Maxbialystock

I just checked the WEEI and CBS versions, and they both mostly agree with me--all five starters, same position players, plus five of the same relievers but Scott instead of Barnes for #6. I'm not saying I'm right, only that I might be.

I don't have to pick anyone. Farrell does. I personally would go with Sale, Pom, ERod, and Fister, but it's hard to leave off a $20M starter.

You could be right. I did so for two reasons: 1) i don't think Farrell has yet made up his mind about the 4th starter and maybe wants the Astros manager to be in the dark as well; 2) six relievers should be enough and can't think of anyone left out worth putting on the ALDS roster. I am, for example, a fan of neither Abad nor Scott.

What is it? Farrell has said 11 pitchers--I think the five starters plus Kimbrel, Reed, Price, Kelly, Smith, and Barnes-- and 14 position players: Moreland, Pedey, Bogie, Devers, Beni, JBJ, Betts, Vazquez, and HanRam plus Nunez, Leon, Davis, Holt, and Marrero.

Bullpen could be huge, agreed, but not that Kimbrel needs to become Paul Bunyan. We were swept by Cleveland in the ALDS last year largely because Porcello gave up 4 in the first 3 innings and Price gave up 4 in the first 2 innings. Hard to recover from that no matter how good the bullpen. What's nice about the ALDS is the break between games 2 and 3 and again between 4 and 5. But I still think the right move is to use Price, Reed, and Kimbrel for the last 3 innings. Since May 11, Kimrel has pitched 1.1 innings (and nothing more than that) five times, and was scored on in two of those games. He was great in September--1 run in 12 innings-- in part because they were all 1 inning appearances. Price has relieved 5 times in September and 8.2 innings, including one for 2.2 innings--and he is unscored upon. He's the guy who might come in in the 6th inning, but the starter still needs to go 5 or Barnes or Kelly or whoever needs to come in earlier. Reed was great in September except that one bad .1 inning against the yankees on Sep 3 when he gave up 3 in a 9-2 loss. So, me, I think Kimbrel needs to stay Kimbrel and pitch one inning or at the absolute most 1.1 innings. Let's not forget the danger of spending your bullpen in the first 9 innings and then have to go extra innings. The point is, spend the bullpen lavishly, maybe, to keep a lead but not necessarily to keep it close.

Weak logic. If the Yankees play the Guardians and beat them, they will be just as tough as the Guardians to beat in the ALCS. I do agree with the logic that the Twins could lose in 3 and the Yankees might go 5 against Cleveland, but even there the winner will be still be tough in the ALCS. We needed 7 to beat the Yankees in the ALCS in 2004 and swept the Cardinals in the WS, and did exactly the same thing vs. Cleveland in the ALCS and Colorado in the WS in 2007. Moreover, I do believe that in the John Henry era the Sox have the better postseason record than the Yankees. The Yankees not getting to the ALDS will simply continue that trend, made especially sweet by the fact that this year the Yankees net runs scored are a bodacious +198 and the Twins a paltry +27 and the Sox is nice but not great +117.

This thread is about Farrell, not clutch. FWIW, I too think clutch is real but hard to pin down. Best example for me is Ortiz, who was pretty darn good in the postseason, but he was also very good in the regular season. I therefore tend to be skeptical about guys who are reputedly great in the postseason but only in the postseason. I also think that smart teams can limit the effectiveness of great hitters in the postseason although what happened to Ted Williams in 1946 was more the result of an injury than anything the Cardinals did. As for pitching, I definitely think good pitching in the postseason is clutch pitching simply because it is so difficult to do. It's not just 4 at bats in a game or 30 in a seven game series. It's a bunch of batters and usually 100 or more pitches in a game, any one of which can be bad and therefore clobbered. Thus last year both Price and Porcello in my opinion choked, pure and simple, and in 2013 Lester and Lackey and Uehara and some other were clutch in my opinion. As for Farrell, I have defended him until the cows come home, but will be happy with whatever decision DD makes. I say this because there is a report DD will decide based on how the Sox do in the ALDS.

Farrell says 14 position players and 11 pitchers. I see these 25 11 pitchers: 5 from the rotation + Kimbrel, Reed, Price, Kelly, Barnes, and Smith. All 5 starters because I think Farrell wants to delay the decision on who starts game 4 on October 9 as long as possible. 14 position players: 9 regulars (Moreland, Pedey, Bogie, Devers, Beni, JBJ, Betts, HanRam, and Vazquez) + 1 catcher (Leon), Nunez, Davis, Holt, and anyone's guess but mine would be Marrero (over Young). Nunez for his bat, Davis for his speed on the bases, Holt for his inevitability, and Marrero for his defense. Interesting alternatives, especially if Nunez is not ready for the ALDS, are Swihart and Travis, but Young is also possible.

