WEEI-FM/Boston: Red Sox Review 8-24-25 Dbacks Game 2

[Music] this is Red Sox review and it starts right now here's your host KJ Carson here it is swinging a pop up into shallow right field this should end at second basem out right fielder on who's going to get it and it's the right fielder Carol who ends the ball game well the Red Sox do very little at the plate and fall to the Arizona Diamondbacks for the second straight day the final Arizona 4 and Boston won yes dorcy again KJ here on Wei Red Sox review Red Sox lose to the Diamondbacks 4-1 no really different of a showing than what you saw last night in a 12-2 game and sometimes you hear players say man some losing the close games are tougher than the ones we get blown out the whole idea is when you get blown out you should like at least score runs that barely happened last night that didn't happen today and so now the worst thing that could potentially happen with the Red Sox in a situation like this especially during the stretch is the bats go cold considering the arms are in blizzard mode so last night I actually joked like oh boy four o'cl start here come the shadows and so you felt like okay things kind of to seem even you you're kind of disappointed with some of the defense that's going on I'll get to some of that we'll hear from Alex cor shortly but you felt like okay Zack Galen wasn't overwhelming the Red Sox it was almost like the Red Sox were overwhelming themselves and then you get to the top of the fourth where you've got this double by Suarez here's the play pitches skyed high and deep in the left field ref Snider is back at the track he's at the wall would you believe it it's high off the wall the carams past ref Snider Duran plays it with the bare hand relay from raphaela throw not nearly in time it's a wall ball double and it's two nothing dags so here what's crazy about the game by this time the Shadows are gone so you're like all right if if you're going into the fifth the red or the bottom of the fourth and into the fifth you feel like at a two-run game the Red Sox could wake the bats up you don't have to worry about gallon in the shadows and he hasn't been dominating you like you I mean granted again you look it wasn't one of those like oh my gosh he's just absolutely lights out I just think that the Red Sox just were just didn't seem a where and and that's what's so unfortunate 617 779 7937 text line 37937 the Red Sox are trying to avoid the sweep tomorrow and what's happening now like the Twins game is just getting underway underway they're four ahead uh the Royals have really gone on the tear they're five ahead and they're the second spot they're game ahead of the twins they get ready to play the Phillies here I mean you can wake up tomorrow and tomorrow's game could determine whether the Red Sox are now potentially five games out of the wild card and now the conversation is how do you necessarily make up that room 67779 7937 text line 37937 your thoughts on today's game royals I'm Red Sox lose 41 to the Diamondbacks uh right now it's time to Trend I got you everything Boston Red Sox this is Red Sox review on Wei infield pinch toward the middle the pitch swinging to drive the left field it pretty well back goes guel it's over his head hits low off the wall and rolls away it's going to score the runner from first base yosa pulls up with a wall ball double durel went back but it was not high enough for him to reach he hit low off the wall by the American League scars and Yoshida with a wall ball double and the Red Sox have hit a couple of shots to break up the shut off bit and now the Ty run is on Deck Red Sox on Wei it's KJ and that is the niss sign highlight of the game let's just face it folks there was only one of five hits to put up there and probably a close second nomination is is Jaren Duran taking the green monster to the face remember hurry in and save big on a new Nissan at the Nissan end of summer Sales Event shop your local Nissan store at nissanusa.com today Red Sox lose 41 looking to avoid the sweep tomorrow and more importantly looking not to go underwater or upside down if they get sweep tomorrow all right let's go to Wally Wally thanks so much for calling Wei you're on Red Sox review yeah what's up AJ it don't look good for that third wild card right now I mean you know you went to Houston you won two out three but Arizona is a good club you have to give them credit they've got the pitching maybe they'll trade us Zack gallon next year but uh you look at the two runs I think they scored well without a hit I mean that really killed us today but what are you going to do we you know we're just not hitting we're not pitching you know we don't have the pitching the start pitching for one thing but uh you look everyone said the schedule now is easier there's no guarantee we're going to win eight or nine in a row we're going to sweep Toronto and Detroit but uh you can't keep losing the game every day like I said it could be you know one of the nails in the coffin could be tomorrow if they sweep us but Arizona is just a good team I mean you know