Maxbialystock

When ERod goes into a stall like this, expect trouble.

Agree.

Yankees seem to be looking for walks. And looking and looking and looking. Yankee Stadium is becoming Central Park. Look, ma, I just saw a fastball go by. Sure was pretty.

Was last night when they scored 6 runs lately?

Heartbreaking. I barely watched, I was so disgusted.

Could not agree more. A really bad bunch of hitters. That's why they're a distant 2d in runs scored in MLB. They hardly ever bat in any runs. Must be the tooth fairy that's doing it for them.

Where's the great Judge arm in RF? Decided not to show up tonight I guess.

Method to his madness. ERod has stuck to a game plan of staying low, lower, and lowest. It cost him in the first inning--22 pitches, but no runs--and paid off in the 2d when the Yanks looked helpless.

Sabathia is looking very sharp. He made mincemeat out of Bogie in 3 pitches. Now he K's Moreland--with ease.

Good he's keeping the ball low, better if he would just consider--he doesn't have to do it--throwing strikes.

Indeed. Uncommon sense too because there are few of us left who see anything encouraging about this year's Sox.

Come on. You're saying Barnes shouldn't be asked to get three outs against the bottom of the Yankees order right after Johnson--yes, Johnson--was asked to get three outs against the top of the Yankees order? If so, I simply disagree.

The bench called all of his pitches, and they called 7 straight fast balls against Gardner, who inevitably hit the 7th to deep CF. Kimbrel must have his knuckle curve to be effective, so the fault was with whoever called for the fastballs. When he was finally allowed to throw knuckle curves against Gregorius and Stanton, he struck them out. He threw 1 knuckle curve against Judge, the rest were fastballs, including the one he blasted. I thought bringing Kimbrel in was the right move. A big game, a tough situation with men on 1st and 3d and 1 out, a 1 run lead in the 8th. He is by far our best.

Simple fact is we need Price now, so a good bullpen session is just what the doctor ordered. Ditto starting on Saturday.

Thanks. Neat that you get Pete's stuff. He usually has pretty good inside dope.

With a man on 3b and 1 out, you don't play deep on Gardner. The fault lay with Kimbrel throwing 7 straight fast balls and no knuckle curves. JBJ was absolutely not missed last night and won't be missed tonight. Tonight it's ERod's 5.29 ERA vs. Sabathia's 1.39 ERA, so our work is cut out for us. A week ago he held the Guardians scoreless for 6 innings, 6 days earlier he held the Angels to 1 run in 7 innings. He mixes his pitches, keeps the ball low, and has great control. ERod probably has better stuff, but little control and not much desire to keep the ball low.

First, thanks for the game reports from enemy territory. Neat, especially the comment on whether Beni should have caught that sinking liner. Second, I mostly agree that relievers should stay in for a second inning if they are effective in the first. Why? Because their stuff is working and they have confidence. Last night I was fine with Johnson only getting 3 outs (but in 2 innings) and bringing in Smith. I would have brought him out for the 8th and said so. However, I refuse to let Barnes off the hook. He had a clean inning to work with and the bottom third of the Yankees lineup, and he got only one out. Unsat. I would have left Carson Smith in, but Barnes should not have been a bad call by Cora. If he can't get 2 outs against the bottom 3d of the order, what's the point of having him on the roster? Remember, Johnson got three outs: a grounder by Gardner, a fly out by Judge, and a line out by Gregorius. Then Smith got a ground out by Stanton, gave up a single to Sanchez, and struck Hicks out.

But you just said he didn't need the knuckle curve against Gardner. Which is it?

Baloney. 7 straight fast balls is inviting disaster, especially against an experienced hitter like Gardner. The only, repeat, only way Kimbrel is effective is when he mixes the knuckle curve with the fast ball, which is exactly what he did to K Gregoria and Stanton last night. Judge got one knuckle curve, a strike, and the rest were fast balls.

Good for you. I feel exactly the same way and said so on moonslav's thread, "A Realistic View of 2018, part II." Despite the weak bottom of the order, we have a good lineup. Infield D is so-so, but outfield is good. Rotation is good. Bullpen not so good. We would be 3 up on the Yankees right now if the bullpen hadn't been Yankee rally enablers Tues and Wed night.

The 2 recent losses to the Yanks didn't depress me. I actually saw confirmation of what you have been saying all along--that the Sox have a very competitive team this year. We could have won both games but for the bullpen collapsing both nights. Game 1 should have been a home team cakewalk with Severino going against Pom the bomb, but Pom came thru--as you suggested he might--with 2 runs in 6 innings. But Hembree blew that one. Last night Porcello stunk, but the lineup came through and got us that 6-5 lead going into the 8th (thanks to the 5 outs by Johnson and Smith). Then Barnes and Kimbrel catered a Yanks rally party that scored 4 runs before the two of them could get a second out. Horrible. But the rest of the team did pretty darn good given we were struggling and the Yankees are red hot. If ERod and the lineup and the bullpen can come thru tonight, we're tied with the juggernaut.

Swihart maybe has the right bat, but not the right defensive skill set. He has caught enough games to convince two different managers and coaching staffs that he doesn't have the skills needed to catch at the MLB level. As for LF and 3B and even 1B, the Sox already have someone better. He is a good all around athlete, but not a good fit for the Sox. Like you, I don't like Holt, but he does have the right defensive skillset because he is so versatile.

I was really mad at Kimbrel last night, but not so much today. What killed him was throwing all fastballs and no knuckle curves to Gardner, who hit the 7th one to deep centerfield for a triple which basically won the game. All seven of those fastballs were called for by the bench. Kimbrel was just doing what he was told to do. As for Price, Sale, and Porcello, you could be right that they aren't big in big games. I think Sale is the exception and that last year his problems in August and September were from too many innings in the first four months. The funny thing is that I don't like Pom at all and never have, but he was darn effective in game one--2 runs in 6 innings, a quality start against a very good lineup. That tells me that Porcello simply choked last night.

I was fine with Barnes going in, also with when Kimbrel replaced him. And I generally think Cora is doing an excellent job with the bullpen. That said, I don't think there is enough discussion of the simple fact that the bench hamstrung Kimbrel last night against the first batter, Gardner. By that I mean the bench called all the pitches and called for 7 straight fastballs and Gardner hit the 7th to deep centerfield for a triple. Kimbrel is far less effective when he doesn't use the knuckle curve at all. He only threw 1 knuckle curve--a strike--against Judge, who poleaxed another fastball. Then Kimbrel mixed in knuckle curves and fastballs and got two quick K's vs. Gregorius and Stanton. Oldtimer has a good explanation for the no knuckle curves: the bench was afraid one would be a wild pitch and bring the runner on third home to tie the game. I appreciate that, but the larger reality was and is that Kimbrel needs that knuckle curve to be effective. It's the combination of those two pitches--blazing fastball and knuckle curve--that makes him successful. My hope is that they learned a lesson last night. When Kimbrel goes in, you need to let Kimbrel be Kimbrel, even with a man on 3b.

You have captured my earlier comment that I'm not so sure Kimbrel is worth huge amounts of money over the long term. Yes, 300 saves in record time. But many on talksox think saves are not a useful stat. The wild card in any discussion about last night is that I'm pretty sure the bench called for all those fastballs, so maybe their lesson learned is that, when he goes in, you have to let Kimbrel be Kimbrel, and that definitely includes the knuckle curve.