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

[d-money]

2 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

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.

He outmanaged boone though. I am here in new york and he’s getting killed for taking out his starter.

[FredLynn]

2 minutes ago, d-money said:

He outmanaged boone though. I am here in new york and he’s getting killed for taking out his starter.

I don't remember how many pitches Fried had up to then. But as I noted earlier here, the Yankmee pen stinks. In a three game series you can't afford to go with pitchers who stink

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

11 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).  

This wasn't a regular season game. This was a must win PO game, so you have to go with your two best pitchers and that's what Cora did. And it worked out. You win with your best or you lose with your best. You don't go with your 3rd best.

[Deja Doh]

That was a tough 9th.  But wow, that was a hell of a game.  

[Larry Cook]

1 hour ago, iortiz said:

I see our guys feasting off Rodon. He’s massively overrated. 

Didn’t rodon completely shut us down last time we faced him???  

[moonslav59]

22 minutes ago, d-money said:

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 a Kurt overmanaging. He’s getting killed already for it.  Thank you Aaron “Bleeping” Boone. 

I've said it many times, I hope they never fire Boone or Cashman. Those two are the Sox best friends.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 minute ago, Larry Cook said:

Didn’t rodon completely shut us down last time we faced him???  

Rodon's ugly, but he's a very good pitcher. It won't be a walk in the park, but I won't complain if it is.

Go Sox!

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, Larry Cook said:

Didn’t rodon completely shut us down last time we faced him???  

5.2 IP 

1 Hit but 5 BB

1 ER and only 3 Ks

Earlier in the season, he pitched back-to-back starts vs the Sox:

5IP, 3H, 5ER, 3BB, 4K

5IP, 7H, 3ER, 2BB, 4K (+1 unearned run allowed)

All 3 games: 5.74 ERA (2 HRs, 11 hits, 10BB & 3 HBP in 15.2 IP)

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

2 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

5.2 IP 

1 Hit but 5 BB

1 ER and only 3 Ks

Earlier in the season, he pitched back-to-back starts vs the Sox:

5IP, 3H, 5ER, 3BB, 4K

5IP, 7H, 3ER, 2BB, 4K (+1 unearned run allowed)

All 3 games: 5.74 ERA (2 HRs, 11 hits, 10BB & 3 HBP in 15.2 IP)

The best thing going for the Sox, as was proven tonight and a lot during the season, is the Yankems' BP.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

3 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

The best thing going for the Sox, as was proven tonight and a lot during the season, is the Yankems' BP.

And Aaron F'ing Boone.

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

The best thing going for the Sox, as was proven tonight and a lot during the season, is the Yankems' BP.

That was our biggest advantage going into this series. In many categories and metrics our pen was the best, and NY's was mediocre, at best, despite adding Bedinar.

Gotta thank Boone for taking Fried out, but I do wonder how many more jams Fried could get himself out of. I think he was on his 9th life.

[moonslav59]

Just now, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

And Aaron F'ing Boone.

He has paid us back. Can we call it even, yet?

[FredLynn]

46 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

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

The Sox season, for me, is already successful. Next year I have a higher bar. Eliminating the Yankmees would be gravy.

[moonslav59]

Did anybody else notice how Judge kind of slow walked to the ball Sogard legged into a 2B?

Go back and look.

What a bum! (LOL)

[illinoisredsox]

58 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Didn’t rodon completely shut us down last time we faced him???  

Sort of.  5 2/3 IP, 1 H, 2R, 5 BB, 3K.

He has been pitching very well the since August 1.  That day, he allowed 4 runs to Miami.  Since then, in 10 starts, he's allowed 3 runs once and 1 or 2 in the other 9 while consistently going 6-7 innings each time out,  

Of course, Fried was on a hot streak too and he continued that tonight.  He threw a real good game.   Tomorrow really will depend on what version of Bello shows up.

[illinoisredsox]

41 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

He has paid us back. Can we call it even, yet?

See my signature line.

[FredLynn]

7 minutes ago, illinoisredsox said:

Sort of.  5 2/3 IP, 1 H, 2R, 5 BB, 3K.

He has been pitching very well the since August 1.  That day, he allowed 4 runs to Miami.  Since then, in 10 starts, he's allowed 3 runs once and 1 or 2 in the other 9 while consistently going 6-7 innings each time out,  

Of course, Fried was on a hot streak too and he continued that tonight.  He threw a real good game.   Tomorrow really will depend on what version of Bello shows up.

I believe Bello has an ERA under 2 at Yankmee Stadium this year. If that version of Bello shows up we have a good chance tomorrow.

[d-money]

6 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

I believe Bello has an ERA under 2 at Yankmee Stadium this year. If that version of Bello shows up we have a good chance tomorrow.