we just can't win at home that's the main line and that's the bottom line we can't win at home we have a lousy record at home teams can't wait come to Fenway Park and beat us Wally thanks for the call and if he ever wants to remember Wally AJ is my father KJ who I am is just like saying the alphabet backwards that's an easy way to remember but W he's absolutely right I think if there's going to be a if you have to write a paragraph about what happened in this season and it does kind of feel like what didn't happen or why it didn't happen when it felt so close is it because it's because of what's happened at home the Red Sox record at home is so bad the only teams that have a worst record at home watch this the Angels the white socks and the Florida Marlins that's it you're like wait yeah let me say that again the only teams that have a better record at a worse record at home than the Red Sox are the Angels the Florida Marlins well I mean yeah the Angels the Florida Marlins and the White Sox who have the worst record I've ever I've ever seen they may have a 100 losses by Tuesday Wednesday so here on the other side of that ledger the Red Sox are the most wins on the road so again this is what really kind of this is what really bothered me about today's game are the I'm going to call them pass balls I know two of them wild pitch one was a pass ball with Connor Wong in those situations when you know that you have a pitcher who has downward action for one of their better pitchers which is cutter Crawford with his splitter you've got to know they're going to be guess what pitches in the dirt you cannot try to backhand these things you cannot try to catch it with an arm you've got to get that body in front and you almost wonder with those three balls that got past the catcher whether they were wild or pass balls how does the complexion of the game change considering this was only a 4-1 game and it was a two- nothing game going into the fifth these small things happening at home just makes you wonder what's the disconnect the fans are there right like I can understand if you had some of the things that were going on earlier in the season when other teams were having more fans show up a bunch of you know a bunch of uh who was it I I forgot which weird team it was you're like they they got more them here it might have been Seattle ear I can't remember who it was but you had other teams with bigger fan base is coming up that's not happening anymore the home field advantage is there the people are there you know I I I don't get it I I can't think of when I've seen a situation where you've had a team that's in a playoff hunt that's amazing on the road but completely bad at home I the only thing I think is kind of like weirder than that is the person who throws left-handed and bats right that's just the weird like you're left-handed but you bat right like you don't bat you switch it no you bat right so how do you this is why it feels like it's too late I think we're down to like 15 games the Red Sox have on the road and the remainder are at are at home and so you feel like okay if they could turn it around at home okay great but what happens if they start having slippage on the road even though they've been a the the best road team in the league I would expect there would be some slippage on the road because you you've over achieved on the road but you've super underperformed at home and you don't have as many chances at home as you do on the road 617 7797 937 text line 37937 we'll hear from Alex cor at 7:30 let's go to Carl and Lawrence Carl thank you so much for calling Red Sox review you're on the air KJ how are you bud good Carl thanks for the call hey are you the same KJ that was DJ for years say that again are you just saying KJ that you were a DJ for years yeah I've been a DJ for years and yes I did mornings but yeah yeah your Red Sox thoughts yes that that's I yes sir well this is the name of the song people forget uh this team is that team we played today is 13 and 32 since the first of June they're like the hottest team in baseball ironically they're 13th in pit with like a four4 ER but they have Wicked defense so I mean this is a top level team that could possibly go all the way uh like they did last year from the wild card and it's going to happen from time to time the question is can we rebound and the other question is I think when you're on the road you're normally less distracted by all the other things that were connected to as people and not just a player I think they're more focused on the road it just seems like this team is around a hot streak and really hot it doesn't take away the fact that if we can get the same attitude at home that we do on the road that wi it at home that would be a really good adjustment like we're saying because that's a really unique work we witnessed this year and there's a definite reason at quick point also I keep asking for the Kora computer curve clocker when our pitcher yesterday gets to the six in and falls off the ledge they should have a track on his pit when they see that the The Cure