Red Sox (Crochet) vs Yankees (Fried): 9/30/25, 6:08pm WC 1

[Maxbialystock]

7 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

All I can say is, "Wow!"

Fantastic win! (Okay, I said more...)

Astounding, amazing, perfectomundo.  

It's almost exactly what I thought could happen because Crochet has been so good.  But so has the Yankees hitting.  

The Sox secret weapon does it again--Yoshida, Yoshida, Yoshida!  Plus Sogard, in for Lowe, hits a huge double to set things up for Yoshida.  

Sending Crochet out for the 8th was a huge gamble, but it worked.  Here's hoping his arm doesn't fall off before his next start. 

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

I doubt Chappy will be available tomorrow, but Whitlock will be available for 2 innings tomorrow. Also, the rest of the Sox BP should be well rested.

Just need 5 good innings from Bello.

Getting 7 and 2/3 from Crochet was HUGE!!!!

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 minute ago, Nineintime said:

Don’t agree.  He’s had a winning formula all year with Whitlock and Chappy.  He deviated for whatever reason and got really lucky. Bases loaded no one out.   Got really lucky 

Closers are asked to get 4-out saves a lot, especially in the postseason.

What was unlucky is we had a guy out there who didn't give up three hits all summer, suddenly give up three hits on three pitches...

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

3 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

All games are decided by the run differential.

Very true and that will never change.

[Maxbialystock]

A little off topic, but  i watched big chunks of the Ryder Cup and thought those fans were disgusting.  Tonight, all I saw was Yankees fans rooting for the their ball club.  

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

Getting 7 and 2/3 from Crochet was HUGE!!!!

I honestly think Skubal helped us today. The Sox surely had the earlier Detroit game on in the clubhouse, and saw Skubal throw 107 pitches. Crochet said hold my beer: 117!

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 minute ago, Maxbialystock said:

A little off topic, but  i watched big chunks of the Ryder Cup and thought those fans were disgusting.  Tonight, all I saw was Yankees fans rooting for the their ball club.  

When you see American flags waving, you know it's going to be disgusting.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Just now, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

When you see American flags waving, you know it's going to be disgusting.

Btw, I hate golf.

[Maxbialystock]

8 minutes ago, Nineintime said:

Don’t agree.  He’s had a winning formula all year with Whitlock and Chappy.  He deviated for whatever reason and got really lucky. Bases loaded no one out.   Got really lucky 

I definitely would have sent Whitlock out for the 8th, but it's pretty hard to complain about the result.  

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 minute ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Btw, I hate golf.

As George Carlin once said all that wasted land could be used for cemeteries.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 minute ago, Maxbialystock said:

I definitely would have sent Whitlock out for the 8th, but it's pretty hard to complain about the result.  

We did win didn't we? Because if the Sox lost, I wouldn't be watching this Dodgers' game.

[moonslav59]

8 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

Sending Crochet out for the 8th was a huge gamble, but it worked.  Here's hoping his arm doesn't fall off before his next start. 

You know for sure, if Chapman gave it up in the 9th, we'd still be hearing about what an idiot Cora was for brining him in outside his comfort zone role.

It's only a good move, because it worked, right?

We should think about that.

Most of what Cora does works. It's not all sabermetrics and computer generated decisions. He follows his gut, a lot.

When the season started, most of us thought the pen was a rag-tag group. After losing over a hundred starts from our best starters, more pressure was put on the pen, and they nearly always came through- all year long. Again tonight.

Cora has also had to tweak the line-up so many time, it's not even funny. By mid June, he'd already lost his .820 OPS 1Bman, his biggest bat in the Devers trade and the wonder prospect Campbell playing into a demotion. Later, he lost Bregman, Anthony, Mayer, Abreu and others. Only 3 batters qualified with enough PAs, this year and none of them hit over .780. Who expected these batters would get these amounts of PAs?

446 Narvaez (5th in team PAs)

341 Romy (7th most PAs on the team!)

284 Toro (10th)

263 Campbell (11th)

194 DHam (14th)

136 Mayer (16th)

119 Lowe

104 Sogard and 90 Eaton.

That's about 2,000 PAs (about 1/3 of the total)

[Maxbialystock]

2 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

When you see American flags waving, you know it's going to be disgusting.

I love the flag and must have saluted it a zillion times, but I sure didn't like the way those yahoos waved it around.  They weren't there for the golf or the competition, but to be as insulting as possible.  

[Maxbialystock]

4 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

We did win didn't we? Because if the Sox lost, I wouldn't be watching this Dodgers' game.

Yep  We won.  I'm watching the Dodgers game too.  

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

15 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Closers are asked to get 4-out saves a lot, especially in the postseason.

What was unlucky is we had a guy out there who didn't give up three hits all summer, suddenly give up three hits on three pitches...

Being human does have its drawbacks.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

2 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

I love the flag and must have saluted it a zillion times, but I sure didn't like the way those yahoos waved it around.  They weren't there for the golf or the competition, but to be as insulting as possible.  

