Category Archives: Go Sox

Final 2013 MillersTime Baseball Contest Winners

11 Monday Nov 2013

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With the conclusion of the World Series (wasn’t that just dandy?) and the naming of Wil Myers as the American League Rookie of the Year today, the voting closes for choosing the winners of Contests #1 and #6.

Contest #1 – Make a Prediction about the 2013 baseball season:

I put the 12 predictions that came true to a vote of MillersTime/GoSox baseball readers, and the result was a tie between two as voters seemed to appreciate the specificity of the these two predictions:

#3 – RA Dickey will struggle, his ERA will be higher than the past three seasons, and he won’t win more than 15 games. (His ERA was indeed higher, 4.21 vs 3.28, and his record was 14-13.)

#7 – Jordan Zimmerman will be the Nats best and most consistent pitcher, over Strasburg and Gonzales. (Zimmerman was 19-9, Strasburg 8-9, Gonzales 11-8.)

So Rob Higdon (#3) and Dan Cate (#7) tie. Their prize is an all expense over night car trip with me to Cooperstown between the end of the 2013 MLB baseball season and Opening Day in 2014. Hopefully we can work out a mutually satisfying time for this trip.

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Dear Eli, (cont.)

01 Friday Nov 2013

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IMG_0025 First Game: 7/09                         Eli baseball game IMAG0134_ZOE008

 

 

Most Recent: 9/13

Dear Eli,

My grandfather, Pappy (Rob Goodman, your great, great grandfather), was the person who introduced me to baseball and to the Red Sox. In all of his years going to Fenway Park (he was a season ticket holder, nights and weekends), he never saw the Sox win a World Series. (He might have seen them play in the World Series one time as the Sox did make it that far in 1946. But he never saw them win because they lost to St. Louis that time.)

The Sox didn’t get to the WS again in Pappy’s life time and so he never got to see what his grandson (me), great granddaughters (your mother Annie & auntie Elizabeth), and great great grand son (you) have had the good fortune to experience.

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Dear Eli

20 Sunday Oct 2013

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game6-26

(Shane Victorino hits a grand slam home run to put the Sox ahead, 5-2 in the the sixth and deciding game of the 2013 ALCS playoffs.)

Dear Eli,

The last time you spent the night at our house, you said, “Tell me how well the Red Sox are doing?”

Well, while you were asleep last night and I was worrying about the game, a Red Sox batter hit a grand slam home run, scoring all three runners who were on base, plus himself. That put the Sox ahead of the Tigers, 5-2, and shortly thereafter, the game ended.

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The Best Laid Plans…

09 Wednesday Oct 2013

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Hats

For those of you who follow such foolishness, you know the Red Sox defeated the Rays last night in Tampa to move on to the American League Championship Series and a possible chance to play in the 2013 World Series.

While last night’s event, and the earlier ones against the Rays, is not important to 99.99+% of America, it was important to a few of us, and to those who have to live with us.

But this post is not about the victory itself but about another example where I once again learned I don’t know myself so well and despite my advancing age, I haven’t learned how to handle certain things so well.

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Baseball and/or Football

30 Monday Sep 2013

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One of the delights for me being able to pursue interests other than professional ones is having time to read and think about some of those other interests.

Today’s post links to three articles that I have found particularly interesting about sports.

And you do not have to be an obsessive sports’ fan nor do you need to pick baseball over football or vice versa to enjoy them.

The first two articles (sent to me by BT) are written by a football player who is particularly gifted in his ability to convey what it is like to be a professional football player, to fail at that profession, and to continue to pursue his dream to play.

Both of his articles are worth your time I believe:

* What It’s Like to Get Whacked, by Austen Lane

* A Game with No End, by Austen Lane

The other article I draw to your attention (thanks to AR for alerting me to this one) appeared yesterday in the New York Times and discusses the current ‘decline’ in interest in baseball as the ‘National Pastime’, some of the reasons football (and other sports) has/have gained in popularity, and the differences between them.

Its author, Jonathan Mahler, doesn’t seek to persuade you about one sport over the other but rather writes about how they differ. And, perhaps, as interesting as the article itself are the Comments by readers that follow the article. If you have the time and the topic interests you, there is much here to enjoy and consider.

 Is the Game Over, by Jonathan Mahler

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Why Having the Best Record Matters

26 Thursday Sep 2013

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Dear Ellen,

I appreciate that you have been quite patient with my mishegas (craziness) again this year with the Red Sox.

I have also noticed that you haven’t ‘rolled your eyes’ when I’ve said that getting into the playoffs isn’t enough, that the Sox need to have the best record in the American League too.

