a700hitter

Holt is a very useful player who adds value in many way. Farrell's mistake was not playing Holt last night, but trying to force in a RH bat in Young at the expense of Devers' bat.

Such a smarty pants. I knew the rule. My confusion was that I hadn't t realized that Farrell had visited the mound while Ells was being announced. Maybe I was distracted posting, and when it was pointed out that he has visited the mound, it made sense to me and posted that it made sense. While I might have been distracted, Farrell should have been fully engaged and realized that he made a mound Visit. He didn't. I would conclude early onset dementia or that he was operating on 1 brain cell last night or both. Edit: BTW , that move by Gil Hodges's changing pitchers with a 1-2 count to face Rico Carty in the second inning with runners on second and third, was an out of the box move that shocked everyone including the batter who swung at Ryan's only pitch after it was in the catcher's mitt. Gil would do things like that, because he studied the game intently. He saw things that didn't even occur to most managers. I have spoken at length with former players under Gil. They speak about Hodges's to this day with awe and reverence. They don't talk about their other coaches and managers that way. I asked Seaver if the Mets organization instructed them to adopt the Drop and drive delivery that all Mets pitchers used on that staff. He laughed and told me that the coaches didn't teach them anything-- that they came up with that on their own and they learned from each other. He had open disdain for the pitching coaches in the organization, but when it came to Gil, it was like he was discussing a baseball God.

Managers that manage by the book and the stats on one day and by their observations and fit on the next day are the worst. Terry Collins did that in 2015 World Series. Ahead in game 4 in the 8th inning he went to Tyler Clippard and let him blow up the game and he brought in Familia only after the tying run was in scoring position. The tying run scored against Familia without the benefit of a hit. Collins explanation after the game was that "the book" is that Clippard pitches the 8th and Familia pitches the 9th. in game 5, Harvey threw 8 shutout innings and begged Collins to start the 9th. He walked the lead off hitter. He was clearly gasses and has lost his command. Terry sat on his hands and amazingly let Harvey face another batter who doubles. Only then did Collins go to his closer who once again got credited with a blown save before he had given up a hit. My good friend and Mets fan started screaming "Where was the cook from last night! Terry mist have lost his book. What about the book." He was right Collins picked the wrong night to go by the book and the wrong night to ignore the book and he had blown the World Series. That World Series was thrown away by Collins in a shameful display of managerial stupidity.

I couldn't believe it when he took Chapman's fastball out of the park. Players just don't get on top of 103 mph fastballs and drive them. 103 mph is so fast that the eye barely has time to process it never mind hit it. That is at the limits of human physiology. Only the best of the best can turn around those kinds of fastballs. I remember George Brett turning around a 9$ mph Goose Gossafe heater at his neck and putting it in the upper deck at Yankee Stadium. That was the Pine Tar game. Brett was already an established great. As for a young kid doing it, the only guy I can remember was a 19 year old Andruw Jones getting on top of a Mo Rivera 97 mph 4 seamer and putting it in the Yankee bullpen. Devers shot was unbelievably exciting.

Funny you should mention that, because Girardi came under harsh criticism for letting Chapman fly without a net on Friday night when he was clearly imploding and he had 2 other closer quality guys in the pen in Robertson and Betances. Girardi is also a massive dope. Many Yankee fans despise the guy. I can't tell you how many times I have seen him take out starting pitchers who are cruising with pitch counts in the 80's after 5 innings and a 4 run lead because his binders tell him that the guy sucks the 3rd time through the batting order. And generally the guy does suck the 3rd time through the order because his pitch count was in the upper 90's when he started the inning. On a night when the guy was cruising and his pitch count was 80, he might have 3 or 4 or 5 more outs in him. Girardi would regularly take the guy out before any sign of trouble with the best case scenario being that he was burning up his pen. On many of those night the middle relief guys lost the game. Yes, I come down on the side of Girardi being a dope -- maybe only a moron or imbecile and not quite an idiot.

Other than Joe Maddon submitting a lineup card listing 2 third basemen and costing his team the use of the DH for the game, Farrell's coming out of the dugout to make a pitching change that he couldn't make was the dumbest thing that I can remember a manger doing. Although last season, Terry Collins did not challenge a play at the plate on the final out of a game when his runner looked to be safe. He had nothing to lose, but he didn't challenge it because his video people couldn't communicate with him. The GM Sandy Alderson was at that game, and he told a group of season ticket holders that he and Collins got into a pretty heated discussion after that game. Alderson ran down to the dugout to try to get Collins to challenge the play, but the team had left the dugout. The s*** hit the fan in the clubhouse.

