Maxbialystock

Nonsense. The DH is the anomaly, not the pitcher batting. Some pitchers can in fact hit, and most are pretty good athletes who early on decided to specialize as pitchers. There have, however, been pitchers who went bad, converted to outfielders, and made it back to the The Show. In the American League, however, pitchers are encouraged to become single skill baseball players like ERod and Pomeranz, who have both apparently decided that, not only do they not have to hit, they don't have to field their position either. This ain't football. You don't get to platoon. As I said on another thread, guys like you will next be saying that, if one DH is good, two DH's is better and three DH's is better still. As for last night, I generally disagree with the tenor of this thread because I think what we saw was a night of horrendous hitting by the Sox lineup. The ball Kinsler fielded was a hard hit grounder up the middle that he fielded cleanly to his backhand side but then stumbled and consequently made a bad throw. But all he did was give back the go ahead run the Sox scored on--wait for it--an error by the Dodgers in the top of the inning (the 13th). I am certainly no Kinsler fan. But to me last night our lineup was just rotten, stinking horrible and it really didn't matter who the Dodgers had on the mound because our one and only earned run was JBJ's dinger in the 8th inning. I believe Cora has been a fantastic manager in the postseason, but last night we ended up with Eovaldi, Leon, and Vazquez in the lineup for several innings while the first four in the batting order--Betts, Bogaerts, Moreland, and JDM--went not only hitless but struck out 9 times and Bogaerts also got a GIDP. Meanwhile, Pearce and Beni each got 1 AB as a pinch hitter. So this was our lineup during a big chunk of the extra innings-- Betts 0 for 7 Bogie 0 for 8 Eovaldi--yes, Eovaldi, in for Moreland--0 for 2 Kinsler (in for JDM) 0 for 2 Holt 1 for 6 Nunez (in for Devers) 2 for 4 Bradley 2 for 5 including the dinger for the only earned run Vazquez 1 for 7 who finished at 1b because Pearce and Moreland were gone Leon 1 for 2 No DH applied to both teams and both managers. JDM played 9 innings, batted in the 10th, and Kinsler ran for him and stayed in. While in LF, JDM obeyed the hippocratic oath--first do no harm. In fact, he probably prevented a Machado double with his perfect handling of a single off the wall. During the regular season he was happy to play the outfield because he could and maybe because he didn't like being thought of as a one dimension player.

Kinsler bad, but so was the lineup, especially the top. Betts and bogie simply never showed up. Awful, awful game.

There. 3-2 count and Porcello threw a fat pitch in the middle that was fouled off. Then the K on a changeup out of the zone. These Dodger hitters do not impress me one bit. Great job Porcello!!! 4 innings and just 1 run. Come on, hitters, do your thing!

I disagree. JBJ looked horrible on that stupid steal, but it's obvious to me Buehler is way better than Porcello, and the score is just 1-0. This could be a whole lot worse.

One thing that surprises me is how well are goes are seeing those pitches. Not many swings at pitches outside of the zone. But not very good contact yet.

True. I just like to whine.

Back in the 1st. All fast balls.

Here we go. The secret is out.

That dinger was inevitable. Porcello has thrown a zillion pitches in the geometric center of the strike zone.

Only if they are dingers. baserunners are brain dead.

Meh. Hardly too soon because he definitely helped his first year and his rookie year. Plus, the longer you leave him in the minors, the later will be his acclimatization to MLB pitching.

Exactly right. Of course, I just get nervous as heck anyway.

About 14 years ago when the Yankees were up 3-0 in the ALCS, Francona told his guys and the press, "we only need to win this game." Worked like a charm, and the Sox took that game and 7 more in a row and broke the 86 year curse. I sure hope Cora is saying something like that. Guys, focus on winning this game, period. You can bet Dave Roberts is.

Pretty good analysis, Jung. Entirely agree pinpoint accuracy--or close to it--is key for Porcello. Thus I won't mind a walk or two as awful as that sounds. I also won't mind a few extra pitches per inning.