But I’m not sure you understand just how important it is have the best record.

So a quick post for you to know why I am continuing to stress about my heroes even tho they will be in the playoffs.

If they have the best won/loss record that means the following:

1) They will have home field advantage in the two series they would have to play to get to the World Series. In the first best of five series and then in the second best of seven series if there are final games, those crucial games would take place in Fenway, home of the brave.

How important is that, you may ask?

Of the 81 games they have played at home this year, they are 53-28. They have won 65% of their games at Fenway.

Of the 78 games they have played away from home so far this year (they still have three left to play this weekend in Baltimore), they are 43-35, 55%.

Enough of a difference to matter.

2) They will face the winner of a one game Wild Card play off.  And that team will have used their best pitcher in that Wild Card game, meaning the Sox won’t have to face the likes of say a David Price in their first game.

3) They will not have to face Detroit in the first playoff series. Detroit has both terrific pitching and strong hitting. And there is always the chance they will be defeated by the time the Sox have to play them.

4) They will not have to make two trips to the West Coast to play Oakland (going back for a final game if the series goes that far), which means they will be more rested.

But you may ask, “Don’t they still have to beat the Tigers and whoever wins the playoff games against the Wild Card anyway?”

True.

But playing at home, playing with the most rest possible, and not having to face one of the best pitchers in baseball to get to the World Series all matter.

Those are not guarantees that the Sox would make it to the World Series.

But every advantage helps.

Questions?

Richard,

Go Sox

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Announcing Three New MillersTime Baseball Contest Winners

25 Wednesday Sep 2013

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As the 2013 MLB season winds down, or, for some of us, winds up, there are already three winners to announce for this year’s MillersTime Baseball Contests.

Contest #4 – Will Nats make the playoffs? If yes, how far will they go?  If no, why not?

More than 90% of you said the Nats would make the playoffs, and some of you thought they’d make it to the World Series or even be the winner of the WS. Most seemed to believe the Nats would pick up right where they left off last year (98-64). With four games remaining, they are 84-74 and have been eliminated from the Wild Card.

Matt Gallati (“they will be plagued by injuries and thus lose more often than they win.”), Larry Longenecker (“Davey Johnson will eventually upset people by speaking his mind…”) and David Price (“…they won’t even be close…”) all thought they wouldn’t make the playoffs and seemed to understand that 2013 would be different for them than 2012.

But Randy Candea wins this contest with this prediction for 2013: “Nats (88-74) will finish behind Atlanta and not make the playoffs due to sophomore jinx. Unlike last year, they won’t win the close games.” He gets two tickets to a Nationals’ game of his choice in 2014.

Contest #5 – Predict the Sox-Yankee Split of the 19 games they play against each other. Since Jere Smith failed to take the opportunity to appeal my decision, Meg Gage wins the two tickets to Fenway in 2014. (See this earlier post for more details on the results of this contest.)

Contest #7 – Worst Prediction.

Actually this one was not one of the six original 2013 contests. In a moment of anxiety about how the Sox were doing, I distracted myself by going through everyone’s predictions and decided to add a category of the Worst Prediction for 2013. I found 15 predictions that were pretty wide of the mark and let you folks choose which one was the worst. (See all the 15 in this earlier post.)

Elizabeth Hedlund ‘won’ (got the most votes from you) with her prediction that “Stephen Strasburg wins 30 games, first since Denny McLain in 1986.”  And because contestant Tracy Capullo encouraged Elizabeth to join the contests, these two Red Sox fans get to go to a Nats’ game of their choice in 2014.

Also,

Contest #3. Which League wins the All-Star game, what will the score be, and who will be the MVP?

I announced the winner of this contest earlier. Tim Malieckal and I will go to Minneapolis next summer.

Finally, there are still three contests to be decided: Best overall prediction (#1), Best Team Prediction (#2), and World Series Contestants and winner. We’ll have to wait until the end of October to see who wins these.

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We Have a Winner in MillersTime Contest #5

16 Monday Sep 2013

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Contest #5 :  The Red Sox and the Yankees play 19 games this year. Last year they played 18, and the Yankees won 13 of them. What will the split be in 2013? Tie-Breaker: Who will be the outstanding player for each team, and who will be the dud on each team this year?

Prize: Two tickets to a Sox-Yankee game in 2014. Winner can choose the park and whether or not I join (use the second ticket).

Fifty-four per cent of those participating said the Yankees would win the series, taking 11.4 games to the Sox 7.6.

The 46% of you who thought the Sox would win said they’d win 11 games to 8.

