2018 World Series -- Boston Red Sox vs Los Angeles Dodgers

needed to cash that runner.... but it's a good thing Machado didnt hit that fly

It's funny how you're certain there's no mental component to it.

xps

not puzzling, clem, u just gotta cling to causation

the 'narrative' jazzbos are CONVINCED he's a choker, of course

cuz it's just gotta be

fwiw Harper had a well above average season in terms of offensive production (albeit not to his full potential). His defense dragged his overall value way down this year.

cling to causation

What does this even mean? What cause was implied by talking about turning a corner?

u just gotta cling to causation

Again, I implied nothing of the sort. I observed that his post-season pitching has been erratic. Didn't speculate on the why of it at all. It's you who clings to your one rhetorical trick: take one of the old myths that 40 years of sabermetrics has shown to be specious at best and pin it on someone for no other reason that that's what you do.

Buck Martinez called J.D. Martinez's hit a "hand-job."

Three hard hit outs for the Sox

Kershaw's up-and-downness has sometimes been in-game, like tonight. The thing I vividly remember about those Cardinal meltdowns was how untouchable he was for the first six innings, right up to the point where St. Louis broke the games open. Right now, he's in a groove (some hard-hit balls, though, yeah).

If it goes six, is Boston looking at Sale, or is he in reserve for tonight?

This is disconcerting

I swear Price gets a bit more gray in that chin hair each inning.

Whoever wins this game, boy I'd love for it to end sometime around 11:00.

Thinking of switching to red dead 2 right now

Kershaw's rate stats in the postseason are essentially the same as in the regular season -- with the exception of home runs. His HR rate doubles in the postseason. I don't think that's bad luck and he's pitched enough that it's not a small sample size. He has a tendency to make really bad pitches at the worst times. For instance, that pitch to Betts a few minutes ago.

I don't know if everyone else has Smoltz/Buck--we've got Buck Martinez and his partner here. Martinez hinted that Boston would be looking for someone other than Kimbrel to close tonight, if it comes to that. Not sure if that's just speculation or if he's talked to someone.

Not sure why Kershaw is still out there at this point (which I guess means why someone wasn't already warming up).

playoff kershaw is a real thing

The 'playoff chocker' narrative is not only dumb, it's just super boring.

why does he always pitch bad then

I'll be honest, I might have had someone ready and pinch-hit for Price there, tried to break the game wide open. Going back out after you've made the third out is not ideal. I don't know exactly how precarious their bullpen situation is, though.

the other thing with kershaw is he just isn’t the same guy anymore, playoff choking aside

David Price known playoff chocker.

a choker can stop choking is the thing

A CG is too much to ask, but I'd send Price out for the 8th.

yeah, he's locked in

A Maddux is within the realm of possibility--think he's got about 15 pitches to work with. I'd be astounded if he finishes the game.

I thought a Maddux had to be a shutout.

You're right. I think 99 pitches/1 run is a Mike Maddux.

I'm sure of it now--that guy used to play for the Blue Jays.

(Was hoping Price would win MVP, but if Pearce wasn't a sure thing already, he is now.)

If the score stands, Price is probably the MVP. Would make for a nice story.

(Pierce has an outside shot as well)

xpost mindmeld

oh wait I misread -- you think Pearce has it in the bag. I'm not so sure.

Price/Pearce co-MVPs, I'm calling it.

how is it decided?

If this holds up, I'd vote for Price myself. Good question--is there an actual vote that takes place, or do three or four league executives just huddle in the runway and pick someone?

pearce has to be one of the best random midseason acquisitions i can remember. from that series in august where he single handedly destroyed the yankees it's been a great ride.

As much as I dislike the Red Sox, I’m cool with Price making the Sox faithful eat crow, they draggged him in the mud last season.

Good for Cora. He let Price go out for the 8th and gave him a baserunner. And now you hand it over to the bullpen.

" is now decided during the final game of the Series by a committee of reporters and officials present at the game.[2]"

I knew I remembered that the booth jockeys get to vote.

thanks WmC!

Sale warming up!

Joe Kelly will now board a plane and return to his middle-management job in Anywhere, USA.

DRoberts bringing in that hot bat Bellinger over ice cold Freese...

I used a database of every picture from the WDYLL threads to train an ML algorithm and the output was Joe Kelly.

haha

hahahahahahaha machado fuck you dude

Machado the fitting last out.

Betts and Price are World Series Champs, I’ll take that.

i don't post here much but i do follow the sox and i will say this team had some holes despite the regular season record. cora and the analytics ppl made those holes magically disappear in the playoffs and deserve a huge amount of credit for pulling that off.

I'm sure everyone loved seeing it end with Machado on his knees.

yeah i'll add that i'm also glad for Cora.