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

[mvp 78]

9 hours 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.

He's struggled down the stretch, but is a certifiable Yankee Killer. We'll see how tonight goes. 

[Old Red]

9 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

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. 

It was a predictable lineup last night to me with the only question being if Masa started over Duran.

[Old Red]

7 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He's struggled down the stretch, but is a certifiable Yankee Killer. We'll see how tonight goes. 

And one of those struggles was against the Yankees.

[mvp 78]

9 minutes ago, Old Red said:

It was a predictable lineup last night to me with the only question being if Masa started over Duran.

Masa over Eaton or Refsnyder IMO. 

[mvp 78]

8 minutes ago, Old Red said:

And one of those struggles was against the Yankees.

Career: 61 tOPS+, best against any team with more than 6 GS (Marlins, Rockies and Pirates had lower tOPS+ in small sample sizes)

2.35 ERA

[Old Red]

9 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Masa over Eaton or Refsnyder IMO. 

Masa over Eaton I could see, but Refsnyder would have played no matter who was available IMO.

[Old Red]

15 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Career: 61 tOPS+, best against any team with more than 6 GS (Marlins, Rockies and Pirates had lower tOPS+ in small sample sizes)

2.35 ERA

This is a whole entirely situation though being the postseason, and Bello has more innings built up going into October for the first time.  Pitch count? Time will tell.

[FredLynn]

7 hours ago, illinoisredsox said:

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.

Chapman was the right pitcher for the 8th; Whitlock should have pitched the 9th because it was Judge, Bellinger, and Stanton. Rice wasn’t going to PH for any of them. The mistake was the 9th, not the 8th.

[Jasonbay44]

4 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

Chapman was the right pitcher for the 8th; Whitlock should have pitched the 9th because it was Judge, Bellinger, and Stanton. Rice wasn’t going to PH for any of them. The mistake was the 9th, not the 8th.

Doesn’t seem like there was any mistake to me. Chapman allowed 0 runs and they won. 

[Maxbialystock]

12 hours 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 honestly don't think Boone screwed up.  He brought Fried back out in the 7th to get Duran, a lefty bat.  He did.  The next two batters were 8th and 9th in the Sox batting order and Fried was at 101 pitches.   This was the perfect time to bring the bullpen.  

Those who argue Fried needed to stay in must therefore argue he needed to pitch all 9 innings because the Yankees bullpen was/is unreliable and they only had a 1 run lead.  

Were I in Cora's shoes, I would have brought out Whitlock for the 8th.  However, it's hard to argue with the fact that splitting the 8th between Crochet and Chapman worked.  Plus Chapman was the right choice for the 9th.

I do agree Cora is the better manager, but you couldn't tell that from the usual comments on talksox.  I'm pretty sure moonslav and I are the only ones who have consistently defended Cora all season long.  

 

[Duran Is The Man]

  

 

 

 

[Maxbialystock]

1 hour ago, FredLynn said:

Chapman was the right pitcher for the 8th; Whitlock should have pitched the 9th because it was Judge, Bellinger, and Stanton. Rice wasn’t going to PH for any of them. The mistake was the 9th, not the 8th.

I understand your logic, but Chapman has been hugely successful as the closer and he only pitched to one batter in the 8th using 6 pitches.  He ended up throwing 24 pitches.  Whitlock can close tonight with his 2.25 ERA and backed up by Weissert, Matz, Slaten, Wilson, et al.  When the Sox clinched vs Detroit Friday night the bullpen pitched 6 scoreless innings, of which Chapman pitched 1.  

[Maxbialystock]

The Yankees lost because they choked at the plate last night--which I hasten to add Crochet and Chapman had a lot to do with.  

[FredLynn]

1 hour ago, Jasonbay44 said:

Doesn’t seem like there was any mistake to me. Chapman allowed 0 runs and they won. 

Sometimes you can make a mistake and it works out anyway. Tell me that has never happened to you.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

4 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

Whitlock can close tonight with his 2.25 ERA and backed up by Weissert, Matz, Slaten, Wilson, et al.  When the Sox clinched vs Detroit Friday night the bullpen pitched 6 scoreless innings, of which Chapman pitched 1.  

Matz and Wilson will be key guys vs. power lefties tonight. Maybe even a southpaw rookie reliever?

Bello needs to pitch carefully to the monster righties. Then hopefully Slaten and Whitlock can handle them later.

Weissert needs to find a really comfortable seat at the end of the bench in the bullpen, and not even get up to stretch unless the Sox are way ahead or way behind.

[FredLynn]

8 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

I understand your logic, but Chapman has been hugely successful as the closer and he only pitched to one batter in the 8th using 6 pitches.  He ended up throwing 24 pitches.  Whitlock can close tonight with his 2.25 ERA and backed up by Weissert, Matz, Slaten, Wilson, et al.  When the Sox clinched vs Detroit Friday night the bullpen pitched 6 scoreless innings, of which Chapman pitched 1.  

