsox vs Miami Heat advantage Sox

Posted: April 27, 2024 by datechguy in baseball, culture, education, elections, media, nba, politics, Sports, under the fedora
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Other than the Professional activists who are being paid to upend universities I would be real money that the girls at the “Free Palestine” protests are there for status and self esteem and the guys are there in the hopes of getting laid.

In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if more than one guy at these “camps” are taking liberties that they shouldn’t and the ladies who are being taken advantage of are told not to talk about it, complain about it or report it for the sake of the cause.

I don’t care what Radio host he said it to does anyone really believe Joe Biden circa 2024 is going to take a stage opposite of Donald Trump?

Cripes they don’t even let him walk to the airplane or helicopter without being surrounded for fear of people seeing how fragile he is and you’re going to put him in front of Trump who will ask Biden before millions of eyes how heavily did they have to drug you up to get you to this podium?

If they thought Biden could stand up to Trump they wouldn’t have spent the last year trying to jail him.

The White House Correspondents dinner is going on as I type. The folks at the Lincoln Project are suggesting it’s going to be a big win for Biden. Given the hundreds of protestors outside making trouble, all leftists btw, I think this is another example of redefining words.

The real irony is just about all the journalists in their spend most of their time whitewashing the crimes both of Hamas and the protestors themselves, but every revolution eventually eats their own allies.

As you might have heard Bill Barr who did his level best to ignore and enable the steal of 2020 by inaction endorsed Donald Trump for 2024 on the grounds that whatever he might think of Trump, Joe Biden and the Democrats are an actual threat to freedom.

Trump being Trump accepted the endorsement listing all the names that he has called Barr and stated from now on the label “lethargic” will be removed from the list.

CNN hoped to pounce on this but Barr just laughed and when pressed listed all the ways that freedoms are being threatened by the Biden Administration rules that were not being done under Trump.

That’s how bad this administration has been, they’ve got Bill Barr doubling down on an endorsement of Trump.

Finally I was out with a devout young friend of mine who was once my boss. He was part of the layoff at my place but because he is a hard worker and very talented he quickly found another job at a better pay and has by that hard work advanced himself admirably.

We went to Buffalo Wild wins and caught the Celtics vs Heat game and the end of the Red Sox Cubs game while we were at it. As I watched the finish of the Redsox game which carried into the 2nd quarter of the Celtics playoff game I saw something I had never seen before.

The Celtics have a spectacular defense and put on a show during the first quarter of the game. How much of a show? It took the NBA’s Miami heat until 2-3 minutes into the 2nd quarter before they managed to outscore the Boston Red Sox who put up 17 against the Cubs today.

If the Celtics play this kind of defense during the rest of this playoff run I don’t see how any team beat them. Bill Russell would have been proud of them.

Five Sports Thoughts Under the Fedora The Five Minute Solution, Ime Who? As Expected in Foxborough, Winning in a Vacuum and the Price of Success

Posted: December 4, 2022 by datechguy in baseball, nba, nfl, nhl, Sports, under the fedora
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With apologies to John Cleese If you want to understand why Soccer/Football is a sport that Americans on the whole reject go to youtube and compare the highlights of the game for any NFL game vs the Highlights of any of these world cup matches.

You will not that it takes 10-12 minutes for them reviews of the 60 Minute NFL game but only about 6 minutes for a 90+ minute World Cup match.

For the other 80 minutes it’s the Simpsons

Was it just two months ago that Celtics fans were worried about how the injury to Robert Williams and the suspension of Ime Udoka would mean doom to a team that was just two wins away from a championship last year?

Joe Mazzulla has made them forget all about Udoka but his answer to the question if he met with “the Royal Family.” when the Prince and Princess of Wales means they won’t forget him

They’ll never forgive him for that

Patriots fans seem to have very short memories.

Just 14 weeks ago everyone was noting that while the Patriots have pretty much the same team that they had last year, that all of the teams in their division and many others in the in the conference had improved.

So is it so strange that they sit in last place in their division while still having a ..500 record when in the previous season they made the playoffs by the skin of their teeth?

20 years of Tom brady success really has spoiled the fan base here.

Speaking of success have you ever seen a team as successful as this year’s Boston Bruins that has gotten less attention from the media and the fan base of a city.