With last nights 9-2 victory by the Sox, a sweep of the final three game series between the two teams, the Fenway heroes put the final nail in the coffin of any possibility of the Yankees winning the AL East Division.

The Sox, on the other hand, improved their record to 92-59 (.609) and increased their Division lead to 9.5 games over the tottering Tampa Bay Rays. With 11 games remaining in their regular season schedule, the Sox Magic Number is down to four.

(For those not paying close attention to the 2013 Red Sox, Yes, these are the Red Sox who last year ended the season with a record of 69-93. Certainly an amazing turn around, about which I probably will write in more detail on another, later post.)

Oh yes. The Sox-Yankee split this year?

Sox 13 to the Yankee’s 6, with the Sox scoring a total of 120 runs to the Yankee’s 85.

A(nother) total reversal of 2012.

Four of the MillersTime contestants were tied with the closest predictions. Dan Fisher, Meg Gage, Jere Smith and Tracy Capulo all predicted a split of 12-7, favoring the Sox.

(Ed. note: one contestant, Elizabeth R. Miller, predicted the Sox would take the series 15-4, being the only one who said the Sox would win more than 12 of the 19 games. Obviously, Ms Miller must have been raised well. On the other hand, Yankee homer David Price will have to live with another one of his sorry predictions, “Yankees will win 14 games. The Sox will be lucky to get away with the other 5.” David comes from ‘Across the Pond’ and perhaps that contributes to his continual misjudgments.)

Since Dan and Tracy failed to make predictions about who would be the outstanding players and who would be the duds, they tie for third place in this contest.

That leaves Meg Gage and Jere Smith.

Meg said Pedroia would be the Sox hero, and Dempster would be the dud for the Sox. And Cano would be the hero and Teixeira the dud for the Yankees.

Jere said for the Sox, Middlebrooks would be the outstanding player and Aceves the dud. For the Yankees, he picked Sabathia as the hero and Youk as the dud.

By the power invested in me by me, I therefore declare Jere Smith runner-up.

And Meg Gage wins the prize and gets to see a Sox-Yankee game in 2014.

However, if Mr. Smith would like to appeal this decision to the MillersTime readers, I will give him one week to present his case, and then I will put the appeal decision up to a vote.

Finally, the best quote I heard about last night’s game and the Sox-Yankee rivalry this year came from that no good fellow Alex Rodriquez: “I guess the good news is that we’re leaving Boston.”

Hopefully, for the rest of this season. And for ever (forever) for A-Rod.

Screen Shot 2013-09-16 at 9.49.33 AM

 

Finally, if you didn’t have a chance to see the Sox tribute (and roast) to Mariano Rivera last night, you can see it now:

Fenway Gives Mo One Final Standing Ovation

 

 

 

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Why You Gotta Stay ‘Til the End

06 Friday Sep 2013

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Screen Shot 2013-09-06 at 9.14.07 AM

Last night proved once again that you simply have to stay until the end of a baseball game, whether that’s the 27th out or the final out or run scored in extra innings.

So after blowing a 7-2 lead to the Evil Empire last night, the mighty Sox were down to their final strike in the ninth inning. Mariano Rivera, the great God of closers, was on the mound. Mike Napoli, the strike out leader for the Sox with 171 so far this season, was up with two strikes. The Yunkee fans were all on their feet screaming for the final punch out, an amazing comeback, and an important win as their long season was hanging by a thread.

And I had my hand on the off button on my iPad so I wouldn’t have to see the Bronx celebration.

If you’re reading this post, you probably already know the outcome. Napoli scratches out a hit. Recent Sox acquiree and speedster Quintin Barry replaces Napoli on first, steals second and gets to third on a bad throw and a missed stop by hobbled Derek Jeter. Stephen Drew, unsung Sox player who was 0-4 already, scratches out a single, and the Sox tie the game. Rivera blows (another) save opportunity against my heroes.

So if you had left the stadium, as perhaps half of the Bronx fans had already done, or switched off your TV, iPad, or radio, you missed the come back.

Then it was another 15 minutes or so before the Yankees further imploded with Soriano getting greedy trying to steal third after having swiped second. He was caught. The Sox got out of the inning with the next batter.

In the 10th, after a blown call by an umpire on whether Shane Victorino had swung or not, benefiit to the Sox, chubby Joba Chamberlain gave up a go ahead RBI to one of this year’s key Sox players (Victorino).

Koji Uehara, the not so surprising Sox closer (to those who have followed his career closely), and perhaps the new, next God of closers, shut down the Yunks in the bottom of the 10th.

Four hours and thirty-two minutes.

And if you hadn’t stayed through the end of the 9th and on to the 10th, you woulda missed it.

