2018 ALCS - Houston Astros vs Boston Red Sox

Sale's stomach

https://nypost.com/2018/10/15/chris-sale-hospitalized-with-illness-as-red-sox-earn-split/

this game may go six hours

these fuckin games

Ron darling is about 100% more insightful than the regular suspects at NESN

Hit it to third.

maybe we can do a shift where bogaerts moves over to back up third on every play

Darling seems more natural/at ease/regular season-like with Anderson than he did with...was it Joe Simpson?

Who is the guy in the booth who just said there's never been a player in the history of the game who lied about whether or not he'd been hit by a pitch?

There's a pretty tasteless Osuna joke just waiting there for anyone who wants to make it.

Might as well finish the game, pal.

Lol yeah why pull him there

Darling has been below-par in past years compared to his Mets work.

and that was former Mets great Joe Smith yielding the gopher a few innings ago to Pearce.

Osuna was struck regularly in the 8th, like a gong

(Noel Coward ref that wouldn't fly now)

stealing signs seems a little different from felonious hacking into a rival's computer system and being jailed for it, but do go on

Guess who isn’t surprised?

— Chris Correa (@chriscorrea) October 17, 2018

What a great play by Gonzalez.

that was a dinger

or maybe not

That would have been the catch of the post-season

Good call--and I don't even care if Betts was a foot into the stands. If that's not interference, nothing is. Now they can follow up by showing that idiot the door.

i agree with the call, but the fan is innocent. he didn't reach into play and i think it's reasonable to put your hand in the way rather than letting the ball hit you in the stomach

yeah I would have done the same.

ALTUVE

man pitcher cant find the plate already walked one home i wldnt be swinging til theres two strikes

worst at bat ever

Kimbrel...

I don't know that I've ever seen three better plays than Betts, Reddick, and Benintendi in the last couple of innings of a game. What a finish.

they should play the last innings first if it's going to take 4:33 to play nine

Every single outing for Kimbrel has been interesting, but somehow, someway he gets it done #redsox

— Pedro Martinez (@45PedroMartinez) October 18, 2018

I want to report this tweet

official time of game: four hours and 33 minutes. second-longest nine-inning game in playoff history. tied for the fourth-longest nine-inning game in *baseball* history, counting the regular season

— Jeff Sullivan (@based_ball) October 18, 2018

counterpoints to Pedro

also maybe it's time to stop treating kimbrel as the proven closer i don't know just a thought

— keithlaw (@keithlaw) October 18, 2018

if the Red Sox ultimately win the World Series they should make Craig Kimbrel pay for the rings

— Jeff Sullivan (@based_ball) October 18, 2018

does my dude have a Reagan/Bush '84 hat on pic.twitter.com/Lu5kzgAKds

— Grant Brisbee (@GrantBrisbee) October 18, 2018

btw

"no interference shall be allowed when a fielder reaches over a fence, railing, rope or into a stand to catch a ball. He does so at his own risk. However, should a spectator reach out on the playing field side of such fence, railing or rope, and plainly prevent the fielder from catching the ball, then the batsman should be called out for the spectator's interference."

so lousy call, utterly unsupported by the rule

Defense was the deciding factor in this game -- Benintendi's catch, Betts' throw, the interference non-call, Correa unintentionally trying for a "neighbourhood" play ...

so lousy call, utterly unsupported by the rule

It's borderline whether the fans reached out onto the field or not. But if the fielder leaves his feet to attempt the catch then you can't say he was "plainly prevented from catching the ball". Basically once the fielder leaves his feet, interference should automatically be ruled out.

also maybe it's time to stop treating kimbrel as the proven closer i don't know just a thought

For Keith Law, apparently small sample sizes don't apply to closers? Does he think that maybe Brasier should close based on his thirty something innings of above average performance? I honestly have no idea what Law is suggesting here.

Maybe I missed Law's tweet after Kershaw's disastrous G1 of the NLCS where he said that the Dodgers should stop treating him like the proven ace. Sometimes Law can be a real dick.

agreed but Kimbrel does seem pretty lost out there now, i mean when he's missing he's missing wide and far and it was luck that won that game for Boston.

Sure, his breaking ball isn't working for him at all and he's walking too many people ... but if a star hitter was looking lost at the plate, would he suggest benching him? We just saw this in the NLCS with Bellinger, did anyone think he shouldn't be playing? How many times did A-Rod look terrible in a series and the statheads turned out en masse to complain that he was being treated unfairly?

Kenley Jansen didn't pitch well during last year's playoffs and maybe he was just overworked or whatever, but it didn't change the fact that he was their best reliever and you just have to hope that your best players deliver when it counts (within reason).

"Riding the hot hand" (or whatever Law's alternate strategy is, because it's not like Boston has a lights out bullpen) is just as silly as ignoring the "proven closer". They had David Price warming up in the eighth to bail out Kimbrel if needed!

Maybe I missed Law's tweet after Kershaw's disastrous G1 of the NLCS where he said that the Dodgers should stop treating him like the proven ace.

Hahaha, I just saw Law's Kershaw tweet posted on the NLCS thread a little while ago. So yeah, apparently Law can't keep his own opinions straight.

i think the importance of closers is pretty overstated and if this guy has been scuffling to the point that he's almost losing games maybe they should reconsider his role! in the second half his ERA was well over 4, and w/15 walks in 21.2 IP....

i think w/a team like Houston you can't afford to get too sloppy. i mean i don't have an answer per se, Boston's pen is somewhat uninspired agreed. but i also think w/closers if they're showing struggles in the limited role they have it's kind of like a kicker who's missing field goals at crucial points in the games, they should have a shorter leash than other players. it's tough, since CK has shown he's ridiculously dominant when he's on.

Closers do seem to be the most easily replaced players, eg Astros last year.

Those two Law tweets, the Kimbrel and the Kershaw, are laughable taken together. (The Kershaw is another version of the announcer who enthusiastically relays that such-and-such has just set a new postseason mark for whatever--it conveniently ignores that Kershaw has now had 22 postseason starts.)

Here's the answer, everybody--let me now tell you what the question is.

i bow to the arbiter of the laughable

keith law is an idiot.

Jeff Sullivan has a warm take

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-fan-interference-call-was-probably-good/

Posnanski has a real detailed look at the interference play, with screenshots and Zapruder-like close-ups. Haven't had time to read it yet. It's behind the paywall, but here's his verdict:

And that brings us back to the beginning: Sometimes rules in sports are necessary even if they are unsatisfying. I think of the Kevin Bacon line in "A Few Good Men:" "I don't think your clients belong in jail, but I don't get to make that decision."

I don't think Altuve should have been called out, I don't think those fans should feel like they did anything wrong, and I don't think you can take away the very real possibility that Mookie Betts would have made that catch.

I don't get to make that decision. There's a rule. It was fan interference. As crazy as it sounds, Country Joe West got it right.

Here's the key photo for him--he's focused on the guy in gray, saying "I feel pretty sure he's ever so slightly out in the field of play. It's interference."

https://heardjustwhatiseen.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/posnanski.jpg?w=450

i think the call could have legitimately gone either way. but regardless of the legality, i feel like mookie was going to make the catch. because he's mookie. i'd probably feel differently if it had been nelson cruz in right field

All of that can be prevented with good camera placement, that the review system didn't think that such a situation would occur is kinda nuts.