Know Your Sox (Aug 28-30)

[Frayed Knot]

Of all our string of series vs last place clubs, This is the one I had penciled in as a potential pitfall the way some of you were viewing the Phils.
Red Sox can hit, have a bunch of new faces no one knows about, and are a respectable 14-11 since July 30.
Of course they can't pitch or field but no one's perfect.

So, as Butch repeatedly said to Sundance, who are those guys?

C - Blake Swihart and Ryan Hanigan
Hanigan's a vet backup with typical backup catcher stats. Swihart is a highly touted rookie who's impressed since his May call-up

1B - They say we're going to see Papi there for 2 of the 3 games.
Other than that, 25 y/o rookie Travis Shaw has been manning the position since Mike Napoli was dealt away and has been hitting far beyond his minor league credentials

2B - Pedroia's out, so they picked up former Rockie/Angel Josh Rutledge at the deadline with with occasional appearances from utility-knife player (and 2015 All-Star) Brock Holt

SS - Xander Bogaerts is having the break-out year everyone predicted for him last year following his star turn in the 2013 post-season

3B - A very expensive and only occasionally worth it Panda. They've been especially down on his defense

LF - Hanley Ramirez, for now anyway as there's talk of moving the SS turned 3B turned LF into a 1B for next year.

CF - Mookie Betts is an exciting player worthy of his first name

RF - Jackie Bradley Jr and Rusney Casillo -- Both have just over 100 ABs for the year as RF was a revolving door for the Sox over the first half of the season.
Bradley is less valuable now that he's been bumped from CF. Castillo is a Cuban import signed for a boatload of years/money almost exactly one year ago but has needed more break-in time than they hoped.



Maybe somebody knows something about their pitching cuz I sure as hell don't.

[TransMonk]

Well, their pitching is awful. They have the worst team ERA in the AL and third worst in the majors behind Colorado and Philly (and we've seen how the Mets offense has done against those two teams over the past week).

Their best starter Clay Buchholz and best reliever Koji Uehara are both on the DL. The Mets will face two lefties this weekend in Henry Owens (rookie) and Wade Miley.

This team can hit a bit, but the Mets seem to have the edge in the pitching matchups.

This series will be Boston's first ever trip to Citi Field and their first trip to visit the Mets in NY since 2001. David Ortiz is going to have to play some defense if he wants to hit.

[Edgy MD]

You always know you're gonna get a good episode of Laugh-In if you see Jackie Bradley, Jr.'s name in the opening credits. That guy kicks Arte Johnson's ass.

[Frayed Knot]

This Henry Owens guy was the 34th overall pick for the Sox in 2011 out of HS and was showing up as high as Top-20 on the pre-season prospect reports last winter.
Tonight will be his 5th ever ML start. Got hit hard by the Mariners in one game but has been decent to good in the other three.

John Sickels posted this about Owens upon his call-up in early August:
In 2014 he posted a combined 2.94 ERA in 159 innings divided between Double-A Portland and Triple-A Pawtucket with a 170/59 K/BB. He has spent all of 2015 with Pawtucket, producing a 3.16 ERA in 122 innings with a 103/56 K/BB and just 84 hits allowed. He has been particularly sharp recently, with a 34/8 K/BB in 32 innings over five July starts with a 2.84 ERA.
Owens is a 6-6, 220 pound southpaw born July 21, 1992. His arsenal consists of a fastball in the 88-92 range, peaking at 93-94 when he pushes for extra velocity. The fastball works well even at the lower velocity notches because he mixes it efficiently with an above-average change-up and a decent breaking ball. Although he occasionally struggles with his command, his feel for pitching is considered quite strong in general. He's shown he can adjust and make positive changes when things aren't going well.



Joe Kelly (Saturday's starter) came from the Cardinals in the Lackey deal and, in typical StL fashion, Lackey got better while the younger Kelly regressed. He's 7-6 but with a 5+ ERA and faces deGrom

Wade Miley (Sunday) we've seen in his Arizona days. He's 0-1 in 3 career starts vs NYM. Syndergaard goes for the Mets.

[Edgy MD]

A guy named Wade Miley is just destined to pitch for Houston.