Maxbialystock

Last year maybe, but even then the Guardians had the better record and home field advantage. This year no way the Sox were favored over the Astros. As for high expectations, look homeward, why doncha? In the John Henry era the Yankees have continued to outspend the Sox but have clearly fallen behind in postseason success.

I'm no expert, of course, but I doubt it. The Astros had the better team or weren't you watching the first two games of the ALDS or the final four games of the regular season? Yesterday's win was largely because Farrell convinced Price a month ago he could contribute a lot from the bullpen and Price delivered big time after Fister bombed. Today, same deal, only this time it was Sale out of the bullpen, the same guy everyone said was toast after his last two starts, only Farrell didn't think so. The problem today was our ace reliever Kimbrel couldn't get one guy out in the 8th (before giving up a WP, a walk and a single to score the tying run) and then struggled in the 9th. How you can blame that on Farrell is beyond me.

BS. He pulled rabbits out of the hat to win game 3 and make game 4 close. He got ejected protecting Pedroia from getting tossed in the 2d inning when the ump was in fact giving Morton some calls and the Sox could not score with the bases loaded and no one out. On a 3-2 count he called strike 3 on JBJ when the ball was clearly outside the zone. Without that, the Sox score 1, and Morton gets seriously rattled.

Reed gave up 2 (in 1 inning) in his last game--against these same Astros in game 2 of the ALDS.

Of course it was because it's never, ever the players fault. Only the manager can lose a game and only the players can win one. Yea, verily, it is written. Me, I thought it was a helluva game, a helluva ALDS, and a helluva season.

Reed? Reed? Reed threw one inning against these guys in this ALDS (Oct 6) and gave up 2 runs. Reed?

Right. Kimbrel didn't do his job, simple as that. He had two outs and a man on first when he came in and gave up a wild pitch, a walk, and a single.

Two men out and one man on when Kimbrel came in. A piece of cake for any reliever, especially one of Kimbrel's calibre. He choked, pure and simple.

He threw fewer innings and fewer pitches in September than any other month. He had 9 days rest before he pitched Oct 5 and gave up 2 dingers in the first freaking inning. He just didn't have it that day the same way he had it today. That's baseball. Who knew, for another example, Verlander would give up a dinger to Beni?

I'm pretty sure it hit the bag.

And he certainly looked overworked today, didn't he? I was surprised he could actually throw the ball, he looked so exhausted. Let's not forget that he threw 100 pitches 4 days ago.

I love that line.

OK, somebody at some point needs to fess up and say that they were dead wrong that Sale was too tired to pitch in the postseason and that Farrell ruined him. I mean that was three pretty darn good innings, including a 2 run error by Devers, against a really good lineup.

It was also the earlier one that struck out JBJ--out of the zone. Morton got lots of calls.

Kimmi's kind of game. She's the one who said, "don't let us win game 3."

Even though he's exhausted, he seems to be doing OK.

Sale not too shabby working the corners on the first two in the 5th, Astros #3 and #4 hitters.

One thing you have to give Morton credit for is working the edges of the strike zone. That is I think the big reason why he is getting more calls than Porcello (or Sale). Those 3 K's in the 4th against Devers, Vazquez, and JBJ were impressive. We have no one in the rotation who can hit corners consistently.

What the heck is Sale doing out there? Anybody with any knowledge of the game can tell he is literally exhausted, those 98 mph fastballs notwithstanding. I was talking to several former MLB pitchers the other days and they all say he's lost it--his stride is shorter or something and his arm motion is all wrong. This is all Farrell's fault.

Probably, except that ERod right now seems unable to command his pitches--the direct opposite of Price.

No, you and a700hitter said the same thing and i clearly exaggerated what you said during the game in my enthusiasm for how Price's stint turned out. All you both said was to warm someone up, and I was defending the notion that Farrell knew what he was doing.