Workman and Abad doing their best to stay off the postseason roster. Fine by me.

McHugh vs. Velazquez, both righties 3:05 pm today at Fenway where, who knows, the attendance might actually get over 35,722 for the AL East champs vs. the AL West champs, albeit in a meaningless game at this point. espn carried an irritating headline/story saying the Sox owe the Yankees for keeping them on their toes down to the wire. In retrospect, espn might be right because all six home games this time were biggies in which our rotation seemed to crumble before our eyes. Heck, Porcello has one of our two wins--this one against the Jays, when he gave up 5 in 5.2 innings and the Sox won 10-7. Sale got hit, so did ERod. Fister not bad going 5.1 and giving up 3, one due to a lousy throw by Betts that was not an error but still--and despite a passed ball by Leon and another error by Devers. Only Pom stood up when it counted, going 6, giving up 1, which was mostly Smith's fault. Nevertheless, you gotta like Sale in game 1 on October 5 followed by Pom in game 2 on October 6, to say nothing of three pretty good arms--Kimbrel, Price, and Reed--and Kelly in the bullpen. I think ERod still gets game 3 on October 8 and, against my sincere advice to Farrell to start Fister, Porcello in game 4 October 9. The lineup could be tricky if Nunez is back because Bogie is hitting and so are Pedey and Devers. Besides, he reinjured himself this time just swinging the bat.

Whine, whine, whine. That's all you boobirds do. What about the Sox amazing record in extra inning games when managerial decisions really can make a difference? You ever think of that? Last night's game goes into extra innings if Betts makes a decent throw home or the Sox win if ahNRam hits the double with the bases loaded instead of empty or its tied if Beni doesn't K with a man on 3b and one out.

And you alone get to decide which buttons were right? What a crock. The boo birds refuse to recognize that this team under Farrell has now won the Division two years in a row for the first time since 1916 despite weak hitting and a rotation near collapse. Instead you second guess every conceivable situation and decision because when the team loses it must have been the managers fault. This was the unremitting drumbeat when Francona, then called Francoma, was here. Heck, moonslav insists the team has no fire because the manager has no fire. I mean we are talking looney tunes stuff. The team wins two divisions in a row, he stays. Plus he has better information and a whole lot more experience than all us Yahoos on Talksox. Seriously--its that simple.

I'm also fine with Pom in game 2--obviously.

My #3 is Fister because I don't think Porcello or ERod has a big game in him. But I'm happy with whoever Farrell picks.

You boo birds are all about 20-20 hindsight and of course ignore anything right the manager does--like insert Holt who made a great play and got 2 hits. You also seem not to care what the players do as long as you can blame something on the manager. It's this simple: the Sox just won their 2d straight division title for the first time in their entire history and this year did it without the usual great hitting and despite a near collapse of the rotation. So you can second guess all you want to, but winning managers are keepers. Simple as that.

Baloney. Smith had not given up a run before today. As it turned out, he's lousy pitching in the rain. Price, fortunately, is not.

Actually, no. Pom was clearly running out of gas or the rain bothered him. It was time. It just wasn't time for Smith, but sure was for Price.

Two hits for Holt and a great defensive play. World turned upside down.

For whatever reason, Pom's fast baseball had slowed to about 86mph. Thus that single was a pretty good warning sign. Smith wasn't much help, but Price sure was. Then Reed in the 8th.

You dummy. Next time don't count your chickens too soon--you are responsible for those two Astro runs.

He ain't young in my book, but he is having a helluva season.

I heard that before.

Wow. Just wow. Six scoreless innings on 79 pitches. Today Pom is on his game. And you can bet the Astros want to win to keep a shot at the home field advantage should they get to the ALCS. Assuming we win--still need 9 big outs--it's us vs. these guys, best out of 5. Clearly our first two starters have to be Sale and Pom. After that I'm not sure. I like Fister because, unlike ERod and Porcello, he is a pitcher and not a thrower.

We need 12 big outs--make that 11 big outs--against a good hitting team.

Astros pitching got some more calls, but our guys got the runs. Well done, lineup. Also pretty good D so far. Ain't that nice?