Bring On Boston!

It was great to hang outside with 15-20 friends and watch a playoff win!  The air smells better, the food tastes better and the body hurts a little less today!  Sure it was just one win and won’t be nearly as satisfying as beating the Red Sox, but losing that game would have made the season seem hollow and we would have questioned everything (which we may do if we don’t win it all J )

Let’s get to a few points.  I will try and write more before Friday’s game but have a full schedule.

Boone started Severino and while he was my 3^rd choice, he did pretty well.  NO runs were the best thing, followed by his slider which was sharp with great bite downward.  When you go only 4 innings and leave with 1^st and 2^nd with nobody out it is hard to say it was a good outing, but it was reasonably good.  I thought he went away from throwing his fastball more than he should have in the 2^nd- 5^th innings and I didn’t understand the changeup so often especially when he had thrown all sliders prior (That was not smart as it is easier to lay off of it when you are looking slider).  Four walks in 4 innings is bad though.

Great job by Betances; he was the star.  Coming in with 2 guys on and nobody and in the 5^th inning (early for him) he gave us 2 great innings!  Honestly, his breaking ball was not as good as normal, but he didn’t walk anyone and did a fantastic job.

Was not happy to see Britton get hit, but I was happy to see Chapman look pretty solid.

When is Sanchez going to go back to an approach where he tries to go the other way?  He used to do that well and needs to have an approach to hit it to right.  Naturally, he will still pull some pitches, but he needs to not be afraid to get beat inside on a fastball and this will allow him to hit so many more pitches better.

Voits’ “triple” was an amazing AB.  This guy may have a hole up and in and is probably not as good as his OPS indicates, but he is a very professional hitter.  I didn’t like his celebrating a ball that honestly should have been caught as the RF did not run full speed the entire way (unless he is very slow), but at the worst, it was a key sac fly and it turned out much better!  He has been huge for us.

Andujar needs to learn how to stop patting his glove and stop winding up so much, this is a major flaw in his game.  He made a nice play with his glove, but he does not throw accurately or quickly and that is a bad combo.  Great job by Boone to replace him with Hechavarria, who made an outstanding play to help Robertson.   I like having Hech on the team.  Later Boone put Walker in to replace Voit who is not that skilled at 1B.

I am content today; Boston will be a very tough task.