Maxbialystock

Could not agree more. I think 4 or 5 really good teams in MLB would be optimal. Get rid of those nasty errors, lousy pitches, weak swings, etc We need to keep the game pure.

I'm a purist, but like the rule because I think extra inning games can take forever and unfairly overuse the pitching staffs of the teams involved.

Actually, in both games "pure surrender" was sending almost any Sox reliever to the mound. Bernardino was a complete disaster in game 1, and last night Jansen was actually more of a disaster than Weissert was. He needed to get three outs from the bottom of the Dodgers order and didn't come close.

Andrew freaking Vaughn??!!! He's played 91 games for the White Sox this year and his OPS is .675 and his overall WAR is -0.1. I have my doubts about whether Casas will ever be Casas again, but right now I would vastly prefer him over Vaughn. Also, let's not forget that 1b is the easiest infield position. If Trevor Story is healthy, Mayer is brought to Boston, Hamilton is still decent at the plate, Grissom turns out to be decent, etc--then one of those guys could be moved to 1b. Or Devers could be moved to 1b with Story or someone moving to 3b.

Did you miss the first two Dodgers games? Of course you didn't, but you seem to have forgotten that both games were quality starts--yes, quality starts--by Pivetta and Bello. And right now the Sox two best starters are Houck and Crawford. The bullpen, meanwhile, is a disaster--including closer Jansen, who was lucky not to get the loss as well as the blown save tonight.

Sure is, but the Sox did score 6 tonight with 5 of them earned.

Meh. If we can fault Cora, it's for the top of the 11th when of course--with Bill James whispering in his ear--he didn't have Smith bunt the two Sox baserunners over to 2b and 3b. When the Dodgers came to bat in the bottom of the 11th, they had the leadoff batter attempt to bunt not once but twice--and moved the runner to 3b. And that was the ballgame. In Cora's defense, his bullpen simply stinks. Jansen blew the save in the 9th and was lucky not to get the loss.

Not well deserved, and especially not "another well deserved L." The Sox had leads in both games and lost both games because of a weak bullpen. You seem to think the Dodgers are pushovers and no different from the Oakland A's, but in fact the Dodgers lead the NL West by 7 games and are 30-19 in Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers lead the NL West by 7 games and have been especially good in Dodger Stadium. The Sox had the lead going into the 8th inning in game 1 and in the 7th thru 10th innings in game 2. With a decent bullpen, they win both games. You don't know squat about these Sox and you certainly aren't a fan. Your moniker--Fred Lynn--reminds us of what losers the Sox were for 86 years.

Indeed. Cora had/has lots of options.

What did that Dodgers hitter just do? Was that a bunt? Isn't that illegal or something? I ask because of course the Sox would never bunt with a man on 2b and no one out.

Yoshida pinch-hitting for Ref. Who plays LF in the bottom of the 11th?

Smith is hitless and worthless. And Casas may or may not play again this season.

Well, there's always the excuse that the bullpen is overworked and exhausted. Oh, wait . .

Can someone explain how the call against Kike at 2b wasn't reversed? He looked safe by a mile.

Sox bullpen stinks. Sox bullpen stinks. Sox bullpen stinks.

I agree, but he has the Sox bullpen's only $16M/season pitching arm. In fact, if we ignore Sale, $17M, and Giolito, $19M, he has the most expensive arm the Sox are paying for this season. Giolito is on the IL and Sale is on the BL (Braves List).

For tonight, absolutely.

O'Neill just might have a hot bat. So, should Jansen be asked back to pitch the 10th? Better still, how about an encore from Bernardino?

The Sox bullpen is broken, period. In these two games the starters have gone 12 innings and given up 3 runs and the bullpen has gone 6 innings and given up 4 runs. And I left out that Winck got incredibly lucky to escape with that GIDP.

It is not, repeat, not an implosion. This is exactly what Jansen throws every game. The amazing thing is how often it works.

Two straight games the Sox get quality starts by Pivetta and Bello only to have the bullpen blow leads both times.

On the upside, I thought it was a very exciting game until the bottom of the 8th. I was hugely impressed with the Sox pitching--@ the Dodgers--and by Duran's dinger. I think Pivetta struck out Ohtani 3 times.

I don't particularly like Bernardino because of other games I've watching him pitch in. But it did in fact make sense to send him in against Ohtani and Freeman. Ohtani's OPS is .875 vs lefties and 1.119 vs. righties. Freeman's OPS vs lefties is .753 and .966 vs righties.

The inscrutable notin. While I agree the Sox hitting, especially with RISP, wasn't so hot, I remain amazed that no one has mentioned Bernardino as having had any effect on the game outcome. In fact, I don't think his name is in this game thread. The simple fact is that all by himself Bernardino killed us. Pivetta went 6 scoreless and Kelly would have gone 1.1 scoreless if Bernardino hadn't been absolutely terrible. He's done this before--sabotaged a winning effort--but he usually does it by allowing the previous Sox pitcher's to score runs. This time the grand slam cost him 3 runs and jacked up his ERA to a very misleading 2.53. His WHIP, 1.28, is a better indicator of why he hasn't been that useful this season. Yes, O'Neill got caught napping, not only not getting back to 1b quickly enough, but also going most of the way to 2b on an easy fly to short LF. But, had he been safe at 1b, the Sox would still have had 2 outs with little likelihood they would bring him home. To me the real message on this game is that the Sox are tough, but still need some help in the form of one or more good arms (SP or RP) and maybe a good righty bat or two.