There were enough mistakes by both teams, their managers, and the umpires to fill another post, but I’ll spare you that.

Suffice it to say, Thursday night’s game was simply another confirmation that no matter what, you have to stay until the end.

(PS – Elsewhere I’ve written why you also have to be at the park for the first inning, as the three hardest outs are not at the end of a game but in the first inning, when most runs are scored, before the pitchers settle in and while the offensive teams have their best hitters lined up).

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Worst MillersTime Baseball Predictions – Please Vote

03 Tuesday Sep 2013

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Bryce Harper goes nuts. — Harper’s age-19 season was arguably the best ever for a player of his age. It wasn’t just his physical tools, but his approach at the plate, with a good walk rate and acceptable strikeout-to-walk ratio, the way he worked to improve in the outfield, and his unmatched aggression on the bases. Mike Trout set the bar high for 20-year-olds last year; look for Harper to clear it and set a new standard for baseball playing by a guy who can’t legally buy a drink. He will challenge for the NL MVP for a Nationals team that might be the best in the game.

 -  Joe Sheenan, Sports Illustrated – My Baseball Predictions for 2013. Posted: Thu December 27, 2012 11:29AM; Updated: Thu January 3, 2013 3:39PM. (Ed. note: Harper is currently hitting .278 {last year he hit .270} with 19 HRs and an OBP/SLG/OPS of .381/.541/.895 {last year – .340/.477/817} and has missed more than a month because he continues to run into outfield walls. Harper is hardly equal or above Trout’s last year’s BA of .326, 30 HRs, and OBP/SLG/OPS of .399/.564/.963. Also, the Nats are barely above .500 and likely won’t make the playoffs. Clearly not “the best in game.”)

*                         *                          *                          *
I’ve gone through the 2013 MillersTime Baseball Contests looking to see which of you will turn out to be the wise (lucky) ones. In the process, I noticed there were a number of predictions that are a bit wide of the mark, so to speak.

 

So, while we await the outcome of the September games, I thought I’d ask all of you to vote for which of the following you judge to be The Worst Prediction for 2013:

 

  • 1. Teddy will win at least 26 races; Taft will not win any races. (Ed. note: You probably need to be a Nats’ Homer to understand this one. Anyway, Teddy has only won 8 times and Taft has already won 9 times.)
  • 2.  Nats win 103 games and the WS – multiple ‘fans’ mistakenly predicted a Nats’ WS win. (Ed’s note: Nats’ record currently at 69-68. Even were they to win all of their remaining games, their record would only be 94-68. If they continue at their current .504 rate, they will end up 82-82.)
  • 3. Blue Jays win AL East. (Ed.’s note: Blue Jays currently at 63-75, 18.5 games behind in the AL East.)
  • 4. Yankees win 95 games and “have little trouble in dispatching with the flotsam of Boston & Baltimore.” (Ed.’s note: Yunkees currently at 73-64 and would need to win 22 of their remaining 25 games to win 95.)
  • 5. Cole Hamels wins 24 games and leads the resurgent…Phillies to the NE East title. (Ed.’s note: Hamels is currently 6-13.)
  • 6. Stephen Strasburg wins 30 games. (Ed.’s note: Strasburg is currently 6-9.)
  • 7. The New York Yankees will finish 90-72, make playoffs, lose in the ALCS. (Ed.’s note: See # 4 above, plus the Yunkees are currently 8 games out of first, behind the Sox, Rays, & Os, and behind the As, Rangers, Rays, and Os for one of the two wild card spots.)
  • 8. The dreaded Yankees will win the WS. Jeter or Rivera will win MVP honors. (Ed.’s note: See above # 4, 7.)
  • 9.  Farrell will quickly realize the Sox need more depth in their rotation and will call his buddy Tito in Cleveland and put together a deal to get Dice-K back in Boston. (Ed’s note: Sox pitchers are currently first in the AL East with an ERA of 3.76 and fourth in the AL. Who is Dice-K ? That guy now pitching for the Mets who is 0-3?)
  • 10.  Baltimore will play Washington in the World Series. (Ed.’s note: See #2, etc.)
  • 11.  Jeter PEDs. (Ed.’s note: If he is, he isn’t getting any benefit as he’s currently hitting .196.)
  • 12.  Harper will hit well over .300 and hit at least 40 home runs. (Ed.’s note: See above,: re Joe Sheenan’s prediction, etc.)
  • 13.  Dodgers finish third with 80-85 wins. Ed.’s note: Dem Bums in first place by 12.5 games and in line to win about 97 games at their current rate of .599.)
  • 14.  Papi with 15 quick HRs. career ending injury. (Ed.’s note: Otiz currently has 24 HRs and a BA of .312. No sign as of this writing of a career ending injury.)
  • 15.  Derek Jeter revives his bat and gets at least 250 hits and bats over .300 for the season. (Ed.’s note: See #11. And he currently has nine {9} hits.)

