jung

If Miller does not go into the post season healthy they are going to have a serious pen problem too. Think they have a pen problem even if Miller does go into the post season healthy.

Was Johnson first out of the pen tonight? Can't believe I just fell fast asleep at about 6:30 and missed a bunch of this game.

You have your opinion and I have mine. We will just have to see how it plays out.

You won't get anybody pitching to you on these tours. But see if you can get up to home plate. They let you on the field and behind home plate. Just see if they will let you up to the RH hitters batters box and just take a stance. See if that wall does not look like its right on top of you and see if it isn't almost mesmerizing. The RH hitter just can't ignore it and that is just the sort of thing that will create Slider disease in the RH hitter. How many of our RH hitters end up with Slider disease?

I have always found the different park designs interesting to view from a player perspective. Used to be that Fenway was more of a HR hitters park before all of those extra seats just cut the breeze so much blowing out. Now its much more a doubles park and the hitters are still left having to look at that LF wall. It is so tall that it makes you feel like you can reach out and touch it from home plate, like an optical illusion. Its probably why so many of our RH hitters end up with Slider disease. You just cannot take your eyes off that wall in LF and you are so jacked to pump it to or over that wall that the Slider tends to eat you alive. If you get the chance on one of these Fenway tours see if you can get near the batters box for the RH hitter, take a stance and see if that wall does not just draw your eyes to it.

If that is what they want to do they need to give Kacie more airtime. MOTHER OF GOD!

1. Tzu-Wei Lin (L) CF 2. Brandon Phillips ® 2B 3. Rafael Devers (L) 3B 4. J.D. Martinez ® DH 5. Steve Pearce ® 1B 6. Brock Holt (L) SS 7. Blake Swihart (S) RF 8. Sam Travis ® LF 9. Sandy Leon (S) C

Cash took a team with close to nothing other than Snell and a relief staff that he built and has them in the running for a post season slot. Cash had to manage a bullpen game 2 games out of every 4 for a whole season. Cora has the two guys that will be the two top MVP voter getters in the league and a very good rotation for the bulk of the year.

Mookie is the straw that stirs the drink here, on the team with the best record in baseball. I don't believe pure offensive stats should outweigh the total contribution of a player to his team. I also do not think anybody will break the top two of our top two for MVP voting. Everybody else is running for 3rd.

I suspect all the votes will go to Cash and Cora. But Cash has worked a miracle with that team and I expect him to eek it out over Cora. After all, Cora will have the MVP and the second highest vote getter for MVP on HIS team. He might even have the Cy Young on his team though I think it will be hard to keep the Cy from Snell.

Cora would be AL MOY were it not for Cash.

JD has had a great year...but I just do not think you can take MVP from Mookie for his defense, his baserunning, his hitting...his total contribution is simply unmatched IMO. Plus its Mookies team. Its not JD's team.

Not trying to give him an out but I don't think Stanton ever really recovered from having his face caved in. He has never really been the same since.

Really hope Mookie has sown up the MVP. He is totally deserving. I don't even think it should be a question.

Nobody forgot anything. Tanaka didn't have it and Boone handled his pen poorly and you are completely misreading the comments about pitchers learning to pitch to hitters. Starters do that. They have to because they are going to face a batting order two or three times in the same game. So again since apparently you didn't bother to read it the first time, when anybody talks about pitchers learning how to pitch to hitters that have been scouted, they are talking about starting pitchers. Relief pitchers don't do that. Relief pitchers go out and pitch their game no matter who is at the plate. Its the managers job to match up his relief pitchers to the task at hand because they are not going to go out to the mound and change what they do. Again, does Kimbrel change what he does batter to batter? NOPE. He pitches the way he pitches and the batter has to beat Kimbrel at Kimbrel's game. Kimbrel is not going to change for a batter. Does Kelly change what he does batter to batter, Hembree, Brasier, any of them NOPE. Relief pitchers go out there and pitch THEIR game and you have to beat them at their game. Tanaka certainly was not as brutal as he can be and Boone did a pretty bad job of handling his pen tonight.

Boone...what an idiot. I have no idea how the Yankees decided to give this team to this guy. Really bad decision IMO.

Boone who is a screaming idiot handled his pen poorly. Plus relief pitchers are specialists. They don't pitch to the hitter's weakness as much as they pitch to their strength. Starters pitch to hitters weaknesses. You have to beat a relief pitcher's best game. So whenever anybody is talking about pitchers knowing how to pitch to batters they are talking about starters, not relievers. A reliever is not going to alter how he pitches because of who is at the plate. Does Kimbrel change what he does one batter to the next...NOPE. He is going to pitch to you the way he pitches and you either beat him or you don't.

So if the pen does not walk guys, this should be a lead they can protect. Especially true if they avoid walking the 1st hitter of an inning.

Funny but not really. Boone is only saved from being the worst manager in the division by Gibby who is unsurpassed for that title.

Now isn't that just toooooooooo bad!!

Probably too long a sit between innings for Wright at this point.

I would too...not because it is what I would recommend for the post season but because we need to win this game. If he falters have somebody ready. I don't think we will be able to afford to use him for 4 inning stretches in the post season because I think we are going to need to use the crap out of Wright in stints from the 5th or 6th on as far as he can reasonably go. Not sure how many days we will lose him for if we make him go 4 inning stretches.

Wright for sure. We need to win this game.

Come on Sox ...pull us ahead here.

No it does not change...but you can not grove your hitters for a park you play in 19 times a season. You grove your hitters for the park you play in 81 times a season. The Yankee hitters are grooved for this place which is something of an oddball park. Our (the Red Sox) problem in this park is that we don't pitch to this park. That is criminal. You CAN coach and prepare your pitching staff to pitch to the particular characteristics of an opponent park. We just do a horrible job in that regard...just horrible when it comes to this place.