and the velocity and the movement is gone you got to yank them there seems to be a preventative medicine that cor could figure out I'm surprised they haven't done that yet that's cutter Crawford's Mo Carl thanks so much for the calls and thanks for the previous recognition Nico he smoked me out yes I I used to be a morning guy I think I'm the only other morning guy on WE that was a morning guy somewhere else in the market you just hear on weekend like is that him didn't he used to play like Luther vandros at one time yes but yeah he's absolutely right the only thing that I would have a a kind of a point Counterpoint with with Carl is it's one thing to count pitches and then it's another thing to look at where you're on the inning right so if this was a pitching staff that could get batters to commit to swinging at pitches one two or let's say you get to the third pitch if you're clearly in the strike zone or near the strike zone that batter is more likely going to go after that pitch not wanting to put themel down in the count or they feel like they're going to best get a pitch that they can hit they seen what you're working with I think part of the problem is is these pitchers can get deep into counts just because they're not even close to the play on the first two pitches so when you're looking at a guy who's 70 80 pitches or or 80 85 pitches but it's it's the top of the fifth and you're like okay I need this guy to get to the sixth and maybe if he can just get through this inning what we've just been finding out is these guys have let's just call it what it is routinely not pass these tests D's and C's and some fs and then when you're getting to the bullpen I mean Bernardino was burned ball four today was just like wow like between him and SS it's like four straight walks and you're like okay these guys are supposed to be on point as soon as you put them in the game because you're coming off of a situation where your starter was starting to leak oil 617 7797 937 I'll get to more of your calls here shortly let's go to outscore did a good job uh gave us five uh um you know we got the big out with a pick right in the fifth and then he was able to get the lefties so uh you know good enough um the Bullman was rested so we were very aggressive with them um we didn't throw strikes in that inning and put us in a bad spot but overall he was good what made G so effective moving the ball around changing speeds using his curveball late in counts uh we we had some tough at bats but we weren't weren't able to finish it tough was that stretch where you had four walks in the wild pige SP five minutes yeah I mean at this level we cannot do that obviously um you know we had the right matchups it just didn't work out think trist Des F any time we didn't talk about that in Houston so yeah yeah yeah right I mean uh that guy's really good you know he made some pitches uh he did a few fast balls he used his breaking ball you know so he'll turn the page and be ready for tomorrow that's for sure still yeah yeah yeah yeah uh he should be in the lineup what have youen from gcia I think the fast ball is playing now uh he's using it in different spots uh his off speed pitches are good but I think you know you see the V of the fast Bo is 99 98 99 you have to make a a decision right away and uh he's using it in different spots so I'm happy to see him see that you know we going to need him we will we're going to need everybody in the bullpen so uh but for him to kind of like Turn the Page uh or turn the corner uh that's good for us what do you think was a difference between this series and previous one guys success guess I mean they the pitch I mean those guys are very good you know like what they do is it's not against us it's against everybody it's a different type of pitching two different angles they change speeds uh you know they don't give in uh you know you have to be very stubborn in the zone and they they have made pitches you know I don't know how many strikeouts looking we had yesterday but they make pitches and today he he expanded with us and uh you know like they're they're really good at what they do that's probably one of the I mean one of the best teams in the big leagues right now in the in the National League how big is their defense just play that they make up middle yeah they're good I mean they're very athletic that's what they do they they run the bases well they put good at bats it's a complete team you know and um I mean that play by gu that was amazing you know just remind me of Robie Alamar to be honest with you just lay out and then turn and put in the money that was a great play the double play they turn that was that was good you know and they still missing their best player so uh that's a really good team you kind of stayed out there talking with you came out together what was that kind ofation as a hitter what you want is for him to check that's it you know and that's what I told him I said us as hitters you know if you ask the Umpire third we're good with it so all right that's Alex core and I agree look if you're not