Hats off to you. I think JDM will play, but that is a pretty neat solution. I think the guy not playing tonight will be JBJ, not JDM. So how about this-- Betts Beni JDM Moreland Bogey Devers Vazquez Holt Porcello

A great run in the John Henry era, no question. Dominant is terrible choice of words because these days nobody dominates. The Ruth Yankees dominated. The 49-53 Yankees dominated. And the Yankees overall have, what, 27 WS wins? Oh, and the A's won 3 straight WS. Great. But man oh man the postseason format is brutal. 4 wins definitely gives the Sox bragging rights, but no way, no how can I call the John Henry Sox dominant. Not when they finished dead last in the AL East twice in the last 5 years. Not when they got hammered in the ALDS the last two years. Not when they blow the AL East worse than any team in history in 2011. And so on.

Meh. I don't disagree with your basic point, but the Sox and the Yankees and the Dodgers are fully capable of spending a whole lot of money and still not getting the brass ring. From a broader perspective I am of course appalled at those salaries, which are the product of rapacious agents, the MLBPA's determination to ensure no MLB player is required to actually earn the salary in his contract, impatient owners, and a few players who truly are greedy.

Great point. I sure wish we had HanRam right now instead of that turkey JDM. What the heck was DD thinking?

Generally, I would agree. But ankles can be taped, we don't know how bad it is, etc. JDM is the Sox best bat, but there are 8 guys in that lineup plus the pitcher. If he doesn't play, Cora is stuck with maybe the best overall outfield in MLB and Porcello, whose regular season OPS was 1.143. Could be worse.

Meh. Cora rested everyone this year, but JDM played in the most games, 150. In the 12 games he missed, the Sox were 6-6. In the postseason his OPS is .967 and he has 13 rbi's (most of everyone in the postseason). The Sox lineup these days--the postseason--is being described as relentless. But JDM is the most relentless of all and leads the Sox in total bases, rbi's, and OPS among Sox hitters with 20 or more at bats. He is the reincarnation of Ortiz and makes the entire lineup better.

Is that real? If it is, it is one heckuva quote.

Yup. About 30 years after Pearl Harbor--maybe 40 years--I remember seeing a cartoon drawing of that attack only this time you can see the Japanese Zeroes are dropping little cars, and the caption reads, "Toyota, Toyota, Toyota."

I despised Pomeranz last year when he was good, so I flat did not want to see him in the postseason. But if he has the Cora good housekeeping seal of approval, so be it. He is a lefty and that knuckle curve ain't too shabby. I guess Cora has infused the team with the winning spirit and maybe that started way back in May when HanRam was let go. But it's so very hard to quantify other than to say winning feeds on itself. More concrete to me is his handling of the bullpen which has truly been masterful. He kept Kelly when many of us, especially yours truly, thought Kelly was dead meat. Wrong. He has been unreal because the slider and curve work really well and he doesn't rely so much on the fast ball. Eovaldi has also been a great in the bullpen, but Cora has also used Chris Sale, Rick Porcello, and ERod. And he stayed with Kimbrel one everyone else was ready to shoot him. Now we know it was all on Kimbrel's glove position which was tipping his pitches. The point is, almost everyone agreed going into the postseason that the Sox one real weakness was the bullpen. And guess what? We weren't all that wrong. That's right, folks, you read it here first, so get ready for some very selective stats. Kimbrel, ERod, and Workman. Remember them? They have combined this postseason for 13.1 innings and--land o'goshen--13 earned runs. A disaster. But Cora maneuvered around those giant obstacles to success and produced 9 wins with, I hasten to add, a rotation that has its issues as well.

Timely. I just read two articles in the LA Times and both put all the blame on Roberts and the so-called Dodgers front office brain trust who send him specific instructions before every game. No criticism of any of the players. While I agree Cora has made better decisions, especially with his bullpen, I hardly consider Roberts to be a dunce. I think the Dodgers will benefit more from the warm weather than from fixes to the lineup. That said, our Sox have played in overwhelmingly warm weather for almost all of this season, and my hat is off once more for the grit displayed by Price. One thing the Sox pitchers have sustained in the postseason is what Cora made a dictum for the Yankees--keep the ball in the park. All those righty bats in the Dodgers lineup were there because of the lefty starters and the green monster. So tempting, but it turned out to be fool's gold.

Next year is like a millennium away. First eovaldi needs to get signed and even then I see Sale and Price going 1 and 2. Both had pretty good seasons, and Sale had a spectacular first four minths. But in the postseason Eovaldi has been gold.