Maxbialystock

Pretty good synopsis of game 1. I especially liked the 1st inning when Sale needed over 20 pitches, but got the Dodgers swinging at his pitches, not their preferred ones. Then Mookie's leadoff single, a hard shot up the middle, was to me galvanizing, especially after he stole 2b and scored on Beni's single.

Well, here we are. 2 days before Cora has to decide who plays and who sits in game 3 of the WS and game 1 in LA. And it's a tough decision because he must play his best hitter in the OF and the OF already has 3 very good ones who are also key parts of the lineup. I think Beni or JBJ sits and not Kinsler because Mookie is so great in the outfield.

Meh. I entirely agree Cora has been great, but Nunez dinger was very out of the ordinary for him because he has been ice cold most of the season. The knuckle curve he hit was low in the zone and he golfed it into the stands. But most of your point is well taken because that ball was destined to hit the monster as a minimum and bring in at least 1 run, which was all that was needed. At this juncture Cora is verging on clairvoyance. Also agree the Sox bats woke up vs. the Yankees.

I was plenty irritated when it happened and will agree he had a good shot at 2b if he had sprinted from the get guy. But he did not jog to 1b. He merely slowed down, then accelerated when it hit the ground. Also, the recovery by the leftfielder was pretty quick. Beni is making a living going to the left side, but at least one hit was to the right side. Given the ALDS and the ALCS, last night was not exactly amazing. Been there, done that with Sale struggling. I was actually pretty happy with the top of the 1st because I thought he was doing the right things even if using a lot of pitches (over 20). The surprise to me was Betts single off of that great Kershaw slider, the same slider that K'd Betts his next time up--followed by that great theft of 2B (I didn't notice batter interference) despite Machado clearly blocking 2B which the umps are letting him do with impunity. Then Beni's single bringing Betts home and the stupid throw by Puig who had not chance and thus allowed Beni to take 2B and eventually score. So, yes, the 1st inning was amazing. And the Nunez dinger in the 7th was just nuts although it was the 2d straight knuckle curve in the same general location. Still, that sucker was low in the zone. But after Sale a whole lot of good work by the bullpen, including both Eovaldi and ERod. This is not the first time the bullpen has been good this postseason, and a ton of credit must go to Cora for picking them--especially Kelly, whom I was more than ready to throw on the ash heap of history--and how he has used them. Nothing less than brilliant. Seriously. See especially the 7th inning.

Exactly right. I am unhappy with nothing, but am going nuts.

Kershaw must be pitching really well because he only needed14 pitches on the first four Sox hitters. He is way more efficient than Sale.

Machado blocked 2b on Betts and on Beni. And the Dodgers are complaining?

No. Not when he didn’t give up a run.

Ump squeezed him on two strikes, so get off his back.

Further data worth considering. Individual Sox DWAR's this season: Betts 1.8 Leon .9 Bradley .4 Vazquez .2 Kinsler .2 A million guys, mostly pitchers 0 Holt -.1 Pearce -.4 Swihart -.4 Moreland -.5 Benintendi -.6 Devers -.9 Bogaerts -1.0 JD Martinez -1.4 Nunez -1.5 Individual Sox OWAR's this season: Betts 8.7 JDM 6.8 Bogaerts 5.6 Benintendi 4.0 JBJ 2.0 Holt 1.6 Pearce 2.4 (I doubled his 1.2, which he earned in 50 games) Devers 1.2 Moreland .8 Nunez .6 Swihart 0 Kinsler -.1 Vazquez -.4 Leon -.9 Overall WAR Betts 10.9 JDM 6.4 Beni 3.9 Bogie 3.8 JBJ 2.1 Holt 1.3 Moreland .9 Pearce .6 (.3 doubled) Kinsler .1 Devers 0 Swihart -.3 Leon -.5 Vazquez -.8 Nunez -1.1 The overall WAR's are the most suggestive. Of the top 5, 4 are outfielders, which argues for moving Mookie to 2B. But the WAR's also suggest maybe Holt should be at 3B instead of Devers. Also, the strong need for 3 catchers to make it easier to pinch hit for Vazuez/Leon.

Like the kid from Duke who couldn't stop tripping people. The is an element of entitlement in all this. Both are very talented, and I think they assume they don't have to abide by the rules. And guess what? So far both have been absolutely right. There is no real penalty.

I think we all need to agree on something pretty basic. When the Sox go to LA, it will be almost obligatory to keep JDM in the lineup, and he can only play in the outfield. So, one way or the other, the Sox are going to have to pay a price in defense. My view is that the smallest defensive price to be paid is moving JDM to LF and leaving Mookie in RF and JBJ in CF because the latter two are much better at their positions than Beni is in LF. Moving Mookie to 2B keeps more good bats in the lineup, but pays a heavier defensive price with JDM in RF and Mookie at 2B. I think Mookie can handle 2B, but not as well as Kinsler or Holt. Plus I feel confident that Machado would try to injure him as he did Pedroia. No easy choices, and I will be happy with whatever Cora decides.

