Maxbialystock

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.

Eovaldi. He has the lowest ERA on the team and the most innings pitched in the postseason. No contest.

Eovaldi.

Well, your judgement is certainly better than his.

And that includes Price who just might get his second straight postseason win.

And of course you were wrong.