getting those pitches across the plate for strikes it's going to cause problems that's what you ended up seeing shout out to him for mentioning Robbie Alamar the original HW Tua I'm sorry 617 779 7937 text line 37937 KJ Red Sox review let's go to Larry and Dam Larry was at the game Larry hopefully you're traveling safe or you're on the te and you're able to at least stand up for only two stops but you're on the air well the team stinks that's what I came away uh with that was my conclusion Alex G is so lucky to have signed that contract that's not his fault but this team is awful I uh I was hoping that they were going to turn the corner but no they're going downhill they have uh what that six uh six walks three wild pitches very few hitting I thought it was going to be a no hitter there when I left yeah in the seventh inning and it's just an awful team they're uh even worse than mediocre they're an awful awful team and I I feel terrible that I spent money to actually go to this game today that's about Larry thanks for the call you would feel worse if you bought a video game system and your wife and out used the joint account that could be worse but look at this level there should not be and I'm going to call it what it is three pass balls if you know your guy throws a splitter you've got to be ready or there's got to be some type of conversation saying you know be ready and I maybe it tips off batters when you suddenly drop down to two knees like okay okay this guy's ready to block something but the pass balls the excessive walks he's absolutely right that doesn't that would if if you took you took someone who knew nothing about the game of baseball and you would say how close do you think the you watch today's game how close do you think they are away from the playoffs you probably say they might say oh I don't think they'll be there or maybe if they get some more people there maybe they would be better but you tell them it's like hey you know if they turn some things around they end up in the playoffs they go oh wow it is kind of shocking to see out there considering this team is still in the hunt for the wild card is outperforming the metrics that baseball has what they thought they would be and what they are they're a couple games better than what they would thought they would be I think that's because of the games they've run on the one on the road it's probably the two two games they won in Houston that that's the difference uh 61777 n- 7937 let's go to calll Carl thanks so much for calling Wei you're on Red Sox review hey good evening thanks for the call call you got it so uh when we look at the Red Sox struggles at home I mean it it doesn't take much to to figure out the simple fact that they're left-handed top heavy I mean their home park is designed for a right-handed hitter prototypically and you're so left-handed topheavy right now you are and then to make matters worse your three top prospects who everyone thinks are going to be the saviors all three of them are left-handed hitters it's time to mix things up you got to go get some right-handed power and you got to get a right-handed hitter that can hit for a quality average and drive some runs in you got no protection for rafy de none you know and he should best hitter and again he's left-handed you are way left-handed top heavy and in a in a game where you know the analytics are so you know these teams they play Everything everything's so close to the vest and they make these decisions they're getting shut down and and they're just way left-handed top heavy that's the issue Yeah Carl thanks for mix it up yeah Carl thanks for the call I agree Tyler O'Neil has been day-to-day right and so you would say ref Snider is not well here's the thing anytime you put a right-hander in there you would probably say hey can you get a ball about 70 feet in the air 300 feet out if you do good things can happen look I the reason why I played the Nissan highlight of the game as Yoshida hit to left to left Center was because a it was a shot to left Center B it scored the only run and C thank God it wasn't a 43 ground out you so Carl's right you know and obviously it's not something that's going to be addressed over night but you have to be able to use the tools that you have right the there's no backing up the green monster it's not suddenly hey theyve redesigned it and they've pushed it you know 50 feet back you know that's not the case you know when Carl was talking I was thinking about gosh think about what this park did for JD Martinez and what he did in this part it was almost kind of like he could write a clinic of how to play in Fenway you go back to that 2018 season everything was just boom the Boom the Boom the Boom the Boom the boom or going over and you had that protection he's absolutely right if I'm if I'm another Squad and I'm like okay all we really have to do is be concerned with how do we get to Des everything else is kind of a crapshoot for them the team and they're most likely as he said left-handed 617 779 7937 text line 37937 KJ Red Sox review Red Sox lose the second