So who besides Kimbrel is in the pen for the playoffs?
Reed
Kelly
Scott
Abad
Smith
Price
Workman
Barnes
Hembree
Maddox
Who gets left off?
All these guys have been fairly good to excellent
So we will be three games up with five to play. At the end of the day I would rather be three games up on the Yankees than in their position of being three games down, injuries be damned.
Nope. As I said, with Betts and Pedroia in the lineup its a different team than with Young and Marrerro. Add in Hanley, who is pretty useless nowadays, instead of Moreland, and you can see that we could score some runs that we now cannot.
Happ faced an AAA lineup tonight. No credit. Even some of the first string guys, like Hanley and Young (even though he had two hits tonight) are basically useless. Add in Leon and Marrerro, and JBJ with his 0 for 28 and we never really had a chance unless Sale threw a shutout.
Yeah, Moreland usually gets that ball. That said, Devers has become a real liability at 3B. Last night his error nearly threw the game away, one that we had won. I think that its time for Farrell to consider replacing him for defensive purposes in late close games before he actually costs us a game.
First, we lost the season series to the Yankees. That always sucks. Statistically, they are the better team, as much as I hate to admit it. They are just .08 RPG behind us in team ERA and they have scored 66 more runs than we have this year: thats about .44 RPG more than us. Their OPS is better (.779 v .740). They are a much more dangerous offensive team and nearly as effective at pitching. I would not think that we would be favored if a one game playoff were played in the Bronx to determine the ALE winner. So winning the ALE outright is essential.
The pitching overall has been championship caliber all year long. As everyone here knows, its the hitting that needs to pick it up if we are going to make a deep run into the playoffs. Somehow guys like Bogaerts and Ramirez are going to have to do some things they haven't done since June.
I don't think that Bogaerts should be playing, let alone leading off. Since July 1 his BA is .208, his OBP is .289, and his OPS is just under .600. Why start off a game with what amounts to nearly an automatic out?