Maxbialystock

The bullpen was excellent in the ALDS because Pivetta and Houck, both former starters, were amazing. In the ALCS, they are starters again and pretty good. But the bullpen clearly feels their absence. Whitlock, the best reliever on the team, gave up a dinger to the Yankees in the wild card, and--far, far worse--the tying dinger in the 8th to the Astros in game 4. Taylor and Ottavino both have 0.00 ERA's, but have only pitched 3.1 innings each in 10 postseason games. Whitlock's ERA is 2.16 in 8.1 innings. After those three, it's a crap shoot. Robles, Sawamura, and Brasier all remind me on the little girl with a curl: when she was good, she was very, very good; and when she was bad, she was horrid. The Astros bullpen, on the other hand, has been remarkably consistent despite having to pitch a ton of innings in the ALCS. All that said, I still see some hope, but only if the Sox lineup figures out the Astros pitching. Maybe they don't need to score 6 runs, but I can't see them winning with less than 3 runs. If they score 6 or more, I honestly don't seen how the Sox can lose. As for the pitching, I think Eovaldi needs to go 5 or 6 innings while giving up no more than 2 runs and preferably fewer. If once again--as he did in relief and thus gave up the lead off double to Correa-- he starts throwing lots of fastballs, he is a dead man. He must mix those other pitches, the ones with some break in them. Second, Taylor, Ottavino, and Whitlock need to come through again. All three can pitch again tomorrow if they win tonight. Houck starts tomorrow, but Pivetta could be available tonight or tomorrow because he only threw 65 pitches on Tuesday.

Since tonight is do or die for the Sox, I think Cora might tweak the lineup by sending Schwarber to LF, Verdugo to RF, Renfroe to the bench, and Dalbec to 1b. I don't like Dalbec that much, but Renfroe is hitless in 4 games while piling up the GIDP's. He has that great arm, but it's erratic. Schwarber, despite my claims he would be fine at 1b, has now made 2 errors in postseason, both pretty bad. Dalbec should be better at 1b and can't be much worse than Renfroe at the plate.

Good catch. I stand corrected. That said, I was talking about the bullpen. I will agree the Sox bullpen, especially Houck and Pivetta, was excellent in the ALDS. But not so much in the ALCS and especially not in comparison to the Astros bullpen. In the ALCS, the Sox bullpen has pitched 20.1 innings and given up 16 runs, and the Astros bullpen has pitched 28 innings--that's more than 5 innings per game--and given up 11 runs. Indeed, the shocker in the ALCS is that the Sox rotation has actually been pretty decent. Even Sale's truncated start in game 1--2.2 innings and 1 run--was better than the bullpen's 6.1 innings and 4 runs. Houck, Robles, and Sawamura blew that game, pure and simple. In game 2 the lineup won that game, 9-5. Eovaldi started, gave up 3 runs in 5 innings, and the bullpen gave up 2 in 4 inning. In game 3 the lineup won again, 12-3, with ERod going 6 and giving up 3 runs. In game 4, Pivetta started and went 5 innings, giving up 1 run--a great start. But the bullpen gave up 8 runs. Meanwhile the Astros starter Greinke gave up 2 runs in 1.1 innings, but the Astros bullpen shut out the Sox lineup for 7.2 freaking innings. In game 5, Sale had a pretty good start, giving up 2 earned runs in 5.1 innings--before the Sox bullpen can in and gave up 4 earned runs in 3.2 innings. Schwarber's error caused 2 unearned runs and Robles bad throw to 1b another. So, while I agree the 6 run rule I've invoked doesn't tell the whole story--you're right about that--I still think I'm right that the Sox bullpen is in disarray.

I'm worried, plain and simple. The Astros hitters now look like the Sox hitters used to and are now longer--confident. Eovaldi is starting, which could not be better for our chances, but the downside is that Cora is still going to have to go to the bullpen, which is simply unreliable. Thus have the Sox not won a postseason game without scoring 6 runs. At the same time, I am grateful for a remarkable season, filled with ups and downs and ending on an amazing high note, winning the ALDS and having a real shot at the WS, which is still within reach.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. The strike zone, whose precise definition you are so obsessed with, is actually an approximation, as described in the rule book, the same rule book that gives umpires the authority to call balls and strikes. They have that authority because the variable size of the strike zone cries out for human judgment. Oh, and how about the dimensions of home plate, which is incredibly idiosyncratic? And, by the way, rectangle on your screen is invisible to everyone on the field of play. It's real--phony though it is--to us, but it is not real to anyone on the field of play. They can see the bases, the lines on the field, the stands, the backstop, the pitchers mound and rubber, the fans the ballboys/girls, even the dimensions and idiosyncrasies of the ballpark. But they can't see that rectangle, which you insist must play a dominant role in games and, along the way, emasculate umpires. As I understand it, that would be fine with you because you actually don't want any umpires out there because, heaven forbid, one of them might make a mistake. I have to ask this. I think Chris Sale is about as professional a pitcher as I've ever seen. Not the best, but very professional. He fields his position beautifully. More than that, he makes sure he is in position to field his position. He almost never shakes off his catcher. He rarely wastes time between pitches. He is incredibly focused on preparing for and executing each pitch. And he never gripes about calls by the ump. Why is that? I mean, you gripe all the time and you have nothing at stake. Do you think Sale simply doesn't care about the overall good of baseball which you insist necessitates robo-umps?