Two righties again, Morton v. Porcello Once more into the breach. The Sox starter is again vastly overmatched on paper despite having been last year's Cy Young winner. I have disparaged our starters as much as anyone, but have to say that the Astros are definitely part of the problem which we saw in the final four game series at Fenway. Those guys can hit, and Altuve is off the charts with an OPS of 2.333 in 3 games. Even with Price unavailable today, I by no means think the cause is hopeless. Porcello certainly knows what he has to do. Backing him up will be Kimbrel, Reed, Maddox, Smith, maybe Kelly, and ERod or Sale. Yesterday I opined Farrell might tweak the top of the lineup, but he did not. He still could do that today given that Bogie and Beni have .000 and .397 OPS's in the first three games to go along with 7 K's (4 by Bogie, 3 by Beni) and 2 singles (both by Beni). On the other hand, the Sox still scored 10 runs yesterday with the top 4 slots--Bogie, Pedey, Beni, and Betts--going 2 for 18 and 2 runs scored. The top four in the Astros lineup went 8 for 19 and batted in all 3 of their runs, but that was it. Here's an interesting stat: the Astros have scored 2 + 2 + 3 runs in the first innings of the ALDS, which means the pitching coach should do his darndest to have Porcello ready from the get go. For that matter, 4 or 5 decent innings from Porcello would be manna, a triumph on the order of Pom's start to lock down the AL East title.

I love stats but have to say the human element can be huge in baseball. Our rotation has collapsed which was not totally unexpected given the final four game series against the Astros at Fenway, but 3 of 3 starters--Sale, Pom, Fister--being just useless? Then Price, who had already looked good in September, came through yesterday again only better, going 4 huge, gigantic innings and maintaining that fragile 4-3 lead. Hitting the same way. HanRam has come into his own and looks like the Manny Ramirez only with a lot more enthusiasm. JBJ, who struggled in August and September, is suddenly looking great in October. Bogaerts on the other hand looks lost and Beni not much better. Hell, the bottom four in the order have driven in all 14 runs in these 3 ALDS games, but Moreland leads the team in runs scored. For the Astros Altuve right now has an OPS over 2.000--but in just 3 games. He has made the intentional pass seem like the wisest move in almost any circumstance but certainly with anyone on base.

I don't listen to the audio, but would point out that these guys today did not cover Sale's last start and probably none before that, so I wonder how they came to these conclusions. If Eck said it, it's probably true. Did he? Also, Sale threw 506 pitches in September, the fewest he threw in the six months he pitched this year. He threw 574 in July when he pitched great and 611 in August when not so great. He had 9 days rest between his last start and his ALDS start. And let's not forget that August and September, the very months when one presumes Sale should have pitched less, the Sox were in a dogfight to win the AL East and did not win it until the the penultimate game on August 30. Had Farrell shortened Sale's innings when he was pitching well during those two months and the bullpen then pissed away a lead or two, talksox would have erupted as they did last year that Farrell wasn't trying to win games and why is he pulling his best starter? The one game, September 20, when Sale was probably left in too long is moonslav's key data point. Sale threw a bodacious 111 pitches in an easy win when he could probably have been taken out after 90 pitches. However, Sale threw over 3300 pitches this year, so I find it hard to blame Thursday's game on those extra 21 pitches on September 20.

Overall, a pretty incredible game. Another starter bombs--thus now Sale, Pom, and Fister have all laid pretty big eggs--but Price absolutely pitched his ass off against a very good lineup, probably the best in MLB. On top of that, the Sox actually took the lead in the 3d dadgum inning and held it, 4-3, until the deluge of the 7th that put the game away. I missed most of that glorious 7th because of family dinner engagement--folks coming in from out of town--but I did see Price get that final out on a high fastball swing and miss. Two errors and one dinger by the Astros and zero errors and 2 dingers by the home team--plus an awfully good RF by Mookie Betts who is already renowned for his fielding. HanRam was incredbily pumped up even before the game started. His stroke reminded me of an earlier Ramirez. Price threw 57 pitches in 4 innings, so he might or might not be good for Oct 11 if we get there. A couple days ago I said that AL East champs or not, DD might still dump Farrell if the Sox get wiped out in 3 games. I now don't think so. Goodness knows Porcello ain't tired. The question with him, as always, is where the heck will he throw the ball. If he keeps it up as he has for most of the season, he will be gone early. I think, contrary to what seems the consensus on talksox, Farrell will not try to save the day by bringing in ERod unless he does as he did before, keeps him on a very short string.