Maxbialystock

Price still has 4 years on an insane contract of over $30M year. In the first three years (almost) of his contract, he has been worth about 1/2 of that $30M+/year. So how did the subject of his opting out even come up? To me that would be like Pablo and HanRam wiring DD and asking him to please discontinue those monthly salary checks because they feel they haven't earned them.

Interesting. How does any manager change a player? Right now Mookie's WAR is 10.2, which is fantastic. Two years ago it was 9.6 with OPS .897, rbi's 113, dingers 31, runs 122, SB's 26, etc. Right now his OPS is 1.057, rbi's 77, dingers 30, runs 121, SB's 28. The big dip in performance was last year 2017, which you appear to want to blame on Farrell in order to give Cora credit for transforming him. But what really happened was that Mookie blossomed in 2016 in part because Ortiz also had a great year. Last year, no Ortiz. This year, JDM, the reincarnation of David Ortiz. I do think Cora has been terrific this year. And I normally disagree with Jung on practically everything. But, boy, the case for Cash is pretty strong, and I am indebted to Jung for reminding me. His word choice of miracle is just about dead on.

Finally, the lineup asserted itself after two abysmal games. ERod,like Price the night before, demonstrated how tough the Yankees lineup can be on lefties--aided this time by Hembree's hanging slider that Stanton poked over the RF wall. Wright was great, but the rest of the bullpen continues to be worrisome except for Zimbrel. Brasier did OK last night, but I thought got away with some really fat pitches, maybe because Wright had messed up the Yankee hitters timing. Tonight the Sox start 3 at Cleveland against another postseason opponent that, like the Yankees, has good hitting and decent pitching. I don't see Wright going 3 more tonight.

I disagree he is capable of that right now against a good lineup. He does not have good command of his pitches and over relies on his fastball which the Yankees hit with ease (except when he throws it high and the swing at it.

Meh. My opinion, for what it's worth, is that your expectation was way too high: the Yankees right now have the best lineup in MLB, better than ours; they had 8 righty bats; ERod can't keep the ball low consistently, especially not for stgrikes; ERod doesn't have great breaking stuff with which to challenge hitters.

I'm not sure I buy the nibbled himself to death theory. My view is that the Yankees were killing most everything in the strike zone, but especially ERod's fast ball. Absolutely, ERod was using too many pitches, but that's a function of his inability to hit corners, especially with his breaking stuff. Am I the only one on this thread who realizes that 1) season to date, the Yankees have the 2d best hitting in MLB and lead in dingers? 2) their lineup is even hotter lately, especially with Judge back? 3) the Yankees had 8 pretty good righty bats in their lineup?

Not sure I agree. His favorite pitch by far is his fastball, and the Yankees love it even more than he does. If he threw wicked breaking stuff to contact, I could see it. But not that fastball. And, by the way, the Sox are also hitting Tanaka's fast ball well.

What a crock. The Sox bullpen to a man is dead meat in this series. Or aren't you keeping track of that stuff?

I think the ump favored Tanaka on the close ones and that ERod got screwed on I think the first guy he walked. But the root problem with ERod and basically the whole team is none of them is comfortable keeping the ball low. Hembree hung a slider up. In addition ERod and Price both over-rely on fast balls and cut fast balls which ain't fooling anyone. Tanaka has as good a fast ball as ERod, but it's almost a waste pitch with him because he relies on breaking stuff down.

Exactly. He's as ready as he ever will be. He does not have great stuff, but he has a good selection and knows he has to work the corners, etc. I'd like to see him better at throwing low in the zone. I have mostly been anti-Porcello, but not now. In fact, Price getting hammered last night notwithstanding, I like our postseason rotation. And here's a thought. Remember Andrew Miller who became the world's great set up reliever? Well, I think the weirdo knuckleballer just might have that same potential. He walks guys, true. Plus a passed ball now and then. But since he returned he's made six appearances with no runs scored. And Kimbrel? Since August 12, 11 appearances and 1 run. The problem, however, is that we probably need four very good arms in the bullpen because our starters normally don't get to the 7th. Right now I'm thinking Porcello as the #3 starter. ERod is probably better, but he would make it 3 straight lefties.

Nice.

If there is one thing I ain't buying, it's any math or probability on who wins what series in the postseason. Other than to say, of course, that the division winners have an advantage because they don't have to play the one game playoff. Right now in the AL I think all five teams could be tough: Sox, Astros, Guardians, Yankees, and A's. Can the Rays still sneak in there? If so, they could be tough. Also, despite the Sox terrific record, I think the team to beat in the AL is again the Astros.

To clarify: I honestly wanted to thank you for starting the game thread early. Someone had to, and it was possible the rest of us would have hung back until 8ish. The Sox still have a big lead, etc, so I see these games as informational, which means of course I'm getting worried. Bullpen still stinks. Yankees pitching has our lineup throttled. Price, who was seriously looking like a $30M/year starter, got beat up fair and square. Shame on Nunez for the error, of course, but he got that double and scored the only Sox run. And those two unearned runs would not have happened if Price hadn't first loaded the bases up. Severino intimidated our guys. Their lineup intimidated Price. Next up, ERod, the little girl with a curl. When she was good, she was very, very good, and when she was bad, she was horrid. Last night I thought both starters were cautious in the 1st inning and not attacking the strike zone. it worked for both. I think ERod needs to be that way tonight without walking everybody. I know he loves to throw all fast balls in the 1st inning, but I'm hoping he gets in a couple of changeups and a slider or two. Also that he keeps the ball low--not all of the time, but maybe half the time.

I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man. I hope you have the reins in your teeth and both hands full of artillery. Speaking of which, where the heck is the Sox artillery?

Born philosopher.

Agree. Keeping Kimbrel guarantees nothing when your starters go 5 or 6 innings.

ERod vs. Tanaka tomorrow night. Not sure I want to watch.

Moonslav assured us on last night's game thread that Cora went with his "minor league lineup." Well, they might have been, but they looked better than tonight's. Both lineups only scored 1 run, but last night at least threatened now and then. Tonight's just rolled over and played dead except for that magnificent rbi single by Leon. Not sure our guys are ready for prime time. With 103 wins, that's kind of a shame. In these two games--yes, yes, a very small sample size but against a team we could well face in the ALDS--we've seen an awful bullpen, an equally awful lineup, our #2 starter hammered, and our steady eddy 3B let one go right between his legs for 2 runs with 2 outs. Ugh. To the Yankees credit, I thought their pitching was excellent in both games. Both starters had good stuff, mixed up their pitches, and mostly hit their spots. Their bullpen owned our lineup even with 2 errors. Their hitting looked pretty decent too.

We are now in the 6th and that single rbi by Leon is beginning to look like a miraculous hit. Everybody else coming up with men/man on base rolls over and plays dead.

Is Bogey going for the fences? That's twice he's popped up a pitch breaking down.

One more inning, and Price could get a quality start.

OK. I've griped plenty about Price because he's walked 3 guys, given up 2 dingers, etc. But I give you this: without that error, the score would be 2-1 in the bottom of the 5th. The defense and the lineup have also let us down.

Nice rally killed by our #1 and #2 hitters--a K and a weak grounder after #7 doubles, #8 singles, and #9 hits a line drive, caught, to the opposite field. Come on, guys. At least we got the run. But 4-1 right looks like a pretty steep hill.

I sure hope I get to eat my words. Way to go, Nunez and especially Leon!!!

Yes, Price has been near perfect and we should ignore how he loaded the bases up before that error. We should also ignore the two dingers.