Entirely appropriate that you should do so. I certainly won't. His needle is milder than what we sometimes say about the Sox. His insights are usually pretty good or at least worth arguing about.

Reread your last sentence, which makes it clear you wrote the OP out of frustration.

Yes, it has been a topic for years, and I think that's just dumb because it's based on that stupid rectangle on our screens which we blindly accept as accurate, truthful, etc. when it is anything but that. It's just some guy in the studio superimposing what he thinks is the strike zone and which neither the ump nor any of the players see. It is blessed and/or sanctioned by no one. But, because it's on the boob tube, and we be the boobs, we give it credibility it does not deserve. Plus let's not forget that announcers and commentators who encourage us to look for perfection in that stupid rectangle. I am more than happy to posit that the umpires are less than perfect on balls and strikes, but I also am fine with their human judgment and immediate call of ball or strike. Indeed, before the rectangle and the quest for perfection, commentators used to talk about how good pitchers--with excellent command--would work to expand the strike zone.

Eovaldi starts Friday and could definitely turn things around, but not if the hitting continues to languish and the bullpen to roll over and play dead. Braves lead the Dodgers 4-0 in the 4th. At LA.

Just a reminder to everyone that this is definitely one of the all-time great threads, especially the title and OP. The Sox are down 3 games to 2 to the Astros, and it's still been a memorable season. And people on talksox are definitely one of the reasons why.

No, I don't think he had a big part. I think the Sox lost because the bullpen fell apart--yet again and despite a very good start by Pivetta--and the lineup stopped hitting after the first inning. That trend continued tonight--no hitting and lousy bullpen--to wreck a gutsy start by Chris Sale. I think you all have simply over-reacted. Plus, I have to say, I like human umpires, even ones that make mistakes. Why? Because the game is played by humans who also make mistakes and whole lot more of them--which is what helps to make this game great--than the umpires do. And, yes, I know this topic has come up innumerable times, but never as a separate thread populated by whiners. Let me hasten to add that a precise strike zone is a myth perpetrated by that silly rectangle we all look at during the games. We think it's real and accurate, but it isn't. We also think that players see exactly what we see on the screen, which is absolutely not the case.

I have my doubts--as always--but I like your attitude. What really pisses me off about tonight's game is how the Sox lineup wrecked a great outing by Chris Sale. They also wrecked a pretty good start by Pivetta yesterday. I might add that the bullpen hasn't been much better than the lineup.

talksox has fallen on hard times when everyone jumps on the robo-umps bandwagon because of the mistaken notion they/we wuz robbed last night, which in fact was not the case. Human umps are an important part of the game--including their mistakes--and have been for 150 years, but now we gotta fix it because poor Eovaldi, in a losing cause, didn't get that strike called.

14 straight scoreless innings for the Sox. But that's not the problem. The home plate umpire is the real problem.

Tough. Sox have reverted to the guys who lost 3 straight at Fenway to the Yankees and then 2 of 3 at Baltimore in late September.

That hurt. A lot.

Yes, but that would have been just 1 out. Last night the Dodgers or Giants sent the pitcher to bat with firm instructions not to swing the bat with men on base and 1 or no outs. It was the first intentional K I've seen.

People keep saying they want Dalbec in and Verdugo out. I don't want Dalbec in at all, but, if Cora makes a move after this game, I hope he pulls Renfroe, moves Schwarber to LF, Verdugo to RF, and Dalbec to 1b.

And we just saw why. I swear Renfroe hasn't got a brain in his head.

I just want him to take some pitches.

Go, Dusty!!! Get that bum out of there (because he is absolutely killing us).

JDM takes a shot for the team!!!

Finally! A solid hit off that doggone sinker!

Not a bad idea, but that's not the way the overwhelming majority of MLB hitters think.

I did plenty of griping about the pitches Vazquez called last night, but tonight I have to say he has called an excellent game. Astros one run is off a slider well outside of the zone. In the 4th, Sale struck out Correa and Tucker with men on 1st and 2d. Great pitching and great pitch-calling.