in a row to the Diamondbacks they lose today 4-1 trying to avoid the sweep tomorrow they are now four games out of the wild card spot twins are in action against the Cardinals Kansas City Royals against the Phillies um twins are the ones that are now sitting in that third spot Liam in the car thank you so much for calling Red Sox review good Saturday to you my man hey KJ yeah I'm on my way back from the game um unfortunately I've gone to about 40 this year and it seems like you know every time we're coming off a a road trip I'm very excited going into Fenway um it it's it's very disappointed but let's be realistic did we expect anything else going into this Arizona series I mean being realistic with how good Arizona's been both offensively and defensively since the allstar break taking one from them seems to be pretty good um where we will really run into problems and where the season might be over if if we don't clobber Toronto next week you know if we look compared to Kansas City right now Kansas city has the second hardest schedule in baseball I think we're 13th or something along those lines um so we have to win the games against teams that are not playoff teams and we need to take a few from the teams that are to stay in this race and hopefully gain some ground uh we want to hear your thought thoughts on that hey Liam thanks for the call get home safe yeah you know you should always still have hope because crazier things have happened in the history of baseball I think because of the wild card it gives you a better chance for those who have a certain age remember oh my gosh you know someone would win the west by 20 games like why is there even a game being played in the AL West at all the AL East you almost never really had those type of Seasons where someone just was so dominant running away from a historical perspective probably the one that jumps out at me is either the 96 Yankees or the 84 or uh Tigers right those are just kind of runaway trains but here's something that's kind of disturbing and this is why I'm concerned about this last wild card spot is the elimination number right so how many games combined between the division leader and this team before that team doesn't win the division so let me first state that I am not here to say that the Red Sox have any chance to win the a Le though crazier things have happened um the number is 26 for Baltimore it's 32 so for those who are not really informed let's say New York wins 20 games and Baltimore loses 12 games over these next 34 games Baltimore won't win the division the Red Sox are down to that number 26 so less has to be done for them to be eliminated from the division but when you get to the AL Central this is the scary part the Royals who are trailing uh Cleveland by a game 34 to be eliminated Minnesota 33 to be eliminated so it right the way things see it Boston has a quicker chance of being eliminated already from the AL East race while potentially watching this three- ring circus going on in the central where pretty much whoever loses doesn't lose meaning like whoever wins the central may win it by a half game or full game and the third place team may only be a game and a half out or two games out so you might have the way it is right now Cleveland ahead by one Minnesota behind by two it could end that way and because all of them are paying paying competitive ball who's going to win the division may come down around with two games left in the season but if that's the case the Red Sox aren't going to potentially be on this run that's going to run them past Baltimore and they're six and a half behind Baltimore so that's where my concern is is we can talk about all these mixes matches and so forth and everything but now we have to start considering what happens inside of your own division as you start getting eliminated out of your own you know with out of the East so that that's just the interesting part of the central is you know and the other thing is they have the benefit of yes the Red Sox do get the white socks one more time they get them another time but when you had the Red Sox to Feast on I wouldn't even sleep on the Detroit series Detroit is only three games under 500 and you're talking about a Red Sox team that is like eight games under 500 against teams over 500 but yet the Tigers have 40 wins against teams over 500 so they have more wins against teams over 500 than the Red Sox do so that's why I'd say be very careful in terms of like yeah if we can handle Toronto and all these other things you really have to you really need the AL Central to implode but it'd be very hard to because they're all you know they all get de Feast off of bad competition with the white socks in that division 617 779 7937 text line 37937 This is Red Sox review I'm KJ Carson we wrap it up next here on Wei this is Red Sox review on Wei Red Sox review on Wei good afternoon to you or good evening now it's KJ Red Sox lose 41 to the Arizona Diamondbacks at two in a row the Red Sox have scored three runs in two days now this is the team that I say he if if there's an 86 game you