Dirty Water - the tale of the 2023 Boston Red Sox

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The “flex” on base celebration is pretty cute, but it’s even better when they cut to the dugout and show all the guys there doing it back.

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INCREDIBLE

Alex Verdugo’s dad is having a FANTASTIC Father’s Day lmao pic.twitter.com/54kOgd8zmg

— Arcand (@ChristianArcand) June 18, 2023

"thank you for the edibles"

His brother had to post a photo of it lol

“The edibles” 😂😂 @espn pic.twitter.com/ID064zIAvJ

— Chris Verdugo (@sirdugo520) June 18, 2023

Oh yeah let me not ignore this catch by Duran! 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

WHAT A PLAY BY JARREN DURAN! 🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/gU3kTu0pZb

— Red Sox (@RedSox) June 18, 2023

Btw my searingly hot take is that the City connect uniforms are the most photogenic of them all!

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Nice piece about Yoshida in The Athletic today.

Isolated by language, culture and unfamiliarity, Yoshida remains a unique presence inside the Red Sox clubhouse, but he’s made unmistakable connections with his teammates and coaches. Translator Keiichiro Wakabayashi is ever-present to facilitate conversations, and Yoshida has learned enough English to engage his American teammates in basic discussions, especially when baseball terminology will suffice. Yoshida often laughs in the locker room and around the batting cage, and the other players like him.

Cora said he tried earlier this year to guess which team was the runner-up in the Yoshida sweepstakes, but Yoshida again surprised him by saying at one point that he thought he was going to end up with the Blue Jays. Yoshida’s left-handed bat would have been a nice fit in that Toronto lineup, and it wouldn’t have made things any easier in the American League East.

“I’m glad that it was us,” Cora said.

Stats always gets the best screenshots

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I’m so impressed with Bello. He developed a cutter and is already using it! Also, watching his game last night back, he’s looking so much more assured with men on base, they leave him to get out of trouble and so far he’s been able to do it. Perhaps most importantly, he wasn’t even at his best and still ground out the win.

he’s turning into a certified stud, incredible stuff

Devers said in his postgame he sees Bello as a little brother and tries to help him all he can. Regardless of where this team goes, watching Bello come on in leaps and bounds is really incredible stuff.

I can’t believe he literally developed and has been using a new pitch in the week!

how tf are these pitches all clustered so tightly, this is insane

Bello threw a new pitch tonight, a cutter. pic.twitter.com/RCCfNzGz11

— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) June 24, 2023

Yeah I was shocked by that stats graph too cos his command didn’t look that great but I was wrong. He’s also throwing to his non-personal catcher!

The bats are asleep, the rotation picks up a new injury every week, and they’re one game above .500, but the vibes are undefeated.

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Some style choices were made here
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The Jarren Duran game! 5 for 5! 4 were doubles!

I cannot TELL you how much I love this kid.

Brayan Bello, Dirty 85mph Changeup. 👌 pic.twitter.com/KL1gWDcf4j

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 6, 2023

I think you can argue he's been better than Eury Perez. Twice as many innings, 2.8 WAR already. Gave up more than 2 runs only once since May 10 (he gave up 3 against Tampa Bay on June 5)

Too soon to say on that count or Perez’s - the latter got absolutely lit up in one of his most recent starts. He’s just incredible to watch and he’s tough - he wants to go seven, he wants to pitch out of jams and go after the best hitters aggressively.

tough to sit triston even against a RHP. is duvall really that important? is yoshida really that bad in LF? too many DHs i guess..

Cora was asked about it yesterday & he said Triston was odd man out because they wanted to start Duran which means that if they want to play Duvall (which they did) means that Yoshida has to DH. And they want to keep Turner in too and he historically has great numbers against Gray, so I get it but I didn’t like it.

However, Cora also said they are going to start playing Turner at 2B more, for maximising his time in the lineup going forward. The two unsaid are that they are trying to get Duvall going again so they can trade him (that outfield is crowded with Duran, Kiké, Refsnyder, Verdugo and Duvall), so they have to try and get him ABs. The other is that Yu Chang and Pablo Reyes are both coming back, and this plus the Turner at 2B thing is probably bad news for either Kiké or Arroyo (think they will trade the latter if they can). But yeah, Triston had such a good June I’m hoping he hasn’t been cooled off. Having said that, there were some great signs for his hitting which definitely helped secure his position. Stats actually pointed out he had 96 PAs in June which was up there.

Piece about roster crunch here.

Oh and also idk if you watched the Toronto games but Yoshida was struck hard with a line drive in the shin so it wouldn’t surprise me if they put him at DH on and off a little more often so he doesn’t have to run or jump while he recovers. Think he has a bone bruise?

Yoshida got hit in the leg with a 101.8 mph four-seam fastball from Nate Pearson during the seventh inning. He went 2-for-3 with an RBI single.

Jarren 🥹

I could say more but Connor Wong being put in for the top of the ninth and immediately throwing out the best player on the A’s is why he’s him

Connor Wong immediately erases Rooker pic.twitter.com/pAJAxMSgwL

— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthewCFB) July 9, 2023

That was so bad-ass

Watched Bello’s innings - got into difficulty a few times but got out of it again. They really want to push him through these difficult innings and force him to work it out and if he can do it to a team like the Rangers he can do it to anyone.

