Mazz: Were the Red Sox cheating against the Yankees?
Paul Perillo from Patriots.com joined the Felger and Massarotti show on Monday with Tony Massarotti and Joe Murray. Tony, Paul and Joe wonder if the Red Sox were cheating against pitcher Gerrit Cole and the Yankees during their three game series sweep in New York.
Transcript:
Mazz: Gerrit Cole. He pitched Saturday. Red Sox hit him around. He gave up a grand slam to Luis Arias and then gave up a two-run homer to Connor Wong. Six runs in the game. Remember when Cole pitched against the Red Sox in the one game playoff pack in 2021. Bogaerts homered against them in the first inning but the that one I almost put an asterisk next to because he had a bad hamstring that whole second half. Couldn’t drive or couldn’t land properly. I remember which hamstring it was, but it affected him on the mound. You’ll hear pitchers say every single time that if their legs go their screw, you get some sort of leg injury on the mound. Forget it, you can’t pitch. So we focus on the arm, but there’s just no leg driver, no strength, no foundation underneath, so that when I throw out, we know the numbers against Devers well-documented. Rafael Devers owns Gerrit Cole. But that comment there, he’s mystified, mystified at how they were able to execute against him like they do. Joe Murray, what did you interpret in that?
Joe Murray: I’m just a little bit confused on why the level of execution on their side is so high. So what are you saying? Garrett Cole The same guy that couldn’t take accountability because you sucked. Be remember the sticky stuff, you go, Oh, where is the accountability there the most? So whenever he gets beat up, he’s got to go look at what the team has done in the past to bring it up. I’m not saying the Red Sox are angels by any means. Yes.
Paul Perillo: Calling them cheaters. He’s calling them cheaters and saying that they knew the pictures that were coming in. He’s good. I don’t know if he’s even giving them credit, but come on, who says that after getting your ass kicked, just get out there and say, Hey, man, I didn’t have my best stuff today. Leave it at that. Insinuating that the team really had an edge in this game. I’m sorry. That’s why they’ve lost eight in a row and that’s why they’re losing it on that roster. Like this guy is supposed to be. Their ace is great. Don’t get me wrong. He sucked. He should’ve owned it. Don’t now point fingers at the Red Sox because, oh, yeah, their manager might be cheating. Come on, now, look at me. If I find out the Red Sox cheat, I’ll take the ball. But this dude here takes some accountability.
Mazz: Jimmy, did you Jimmy Stewart, did you read into those comments the way that Joe did?
J Stew: I did. Well, here’s the thing that Tom Verducci was obnoxious about saying on the broadcast is that the Red Sox were just out. We’re just waiting on the four seam fastball or they were waiting out some cutter or some pitch to get to the four seam fastball that they knew that they could hammer. So the whole approach for the Red Sox, according to Tom Verducci, who spent six innings, would not shut up about it because we all know Tom Verducci knows more about baseball than everybody else, that they’re just waiting on fastballs and they just hammered them.
Mazz: Paul, you think they think he’s accusing the Red Sox of cheating?
Joe Murray: Yeah, he first of all, I think nothing of Cole, the person. I think he has comments like this all the time that make him look like a clown.
Mazz: But remember, this is I mean, this is a guy who won the World Series with Houston. And then immediately after the game was wearing a free agency cap, wouldn’t wear the Houston cap.
Yankee’s Gerrit Cole in pitching against the Red Sox during opening day action at Yankee Stadium April 8, 2022. (Syndication: The Record)
Joe Murray: And that’s what he that’s kind of how I think of him. Now, you made a point earlier in the show, Tony, this is not one game for Cole. The Red Sox have completely pounded the crap out of Gerrit Cole as a Yankee and. He really doesn’t have that happen against anybody else. Now, I think that he’s probably insinuating that they’re cheating, but I would think if I were Garrett Cole, I would look more into something that the Red Sox have seen, something that you’re doing. You got to be tipping your pitches against them. That’s not cheating. There’s a difference there. And I would look in the mirror if I were cold and figure out why do they seem to be sitting on everything I throw when. You know they’re not. They know it’s not. Does it make any sense? The Red Sox are doing an elaborate job of cheating only against Garrett Cole. Not doing it against the other guys. Like, does that make any sense to anybody? You know, it’s not like that. They’re, you know, the best offensive team in the history of baseball. They’re a good offensive team. They’ve got like everybody else, they’ve been up and down all year. Offensively. But against coal. They hammer home every time. He’s got to be tipping it.