When I said flags waving, I meant being waved by knuckle draggers.

[Maxbialystock]

10 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

As George Carlin once said all that wasted land could be used for cemeteries.

☺️

[Maxbialystock]

1 minute ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

When I said flags waving, I meant being waved by knuckle draggers.

I figured.  

[FredLynn]

1 minute ago, Maxbialystock said:

I definitely would have sent Whitlock out for the 8th, but it's pretty hard to complain about the result.  

 

5 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

You know for sure, if Chapman gave it up in the 9th, we'd still be hearing about what an idiot Cora was for brining him in outside his comfort zone role.

It's only a good move, because it worked, right?

We should think about that.

Most of what Cora does works. It's not all sabermetrics and computer generated decisions. He follows his gut, a lot.

When the season started, most of us thought the pen was a rag-tag group. After losing over a hundred starts from our best starters, more pressure was put on the pen, and they nearly always came through- all year long. Again tonight.

Cora has also had to tweak the line-up so many time, it's not even funny. By mid June, he'd already lost his .820 OPS 1Bman, his biggest bat in the Devers trade and the wonder prospect Campbell playing into a demotion. Later, he lost Bregman, Anthony, Mayer, Abreu and others. Only 3 batters qualified with enough PAs, this year and none of them hit over .780. Who expected these batters would get these amounts of PAs?

446 Narvaez (5th in team PAs)

341 Romy (7th most PAs on the team!)

284 Toro (10th)

263 Campbell (11th)

194 DHam (14th)

136 Mayer (16th)

119 Lowe

104 Sogard and 90 Eaton.

That's about 2,000 PAs (about 1/3 of the total)

Just because what Cora did (not using Whitlock for the righties in the 9th) worked out doesn’t mean it was the best move. Sometimes mistakes work out fine 

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 minute ago, FredLynn said:

 

Just because what Cora did (not using Whitlock for the righties in the 9th) worked out doesn’t mean it was the best move. Sometimes mistakes work out fine 

So say a lot of parents.

[FredLynn]

2 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

So say a lot of parents.

Goldschmidt, Judge, and Stanton had PAs in the 9th. Whit has been lights out. But whatever-its still 1-0. Just eliminating the Yankmees would make the season a success.

[Maxbialystock]

I like Cora a lot.   But I just caught a glimpse of Terry Francona managing still another team into the postseason.  In his first postseason with the Sox and the Yankees were up 3 games to none in the ALCS, he said "we don't have to win 4 games, we just have to win the next game."  

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, FredLynn said:

 

Just because what Cora did (not using Whitlock for the righties in the 9th) worked out doesn’t mean it was the best move. Sometimes mistakes work out fine 

Exactly! And just because some moves did not work, it doesn't mean they were bad ones.

I tend to shy away from in game manager bashing, because they know more of the facts and information that we do, and I'm not talking sabermetrics and splits.

I have had disagreements on general aspects of Cora's choices, but they are minor compared to how well I think he does. IMO, he did a masterful job, this year. He made some mistakes and has even admitted some, but we are all human. At least, I think we are.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

For the Dodgers, playing the mediocre Reds is probably better than getting a pass in the 1st round.

[vegasbob]

3 hours ago, vegasbob said:

The previous 2 finished games today had the loser scoring only 1 run.

Sox have the Yanks right where they want them

Looks like a prescient call in retrospect

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

12 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

Goldschmidt, Judge, and Stanton had PAs in the 9th. Whit has been lights out. But whatever-its still 1-0. Just eliminating the Yankmees would make the season a success.

This series is far from ovah, but,yes, eliminating the Yankems would be great in so many ways.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

3 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

This series is far from ovah, but,yes, eliminating the Yankems would be great in so many ways.

Btw, of the 12 teams involved 11 will have unsuccessful seasons.

[d-money]

Is there a reason as to why boone took out his starter after getting the first out in the top of the 7th? 102 pitches as well. Talk about overmanaging. He’s getting killed already for it.  Thank you Aaron “Bleeping” Boone. 

[Maxbialystock]

18 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

 

Just because what Cora did (not using Whitlock for the righties in the 9th) worked out doesn’t mean it was the best move. Sometimes mistakes work out fine 

Look, I too would have gone with Whitlock, but job one tonight was to win the freaking game.  To do that Cora went with his two best pitchers (by a big margin). Hard to call that dumb.   Whitlock will get his chance (s).  

[FredLynn]

3 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

Look, I too would have gone with Whitlock, but job one tonight was to win the freaking game.  To do that Cora went with his two best pitchers (by a big margin). Hard to call that dumb.   Whitlock will get his chance (s).  

Like I said, I'm glad it worked out. But Whitlock has been just about as effective as Chapman and there were two good righties due up in the 9th. I believe this was an example of Cora making a mistake. I don't think he is generally a good manager, though except for that mistake he did well tonight.