Alex Cora's movements worked better than those of Dave Martinez than the Boston Red Sox.



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Hey, let's talk strategy! There are not many in today's game, but there have been some interesting management decisions in Boston's 4-3 win over the Nationals on Monday.

First, National Director Dave Martinez intentionally walked with Jackie Bradley Jr. outs in the second run, second and third runners and Max Scherzer on the mound. Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello followed with a 1-2 clearance on the head of left fielder Juan Soto.

1 Relative

Alex Cora, captain of the Red Sox, later called Craig Kimbrel for a four-point save, bringing him to Joe Kelly after a two-minute walk to Mark Reynolds (and a ran earlier in the heat by Bryce Harper.]

Martinez gave Bradley the free pass in a rather conventional situation: to get to the pitcher with two outings, but it was unusual to start one with the Scherzer's throw, and he was clearly disturbed by the decision. "Porcello then hit a 0-2 fast pitch for his first points produced since 2009 – and the first extra-base hit Scherzer had ever allowed a pitcher on a 0 count. at 2.

Even stranger, Martinez still intentionally walked Bradley with two outs and a runner ranked second in the sixth and Washington trailing 3-1 In entering the game, Scherzer had only 14 career walks intentio and never more than two in a season. He had only twice walked on the eighth of his career, the last time in 2012. So you can see why he was a little surprised at the decision – not that he had to put a fastball 0- 2 in Porcello a result.

Martinez is a freshman, and my first thought was, "Uh-oh, does he like the intentional walk?" In fact, not really. He was 18 in the game, compared to the NL average of 20, so there is nothing extreme there. For some reason, he did not like the Scherzer-Bradley clash

Meanwhile, Kimbrel's use by Cora showed an unusual urgency for a match on July 2 – and gives a clear indication of the nature of each game in the AL East race. The Red Sox had a chance to win, and Cora did not want to take advantage before sending the ball to Kimbrel. It was Kimbrel's second rescue four times and only the 13th of his career. He was available in part because he had not pitched since Thursday, but he launched 33 throws before finishing, so we'll see if he's available on Tuesday.

The Nationals dropped to just one game at over .500. You feel a team on the ledge.

The Braves are the best against best: The Braves beat the Yankees 5 -3 in 11 innings on the run of Ronald Acuna Jr. who just glanced at Aaron Judge's glove:

This was a short home race Yankee Stadium Gantry: Given standard weather conditions, this is not a home run elsewhere, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Two impressive notes on the Braves: (1) They have 26-17 on the road, and (2) they are 24-18 against .500 teams or better.

Good note here on the Yankees attack: [19659012] The Yankees have now scored four or less in 19 of the last 29. Boone must make an adjustment. Torres being moved in alignment would be a good start. Moving Bird and getting Drury a bit to bats against left-handers also makes sense.

– The Captain's Blog (@ williamnyy23) July 3, 2018

The Yankees have averaged 4.17 points per game since June 1 from 5.64 to May 31. Going up Gleyber Torres makes sense, although the batting order has only a minimal impact on the race score. I think the Yankees have to watch Greg Bird and ask him if he's really the answer to the first goal. The big point for the Yankees came when Bird scored a goal and the bases were loaded in the bottom of the 10th against the southpaw Jesse Biddle.

Bird's impressive 46-game rookie arrived in 2015, but his career stalled with injuries since, including his gone all year 2016 and missing the start of 2018 after surgery on his foot at the end of the spring training. It is possible that the batter who showed promise in 2015 was compromised by injuries. He hit .194 / .296 / .423 the last two seasons, but in only 287 plate appearances. It's hard because he needs time to play. But as Cora has shown, there is also urgency to every race match of the East AL

Lindor the great: Is it time to launch the name of Francisco Lindor in the MVP? It looks like we handed this award to Mike Trout a few weeks ago, but the status of the MVP could play a role in the vote – oh, and the fact that Lindor has monster numbers. He crushed two more home runs in Cleveland's 9-3 win over the Royals, led in seven points, scored three and then did the laundry after the game.

The Makeshift Brewers line continues to win: Let's see. No Lorenzo Cain, no Christian Yelich, no Domingo Santana, no Orlando Arcia, whatever the second baseman because Monday's second baseman was Nate Orf, 28, who did his debut in the majors. The Brewers still won by beating the Twins 6-5 on Brad Miller's 10-minute walk in base charge.

This was not the most beautiful of the games. a strange double game with an error in the middle – except for Keon Broxton's defensive jewel:

The Twins have not taken advantage of Miller's two mistakes to the stop-court in the ninth, when Eduardo Escobar was thrown home on a baserunning gaffe. The sacrifice of Travis Shaw flew Fernando Rodney who tears him at the end of the round. Orf started the winning rally when he was hit by a field. Broxton continued with a walk – but only after he failed to hit the first two pitches. But as our friend Harper said, a win is a win

I'm not sure that a Brad Miller-Nate Orf's double combo is that of a championship team – like Miller showed it in the ninth inning, there's a reason he was moved from the shortstop with Seattle to first base with Tampa Bay – but that's what Craig Counsell has to work at the moment.

The Reds are not terrible: They beat the White Sox 5-3 with four points in the eighth, giving us this rating:

Alex Blandino had the double shot, double-race that put the Reds in front. Gennett's scooter has gone 2-in-3 to increase its average to a .336 leader in the Netherlands, and it remains one of the most interesting names that could be traded. Hmm, I know a team in NL Central that could use a second baseman … a team that Mr. Gennett is familiar with.

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