Mazz: Yeah, I mean, that’s what I think. I think it’s something like that that he’s.
Joe Murray: I think that’s more plausible than the Red Sox are cheating again after they just got caught.
Paul Perillo: The way they say it, why is he saying it then?
Joe Murray: Well, maybe he’s not saying it.
Mazz: Well, look, because, Joe, what you said is true. He’s a winner.
Joe Murray: Oh, I agree. Everything Joe said was true.
Mazz: I mean, he is a guy who bitched about the spider tack and had difficulties immediately thereafter. And, you know, but look, he’s a good guy. He’s a talented. He got over it. There’s no question about he’s a talented pitcher.
Paul Perillo: They’re confused on their level of execution.
Mazz: Correct?
Paul Perillo: Confused. What’s confusing?
Joe Murray: He’s tipping the pitches. That’s why he’s confused. He doesn’t know that he’s doing it. But they they clearly know what he’s throwing.
Paul Perillo: I don’t.
Joe Murray: Know. You don’t hit a guy like that that has an era of, what, two and a half? And against the Red Sox, which is the era.
Mazz: Of 4.7 or so.
Joe Murray: It’s night and day.
Mazz: He gets he’s giving up more home runs to the Red Sox in his career than any other franchise.
Joe Murray: But I don’t think it has to be because of cheating. This is where I agree with Joe. Like either man up and say that they’re cheating or shut up. This is I am totally with Joe on that part because I don’t like coal probably.
J Stew: But I put in all this work on this great pitching game plan and they just spit on it. Boo Hoo!
Mazz: There’s no sympathy for this guy.
Listen to Felger and Mazz from 2-6 every Monday-Friday on 98.5 The Sports Hub, with hosts Mike Felger, Tony “Mazz” Massarotti, and Jim Murray “Big Jim”. You can listen live in the Sports Hub App and subscribe to their podcasts here. Follow @FelgerAndMazz on Twitter to keep up with the show!
It's officially make-or-break time for the 2023 Red Sox
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 20: Kenley Jansen #74 reacts with Connor Wong #12 of the Boston Red Sox after the ninth inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on August 20, 2023 in the Bronx. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
But Boston’s sweep did more than just put their bitter rivals six feet under.
More importantly, it allowed the Sox to keep pace with an absolutely unrelenting wild card race, with the Sox opening Monday three games behind Seattle for the final playoff spot. And like Chaim Bloom said after the 2023 trade deadline came and went without a substantial add for the club, the Red Sox remain underdogs, with FanGraphs giving the Red Sox a 14.2 percent chance of qualifying for the postseason. (That’s almost 10 percent lower than it was when Bloom made those comments at the beginning of the month, by the way.)
But if the graphs are spelling doom, it likely has to do with the make-or-break schedule that awaits the club beginning this week, with Monday kicking off a 10-in-10 stretch that includes four against the Astros at Minute Maid Park, three against the Dodgers back home at Fenway, and then another three against the Astros with Houston coming to town.
This is not the teeth of the schedule, no. It’s the damn poison fangs.
And it’ll almost certainly decide Boston’s playoff fate.
Aug 19, 2023; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros first baseman Yainer Diaz (21) is greeted by Houston Astros left fielder Mauricio Dubon (14) after hitting a home run against the Seattle Mariners at Minute Maid Park. (Erik Williams/USA TODAY Sports)
Now, to say that Boston’s upcoming four-game road series against the Astros is huge is perhaps the understatement of the year. This is actually the first time that Cora’s squad has seen the Astros this year, and Houston will take the field in this series with a bit of a bad taste in their mouths.