The Bruins have set a record for consecutive home wins, they have dominated their sport and they can’t buy any press. All people want to do is to talk about how bad the Patriots have been.

Again I blame Tom Brady. In the days before his time the Brins would be THE story in the city.

Finally the Red Sox seem poised to lose Xander Bogarts. He is the link to the David Ortiz days winning and the Mookie Bettis days of winning.

They will not get a player as good at him at short or second (they can always move Story to short which I suspect was the plan from the beginning) but this tells me they are going full rebuild mode.

If they figured on losing him I can’t see why they didn’t trade him while they could, Better to get something for him than nothing for him, particularly if the plan is to rebuild.

Again success makes it difficult. 20-25 years ago when winning was practically not in living memory they could have gotten away with it, but now with four titles in under 20 years the fan base may not be as patient as they once were.

Dynasty Great Teams League Update AL Division B Report

Posted: June 16, 2020 by datechguy in baseball, dynasty baseball, fun, gaming, online gaming, Sports
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Starting this week the updates of the various Dynasty Leagues that I run will be one league (AL or NL) at a time due to the futility league completing their season. This week Division B in the All Time Any Time Great Teams League. American League. All individual stats were current at the time of writing.

All franchise are currently full if you are interested in picking up a team if one becomes available or to join the expanded Futility league when it starts up again leave a comment to this post.

American League

Texas Rangers 47-28 1st

When last we left the Rangers they had lost four of seven and asked if their rally was ending. With the team now almost 20 games over .500 I think it’s safe to say they intend to stay.

Heroes: Nelson Cruz leads the league in both batting .361 and slugging .625 and as you might Guess OBP oddly this is despite not making the top ten in either 2B or 3B & only 7th in HR (17) but 51 Runs & 66 RBI’s sets and clears the Texas table. Josh Hamilton (.310 15 HR 51 Runs scored) & Vladimer Guerrero (.317 12 HR 65 RBI) are doing their part to set and clear the table as well.

Zeroes: Matt Treanor has not only been unimpressive at the bat (.199 4 HR 14 RBI in 171 ab) but has allowed 26 of 29 runners who have tried to steal to get away with it. Meanwhile while Tommy Hunter’s record and ERA have improved his ERA is still 6.50 has still can’t muster an avg of 5 innings from his 14 starts likely due to the 23 HR given up, more than a 1/3 of the 67 Texas has allowed.

Wild Cards: Texas shines at night a full 20 games over .500 vs a losing record in day games. Texas’ owes a lot of their success to Division C where they are 19-5 while holding only a .500 record vs division opponents.

Coming attractions: The 1998 Oakland A’s and the 2013 Boston Red Sox finish up the current homestand then it’s off on the road for a trip to Detroit vs the 1968 Tigers followed by a stop in DC to take on the 1924 Senators.

Injury Report: All are whole and ready to go in Texas

1954 Cleveland Indians 41-37 7 GB 2nd place.

The Indians remain in second place where they were before but find themselves five games farther back and holding the 2nd rather than the 1st wild card spot. Will slow and steady win the race or will the tribe find themselves left behind?

Heroes: Larry Doby continues to pound the ball leading the league in RBI’s (80) 5th in HR (20) 4th in Slugging (.584) ads the league in both batting .361 and slugging .625 while hitting a more than respectable .308. Bobby Alvia .335 is 4th in the league his 62 runs 3rd and and his 112 hits 2nd. 4 e. Bob Lemon (11-4 2.18 ERA 1.09 WHIP) & Mike Garcia (8-7 3.03 ERA 1st in HR per 9 inn 0.30) lead a spectacular starting rotation.

Zeroes: Don Mossi despite 8 saves in 11 chances ERA of 8.08 & .301 avg against is a disaster waiting to happen. On most teams Early Wynn’s 5.32 ERA & 7-8 record with a .275 avg against would be no big deal but on Cleveland it is. Wally Westlake’s .182 avg .280 OBP 6 HR & 29 RBI’s is bad but his .942 fielding percentage with 8 errors in right, is worse.

Wild Cards: Only Baltimore has a lower ERA in the AL than the Indians and their great rotation leads the majors in complete games (29) It’s a good thing too because their 11 saves is 2nd worst in the league and with 8 blown in 19 chances is near the bottom.

