Maxbialystock

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."

I figured.

☺️

Yep We won. I'm watching the Dodgers game too.

I love the flag and must have saluted it a zillion times, but I sure didn't like the way those yahoos waved it around. They weren't there for the golf or the competition, but to be as insulting as possible.

I definitely would have sent Whitlock out for the 8th, but it's pretty hard to complain about the result.

A little off topic, but i watched big chunks of the Ryder Cup and thought those fans were disgusting. Tonight, all I saw was Yankees fans rooting for the their ball club.

Astounding, amazing, perfectomundo. It's almost exactly what I thought could happen because Crochet has been so good. But so has the Yankees hitting. The Sox secret weapon does it again--Yoshida, Yoshida, Yoshida! Plus Sogard, in for Lowe, hits a huge double to set things up for Yoshida. Sending Crochet out for the 8th was a huge gamble, but it worked. Here's hoping his arm doesn't fall off before his next start.

Good stuff. Thanks. I think winning tonight is crucial and not easily done.

Thanks everyone for a bunch of opinions and insights. Like several of you I'm nervous as heck about tonight because I think winning this one with our ace is essential. Our Sox struggled at the end and the Yankees breezed. However that breeze was helped by playing 12 games against three teams with losing records. The Sox meanwhile played two postseason teams in their final 6 games. In fact, they took 2 of 3 at Toronto, which has the best record in the AL. The Jays have a good offense, but were held to 1 run in each of the first 2 games--one week ago!!--by Sox pitching. For tonight I do expect Cora to stuff the lineup with righty bats.

That's almost exactly what I was mulling last night, especially Eaton in RF for Abreu. Too bad the Sox don't have another righty bat to put in LF.

Nice!

Thanks.