Monday 7/8/24
The Red Sox took the series last night against the Yankees with a 3-0 victory, all of the runs coming late-ish and late. Very good win. I'm down on him sometimes, but Rafael Devers delivered at the plate with two big home runs. Kutter Crawford went seven full and was pulled after 68 pitches. It worked out, but if you're not going to let a pitcher keep going in that situation, then you're pretty much totally against allowing a pitcher to continue on past a certain point, no matter how well he's doing.
Jarren Duran did make the All-Star team, despite some recent struggles at the plate. Thought he deserved it--he's been his team's table-setter and is integral to their identity and how they play--and was happy for him. I never really thought about it, but if you asked me a couple years ago if I thought he'd ever be an All-Star, I'd have said no. Devers and Tanner Houck also made the squad. Houck has also had some struggles of late. The Sox need him being an ace this year if they're really going to do anything. What's anything? Be in the playoff hunt at the end, get in the playoffs, make some postseason noise, keep surprising people. Any or all of that.
Then during the game Duran was interviewed for a half inning while he was out in center field. I really don't like this kind of thing. We're just increasingly unserious. Everything has to be performative. Things can't just be what they are. Real isn't allowed in reality. The artificial has to be a major part of everything, to the point that the artificial is largely replaying reality. At least on our ends, based on our intentions.
I'm bombarded with stats about exit velocity and I couldn't care less. It would have been madness to me to think I was supposed to care that the ball came off Carlton Fisk's bat at 103 mph with that home run I watched him hit last night. There are all kinds of ways to hit the ball and be successful. Some guys are better because their exit velocity is lower. Imagine Tony Gwynn's exit velocity? Wade Boggs? Rod Carew? Kenny Lofton? Nellie Fox? Ichiro Suzuki? Derek Jeter? Some guys hit the ball back through the box and there goes another grounder up the middle for a single. Other guys have a special knack for dumping the ball in between an infielder going back and an outfielder going in. Those guys are now being told that they're doing it wrong, so they change how they hit as they're coming along.
The big leagues then become full of these big swingers trying to get their exit velocity up. Everything in our society trends away from variety and individuality. What I like about these Red Sox is that they're different. They do string hits together, they steal bases, their speed manufactures runs, they put pressure on the defense. Part of the reason why they're playing that way, in my estimation, is because Alex Cora is highly unlikely to be back, so I think he thought, "Screw my bosses, we'll do it the way I want to do it." Not completely, maybe, but more so than ordinarily would have been the case.
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