I feel like the bats have to show up early though. 

[FredLynn]

11 minutes ago, d-money said:

I feel like the bats have to show up early though. 

We aren’t likely to win a slugfest. The bats are what they are.

[d-money]

9 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

We aren’t likely to win a slugfest. The bats are what they are.

Then we could be in trouble. I still don’t trust bello. He needs to give us something like 6 innings of 2 run ball tomorrow. 

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Interesting game. In the first inning the Yankems 1st two batters singled and produced zero runs. In the ninth inning the Yankems first three batters singled and produced zero runs. In between the Yankems scored 1 run on a homer and pretty much nothing else.

Crochet is the best thing pitching wise that's happened to the Sox since Pedro.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

I hope all the Masa haters now realize just how good a hitter he is.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

I just watched the bottom of the 9th on YouTube. After the Yankems loaded the bases every pitch that Chapman threw except for two were either 100 mph or 101 mph.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

One last thing. I discovered why Cora didn't bring in Whit in the 8th. He wanted to keep Ben Rice on the bench. Mike Francesa brought this up and he also stated that Cora is the much more superior manager compared to Boone.

[Randy Red Sox]

9 hours ago, Old Red said:

Cora just goes to his computer, and this lineup is what spit out.

cora actually managed a great game

 

[illinoisredsox]

2 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

One last thing. I discovered why Cora didn't bring in Whit in the 8th. He wanted to keep Ben Rice on the bench. Mike Francesa brought this up and he also stated that Cora is the much more superior manager compared to Boone.

I was just about to type a very similar post.  Keeping Rice out of the game was huge; he has killed us since he came up.

Rice will be in the lineup against Bello.

[Yaz Fan Since 67]

7 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Did anybody else notice how Judge kind of slow walked to the ball Sogard legged into a 2B?

Go back and look.

What a bum! (LOL)

Damned right I noticed.  I played it back over and over again, of course ESPN didn't even mention it. Sogart taking that extra base is how the New Red Sox play the game today and it's so much fun to watch. 

What a great baseball game that was.  October baseball at it's best, so much drama and tension as we hung on every pitch.  Alex Cora is an excellent manager, always has been, and he was not afraid to ride his horse in October, unlike Boone.  Or to use the best pitcher in baseball for a 4 out save. Virtually every move he made worked out.

I've been down on Yoshida because he is way too streaky. And I still feel this way, his cold spells are killers. But a streaky hitter can also get hot and he's hot at the right time.

The home plate umpire was fantastic. I don't remember him missing a pitch and every borderline pitch was the correct call.  

Part of the fun of being a real baseball fan is we look at pitch count on the opponent's pitcher starting with the 1st inning.  That went double last night as their ace was lights out and the key is to get into the Yankees bullpen;  Same thing tonight, we need to get to that bullpen as early as possible.  I'm just not sure Bello will keep us in the game.  

 

[cp176]

31 minutes ago, Yaz Fan Since 67 said:

Damned right I noticed.  I played it back over and over again, of course ESPN didn't even mention it. Sogart taking that extra base is how the New Red Sox play the game today and it's so much fun to watch. 

What a great baseball game that was.  October baseball at it's best, so much drama and tension as we hung on every pitch.  Alex Cora is an excellent manager, always has been, and he was not afraid to ride his horse in October, unlike Boone.  Or to use the best pitcher in baseball for a 4 out save. Virtually every move he made worked out.

I've been down on Yoshida because he is way too streaky. And I still feel this way, his cold spells are killers. But a streaky hitter can also get hot and he's hot at the right time.

The home plate umpire was fantastic. I don't remember him missing a pitch and every borderline pitch was the correct call.  

Part of the fun of being a real baseball fan is we look at pitch count on the opponent's pitcher starting with the 1st inning.  That went double last night as their ace was lights out and the key is to get into the Yankees bullpen;  Same thing tonight, we need to get to that bullpen as early as possible.  I'm just not sure Bello will keep us in the game.  

 

High drama for us up here in Maine.  Crochet’s last pitch at 100 plus sums up what he has meant to this team all season.  Chapman did what Chapman has done all season.  My favorite moment was Sogard’s double ( so good).  My worst moment was Abreau’s interception of a ball the was Rafaela’s all the way.  Center fielder always gets what he wants.  Great game, read win…

[mvp 78]

10 hours 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?

I'm not sure he put the best lineup out there tonight. Fried has a reverse split and Cora just said "we're going with righties because that's what we always do" even though Masa has been hitting the ball really well lately. Needed a bullpen meltdown (and Masa) to win the game. 

[mvp 78]

10 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

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.

Overall, he's a very good manager. We just see the moves that don't work out because we watch 162 games every year. Most of the other managers are far worse.