The closer isn't always used in the 9th. In this case Chapman was brought in in the 8th, which IMO was the right move. But now he is unavailable today most likely. Whitlock could have pitched the 9th and still been available today. It all worked out, but I didn't like Cora's decision. The rest of the game he did fine.

 

7 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

The Yankees lost because they choked at the plate last night--which I hasten to add Crochet and Chapman had a lot to do with.  

 

[mvp 78]

No reason to hold back Chapman yesterday. No idea if they'll even need him tonight. Win the games you can win no matter what. 

[drewski6]

44 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

I understand your logic, but Chapman has been hugely successful as the closer and he only pitched to one batter in the 8th using 6 pitches.  He ended up throwing 24 pitches.  Whitlock can close tonight with his 2.25 ERA and backed up by Weissert, Matz, Slaten, Wilson, et al.  When the Sox clinched vs Detroit Friday night the bullpen pitched 6 scoreless innings, of which Chapman pitched 1.  

Im bringing Whit in earlier, not saving him for the ninth.  Chapman can close again, he just had a few days off.

[notin]

1 hour ago, Duran Is The Man said:

  

 

 

 

I assume this means in the postseason.  I find it hard to believe in the some 270,000 MLB games played to date, no team has ever done this rather mundane feat before…

[dannycater]

As a long, long time Sox fan going back to my love for '75 Sox, I can't help but think this is like gravy-all of this...I loved yesterday's win...what a game and what a great job by Cora...Maybe this team has some mojo, maybe it was the plane ride, the Devers trade, the constant criticism of Yoshida and the spare parts that clearly already are paying dividends..then look at the faith in Story and the FA big move of getting Bregman.. Playoff Alexs...Crochet is Tiant/Lonborg/Clemens/Pedro/Schilling/Lester all in one...Chapman might as well be Koji at this point. Go Sox!! I'm excited for first time in a few years.

[notin]

24 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

No reason to hold back Chapman yesterday. No idea if they'll even need him tonight. Win the games you can win no matter what. 

Exactly.  If the score is 6-1 (either way) in the 9th tonight, no one will regret using Chapman the way Cora did…

[Duran Is The Man]

9 minutes ago, notin said:

I assume this means in the postseason.  I find it hard to believe in the some 270,000 MLB games played to date, no team has ever done this rather mundane feat before…

i agree but it does say postseason.

[notin]

9 minutes ago, Duran Is The Man said:

i agree but it does say postseason.

How did I miss that?

[dgalehouse]

Fans love to second guess the managers. But the fact is that most of the manager's moves are pretty much straight out of the basic handbook. It is up to the players to get it done. Boone was ripped for taking Fried out, but Fried is just not as strong as a guy like Crochet. The problem was that Luke Weaver did not get the job done. Weaver has had some success closing for the Yanks, but for the most part has had a rather mediocre career. His blowing the lead was not a big surprise. 

[Beaneater]

35 minutes ago, dgalehouse said:

Fans love to second guess the managers. But the fact is that most of the manager's moves are pretty much straight out of the basic handbook. It is up to the players to get it done. Boone was ripped for taking Fried out, but Fried is just not as strong as a guy like Crochet. The problem was that Luke Weaver did not get the job done. Weaver has had some success closing for the Yanks, but for the most part has had a rather mediocre career. His blowing the lead was not a big surprise. 

It's true that both Crochet and especially Chapman are built like dump trucks. Without having done any research, I'm starting to like that build in a pitcher, both for endurance in a single game and durability over the course of a season. Not that there aren't freaks like Pedro who weighed 58 pounds but could pitch all day and twice on Sunday. 

[mvp 78]

If Cora says to Chapman, will you be ready to close this out tonight, you know Chapman is going to be ready. He'd probably pitch all 3 games if he had to. 

[dannycater]

1 minute ago, mvp 78 said:

If Cora says to Chapman, will you be ready to close this out tonight, you know Chapman is going to be ready. He'd probably pitch all 3 games if he had to. 

You are in the postseason, as a player or a pitcher, you're mindthought has got to be, I'm ready at a moment's notice..if you are worried about injury or arm sore, etc, then don't play the game. 

[Bellhorn04]

4 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

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. 

Masa has been hitting well lately, but only against righties I believe.

His numbers against lefties the last 2 seasons are abominable.

[Bellhorn04]

32 minutes ago, Beaneater said:

It's true that both Crochet and especially Chapman are built like dump trucks. Without having done any research, I'm starting to like that build in a pitcher, both for endurance in a single game and durability over the course of a season. Not that there aren't freaks like Pedro who weighed 58 pounds but could pitch all day and twice on Sunday. 

Crochet did have some durability issues prior to 2024.

Chapman is definitely a freak of nature.

 

[moonslav59]

7 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

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. 

Agreed. I mentioned from the start, I'd have had Yoshida in the line-up over Eaton (Ref in RF.)

I still really like Cora as our manager and Brez as our GM or whatever he's called.