On the wrong end of a three-game sweep themselves, the Astros will look to avoid a fourth straight loss Monday night when the Sox come to town. To put the rarity of ‘extended’ losing streaks in Houston into perspective, the Astros found themselves stuck in the mud of a five-game skid back in June, and it was actually their first losing streak of at least five games since Apr. 2021.
This is by all means a double-whammy kind of series for each team, too, as the Astros enter this series with a half-game lead for the final playoff spot in the AL, while the Red Sox are 3.5 games behind Houston. Forgetting about the teams in between the Astros and Red Sox (and that’s the Mariners and Blue Jays) for a second, those are some massive game-to-game swings for each club depending on the final result.
The Astros are expected to hit the Red Sox with Cristian Javier (8-2 record with 112 strikeouts in 122.1 innings), Justin Verlander, Jose Urquidy (3-0 with a 2.50 ERA in three career starts against the Red Sox), and J.P. France (9-4 with a 2.75 ERA on the year) in this series.
And while the Sox will battle the Dodgers in between their series with the ‘Stros, Houston will get a three-game set with the 57-67 Tigers.
That’s some potential season-altering separation on the line all week long.
Aug 20, 2023; Houston, Texas, USA; The Seattle Mariners infielders congratulate each other after the final out against the Houston Astros during the ninth inning at Minute Maid Park. (Erik Williams/USA TODAY Sports)
Elsewhere in the race, there’s not a team hotter than the Mariners.
Led by the white-hot Julio Rodriguez, the M’s have rattled off wins in six straight and made it absolutely impossible for the Red Sox to make up any ground in the wild card race.
Making up ground has been a challenging task for the Red Sox no matter the team in front of them, actually, as the Sox were three games out of the final wild card spot exactly one month ago. The only difference is that on July 20, it was the Astros who held the three-game edge over Boston for the final wild card spot.
But with the Mariners clinging to that third and final spot, they’ll kick off their week with a three-game set against the White Sox, have a day off and then start a three-game set against the Royals, and then start a three-game set with the Athletics. Those are the three worst teams in the American League, and in that order, too.
The Mariners are not like the Red Sox in the sense that they struggle against inferior competition, either, as they’ve compiled a 12-2 record against those three teams in 2023.
In essence, making up ground on Seattle isn’t going to get any easier.
It may be about keeping pace more than anything else, really.
Aug 20, 2023; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher Bowden Francis (44) reacts with catcher Danny Jansen (9) after the Blue Jays defeated the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. (David Kohl/USA TODAY Sports)
Like the Red Sox, the Blue Jays find themselves chasing the sizzlin’ Mariners for the final wild card spot in the American League. Toronto begins the week as the closest club to catching ’em, too, as they sit a mere half game back of Seattle by way of having one more loss than the Mariners.
And after securing a series victory over the Reds with a Sunday victory, Toronto will have Monday off before beginning a three-game series with the division-leading Orioles on Tuesday.
The good news for the Red Sox is that the Orioles have been an absolute nightmare for the Jays in 2023, with Toronto dropping eight of their 10 head-to-heads with the O’s in 2023.
Following their series with the Orioles, the Blue Jays will return home and take on the Guardians in a three-game set (Toronto is 2-2 against Cleveland this year) and then host the Nationals for a three-game set.
Aug 18, 2023; Bronx, New York, USA; Boston Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers (11) and right fielder Alex Verdugo (99) congratulate each other after defeating the New York Yankees 8-3 at Yankee Stadium. (Wendell Cruz/USA TODAY Sports)
The schedules both for themselves and those they’re chasing paints a stressful picture for the Red Sox.
It’s of course worth noting that the Sox have typically saved their best play for top-tier opponents, however, and the numbers confirm as much, as the Red Sox have consistently been one of the game’s top teams when going against opponents with an over .500 record. And the Sox are certainly going to get their fill of such opponents over the next 10 days with a pair of series against the Astros and a three-game set against the Dodgers.
There’s some comfort in the Red Sox proving that they can handle their business against quality competition.
But with the spot they’re in, they’re going to need help from the outside, and upsets that allow them to make up some ground in the wild card hunt. In fact, it’s their only option this late into the season.
For Cora’s squad, it’s time to make the math break their way.
