Maxbialystock

Are you kidding? In 3 innings the Sox have 1 single and 5 K's. The whole lineup is the problem. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen--and right now that's what our guys want to do. Maybe Cora should be allowed to call an intentional K when his guys come to bat.

So far Abreu and Gonzalez are true to form, but gotta give some credit to Schlittler. So far his heat has the Sox terrified. Early is the real deal. My goodness gracious.

Stranger things have happened, but this ain't the twilight zone.

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ESPN has always been pro-Yankees. Great point on those postseason series in 03, 04, 18, 21, and now 25.

Just my opinion, but I think the Sox were massive underdogs before the series started. The Yankees were red hot and have the best lineup in MLB and three good starters. The Sox lineup is decimated and started the series with one good starter, Crochet. Giolito was out and Bello might as well have been. But they won a tight game Tuesday night thanks to Crochet's terrific start, Chapman's precarious save, and a huge single by Yoshida. And they darn near won last night's game but for Duran's dumping that line drive (which came nowhere near the center of his glove) and the to me understandable failure of Eaton to score from 2b on an infield single. Both starters tonight are young, but Schlittler has 14 starts to Early's 4. Despite all of the above, can there be any doubt that the Sox still have a shot at winning thanks to their pitching and a few timely hits?

Agree on all but Abreu, who lost his swing during the IL Eaton can hit righties.

No doubt. He's been named at All-Star twice, this season and 2022. The umpires can nail him any time they want for contesting calls--so that's not on him but on them. Same goes for his apparel. The Yankees have in the past been the strictest, but I guess that's gone. Besides, I think MLB players went south the day they started wearing gold freaking necklaces in the field.

All good points. However, Eaton couldn't see jack at 1b and had to rely on the 3B coach who had to make an instantaneous decision. He did not wave Eaton home, thus the fatal pause.

The Yankees should be favored again tonight as they had to be favored before both games 1 and game 2. In game 1 Crochet had the edge, but not by much. Tried pitched a scoreless 6.1 innings. And the Yankees had by far the better lineup/hitting. Cora kept Crochet in for 117 pitches and 7.2 innings, during which he gave up 1 run, and Chapman got the final 4 outs, not without heart palpitations here on talksox. The first 3 Yankee hitters in the 9th hit singles--bases loaded no outs. Last night Bello was awful, lasting 2.1 IP with 2 ER's--again against the best lineup in MLB and with a very good Yankees starter, Rodon. But the Sox almost won thanks to the bullpen and some clutch hitting and despite Duran dropping a line drive he had on but not in his glove--as we saw him do earlier this season. The Yankees have scored just 5 runs in 2 games at Yankee Stadium, but it's still possible they will erupt tonight. Plus their starter Schlittler was terrific in September. Were I Cora I would start righty bat Eaton in RF and not lefty bat Abreu because he simply has not found his stroke. Definitely Rafaela in CF, Duran in LF, Bregman at 3B, Story at SS, Lowe at 1b, Narvaez catching, and Yoshida at DH. That leaves 2b and three choices--Gonzalez the semi-regular who was hitless in games 1 and 2, Hamilton the defensive hawk, and Sogard whose OPS in games 1 and 2 was/is .833. I'm fine with whoever Cora goes with.

I'd like to go back to last night's 7th inning when Eaton "failed" to score on Yoshida's single. You have to see the camera angle from behind 3d base. When you do, you see that when Eaton was rounding third the ball had not yet gone through the first baseman. Thus his pause about 3 strides toward home. When it did get through, it was too late to crank back up and head for home, especially when the Yankees first baseman recovered quickly. To score on that play the third base coach had to believe the ball was going through the first baseman before it in fact it did go thru. A very tough call.

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Indeed.

That's just horsehockey. Last night Sogard took 2b on a single because he was told to challenge Judge's weak arm--and it was still a close play. And Duran made a couple of excellent plays in the field. Tonight the Sox should have been slaughtered after Bello's weak start and the Yankees having the best hitting in MLB. However, thanks for clarifying what happened when Eaton rounded third.