To remind: the purpose of the OP was discussion. Rare is the Sox fan these days who would question a decision by Cora. That said, I think the case for playing JBJ in CF, Mookie in RF, and JDM in LF is the strongest. Beni sits for two reasons: JBJ has the hotter bat, not just in the postseason, but in August and September; and he is the better outfielder. I would hasten to add, however, that historically--all of last year and most of this year--Beni would start, period. His cumulative WAR (which includes offense and defense) for 2017 and 2018 is 6.5 to JBJ's 4.9. He is also the only guy who seems comfortable batting 2d. And this. Two more games before going to Milwaukee, and those are likely to be important data points.

I disagree but think your view is entirely plausible. Last night I was simply stunned at how much better he was. vs. his first four saves.

What the heck is your message here? Are you honestly saying that folks who thought Cora especially but also DD did a good job are pollyannas who failed abysmally to fix this team? I'm sorry, but to me it's beyond question that DD made two fantastic moves to ensure success in 2018 and nothing else matters. He dumped Farrell--who wasn't all that bad--to get Cora, who has been terrific. And he brought in JDM, the reincarnation of David Ortiz who has had the same effect on the lineup that Ortiz did. And together his new manager and he agreed it was high time to designate HanRam for assignment, which meant paying him not to play for the Sox. Great move! I would love to claim I'm a pollyanna because the actual character had a positive effect on everyone around her. But I'm not. I'm more like Cassandra. I can recite from memory all the things I see wrong with anyone on the team. But I'd have to be blind not to see the effect Cora and DD have had on this team which I entirely agree is less than perfect individually, but an absolute powerhouse collectively.

My thought is that Mookie and JBJ are either gold glove or close to it in the two toughest OF positions, so right away I like keeping them exactly where they have been. Beni's post-season OPS is .625 to JBJ's .853--big edge to JBJ. Moreover, JBJ's August and September OPS's were .826 and .827 vs, Beni's .771 and .667. So JBJ has a significant edge on offense and defense. No contest. Beni sits 3 games. Mookie at 2b weakens two positions on defense--2B and RF. And, if LA is in the WS, you can bet Machado ("the machete") will go after his knees, ankles, whatever. Ty Cobb reborn.

He's gotta play and it's gotta be in the OF. Who drops out? Can Mookie move to 2B?

Agree on all. Nicely said.

Back to the future. Catchy title, no? I simply don't know enough about NL teams to say which team would be tougher. And you know something? That just might be the right call--they are equally tough/easy. The Brewers had 4 more regular season wins, but the Dodgers have been here recently and the Brewers definitely not. Both have lower OPS's than the Sox and lower ERA's. Both had to play single playoff games before the NLDS started. One big LA edge, however, might be that during the regular season their run differential was + 194 and Milwaukee's was + 95.

And who would no better than us--hanging on every pitch? On another thread everyone is identifying the many plays and players who contributed in both the ALDS and ALCS--and everyone of them is right. But I tend to gravitate toward Cora who I think brought the best of his guys by his decisions and by the way he has molded this team. But your point is dead on. Yes, Cora was great, and so were the players, but it sure wasn't easy. OK, OK--maybe the 16-1 game was easy.

All good.

I found last night to be a game changer in terms of my view of Kimbrel and I completely buy the notion that he was tipping his pitches. He only has 2 pitches, so knowing which one is coming would be huge because it's the difference between a blazing fast ball and a big breaking knuckle curve that gives him the edge. I still would be reluctant to give him a long-term contract, however.

Sox did take 3 of 4 and 4 of 5 and 5 straight on the other teams' fields, but I sure didn't see any cakewalk. Kimbrel made sure of that. I do think the Sox should be favored. They have yet to lose a WS in the past 15 years and have won 3 of them, sweeping 2 (Cards and Rockies). But you gotta play the games, and strange things can happen.

You don't know the dates? First game is Tuesday, Oct 23, so of course Sale and Price can start games 1 and 2, and Price would actually be getting an extra day's rest. I would be tempted to go with Sale and Eovaldi, however, because they will be more of a contrast in pitching styles. Sale and Price are a lot alike.

The above is by no means dead on with respect to specifics--not all of those predictions held true. But what is absolutely stunning about it is that it first appeared on page 4 of this thread when the conversation had already devolved into talking about Kimbrel's future and other arcane matters. And iortiz was absolutely the only real optimist about the ALCS. Everyone else, including me, thought the Astros were formidable. Certainly no one thought winning 3 in Houston was possible. The best anyone other than iortiz could say was that it would be a tough series. And that's actually true. However, iortiz and iortiz alone claimed that Price could be great in this series, and he was dead right. Last night Price clearly outpitched the greatest postseason righthander starter in MLB history--well, at least in Verlander's mind he is the greatest.