Maxbialystock

"May" won't wash. Relievers go on the IL at least as often as starters. Whitlock has the repertoire to start, and Cora badly needed a starter with Sale out. Whitlock never closed last year. Schreiber this year has demonstrated he is far more suited to close than Whitlock and in fact pitched tonight. Houck is also a better choice and in fact has the Sox last five saves, but has opted not to play in Toronto for his own selfish reasons--which you no doubt also blame on Cora.

Whitlock is on the IL. Why are you insisting he should have been called upon tonight?

Of course they have. But usually, they work their way toward closing by relieving in middle than later innings. Someone else said that's what Schreiber has been doing, and I think he is far better prepared to close than Whitlock. Indeed, he did pitch a decent 7th tonight. Before you say, "gotcha, Schreiber should have close," allow me to remind you that the Sox bullpen tonight needed to pitch four scoreless innings to get the win/save. Cora simply ran out of good relievers, which would not have happened if freaking Houck had been vaccinated. Also, why are we talking about a potential closer who wasn't used tonight, not because Cora is clueless, but because Whitlock is on the IL???!!!

What argument? I mistook TylerD for D-Money, and I was still half right. As for Cora on Danish, I don't doubt that was a hard sale. He gave up the hard single and the walk. Then Robles gave up two singles, and the Jays scored 2 runs in the 9th without making an out. One weak excuse for Robles is that both singles were grounders away from the shifts, which the Jays did a lot of tonight and the Sox not so much. Funny thing you are all over Cora, who had to replace his leadoff hitter and closer--neither of whom made it to Toronto. He replaced Duran with Refsnyder, but couldn't replace Houck who, guess what, has all five of the Sox most recent saves!! On the other hand, he did stay with Wacha through five innings and 90 pitches, did bring in Brasier, Schreiber, and Danish who each pitched a scoreless inning in relief, and did have Refsnyder at the right place in the lineup, good for 2 hits and 3 rbi's. So, if his big mistake was not using a guy who was on the freaking IL--an argument someone else (not you) made, I'd say he did OK.

One more time. Whitlock became a starter because Cora badly needed one and because Whitlock has an excellent repertoire, good enough to be a starter. But why are we arguing about this when he is on the freaking IL and couldn't possibly have been in the bullpen tonight? Oh, and if he weren't on the IL, do you think maybe he would have been useful starting last night instead of freaking Seabold? I thought Whitlock had an amazing season last year, a brilliant move by Bloom to use Rule 5 to get him from the Yankees. But guess what? He never closed by coming into the 9th with 3 run or less lead. Not once. So it is inarguable that he has no experience as a closer. Houck has the experience and ain't half bad, but he's not freaking in Toronto because he doesn't want to be vaccinated for covid.

I agree, but was also half right. The Jay are 7-2 vs. the Sox to date.

Easy. We over-reacted--and confused you with D-money-- in part because we are still thinking about how the game was lost. As for 8-2 vs 7-2 with regards to the Jays dominance of the Sox this season, feel free to check your facts. I did before I posted 7-2.

Big mistake by me. I confused you with D-Money on the Houck vaccination. Sorry.

Whitlock has never been a closer, so there is no evidence he would be good at it. This is just his second season at the MLB level. Last year he relieved and especially long relieved very well, but was not the closer. This year he's been mostly a starter because of the absence of Sale, etc. Schreiber this year has demonstrated he's really good coming from the bullpen, and would be a much better choice. Houck has shown he's not a bad choice as closer.

That's two things you've been dead wrong on. The other was not knowing Houck isn't vaccinated and can't play in Toronto, which has been discussed endlessly on talksox. Do you ever check your information before posting?

Nope. We played a 3 game series, then a 4 game series, and now 2 of a 3 game series. 7-2.

I'm not saying Cora screwed this up. But I'm not defending him, either. He sent two guys out in the 9th, and they were both completely worthless.

Hmmmmmm. Thanks, Mr. Houck.

Robles also looks scared shitless.

Danish, who just pitched a decent 8th, looks scared shitless. Robles is like adding fuel to the fire. So I'm not sure Cora planned this right. Unless of course, he wants to show Houck up.

Jays going with a 4 man outfield vs. Devers. And it worked like a charm. No hit for Devers.

Robles, Robles, he ain't our man. He can't do it, so we fervently, desperately, hope someone else can.

Yes, he does. In relief pitching, I suspect that odd is good.

No question. And I pounced on that immediately and ripped Wacha apart. Clearly, he didn't have his best stuff tonight. But then he came back with four more innings and just 1 run. To me that's gutsy.

That is the first time in about a thousand years I've seen a Sox pitcher keep working the bottom of the zone and getting a nice K in 6 pitches.

Christian Arroyo has been a one man wrecking crew tonight, the polar opposite of just 4 days ago when he had 3 hits, 3 rbi's, and great defense at SS. Tonight: lousy defense, even worse hitting. Correction: above overlooks the fact that Arroyo's GIDP was in fact a hard hit line drive straight to the second baseman, who flipped to 2b for the 2d out.

He's even with JDM and Bogey in RBI's. 31.

Jays have the 10th ranked ERA in the AL, and we are seeing that now.

I'm beginning to believe that Story decides to swing before the pitch is thrown. He swung at 5 straight pitches out of the zone.

He was terrible with Detroit. But man does he look good with the Sox this year. 23.1 innings, 2 freaking runs.