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The Spectacle Blog
To give you an idea of how certain I am that the Red Sox are only beginning to descend into an abyss, I knew they couldn’t hold on to a 9-0 lead against the Yankees after five innings.
However, the blame cannot be laid at the door of Red Sox starter Felix Doubront. He gave up only one run (a solo homer to Mark Teixeira) on four hits in six innings pitched. The Red Sox bullpen was another story. The Yankees scored seven runs in both the seventh and eighth innings. Teixeira added another homer, Nick Swisher hit a grand slam and drove in the go ahead runs with a two run double. Swisher had 6 RBI in two innings while Eduardo Nunez went 3 for 3 in the seventh and eighth. Red Sox “closer” Alfredo Aceves did not retire a single batter.
The Yankees won 15-9. The Red Sox are 4-10 and have begun their second century at Fenway in the most inauspicious way possible.
View all comments (27) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Aaron Goldstein
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/04/21/red-sox-blow-9-0-lead-vs-yanke
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mjs_pa| 4.21.12 @ 9:46PM
This is more than embarrassing for the Red Sox. It's embarrassing for baseball and professional sports in general.
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 4.21.12 @ 10:10PM
Oh how I wish that I had watched that game today!! I swear, I never tire of watching my Yankees, kick the living snot out of those pesky Red Sox!! Never!! But I was too busy playing Golf this afternoon, and like I seem to do more and more lately, as I get older and older, I had to take a nap once I was done playing, therefore missing the entire game (but at least I won my Golf round though). Now I'm not playing Golf tomorrow, because it's supposed to rain, so hopefully the Yanks can do the same thing again, as they did today, so I can get that good "let's kick the living crap out of the Red Sox" feeling again!! Sorry Aaron, but as you well know, this War never ends!! Never!!
nhung| 4.21.12 @ 10:52PM
So Aaron, are you ready for a Yankees sweep?
Aaron Goldstein| 4.21.12 @ 11:15PM
I picked the Sox to finish last in the AL East this year. What do you think?
JP| 4.22.12 @ 12:49PM
So we can both enjoy another glorious MLB season. I will enjoy the Cubs while you can enjoy the Red Sox. I predict the Cubs will lose 102 games.
Aaron Goldstein| 4.22.12 @ 2:29PM
Yes, Marlon Byrd goes from one terrible team to another.
Occam's Tool| 4.23.12 @ 12:24AM
The Cubs have blown larger leads in my lifetime.
Bob K.| 4.22.12 @ 3:46AM
It doesn't say much for their starting pitching either if the starter can't go more than 6 innings when he has a 9-1 lead to work with.
There was a time, not too long ago, in Baseball when a complete game was the hallmark of great pitching! Now a shutout is almost as rare as a no-hitter and a closer who comes into the game at the bottom of the 9th after 4 other pitchers have appeared is the big hero!
More evidence of how the game has become dumbed down!
JP| 4.22.12 @ 12:54PM
Actually, hitters are so much better prepared than even 2 decades ago. Scouting the opppostion pitching went high tech the last 15 years. You cannot believe what technology mixed with advanced statistics has done to hitting.
To make matters worse, today's pitching coaches are obessed with the breaking ball. The days of a Nolan Ryan type pitcher are gone forever. Even college pitchers are now getting Tommy John surgery due to the number of hard sliders they throw.
Bob K.| 4.22.12 @ 7:12PM
Technology! To scout the pitchers? What for?
The majority of the pitchers in the majors can't throw fast balls consistently for what could be described as good strikes let alone ones that break!
JP| 4.23.12 @ 8:29AM
They used advanced stop motion technology to get a handle of the pitcher's motion, release point, and follow through. Hitters today, are bigger and stronger than in past decades. The scouting is also much more sophisticated than even 10 years ago. If a pitcher displayed some new tendency in his last few starts, scouts will pick it up. Hitters today in many cases know what pitch is coming before the pitcher puts his foot on the rubber.
Casey Abell| 4.23.12 @ 10:08AM
Actually, offense has declined steadily since 2007 in both leagues, and has reached deadball-era levels in the NL.
Everybody will finger steroid testing, but I think an ever larger strike zone is the main culrpit. The strikeout-to-walk ratio has reached an astronomical all-time high. Pitches three, four inches off the plate are routinely called strikes nowadays, as the electronic pitch-trackers reveal in almost every game.
Anyway, the whining for more complete games is just macho talk about them real he-man pitchers back in the good old days. Pitchers currently dominate baseball, regardless of complete games.