It was because of the prior mound visit. Okay, that makes sense. I checked and Nolan Ryan did replace Gentry with a 1-2 count to face Rico Carty in Game 3 of the 1969 Playoffs, but Carty was not a PH and there was no mound visit during the AB before removing him. http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/print.jsp?ymd=20090820&content_id=6519428&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym

Winning is the ultimate metric for managers. As long as Farrell wins, he stays, but sorry Max, he has two brain cells. Luckily for him there are other managers in MLB who operate with limited brain waves, and some of them win too. In 2015, a couple of Dunce Deluxes faced off in the World Series == Ned Yost and Terry Collins. Collins was over-matched in that battle of the witless.

I am confused about the rule. I think I remember in the 1969 playoffs that Gill Hodges removed Gary Gentry from a game after going 0-2 on Rico Carty and he brought in Nolan Ryan to get the final strike.

Great win!! They needed to beat these guys late in a game.

Kimbrel is devastating. Game over. We win!!! Farrell can put his 2 brain cells in the docking station to recharge.

Would you bury a slider here?

Moreland's GG finally came in handy.

I think his side is still bothering him. I thought he was wincing after a couple of swings.

I thought Devers beat him.

Kahnle is choking.

Smith continues to trend upward in rehab http://m.redsox.mlb.com/assets/images/3/0/4/248299304/cuts/1280x720/cut.jpgRed Sox reliever Carson Smith is working his way back from May 2016 Tommy John surgery. (AP)By Ian Browne / MLB.com | @IanMBrowne | 7:37 PM ET + 9 COMMENTS NEW YORK -- The Red Sox continue to get encouraging reports on righty reliever Carson Smith, who pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts for Triple-A Pawtucket on Saturday, marking the third appearance of his rehab stint. "Positive, both from [Pawtucket manager] Kevin Boles and from talking to Carson today," said Red Sox manager John Farrell prior to Sunday's game at Yankee Stadium. "The command was better last night. There was an uptick a little bit in velocity from maybe five days prior and in talking with Carson he just feels now he's gotten three appearances, the recovery time both in terms of his arm and his body is getting [shorter]. So these are encouraging things as we go through the early phase here. He'll be in a game again on Tuesday." Smith underwent Tommy John surgery on May 24, 2016. Given how much time he has missed, the Red Sox are likely to give Smith the full 30 days on his rehab assignment, which expires on Sept. 3. "I would expect to. We're sitting here in the middle of August. He's got three appearances, it's been a year and a half," said Farrell. "We're still spacing it out to no sooner than every third day in which he'd be in a game at some point. That will close down a little bit more to more frequent outings, but I think for right now, given all that he's been through, the more we can keep his trend moving upward, we'll stay the course for right now." The addition of Smith would complement an already deep Red Sox bullpen that includes a stud closer in Craig Kimbrel along with setup men Addison Reed, Matt Barnes, Joe Kellyand Heath Hembree. Worth noting • Left-hander David Price played long toss for the third straight day on Sunday. There is still no time table for Price to throw off a mound, which is critical step in his attempted comeback from left elbow inflammation. Price was placed on the disabled list for the second time this season on July 28. "Threw out to 90 feet, and tomorrow he'll have a scheduled off-day as part of the plan that's been laid out," said Farrell. "As we've done with each of his throwing sessions in which he's come out, we evaluate where he's at, assess how he's feeling and go from there." Ian Browne has covered the Red Sox for MLB.com since 2002. Follow him on Twitter @IanMBrowne and Facebook. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Mookie owes the team for his error.

I thought that he put up his hand calling for the bullpen.

Both of Farrell's brain cells need recharging.

I have a binder full of numbers to back up my position, but they are all in my head.

Tonight was his mulligan and he flubbed it. I don't want to see him in high leverage situations.

Both of his brain cells are in need of recharging tonight.

Agreed

Farrell is a master manager. He is bringing in the guy with the wicked slider that catchers can't handle with a man on third base and a catcher with a bad leg. He is setting up failure here.