You can vote once, you can get friends to vote, you can vote for your own predictions, and you need to get your votes in by September 30 (tho I’d prefer you do it sooner). You can put your vote in the Comment section on this post or send it to me by email (Samesty84@gmail.com)

Whoever’s the winner (i.e., the author of”The Worst Prediction for 2013) will have the ‘honor’/'dishonor’ of attending a Nats’ game with me next season.

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Red Sox: Wrong, Dumb, & Foolish

19 Monday Aug 2013

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A-Rod Answers Dempster

I don’t usually post about the most immediate events, whether sports or other, but Sox fans need to make their voices heard on this one.

When I learned last night that Dempster had hit A-Rod, I couldn’t believe it. I turned off the game and said to myself, “The Sox deserve to lose this one.”

I was on an early morning flight today to San Francisco (and later in the week will head to Portland and then to LA) to visit with friends and see two Sox games vs the Giants and two vs Dem Bums. So I don’t know what is being said about Dempster hitting A-Rod (except for the email I got stating disapproval from my long-suffering Sox cousin). But I can say I’m not as excited to see them tonight as I thought I would be.

Hitting A-Rod was simply wrong, despite his disrespect for the rules of the game.

Yes. He’s a cheater and a liar, amongst other things. But the best Sox players could do would be to speak out against him, not to hit him.

Because A-Rod is wrong doesn’t give the Sox the right to hit him. A-Rod’s peers should call him out publicly. That’s the best and most powerful way to respond to his behaviors and to send a message to other PED users.

Additionally, it’s dumb and foolish. You’re in a tight race, ahead in this game 2-0, and why do anything that takes the focus off winning and gives the Yunkees and A-Rod fuel?

Simply wrong, dumb, and foolish.

Sox got what they deserved.

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MLB’s New Challenge System: The Right Call?

17 Saturday Aug 2013

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As far as I understand, here are the key elements of a new review system that have been announced by MLB:

  • It is a ‘challenge system’ and not one initiated by an umpire (or a replay umpire).
  • Each manager will have three challenges in a game, one in the first six innings and two in the remainder of the game (no carry over from the first six innings into the latter part of the game).
  • If the challenge is successful (and the call overturned), then the manager gets back that call, potentially allowing many more than three challenges during a game.
  • The reviews will be done by humans at the MLB Advanced Media facility in NYC.
  • Balls and strikes cannot be appealed but most other plays can (89% of the umpires’ calls are to be reviewable, tho the specifics have not been announced yet).
  • Non-reviewable plays can still be argued by a manager who can request the four umpires meet to discuss a call.
  • The new system, if approved by the owners, the players, and the umpires, will be instituted for the 2014 season and will be reviewed for adjustments prior to the 2015 season.

There is also a report that the umpires will ask for what is being called a ‘doomsday trigger’ – the ability to request a replay themselves if a manager is out of challenges.

To read (and see) for yourself more specifically what MLB’s commissioner Bud Selig actually announced, see this link, MLB to Expand Instant Reply.

Apparently, MLB had to decide whether to go with a ‘challenge system’ or a system which would let the umpire or a replay umpire decide what would be reviewed. In deciding on the ‘challenge system,’ they chose a variation of what is already in use in other sports, particularly NFL football.

130815_SNUT_BaseballReplayChallengeUmpire.jpg.CROP.article250-mediumMLB believes that this new system will compensate for umpire error and will take only 1 1/2 minutes per challenge, less than the three minutes that it now takes when the umpires go off of the field to review a play themselves. Additionally, MLB seems to believe that there will be a reduction in time spent with managers arguing calls as the replays will be triggered immediately when a team asks for one.

One of the criticisms of this system is that it is only a ‘half step’ and that MLB should have gone with an umpire directed replay scenario if the intent is to get all of the calls right and not be dependent upon a manager asking for or being out of challenges.

The best article I’ve seen that argues that the ‘challenge system’ is only a partial response to getting calls right is Joe Posnasnki’s MLB Blows Call with Challenge System.

So, what do you think?

Is this system a good one?

Is baseball going to be better off because of it?

Will the ‘human element’ be taken out of baseball and so change what we’ve had up until now?

Will games be lengthened, shortened?

Is it the right replay system?

Please add your Comment below.

 

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