Buck will see the Redsocks three more times, a series in Fenway, the second-to-last weekend of the season. The O's represent Boston's insurance policy against a September dive-bomb. As long as Drew Pomeranz doesn't pitch, the Redsocks will crush Showalter's Shipwrecks and head to 17-2. Seventeen and two. The fact is, Robert Mueller should investigate Showalter for meddling in the AL East. This is collusion.
But let's dismiss talk of a divisional race. That ship has sailed. Boston leads us by eight games in the loss column, and the Yankees will not catch them, no matter how many tomato cans populate our August schedule. (The rest of the month is all Del Monte, diced and stewed.) But take a look at these numbers since the all-star break, and tell me if Boston can stay this hot forever.
If Betts, Benintendi and JD Martinez remain the Holy Trinity, and Boston's pitching stays strong - (aside from the great Pomeranz) - the Redsocks could become the winningest regular season team in history. They are chasing immortality in the regular season. They are also peaking in August, two months before the playoffs. Steve Pearce is not the Second Coming of Mark McGwire, and Jackie Bradley Jr. must eventually return to Atlantis without his oxygen tank. JD Martinez has not played a full, healthy season in three years.
Right now, the Yankees simply must whip the tomatoes and keep the Wild Card home field advantage. (Magic number: 43.) The one-game season is a sick joke, but if the Yankees can win it, they'll head to Boston in a best-of-five series, knowing that, while we might be playing our best ball of 2018, there's no chance Boston will. They're peaking now, against Buck's Boners. Maybe old Showalter outsmarted himself, after all.
So may it be so.
ReplyDeleteSo endeth the JuJu.
unless his team is playing the Yankees, is Buck even trying to win this year? Does Buck's contract specify bonuses for number of games lost? They ARE tanking, right? Buck's 2018 assignment: lose as many games as possible without having the rubes, I mean fans, suspect a thing. Beating the Yanks may cost him but he makes it up against Boston.
ReplyDeleteThe Sox are good this year. Really good. But the difference in the standings is simple: they beat crap teams more than we do. If we weren't mystified by the reanimated bodies of Cy Young and the Big Train whenever we play Baltimore, Tampa Bay, and the assorted hapless stumblebums that dwell in the lower depths of the league, we'd be right there with them. Losing that sweep to them wouldn't really matter all that much.
ReplyDeleteBut, reality is what it is. I remember thinking that Boston couldn't possibly be that good, then thinking that they couldn't possibly stay so hot, then thinking at least we'll get a split of that 4-game series. Yet they stay as hot as ever. Maybe they are that good. It would suck, but sometimes a team has a magical year, and this might be theirs.
And now, I have to go throw up.
I felt the same way, John M.
ReplyDeleteBut that's the thing with the long season: you have to bottom feed. And it's another sign of an inferior manager that he can't keep his team motivated for the bad teams, or anticipate the stunts those teams may pull—pitching relievers to death, as with Buck; "bullpen day" with Tampa—when they play the Yankees.
will they top 125-50 with a WS crown? they'll need that to unseat the 98 Yanks.
ReplyDeleteWe suck, but they juice.
ReplyDeleteThis well reasoned, and highly hopeful, editorial reminds me of the Everly Brothers, " Dream, dream, dream....dreaaam....."
ReplyDeleteIf we get to the one game playoff ( we still have Sonny Gray, Tommy no gas Kanhle, El Chappo in panic, Neal walker, Jesus Sanchez, Jace Peterson, Greg ( can't hit a fastball) Bird, Luke Voit and no TOE; if we win that suicidal game, then we get to Boston where the best team in baseball will finally suck.
Sounds good to me.
Let's bet the farm on this outcome.
"dream, dream, dream, dreeaaam, ..."
And we shall be welcomed in Iraq as saviors......
ReplyDeleteQ1: Do we still have Jace Peterson? I thot he was leading off in Bawlmore.
Q2: How long will it be before NYYs shed Britton? I ran a few orgs in the past (magazines, as an editor and then a publisher). The best way to handle your mistakes is to admit them early -- and deal with them. The worst way is to pretend you never made them, or blame someone else. YES, I was able to provide myself with an impressive depth and breadth of mistake-making experience.
Q3: Stat splits for 2018 shows Bird hitting .209 against RHP, .244 against LHP. 48 of his 136 outs vs. RHP were Ks. Voit is hitting .231 vs. LHP
Check the wild card standings. Seattle has heated up again. The Yankees are not a lock for a wild card berth.
ReplyDeleteWhy doesn't Cashman consider something really daring for once? Shane Robinson is a baseball cipher, the baseball equivalent of The Invisible Man, who looks like he would be slightly over his head in the Little League World Series. So why not bring up Estevan Florial for a few weeks, until Clint Frazier or Judge is ready to return? Sure, Florial a work in progress, not ready for a full-time promotion to the bigs--but he would surely be no worse--and probably much better than--the mousy comic-opera Robinson, on both sides of the ball, and inject a lightning jolt of excitement and athleticism into a team that has become a bit of a bore.
ReplyDeleteC'mon, Cashman. Raise those heavy eyelides, gaze towards the heavens, and rise to the occasion for once with a stroke of genius.
Hell..forget Florial, he just got back from a 3-month wrist injury and is only at Class A ball but at least bring up McBroom. He's hitting .304 with 11 HR in 83 games. Robinson hasn't hit 11 HR in his entire career, most likely.
ReplyDeleteMcBroom. It's all about McBroom.
ReplyDeleteCarl Weitz--FLorial is fully recovered from his wrist injury and has been hitting well. So that's not an issue. He's the best player they have available for the outfield. He should be up--period. Manny Machado and Bryce Harper were brought up to the bigs at age 19, skipping the usual hierarchy. The Yankees are notoriously slow to advance young talent, and this is a case where a leapfrog of the usual stages for just a few weeks would show shrewdness and imagination--exactly why it won't happen.
ReplyDeleteMcBroom should definitely be up, then they should bring up McHeath. "Oh the shark bites..."
ReplyDeleteReally, where is he? And yes, Florial could play better D, and probably also hit .138.
Team going nowhere...
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