say hey there's an 86 game in the Red Sox are I'm be like Red Sox win that 86 hey it's a two it's a 2-1 game what happened oh man the Red Sox bats went cold and at least the pitching didn't completely you know unfurl but that some of that did happen today four walks in a row Bases Loaded walk in a run and you just wonder like okay tomorrow like I'm shock shock to see this but at ESPN bet and on the B lines the Red Sox are favored they are minus 150 bet I'm like did you see the bats in the first two games Tanner ha on the mound for the Red Sox Maro Kelly for the Diamondbacks Merill Kelly three and 0 uh pitched 30 something Innings like 35 Innings 27ks 10 walks so maybe there's some patience out there with this Red Sox because that's that's the other that was what you saw in game one in in in game one where you're like okay you've got bases loaded and you R Snider goes after the first three pitches he sees you say that that cost you Friday night today Connor Wong is just pretty much I mean I mean we've seen some catching in Williamsport there you know like things going to the back stop should have stopped a long time ago how come the body is not getting in front of I mean I know there's a new style but guess what part of that style of catching is is stopping past balls you know I don't I don't think it's a wild pitch when a guy has a splitter and it's designed to go in the dirt and someone chase you block that joint you tag the guy out or you throw it down to first to complete the play I will give Connor Wonga props with the pickoff at first for a guy who was leading too much but you almost feel like maybe Arizona did that because they maybe they see not as much discipline and and this is where I think some other veteran leadership will have to be in this Clubhouse next year not only from the not only on the mound but also in this batting order to be able to make heady decisions you know I this is not 2018 but that was also the conversation about when JD Martinez was here you have a veteran in the lineup who's going to show up every day and just absolutely Crush for you and primarily as a DH for the most part all right 37937 what do you got on the text line Nico before we get out of here so we have a texter who says I want the Red Sox to miss the playoffs this season because if they make it I think they'll be embarrassed maybe John Henry sees the talent on this team and starts building star and pitching a bullpen and a right-handed power hitter in the Outfield because Tyler O'Neal isn't the answer but here's the thing Tyler O'Neal is a better answer than Adam Duval was last year I look I cannot sit here and say oh Tyler O'Neil is not the guy I I think yeah what I I want to see the Red Sox at least get into the wild card because that when you say anything could happen at least in the Wild Card right like they win the Wild Card cool they get into a series and if they you know they get two wins out of it you get the energy of Fenway that might be a reminder for the powers that be that says okay what can we do to get to that next phase now we've seen that movie before in 21 right where it's like hey they got to the playoffs they get all the way to the ALCS should that have not been a precursor to do those things a little of it was done schwarber right but again I'm one of those people who are saying I think schwarber knew especially once the DH rule went into effect for the entire league he could go to the national league go get more money and have to play absolutely nothing absolutely nothing where here it's kind of like hey we need to play first today so I would like to see them make it to the to playoffs why not do I think the chances are great I think they continue to drop I think going into Friday's night Friday night's game the Red Sox had a 40% chance going in today's game it was 34% I have to see what that percent is now because to drop from 40 to 34 just because of losing one game it makes me think that that number may go from 34% maybe down to 30 even that feels high at this point like it just feels like every year for the past you know three out the last four years it's all been the same thing they're right in it and then all of a sudden they fall apart I give credit to this team they fought a lot harder than I think teams in the past but they don't have enough talent because they didn't do what they needed to do in the offseason what staring pitching well now here's the thing if you do 30% at the plate yeah you're a Hall of Famer but everything else including your chances of getting something done it's not great so while it's Dro it's in the 30s now that's not great we're talking about maybe a three and and 10 chance that they make it we're not talking about stepping to the plate and you have a three and 10 chance of getting a base hit so that's totally different all right again game three Red Sox of ing The Sweep tomorrow pregame with Christian Aran at 12:35 first pitch at 1:35 I'll be back for Red Sox review again tomorrow hopefully with better news enjoy your Saturday night and talk to you again tomorrow here on Wei t