cp176

I would extend this big young lefty yesterday. Pitching is at too much of a premium. he is big, he is young, and he has a hell of a hook.

a real treat for me = these three guys announcing this game!

Nunez might be my new hero

I understand how you feel but I'm still not sure that I would do it.

and there you have it - got to be Larry all the way. it has been said. Bad = Larry Good = Ben We all get it don't we?

I would not move Devers off third base. Given a little time, i think that he will be special. A much better fielder I think here than people think or have projected. Give him time.

I've decided that it is pretty much a matter of personal perspective. I was (still am kind of) a coach. It does not matter to me at all if we make foolish mental mistakes whether we win or lose. They are never ok or acceptable. As a coach it has to be or at least should be embarrassing if your teams makes stupid mental mistakes and it should be an embarrassment whether you win or lose. If it does not embarrass you than you suck as a coach. i think that it has to bother Farrell.

yes I have noticed this as well. he really looks like he should be slower than hell but he isn't. It's who he is and so far so good. I would not consider moving him off third base at all. He has good quickness and a gun for an arm. Leave him alone I say.

Wait now - If you are hot and winning going into the playoffs, aren't you due to start losing because it just has to happen - it is inevitable? if you are in the midst of losing games when the playoffs start, aren't you due to start winning? It is once again inevitable. The facts (stats) say it has to be. Since I have never let the facts alter my opinions, I'll go with the winning streak just like you old-timer. lol

Come on - You know the answer to this one. Every bad signing during Ben Cherington's reign can be directly attributed to Larry Lucchino. Cherington = all things good - Lucchino = all things bad. How do we know this? Because we have been told! ******** - lol

long time for Pom to sit. Let's see what he's got.

ty - It's da old coach in me. I used to use expressions like wins and losses take care of themselves. Whatever the hell that means. What it meant to me was that it was my job to prepare my team as well as they could be prepared for every game. Even though kids will still make mental mistakes, they are never acceptable. Doesn't matter how good or how valuable the player is who makes them - still unacceptable! You accept them long enough and you will suck. Got to take care of the little controllable things. it just seems as though this team makes too many little mental mistakes. Either they are stupid or there are in fact some coaching issues. I'm still enjoying the ride though.

I've also obviously been following this lengthy debate/discussion. To be honest, it isn't really about what the numerous mental mistakes both on the field and base paths equate to in terms of wins and losses for me. It has more to do with having to watch bad baseball whether we win or lose. Teams that continually make mental mistakes deserve to lose. We have survived. maybe it is all about the quality of baseball that we are seeing in general.

it isn't so much the lack of homeruns as opposed to the simple lack of runs in general. They clearly do need some more real bats in that lineup moving in to 2018.

You very well might be right but I also think that with that big bat and leader out of the lineup, any number of weaknesses have been exposed. I think that overall this year these guys have worked their nuts off to get where they are right now. Sale, Pomeranz, Fister, Kimbrel, Nunez, Devers - these guys have been able to breathe some life into the organization and have helped win more games than I felt they could after watching them for a while. I don't agree with the folks who claim that all of our regulars except for one are having off years. I think that they have been over rated. That being said though, I won't be the one who predicts that any team will handle them easily in a series. I probably shouldn't be admitting this here, but I can't stay up very late to watch them anymore so when someone other than Sale or Fister is pitching, I'm normally out by 9:30. Now, I have fallen asleep a number of times this season when they have been really behind only to wake up the next morning to find out that they won the goddam game. I think that they need help but I think that with all of the stupid base running and fielding blunders that they have made it is amazing that this bunch is where they are in the standings. You just never know.

I have a problem with bad baseball of any kind if it is mental in nature. The ultimate outcome of the game means nothing to me when I break a game down. Winning the game doesn't make bad mental baseball ok. It has happened too often.

I'm with you - very rare. i agree. But it still would not surprise me at all if this is who these guys are going forward with a few exceptions. i absolutely expect Betts to be better going forward. I can not say that with any confidence at all about any of the rest of these guys. I want to think that Bogaerts is going to be better than this but I'm just not sure.

No one is shrugging anything off my friend. I think that the performances of some of these guys this year probably are much closer to who they might actually be. Not counting Vazquez of course who i happen to think is over performing.

I do agree I just think that it is a semantics thing again for one and then it kind of revolves around what you expected out of these guys this year. I am absolutely sure that you are right about their outcomes this year not being mathematically suggested. But I still do not find the declines by any of these players not named Betts or Bogaerts to be something that might not have been predicted. unusual that they would all experience declines but not otherworldly. if Bogaerts and betts were both performing close to where most of the posters here thought they should, no one would be saying anything about the dips being experienced by anyone else.

hunker down - good luck to you and your Dad

i think that it would seem unusual for sure but really not unbelievable at all. The two that puzzle me the most are Bogaerts and Betts for sure. As for the others not so much. Leon - last years really? Ramirez - unpredictable since what 2011 - good when he is healthy - up and down Bradley - really? what do people expect? Pedroia - really going to count him - the injury train has started in earnest I'm afraid i guess i just don't see the big mystery . Betts and Bogaerts yes - the rest not really - I'm not surprised at all. i know that you could list now every player from young to Marrero to show me how they have underachieved but remember I'm not letting the facts get in my way. A case can be made for Betts and Bogaerts.

I'm not disagreeing with your data for sure - I'm just not mystified nor have I observed many here saying that we are a bad baseball team. I tend to think that it is much more likely that this is who we are as opposed to who we were last year. Moving forward this is quite likely more accuraely depicts who we are going to be. If people's expectations for this year were built around how we hit last year, i guess it is safe to say that they have been over rated.

Saying that our hitting isn't very good is a long way from saying that our team isn't very good. All of us know that we have one of the better teams in baseball. There are some of us - me being one - who really aren't mystified or confused at all by what this team has hit like. Assuming that they were all going to hit like last year's team, was a big stretch for me. Their collective ability to hit for any real power has been over rated by some here all year long. That does not mean that they are a bad team. Quite the contrary - they are pretty darn good. I would agree that I expected more form Mookie - not quite last year more but still more than this year - and that Bogaert's fall off the wall has been disappointing. DD has made some wise moves to inject some life into that batting order and we still keep battling away. We all probably want more but overall we ain't too bad.

An excellent point!

Farrell very well might be in his last season as manager of the Sox. Depends on what happens I guess. If he is fired, it will be primarily because of the players playing the game. I really think that they have been over rated as a group throughout the course of this entire season. DD made a couple of very solid moves to help give us a lift. This isn't about motivating players to play better. They aren't that good. I think that it is pretty impresssive that we are where we are in the standings right now. I hope the smoke and mirror show continues.