Coming Attractions: Cleveland finishes a road trump in DC vs the 1924 Washington Senators before heading home for 3 each vs the 2015 Kansas City Royals, , the 2005 Chicago White Sox the 1993 Toronto Blue jays and the 1970 Baltimore Orioles.

Injury Report: The Indians are back to full strength again.

2013 Boston Red Sox 35-43 13 1/2 games back 3rd place

The good news for the Boston Red Sox is that for the 1st time in a while they are not at the bottom of the division albeit by only a half game. The bad news is instead of six games below .500 & 8 games back they’re 8 games below .500 & 13 1/2 games back. The Rangers went from the bottom so the RedSox, particularly once back to full strength can too, but clock is running.

Heroes: Daniel Nava leads the AL with a .429 OBP and his .332 batting avg is tied for 5th. David Ortiz (.318 18 HR 60RBI’s ) has found his stroke Closers Koji Uehara (1.84 ERA 5-7 in save chances 0.65 WHIP) and Craig Breslow (3.02 ERA 5-6 in saves 1.20 WHIP) are getting the job done, when they get to them that is.

Zeros: Jon Lester (4-8 5.63 ERA .310 avg .297 avg against ) isn’t doing the job to start but Matt Thornton 6.31 ERA, .310 avg against 2.05 WHIP) , Junichi Tazawa (6.45 ERA .294 avg against ) and Andrew Bailey 8.53 ERA .291 avg against 1.97 WHIP) aren’t getting the team to the closers. Will Middlebrooks & Mike Napoli are both hitting the ball far (10 HR each) but batting .198 (Middlebrooks) & .214 (Napoli).

Wild Cards: Boston’s team ERA of 4.94 is dead last in the AL and the 2nd worst in the majors. They also don’t seem to be able to handle daylight (6-13) or left handed pitchers (3-9)

Coming Attractions: It’s three games in Texas vs the 1st place 2010 Rangers then back home for series vs the 2002 Anaheim Angels , the 2009 NY Yankees and the 1998 Baltimore Orioles.

Injury Report: Time heals all wounds and pitchers Andrew Miller and Clay Buchholtz will be back in time for the homestand. Stephen Drew however will not be back until the Sox head back on the road

1968 Detroit Tigers 36-45 14 GB 4th Place

Detroit’s freefall has continued all the way to the bottom of the standings from the top where they began. With another full half to the season what comes down but what goes down can also go back up and they have 81 games to do it with. Can they?

Heroes: Willie Horton (26 HR) & Norm Cash (20 HR) lead the AL with a .429 OBP and his .332 batting avg is tied for 5th. Danny McLain is 5th in the AL in wins (9) and 3rd in innings pitched (143 2/3 ) 2nd in strikeouts (127) and walks per 9 innings (1.88) Mickey Lolich is right behind him in strikeouts (118) and 1st in the k’s per 9 innings (8.70)

Zeros: Earl Wilson’s troubles continue. His record is now 3-7 with a .285 avg against & 6.42 ERA remains among the worst of Detroit’s starters. Joe Sparma ((2-7) 1.78 WHIP 5.81 ERA .318 avg against) is the bottom fo the barrel. At the plate Don Wert has reached the Mendoza line at .200 with a .244 OBP. is bad news. Ray Oyler is down to .152 and consequently isn’t getting much playing time. Dick McAuliffe however is getting plenty but is only managing .206.

Wild Cards: Thanks to Cash, Horton and Jim Northrup (11 HR) the Tigers are 2nd in the league in HR behind the surging yanks however their .240 avg & .308 OBP are 2nd from the bottom in the AL. Their 4.84 is 3rd from the floor and no team in the majors throws out a smaller percentage of players trying to steal 094%.

Coming Attractions: The Tigers finish a long home stand with 3 vs the 1st place 2010 Texas Rangers, the 2002 Anaheim Angles and the 2009 New York Yankees before hitting the road again for stops in Oakland (1998 A’s) and Boston (2013 Redsox).

Injury Report: The tigers are back to full strength the question is can Al Kaline who has made two Trips to the DL already this season stay off it during the 2nd half?

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