jung

I don't care if Wright gets out of this or not. This is why Wright is not your set up man for the post season.

Nice inning Poyner

Gomes kills me. First he asks why fans didn't reach over the wall which is about the most annoying thing fans do at a game. Then he muses about why they let Kinsler score all the way from 1st when they only gave JBJ 2 bases. Well what would you suggest Johnny? We ended up with runners on 2nd and 3rd. Do you suggest they strand Kensler between 3rd and Home and call time in? Once they gave JBJ 2 bases the umps had no choice but to tally that run for us. What option was there. There was no place to put the guy.

Keep going to left JBJ...just keep going to left.

That is what Rick needs to do. Get ahead in the count and get guys to chase.

There was some positive stuff from the booth but it was pretty nondescript. Sounded more like the stuff they say when they want to say something positive. All by way of saying I don't think we know more now than before they said it.

I think catching all these games has caught up to Sandy at the plate. Just takes so much effort to hit ML pitching. Normal walking around people have the bats knocked right out of their hands.

That was a tough inning for Rick. Suddenly was not getting the ball past anybody and all the foul balls drove him over 30 pitches in the inning. Not real convinced this has been a great performance by Rick even up to that inning. Too many balls over the heart which is why the Mets could foul pitches off constantly. Wasn't the first inning of balls catching too much plate either. Just the first where the Mets started catching up to him.

Wonder what Sandy weighs right now compared to start of season. He has shed some pounds. Caught a lotta' baseball for him.

Not in anything that resembles post season high leverage. Work is usually in early and out early. Cora has not been pushing Work like he is pushing Brasier. But if for no other reason than who else is there, Work might become a linchpin in this pen. Heck Cora is pushing Thorny more than he is pushing Work though I think Thorny is soon coming to the end of his rope.

Darn...I knew I forgot somebody..thanks for reminding me. I like Work. He has gone through some changes as a pitcher I guess for the better if only because he struggled just being the same guy he was when he came up to us as a rookie pitcher. Of all of them, he might be the one steadying influence. Not sure how resilient his arm is because Cora never uses him such that we can see if he has a resilient arm at this point in his career. Clearly Cora has been pushing Brasier to show a resilient arm. I suspect Work no longer has one as Cora makes no effort at all to establish that at this point in his career he does have a resilient arm. Cora should probably try it with Work because I really don't care how many arms Cora has out there in the pen. In the post season a Manager is forced to go back to the same guys over and over again, often day after day particularly true if the starters are not regularly going 7. I am not as confident that our starters will regularly go 7. Confident that Sale can do it if truly healthy.

Unfortunately, there is nothing about this pen that suggests post season reliability. The guys emerging as their best arms are: - Wright who if brought in past the 6th and used through the 8th will simply be another indication that Cora really does not have many options. Should not be brought in past the 6th and not be used past the 7th - Two guys that are very young and completely untested in post season play (Poyner and Brasier). We have seen solid relievers crumble to dust under post season pressure unable to do more than try to guide the ball over the plate. So until we get there, we have no idea what these two will do. Again Cora will have no choice but to use them - Barnes, not sure if he is coming back and not sure what he will do in the post season if he comes back - Valasquez and Johnson, How many long relievers do we need when Wright if healthy is just going to walk right onto this post season roster - Pom, Thorny, Kelly, Scott, Hembree....garbage...utter trash - Evo, might be some use in the post season - Kimbrel the closer you have to hand a clean 9th inning to. Useless otherwise So, the choice Cora will be left with is mainly to lock the bullpen door and try to get his starters through the 7th even if it means that they have to dig themselves out of a jam they get into. Once he pulls his starter it is going to be pray from that moment on. There is nothing this pen has done in the regular season outside of Kimbrel that suggests what they will be in the post season other than a surprise package each day.

I am not kidding either. Cora is going to have to do something close to locking the door to the pen in the post season. These guys SUCK and there is not more than 1 or 2 of them that have resilient arms to boot. 1 of the 2 SUCKS as well. So his resilient arm just means he can come in on back to back days and SUCK!

Atta boy Pom....wouldn't want to do anything unusual for this pen...like get an out. Didn't I say the other night that the challenge for Cora was to find more than 1 or 2 guys that didn't have to give up a run just to get an out. What have we done this inning for example.

Oh Good...here comes Pom......another occupant of the pen of pain.

Thorny...another fail from the pen of pain.....the purveyors of wreckage.......I think we should just lock the door to the pen....never let them out...EVER.

What the pen guys haven't already plunked their quota yet?

Cora playing Cash......Not so much.

Doubly stupid...it looked like Beni was trying to protect his hand on that. I can only assume that his foot would have been less exposed to injury.

Another good example of why you should just run through 1st base. Beni could have beaten that play.

Cora is going to end up depending on his starters in two ways come post season. He is going to end up trying to get as much out of them starting games as he can and he is going to move a couple of them into the pen. Does he have a choice?

Gotta' love this pen. Time for a new name. Firemen...no way. Arsonists...used often enough. The cardiac crew???? Are there any of them that do not evoke thoughts of cardiac discomfort if not outright cardiac arrest?

Price appears to have made a conversion that looked like it was necessary but would be pretty difficult for him to make. He is no longer a power pitcher. But he has converted to a pinpoint control pitcher and succeeds mightily when he has it and fails mightily when he doesn't. Lately its been has it more than doesn't.

That is not likely to work post season and I doubt Cora will try it post season unless he has no other option.

Lots of inconclusive which sort of says...just kill replay for most of the plays MLB uses it for. Always thought replay has been misapplied the way MLB has applied it and I have seen nothing to change that opinion in the years since.