IST WS 2018: BOS VS LAD -- Glamour Boys

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I'm pretty sure that for six months in 1998, I used a fake ID with the name "Heath Hembree."

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

jesus, here we go to the 14th

[G-Fafif]

Say, that was something.

[Benjamin Grimm]

There will be a Super Sports Equinox for Los Angeles.

[bmfc1]

Rich Hill was supposed to pitch tonight but now both teams are "TBD". I wonder what happened to "Dick Mountain"?
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[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

G-Fafif wrote: Say, that was something.

Of course I passed out and missed it. I was there till the 15th I think

[Guest 41Forever]

I only lasted until 1 a.m.

Detroit News had this:

How long did they play? Put it this way: The game took 15 minutes more than the entire 1939 World Series when the Yankees swept Cincinnati, STATS said.

Edited October 27, 2018 by Guest

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

What an odd string of finishes for the Sox over the last seven seasons. Starting in 2012, they finished: 5th in the AL East 26.0 games out; then 1st and won the WS; then 5th two years in a row (25.0 GB & 15.0 GB); then 1st back-to-back (Lost in 3-0 and 3-1 in ALDS) and now 1st w/108 reg season wins and so far a near perfect post-season record (9-1 overall and a 2-0 WS lead). So that's four times winning the AL East sprinkled around three times finishing DFL, while two of those winning season came with a total of one post-season game won and the other (two?) with a World Series crown. But zero 2nd, 3rd, or 4th place finishes.

My impression of the Red Sox 2013 is that is the only time a team has won the World Series while in the middle of a major rebuild. Ben Cherrington traded away a lot of Red Sox veterans and restocked the farm with a lot of the players who are the core of the 2018 Red Sox. Then he signed bunch of aging vets to short-term contracts (Gomes, Napoli, Victorino) who all managed to have great seasons. And some of the remaining Red Sox vets who were injured/underperforming in 2012 (Lackey, Pedroia, Ortiz, Ellsbury) returned to health and productivity in 2013. Essentially the team was in rebuild mode from 2012-2015 but still managed to pull off one golden season through a mix of Cherrington's skill and a whole lot of luck.

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, I remember that now.
I remember virtually every move they made, whether with foresight or one they lucked into, paid off big time, including their fourth choice for closer, 38 y/o Koji Uehara, being unhittable for months on end having never done so before or after.
And mostly I remember NYDN writer Bill Madden telling the Mets and Yanx (by which I mean he was telling the Yanx) that they had to immediately copy the Red Sox and Cardinals "formula" for success.
In the case of the BoSox that meant having every single FA signing work out much better than possibly anticipated. And in the case of the Cards it was have like seven draft picks from the same class a few years earlier all arrive at the same time.

Shyeeet, if you could pull off "plans" like those you wouldn't need any plans.

[Frayed Knot]

Meanwhile back to this year's Red Sox, they've suddenly forgotten how to hit.
2 runs scored in the last 27 innings and 1 hit so far tonight (w/1 out in the 7th)

[Frayed Knot]

Sox: Shut up Frayed!!

[G-Fafif]

And now, the end is near...

Nine innings may be all that's left. No more than twenty-seven, pending any more Game Three-like lunacy. No matter which side one has temporarily aligned with, sigh.

[Centerfield]

I’m with you Greg. Whatever it takes to stretch the season.

I’ll root for LA tonight so the series can go back to Boston.

[Frayed Knot]

Of course one thing they can do to 'extend the season' is just keep playing like they are.
The 7th thru 9th innings last night took 1:42 to play, more than 1/4 of which was commercial time.

I hadn't realized until last night that, in addition to the between innings breaks being lengthened to 2:55 (up from 2:05 in reg season or 2:25 in GotWs), the pitching changes have also been
lengthened to the same 3 minutes and usually longer once they get around to the new guy actually throwing his first pitch. That 2:55 is just when the telecast comes back.
So between the five half-inning breaks and the four in-inning pitching changes during that span, that's 27 minutes of dead time out of the 102 it took to get through those three innings (26.5%).
That total doesn't include mound conferences (I lost count), the checking of the replays to decide whether or not they want to have the umps check the replay (no actual replay reviews were
done), or all other types of time-killing non-action.

Prior to that 7th inning things were actually sailing along in the game, but yet it still clocked in at just under 4 hours. And, yeah, the 7th thru 9th were when most of the runs were scored, but still,
105 pitches were thrown in total in those three innings (not THAT MUCH higher than the norm of around 90) and they were spread across 102 minutes. The top of the 9th alone took 28 minutes to
throw just 26 pitches.


Oh well, at least today is Sunday so it'll be a day game ... oh wait, it's not!

[Frayed Knot]

Gotta give it up to Price here.
For a guy with a bad post-season rep, in two consecutive series he's been matched up against Verlander and now Kershaw in potential close-out games and (so far) out-pitched them both.

[Guest 41Forever]

I’m growing less optimistic that the Dodgers will pull this out.

[Centerfield]

David Price and the Red Sox bullpen dominating. Just like we all predicted.

Once upon a time the Yankees had Mystique and Aura. The Red Sox are doing it with smarts and money.

Rich nerds > Strippers.

[Frayed Knot]

Of course Price still suxx vs the Yanx, but we'll work on that later.

[Guest 41Forever]

Last team to lose back-to-back World Series? I think it was the MFYs in 1963-64. Am I missing one?

Congrats, Red Sox.

[Frayed Knot]

41Forever wrote: Last team to lose back-to-back World Series? I think it was the MFYs in 1963-64. Am I missing one?

Dodgers 1977-78

[Frayed Knot]

Frayed Knot wrote: 41Forever wrote: Last team to lose back-to-back World Series? I think it was the MFYs in 1963-64. Am I missing one? Dodgers 1977-78

Braves 1991-92
Rangers 2010-11

[Guest 41Forever]

Frayed Knot wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: 41Forever wrote: Last team to lose back-to-back World Series? I think it was the MFYs in 1963-64. Am I missing one? Dodgers 1977-78 Braves 1991-92 Rangers 2010-11

I missed a bunch!

[Centerfield]

Congratulations Red Sox. An epic season.

And thus the Van Wagenen era begins.

[Frayed Knot]

April, come she will. When streams are ripe and swelled with rain -- Paul Simon

[Guest 41Forever]

I do like when they have these presentations on the field. I don't like the goofy caps and t-shirts they make the players wear. (But I'd be thrilled to see the Mets have to wear them!)

[Edgy MD]

John Henry called them the greatest Red Sox team in history.

I tend to agree.

[Fman99]

I watched the game intermittently and went to bed at the end of the 8th. I just can't care that much when it's not the Mets.

[Lefty Specialist]

My favorite headline:

Red Sox End 5-year Title Drought

[Centerfield]

And now the 4 year old Red Sox fan who wondered if they would ever win one in his lifetime can die in peace.

I was texting with my Sox fan buddy last night. He was telling me how he was surprisingly relaxed watching last night. I said it's easy when your team is up 3-1.

It then occurred to me, I'm 43 years old. During my lifetime, the Mets have never held a series lead in the World Series. In '86, they never led. (I don't think winning counts as leading)

[MFS62]

Centerfield wrote: Rich nerds > Strippers.

I'll still take the UCLA cheerleaders over the MIT cheerleaders.
But other than that, I'm a happy fan today. The Spawn of O'Malley were defeated.

Later