Dee-Nee Forums

It's a tough call for me, Clemens takes Boston to a slightly higher level, but those lefties for Detroit are awesome.

i would have to go with detroit.  their lineup is solid from top to bottom

i think boston is better, although they are close.  i give boston a slight edge in pitching (stanley is filthy).  
lineup analysis
burks/ trammel (tie)
gibby over buckner with a bullet
evans over boggs big
rice over nokes big
baylor over madlock/sheridan big
evans/ lemon (tie)
whitaker over gedman (slight)
armas/ henderson over brookens (slighter than you think)

this still leaves boston with the ph edge.

it's really close.

After reading Ex's analysis, I would have to concur that Boston has the edge.  Clemens and Stanley really give the Boston staff a clear advantage.  I do hit better with righties so maybe that gives me some bias.

Stanley is the key, giving Boston the slight edge. King out of the pen is simply not nearly as effective.

Also that Red Sox bench with Burks and Armas gives them more might.

One thing you can say about DT is that there are more lefties in the lineup. I think its important to have guys in the lineup coming from both sides of the plate, so that the pitcher cant just come at you from one corner. With the Sox loaded with the righties, (esp with Burks and Armas in), you throw a leftie like Viola or Tudor on the mound  and cut the outside corner every chance you get, setting up the hard inside stuff too.

But I still give the edge to the Sox. I also like the Jim Rice factor as your clean up hitter. With DT, Nokes/ (or Heath or Madlock, depending on your preference), does not strike the same kind of fear as James Rice staring you down from the barrel of his Green Letter Easton.

I have difficulty hitting with lefties too, which is why I give the edge to Boston.

According to the RBI Manager, Rice and Baylor are both in the Top 5 in the league in power, so that's huge.  And I think pound for pound Tony Armas Sr. has the most power in the game today.

Stan-O's cheese is a nice change of pace from Clemens' heat.

the tigers are definately not my team.  they play up to their potential for piner but whenever they lace'em up for me they choke...  as for the chowds they are good except for the fact that they are the SLOWEST team in the league.  its either a homerun or a single and then it is station to station from there.  and wade boggs sucks ass.    as for redass clemens, he is the most dominating hurler in the game  so that is why boston gets the nod.

Played a 5 gamer Bos/Det vs. Ryan Express last night.  Games 1-4 were slugfests, with Clemens winning his 2 starts and Hurst losing his 2.  All 4 winners had double digit runs.

We go to Game 5 and he beats me 1-0 on a Nokes solo blast Top 2nd.  Doyle was fantastic, and EKing's changeup was actually effective.

Interesting that whenever we play big series that go to a deciding game, that game ends up in a pitcher's duel.  I guess the hitters get a little tight on a big stage.

I am re-evaluating my Bosox strategy.  I think I am going to go Burks for Barrett, Armas for Buckner and Hendu for Boggs.  That means you have nothing off the bench and you have to use Owen, but I am so sick of Buckner and Boggs as automatic outs.

I could write a thesis on the debate of what to do with Bosox lineup.  It sucks you can't change the order around like you can in RBI2.   No double switches hurts too.

Its a convincing argument for Boston over Detroit, but it seems that everytime i'm involved in a game with that match up Detroit gets the upper hand.  I'd have to consider pinch hitting for Boggs a mistake, becuase he's been known to be clutch.  That being said I'd like to hear how you do with Owen, because he rarely gets a chance to hit in our games.

dkshaft makes a good point about hitting the corners.  it is possible for a pitcher to get in a groove and keep hitting spots.  that's why facing det is so tough- they have 4 legit lefties (5 if you go sheridan for hearndon).

gdavis- i hear ya about boggs, he does get some late inning clutch hits, but for the most part he hits groundballs to the right side.  i'd rather take the out with owen atthened of the lineup than in the beginning.

the optimal situation would be to start armas and have boggs on the bench for late inning pinch hitting ops, but of course you can't do that.