*Official* 4/2 Mercedes-Benz Postgamer

[thomas35forever]

What a night for the baseball lifer.

[voodoochile]

Mercedes, Abreu, Foster, Kopech. TA to get things rolling in that beautiful top of the 9th.

[DeployEloy]

Impressive day for Yermin. The guy likely earned a few weeks at DH. Kopech looked incredibly impressive too. Completely overmatched guys. Keuchel had a meh outing. Nice to see Yaz and Abreu bat wake up.

[TDog]

Sox fans too young to remember 1977 got a taste of it tonight. This team is better, at least should be much better than the 1977 team, which had bad defense, very little pitching (best starter ERA was over 4 and Steve Stone's was over 4.5), and the baserunning was comically bad. The hitting for the first four months of the season in an an expansion year with some exquisitely bad teams inflating others' win totals masked how mediocre the team was, but this game would have fit nicely into that season. I'm hoping the defense this week in Anaheim is an aberration. If it's not, the hitting and pitching may not be enough.

Mercedes looks like he came to hit. I don't think Abreu is underappreciated by Sox fans anymore, but I'm happy he's on our side even if he was charged with a three-base error. I'm an Eaton fan, but I don't know what was going on with him in right tonight. Moncada wasn't charged with an error tonight, but not turning the double play while barely getting Upton at first set up La Russa bringing Hendricks in to pitch for a four-out save. That misplay could have ended up as costly as the Madrigal error Thursday night. Once in the game, he isn't going to want to come out and not get the save. But Kopech believed he had Trout struck out to start the inning. Maybe Moncada would have played better defense if he had Trout's strike zone. Really, it wasn't just the Sox playing the sloppy game. Twice the Angels had wild pitches on first pitches from relievers coming into game.

The key to the win was Foster and Kopech. Foster won't get enough credit because the Eaton error that should have ended the inning after the Trout strikeout made it a one-run game, but Foster essentially shut down the Angels when they had a shot at a big inning. Kopech shut down the Angels when they were down by just a run. Very much not the 1977 vibe. Maybe Kopech has figured it out, and maybe the Sox have a solid bullpen to make up for those days and nights when their generally strong rotation isn't going to get it done.

And maybe the defense isn't as bad as its been in Anaheim.

[HomeFish]

Moncada looked like an MVP candidate in Game 1, and went 0-for-5 with 5 strikeouts in Game 2.

Yermin ****ing Mercedes, what can you say. He bailed this team out today. Built like Juan Uribe, hits like Barry Bonds.

[Chez]

I noticed Moncada had some sort of wrap/bandage across the palm of his throwing hand. Not going to second-guess TLR for line-ups, but shouldn't Leury be playing (maybe over Eaton) against LHP? He's a better right-handed batter than left. Great nights for Pito, Foster, Kopech and the Yermin-ator. Looking forward to seeing Lynn throw tonight.

[LITTLE NELL]

Always great to get the first win on the books.
I'm not a big fan of platooning, I'd like to see Vaughn in LF for an extended period of time and see what we have, as someone said earlier, Vaughn looks like he's been playing LF all his life.
I hope Mercedes is the real deal, he could help out a lot to make up for the loss of Eloy.

[ChiTownTrojan]

Not going to second-guess TLR for line-ups, but shouldn't Leury be playing (maybe over Eaton) against LHP? He's a better right-handed batter than left.

Eaton also had the big hit last night, and Leury doesn’t really deserve back-to-back starts over him. It’ll be easier to sit Eaton once Engel is back.

[DeployEloy]

Eaton wasn’t terrible at the plate. His glove on the other hand... seemed like a routine play that he got the glove on. I’ll chalk it up to early season jitters. He makes that play midseason.

[blurry]

TLR's bullpen management last night was terrific. That was probably my favorite part of the win. He didn't pull anyone too soon and didn't put anyone in a position to fail. Ohtani is a great hitter so I'm not worried about Hendriks giving up that HR to him. Overall that was a great win and it's good to see it.

[Dumpjerry]

https://youtu.be/Qev-i9-VKlY

[Zakath]

TLR's bullpen management last night was terrific. That was probably my favorite part of the win. He didn't pull anyone too soon and didn't put anyone in a position to fail. Ohtani is a great hitter so I'm not worried about Hendriks giving up that HR to him. Overall that was a great win and it's good to see it.

Bullpen management is going to be key early on, because unlike most teams, the Sox only have one off day in the first 21 days of the season, with trips to both coasts and game times starting 11 hours apart (can't remember the last time that we were in the Patriots' Day game in Boston).

[voodoochile]

Having high leverage relievers guys like Heuer, Foster, Kopech and Crochet who can all go multiple innings is a luxury few teams have.

Not worried about the HR by Hendricks. At that point in time he decided to throw a strike and with a 6-run lead that's what he did. Good hitter made him pay. His strikeout of Rendon to end it was an artist painting a masterpiece.

[Frater Perdurabo]

I don’t think the defensive miscues will be a chronic problem. Eaton, Abreu, and Moncada are not sloppy fielders.

A lot of people have decried the supposed lack of depth, but last night we saw an example of depth. Specifically, players picked up their teammates:

Mercedes - the platoon DH and third string catcher making his first career start - made contact, got on base, scored runs, and drove in 4;

Foster and Kopech covered for Keuchel’s lackluster start;

Hamilton - really only in for defensive purposes - coaxed a walk and scored an insurance run;

Robert’s walk set up Abreu’s grand slam;

Anderson didn’t have a great night overall but his 9th inning HR was huge;

Grandal’s 9th inning 2 RBI double provided the necessary margin to win.

[ChiTownTrojan]

Having high leverage relievers guys like Heuer, Foster, Kopech and Crochet who can all go multiple innings is a luxury few teams have.

Not worried about the HR by Hendricks. At that point in time he decided to throw a strike and with a 6-run lead that's what he did. Good hitter made him pay. His strikeout of Rendon to end it was an artist painting a masterpiece.

I was thinking the same thing about Hendriks, but for someone who was “just trying to throw strikes” he got into some deep counts and ended up throwing 35 pitches or something. I hope I’m wrong, but he doesn’t look like “the best reliever in baseball” to me from what little I’ve seen of him (going back to game 2 in last year’s playoffs).