Now we see why Cora used just 2 pitchers last night. He anticipated Bello wouldn't have it. Whitlock pitched in 62 games with 72 IP, so he was not routinely a 2 inning reliever. Plus 4 of those times he got nailed for 2, 2, ,3, and 4 runs. Tonight he had a great 7th inning and started the 8th with 2 outs followed by a walk and a single (that should have been a double) that scored the go ahead run, Cora did not put all his eggs into tonight's game. The bullpen had plenty of rest before tonight so most of them can go again tomorrow night. Early will start and pitched 19.1 innings in 4 starts in September with an ERA of 2.33. His last start, 86 pitches, was last Saturday. Harrison has pitched 12 innings in 3 games, 2 of them starts, with an ERA of 1.58. Assuming a righty Yankees starter, I see Yoshida as DH, batting 4th, Duran leading off then Story and Bregman. Lowe back at 1b and maybe Sogard at 2b because Gonzalez isn't hitting. Eaton can hit righties, so he gets RF and not Abreu, who can't hit anybody. Narvaez isn't hitting either, but he's our best defensive catcher, so he starts. Rafaela in CF of course. Against two excellent Yankee starters the Sox won 3-1 and lost 4-3--not too shabby, especially given Bello's lousy start. The Yankees have easily the best lineup in MLB, but have scored just 5 runs in 2 games. They could erupt tomorrow, but I don't think so. Agree with the criticism of Duran's dropped ball tonight and Eaton being held at 3b.

Same lineup as last night. Will Cora never learn?

Neat.

I see potential too, but I'm darned if I wanted him back on the Sox this season. He was, in a word, a loser at the plate and in the field. He flat cannot compete with the guys who got the Sox to the postseason and to that huge win last night. I honestly don't see a slot for him next year either. If he proves me wrong, I'll be delighted.

I hear you, but Duran has a pretty good WAR in part because he's pretty good in LF. Didn't he make an over the shoulder catch last night and throw a Yankee out at 2b? Also, with Eaton in RF and Ref as DH, who's left for LF? Yoshida. His OPS vs lefties is .500. Duran's is .600.

Heckuva at bat by Rafaela, which has received a lot of comments.

The Yankees lost because they choked at the plate last night--which I hasten to add Crochet and Chapman had a lot to do with.

I understand your logic, but Chapman has been hugely successful as the closer and he only pitched to one batter in the 8th using 6 pitches. He ended up throwing 24 pitches. Whitlock can close tonight with his 2.25 ERA and backed up by Weissert, Matz, Slaten, Wilson, et al. When the Sox clinched vs Detroit Friday night the bullpen pitched 6 scoreless innings, of which Chapman pitched 1.

I honestly don't think Boone screwed up. He brought Fried back out in the 7th to get Duran, a lefty bat. He did. The next two batters were 8th and 9th in the Sox batting order and Fried was at 101 pitches. This was the perfect time to bring the bullpen. Those who argue Fried needed to stay in must therefore argue he needed to pitch all 9 innings because the Yankees bullpen was/is unreliable and they only had a 1 run lead. Were I in Cora's shoes, I would have brought out Whitlock for the 8th. However, it's hard to argue with the fact that splitting the 8th between Crochet and Chapman worked. Plus Chapman was the right choice for the 9th. I do agree Cora is the better manager, but you couldn't tell that from the usual comments on talksox. I'm pretty sure moonslav and I are the only ones who have consistently defended Cora all season long.

Look, I too would have gone with Whitlock, but job one tonight was to win the freaking game. To do that Cora went with his two best pitchers (by a big margin). Hard to call that dumb. Whitlock will get his chance (s).

I like Cora a lot. But I just caught a glimpse of Terry Francona managing still another team into the postseason. In his first postseason with the Sox and the Yankees were up 3 games to none in the ALCS, he said "we don't have to win 4 games, we just have to win the next game."