Maxbialystock

Got him on the splitter, otherwise a good at bat by Lin. After 3, Tanaka looks like one of those Eliot Ness guys.

We are seeing right now why I think Fister is better than Pom, who seems to see no positive benefit in short innings. Or maybe he just doesn't have his control today. Tanaka sure does.

Too much like Pom's last start.

Terrible play by Devers.

Knuckle curve less effective when he keeps throwing it in the middle.

Note JBJ backing up Nunez on a very easy pop up. The Sox outfield know the issue.

But that 90 mph fastball is not so nice. Inside corner, but up and hittable.

That Pom curve is so nice.

Wow. Vazquez K's on a straight fast ball right down the middle which was set up by the pitches before.

Moreland wanted the out and it was a split second decision which I refuse to second guess. Coming off the bag guarantees a long inning for Pom, who trends that way anyway.

Nice swing by Ramirez on that slider a little up.

Not sloppy at all. Great grab, bad throw. From 3b that can happen.

True

Well, except for Beni of course. He is out of control still making those rookie mistakes.

An idle thought: how does Bogie get back into the lineup? Pedey's out, but Lin is in. Nunez is hitting big time and seems OK at SS. Devers has 3b locked down. This ain't April, June, July, or even August, and the Sox do want that good won-lost record and maybe the home field advantage. Every game counts. Has time run out for Bogies this year?

You gotta admire the grit of the Guardians manning up to play the Tigers, who have just made it clear they don't care one whit about the rest of the season. Spoilers they will not be.

Last night's three dinger-hitters are in the first five lineup slots today. HanRam moved up from 7th to 5th. The 6th thru 9th are suspect only because JBJ is coming off the DL and Lin is a glove guy.

Against righty Tanaka 5 lefty bats. Last year we didn't have that many but seemed to have no problem hitting righties. Tanaka is 3d best among Sabathia, Gray, and him, but he can be tough when he is hitting his spots. Ignore the 4.69 ERA. His WHIP of 1.25 is 13th best among AL starters. Pom's WHIP is worse, 1.37, but his ERA is 3.23 and his WAR is 3.1. Against the Yankees his Whip is 1.43 and his ERA is 3.43 in 21 innings and 4 starts. Sox bullpen needs to be ready.

Great JBJ is back where we need him, less great Pedey ain't in there. What's the word on him?

Pomeranz v. Tanaka 1 Nunez SS 2 Benintendi LF 3 Betts RF 4 Moreland 1b 5 Ramirez DH 6 Devers 3b 7 Vazquez C 8 Bradley CF !! 9 Lin 2b !! I apologize for the late start, but thought the game was tonight.

One of the most satisfying wins of the season: in Sep at Yankee Stadium the day after a 6-2 beatdown by them; unexpected given Gray vs. Fister and our recent hitting woes; 3 dingers the night after 4 singles; Sox in the middle of a big pennant race late in the season. Many great insights, thoughts postgame--the real meat of these game threads and great fun to be part of. Mine-- Early yet, need to see more, but I'm penciling Fister in as my 2d or 3d starter in the playoffs. He doesn't rattle--back to back Yankee doubles to start the game, and he calmly mows down the next 3 batters and doesn't need to K them to do it. He eats innings, which means he is as good a bet as Sale to hand a game off to Reed and Kimbrel. He has a pretty good curve--much more useful than a pretty good fastball--and a variety of other weapons and is ready to use them all at any time. moonslav's right about HanRam--leave him in. Also about DD, about whom I am a huge skeptic because of Price, but he has also made several useful moves, including (moonslav left this one out) dumping Pablo. Youk on Beni--much needed observation. To me the two dominant fundamentals that decide the overwhelming majority of games are hitting and pitching. Season long, he is our best hitter and he is hitting now when we really need it. Third is defense, and Beni is not a liability in LF and is a bunch better on defense than a ton of good hitting Sox leftfielders I could name. As for baserunning, name any other Sox leftfielder who stole 18 of 22 bases in his rookie season age 23. Good guys on this board disagree with me, which is fine. They don't like bad throws or intemperate baserunning. But I will never agree Benitendi is weak on fundamentals. Cleveland swept the Tigers yesterday and are headed for the #2 slot in the AL and home field advantage. If they do that, they just might be the best team in the AL, better than Houston despite won-loss records. After last night, I'm thinking I can live with that because last night gave me hope that moonslav's insistence that this actually is a pretty good team overall could be right. So, yes, I want the home field advantage over the Guardians. But to me much more important is to have a good team, a reliable team--the one that took 16 of 20 games in a great August stretch that vaulted us into the AL East lead--going into the playoffs. FWIW, looking back, I honestly don't think we lost to the Guardians in the ALDS because they had the home field. We lost because Price and Porcello stank and stank so early the Sox couldn't get back into either game. This October we can do better than that--see last night again.

If you are addicted to watching Red Sox baseball games and want badly to quit, this game is the wrong one to watch.

The ump is actually on contract with the Yankees. I think he gets paid by the calls, not by the game result.

Defense pretty darn good tonight, especially Pedey at 2b and, surprising to me, Holt in LF. Betts made a nice grab in RF. Nunez flawless at SS. Devers solid on that throw to beat Gardner going to 1b. What am I forgetting?

Really nice bunt by Headley and by no means as easy as it looked.