Maxbialystock

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?

Killer b's back--for now. Plus big hits from HanRam and Devers.

3-0 with 2 on and 1 out in the bottom of the 5th. Still a long way to go, but that lead sure is nice, especially with Pom pitching so well.

Great fifth by Pom. Cool as a cucumber after that walk. Could go 7.

Looks like the knuckle curve came back. OK, long wait for Pom. Hope he's ready for the 5th.

Great rally, but an incredibly stupid at bat by Vazquez who should have waited for the fastball because the knuckle curves were going in the dirt. That's how Han Ram and Devers got their hits--looking for the fast ball.

Just so everyone knows--I am a major complainer about Pom, almost incessantly so. But I ain't blind. He is in fact pitching well. Nothing lucky about those first 4 innings.

Pom is pitching great so far. 58 pitches in 4 innings, so he should go 6. Time for the lineup to man up.

Meh. That called fast ball strike was outside and that knuckle curve is like a slider on steroids--it goes 87 mph and breaks sharply down and away.