Maxbialystock

Hmm. Keuchel seems to have the HP ump's favor so far in this game. That last strike wasn't that close to the strike zone.

Don't know about Marrero against lefties in September, but do know his OPS in September was 100 points higher than Devers's. One thing I will say about Devers is that to me he seems to have a good eye for breaking balls but lately not so good against fast balls. So it is possible he would have fared well today.

Keuchel still getting away with a lot of cut fastballs that are producing K's.

His fielding is a season long phenomenon. In the playoffs one day samples mean more than they do in the regular season. Marrero just K'd however.

I don't think so, so Vazquez gets partial credit.

Not lately, not in September.

Lo and behold, a leadoff double by the much-maligned Young! I'm one of the maligners.

Too many fastballs by Pom to the same hitter--and that last one was right in the heart of the zone. This might define how the Sox in 2017 differ from other good teams. Their starters are good at not throwing fat pitches. On top of that, other team's hitters are much better at taking advantage of fat pitches than are ours. A month or two ago I started clamoring for our guys to swing at more first pitches on the assumption they were usually down the middle because of our reputation for taking first pitches. I stopped doing that after I saw how really lousy are hitters are at actually hitting a first pitch of any kind solidly. We simply can't. In the top of the first we saw our hitters struggle against a starter who throw nothing but cut fastballs. We got the one walk and the weak double, but that was it. So another weakness is the inability to adjust to what the pitcher is doing.

Devers hitless yesterday with 2 K’s plus he is a liability at third. Marrero OPS vs lefties is .940, so me, I think you are the one toget fired for trotting out that weak stuff.

HanRam not the guy with 2 outs and men on 2d and 3d. Was he ever?

Sale gave up two dingers in the first inning after nine days rest and a short September because he was exhausted? Give me a break. You might as well say Kelly gave up the two run single and threw two curves that bounced in front of the plate with the bases because he was tired. Ditto Maddox when he gave up the leadoff dinger. Or just maybe, preposterous as this must sound, the Astros got those 4 dingers and 8 runs because they are a very good hitting ball club.

Back to Kelly's tired arm. Anybody else notice those two horrible curves that bounced in front of the plate with the bases loaded yet? Only a tired arm can do that. Farrell is one of the most abusive, senseless managers these tired old eyes have ever seen. Pitchers, especially sensitive, skinny guys like Sale, need to handled very, very carefully. Kelly has been so mistreated he's stopped shaving--a sure sign of a resentful player.

Whoops. Leadoff dinger off of Maddox. Must be a another tired arm. Hell, Kelly looked a little tired on the 2 run single he gave up. Farrell needs to manage these guys innings better because no way, no how can the Astros hit this well. Farrell and Farrell alone is responsible for those 4 dingers and 8 runs.

He's coming off 9 days rest and he pitched a short September and he gave up 2 dingers in the very first inning. To me the case for a tired arm is a weak one. I think he just went up against some good hitters who had no trouble reading his pitches and especially hitting the fat ones--which he threw earlier in the season and got away with. Sale threw 214 innings this year, 226 last year and 208 in 2015 and 214 in 2014.

A perfect match--Sale clobbered and I can't watch the game live. Back to the grindstone for me.

Check the actual roster, big guy. I got everyone right except I had Barnes and Farrell with with Carson, which is fine with me.

The real ALDS slide was started by a Yankees fan. Good to see your name.

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.