Nice to see some power from the lineup. It’ll also be nice to see the most handsome man in baseball meet Dansby Swanson on Sunday.

lol excellent

The other thing is that Cora doesn’t really have a choice. Boston literally has three starters. They’re all going 6 if they haven’t thrown 100 pitches yet and the game’s close

Bello’s last 13 starts:

5.0, 1 ER
5.0, 2 ER
6.0, 2 ER
5.0, 1 ER
7.0, 2 ER
4.0, 1 ER
6.0, 3 ER
7.0, 2 ER
7.0, 1 ER
6.2, 1 ER
7.0, 1 ER
7.0, 2 ER
6.0, 3 ER

I mean… there an answer to this that I’m too lazy to look up, but has anyone been better?

I drew a lazy comparison to T*m L*ncecum’s 2008 (his age 24 year!)

This week:
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In “What a cunt” news, this loser (Jeff Frye) a former Red Sox having a pop at Manny’s son for being a kid dancing when hitting a walk off homer

Thanks @MLB for encouraging kids to act foolishly on a baseball field. I’m sure this young man has a bright future but I played against his dad who was a great hitter and I never saw him do this. #shegone #letthekidsplay @@MLBPAA @MLBNetwork @WillClark22 @TheRealJHair pic.twitter.com/4YKutJGFKO

— Fryedaddy (@shegone03) July 24, 2023

I’m sorry, I love this fucking team. I cannot believe that they beat the Braves twice. Just watching it back now and:

- not Bello’s greatest outing but he held a potent lineup scoreless for 5 innings and that was enough (way better than giving up six to the fucking A’s). It looks like they got him on the fastball when he finally threw one low to get on before murdering a sinker. Seriously this Barves lineup is scary. Every single guy in the lineup is a difficult out and can go yard.

- CONNOR WONG THROWING OUT A GUY IN A BIG MOMENT I LOVE YOU CONNOR

CONNOR WONG SAID NOT TODAY. pic.twitter.com/cVeJWzrt4c

— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 27, 2023

Justin Turner has been incredible this year and Strider can't watch pic.twitter.com/tQZ3WxhoQ3

— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) July 27, 2023

I knew they were hot but what the fuck are these numbers

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They’re so special
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so far Urías has walked, singled and at 2B started a double play, not bad

Brutal loss tonight. Down 5-3 heading to the ninth they put runners on the corners. With one out, Urías laces a single to plate a run. Now it's 5-4, runners on first and second. Wong launches a shot towards the Monster which looks promising but is caught right on the track. Reese McGuire (for it is he) takes off on contact and just... keeps going around 3rd?! Gets doubled off by about 80 feet, game over.

Lot of second guessing to go around here. In the top of the 9th, with the score still 4-3, who does Cora bring in to pitch to a string of righties? Leftie "depth" Joe Jacques, who gives up a walk, a single and eventually a run. Why?

The WEEI guys were wondering why Verdugo was a scratch from the game, with no reason given. These are possibly the most important games of the year. He can't PH for McGuire? Pinch run?

If they'd won their last two games they'd be tied for the last WC spot. As it stands they're 4 back of the Jays.

Looking at the play again, Febles (Boston’s 3B coach) is quite clearly signaling “home run” to both McGuire and Urías there, just unconscionable stuff

Oh man you missed the whole Verdugo beef

"I think today we took a step back as a team... As the manager, I got to take charge of this"

Alex Cora on their loss against Toronto today | #RedSox pic.twitter.com/HJxTzu2IOI

— NESN (@NESN) August 5, 2023

Urias is a real nice player, though.

Cora was not happy after the game.

Asked about Verdugo, he reiterated several times that he made a decision not to play him. It is not health-related.

He also said “this is probably one of my worst days here in this organization.”

— Gabrielle Starr (@gfstarr1) August 5, 2023

completely bizarre

Unreal how bad this team is rn lmaooooo

I mean tbh the pen is burnt out but still. They need the injured back yesterday and it’s still today.

It definitely feels over now. Very weird season. Swept by Pirates and Rockies. Owned the Blue Jays til it mattered. Extreme swings of hot and cold are normal but even so. Dugie and Casas were either on fire or couldn't buy a hit. Devers hasn't really looked like himself, swinging for the fences all the time, average way down. Duran is simply not a CF. Lot of parts that don't quite fit. You'd like to play Duvall in CF but then whither Duran & Refsnyder? You'd like Yoshida to DH but then whither Turner? It's all just slightly janked out. There's no such thing as a normal lineup. And let's not even get into the pitching situation. Who's starting? Who's relieving? Is it coincidental that after the front office failed to add any significant pieces the wheels came off? You can say oh, well, this team should have taken that as a vote of confidence and played their balls off but everyone can see how it's all put together with duct tape. I am surprised that Duvall didn't get moved. Not even Dalbec got moved!

Idk I assumed they were never making the playoffs and this is a year for development - which it pretty much has been. Casas + defence training over offseason + a year’s seasoning = a key piece next year. Duran was due more regression. Think the injuries really broke them open, the Houck one was in retrospect probably the worst. Who knows. I really enjoy watching them when they’re going good. Also, Cora needs to stop complaining about their defence when every single player that goes there gets worse!

Btw Dalbec didn’t get moved cos they probably release him, nobody is trading for him

Casas especially after April a rare bright spot, the adjustments have been really encouraging even if he skids every now and then. Urias looks good. Bello, you know how I feel about Bello. Yoshida a classic ofc. Devers very weird up and down year. Idk I think there’s still plenty of year to go, I don’t think they make the playoffs but even if the deadline theory is true, they were still losing winnable games long before that.

Yeah yeah but Dalbec DESTROYS (this is the mandated verb) AAA pitching!!eleventy1!11!!!

xpost Lots of bright spots really, enough that they really had me believing.