JP| 4.23.12 @ 11:42AM
That's true, but ERAs are way up from the 1980s. And the power numbers are still better than the 1970s and 1980s. The money as far as position players go, is in homeruns and RBIs. As far as offensive strategy goes, the game today is 1 dimensional - the long ball. Few players even try to replicate the Colemans of yesteryear. Check out the 1985 Cardinals. Vince Coleman had close to 100 stolen bases; 3 more Cards had over 30. Today, the big bucks come via homeruns.
But, I do agree with you as far as strike zones. It's a crap shoot.
Casey Abell| 4.23.12 @ 1:51PM
"That's true, but ERAs are way up from the 1980s."
Not true at all for the NL. Not even close. The current National League ERA is 3.53. That's lower than 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987. There were few years in the 1980s when the NL had a lower ERA.
The current AL ERA is 4.16. That's slightly higher than most years in the 1980s but still lower than 1986 and 1987.
At any rate, current ERAs are hardly "way up" from the 1980s.
"As far as offensive strategy goes, the game today is 1 dimensional - the long ball."
Again, not true at all. The current major league home run rate is 0.92 homers per game per team. That's the lowest rate since 1993.
There's just not much offense of any kind in baseball right now. The current major league OPS is .708, the lowest since 1992 and the fifth lowest since 1980. The pitchers have taken over the game, regardless of complete game counts.
Yesterday was a typical day in today's baseball. The 12 contests averaged 7.5 runs per game. Some of the scores: 3-2, 5-1, 4-1, 3-2, 5-1. Baseball scoreboards are starting to look like soccer scoreboards (slight exaggeration).
JP| 4.24.12 @ 8:53AM
The current NL and AL ERAs are based on 15 games. Look at Complete Games, Innings Pitched, as well as ERAs. Also, subtract relievers and look at starters. There is no comparison once you realize that the average starter today doesn't even pitch 7 innings. Most average between 52/3s and 61/3 innings.
There is a reason that Jamie Moyer will probably be the last pitcher to win 300 games, or the last 300 strike out pitcher pitched in 2002.
bop berrigan| 4.22.12 @ 7:46AM
Incredible. I stopped watching when the Yankees got behind 9-0.
rightasrain| 4.22.12 @ 10:35AM
I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy--and the Red Sox are my worst enemy.
Drek| 4.22.12 @ 1:25PM
Haven't you guys picked up what happened?
On the 100th anniversary, Obama singles you out for his attentions.
You naturally lose the game.
Now, you've blown a 9 run lead.
You're not the first team to have first hand experience of obama's kiss of death..............
Didn't he pick North Carolina to win the NCAA?
How did they do?
Aaron Goldstein| 4.22.12 @ 2:31PM
Do you mean to tell me there's The Curse of the Obambambino?
Drek| 4.22.12 @ 3:55PM
Obama has a record of making sports predictions and selecting certain teams to do well.
From what I understand his picks invariably fail. It's like The Sports Illustrated cover!
Now the Boston Red Sox are going to be tainted.
God only knows how long it's going to last.
I'd say you guys are screwed, big time.
Brady and the Patriots lose to Manning and the Giants.
Giselle gets taunted by a Giants fan and falls for the trap by turning on Brady's receiving corps, setting Patriot against Patriot and Patriot fan against Brady's wife.
AND now this, the false messiah himself deigns to take notice of your baseball team.
Not looking too good, now is it.
Occam's Tool| 4.23.12 @ 12:25AM
Yes, Aaron. It is time you guys got comeuppance for letting Ted be re-elected all these years. :-)
k. bourg| 4.22.12 @ 3:12PM
I haven't seen a collapse as bad as this since..... the end of last season.
Drek| 4.22.12 @ 3:57PM
It's obama! Whatever he touches, whatever company he visits, whatever industry he touts, --- it all collapses, fails, goes bankrupt!
And now he's touched the Red Sox!
First the Babe, and now this jerk!
You guys are screwed!
Crassus| 4.22.12 @ 7:55PM
Fire Valentine and hire Mike Hargrove. I guarantee he gets the Sox in ahead of the Orioles.
Casey Abell| 4.23.12 @ 10:03AM
For me a Yankees-Red Sox game is like the battle of Stalingrad. Who am I supposed to root for, Hitler or Stalin? I want 'em both to lose, real bad.
But it was still fun listening to the boos for Bobby V.
The American Hitman| 4.23.12 @ 11:28AM
In other, more important news, the Flyers finished off the Penguins in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, along the way making the case for Claude Giroux as best player in the game today.
Mike Lee| 4.23.12 @ 9:24PM
Boston has it's own version of Rex Ryan. Enjoy!