Maxbialystock

He has pitched well this month, and to me it's clear why. He mixes his pitches and gets our guys to hit his pitch, especially with men on base. Plus of course he could count on HanRam to screw the pooch with men on 2d and 3d with one out. It is not accidental that the Sox are 0 for 6 with RISP--Miley has had something to do with that. Plus he got a big break on that called 3d strike on a 3-2 count that was clearly outside and called a ball three pitches before in the same spot.

Good mix by Miley and his catcher, a low curve for a ball followed by a very tempting fastball right and up which Young got under. Too many pitchers, especially young ones, don't understand you can be very successful when the other team actually makes contact with the ball--provided it's a pitch you want them to swing at. Sox now have 2 doubles and 4 singles to the Orioles 2 doubles and 2 singles. We have left 13 on base, and the Orioles 5.

Bases loaded, Young to the plate. I'm hopeful.

Fastball a foot inside for a swinging strike. Make that two even though the second one was a strike.

Now 0 for 5 with RISP. Can HanRam be the man?

Noted. But I have to say Price would be starting instead of Fister, which means Sale, Porcello, and Erod would still have stunk things up. Price's last start was over a month ago, and since his departure overall the Sox have prospered. In his 4 starts since Price went on the DL, Fister has had 4 quality starts. So I honestly don't think Price would have made much of a difference. Today is his 5th start and has the markings of another QS. Similarly, I love Pedroia too, but Nunez, his replacement, was one of the reasons for the great run in August.

Nice K on the cutter by Fister. He's a pitcher. Easily the best start in four games.

I've defended Farrell endlessly, but entirely agree losing managers are under the gun and should be.

Close game after 4 with 3 key events--Orioles timely hits in 1st inning, HanRam K with men on 2d and 3d and one out in the 1st inning, and Miley gift K in the 3d when a BB would have loaded the bases--curve was not only outside, but was in the same place as an earlier curve that was called a ball. So Miley and the Orioles caught a break, but they earned those 2 early runs in the same inning our clean up guy killed us.

It occurs to me that, if you are an Orioles lefty starter, it's smart to keep the ball inside and low--let them hit it to Machado.

Miley has been effective this whole month--a steady diet of breaking balls and some fastballs. Devers double was on a 93 mph fast ball. I'm not sure what Betts hit. Clearly, guy like Bogaerts have been problems with breaking stuff. I did not see HanRam's at bat, but suspect he too fanned on a breaking ball. HanRam has done little over the last 10 games and is hitless in the last 3 during which he has 7 K's and no walks. His OPS for August--our best month of the season--is .648, but he does have 9 rbi's. His OPS's for the other four months were all higher. Not the right guy to put in the middle of the order in a serious pennant race in late August, but Farrell doesn't really have a lot of good choices. Moreland struggles against lefties. Devers is better batting lower in the order. Leon is Leon. Davis is untested in Boston. Bogie sure ain't the guy. So HanRam gets a nice single, pulling an inside slider. Good.

That's Devers first double in quite awhile and done while batting 8th. Never doubt that the nose knows.

All due respect, Kimmi, but you and moonslav are making mountains out of molehills. Neither mental mistake penalized the Sox or affected the outcome of either game. The rule book is endlessly complex about all kinds of situations, but we expect managers to think of that first and not what he wants to do in the pressure of the moment? As for the players mental mistakes, they are result of the intensity of baserunning vs. the unending and dreary reality of staying alert during 3 1/2 hours of pitchers and hitters and coaches and managers doing their little dances. In JBJ's case, it was egregious, no denying that, but we have seen other teams do similar things. My one serious complaint on this score is the way some of our pitchers are slow to cover 1b on grounders to the right. Sale never does that, but several of our guys have. ERod is one of the worst offenders. So, yeah, that's on the coaches and Farrell, but let's not forget ERod himself. He is the guy who needs to maintain his focus and game awareness, and that is a huge difference between the way he conducts himself on the mound and the way Sale does. Similarly HanRam, a veteran of over ten years in MLB, is definitely flaky running the bases, which is exacerbated by Farrell's willingness to allow his players be aggressive. Betts, with far less MLB experience, is the opposite of flaky--almost certainly the result of his make-up and of course speed. Betts has a real gift for quickly sensing what he can do vs. the risks. Benintendi has the speed, but not yet the the intuition Betts has. He might never have it. About the aggressive baserunning. When you are near the bottom of MLB in dingers, aggressive baserunning makes sense. Even Sandy Leon, who is incredibly slow, has been aggressive to very good effect. It was risky, but his amazing slide made it work.

Disagree. A good cautionary note, of course, but, given the right circumstances, it is absolutely the right move. If the winning run is on 2b or 3b with 2 outs, 1b is open, and a great hitter is coming to bat but the on deck guy is terrible, walk him. I suspect, however, that managers overuse the IBB because it makes them look like they are in charge. We lost a game to the Yankees when we had guys on 2d and 3d in the 9th, and Girardi went to the mound for a lengthy discussion with his pitcher. Then he issued the IBB, and our guy made an easy out to end the game.

Is that vintage moonslav or what?

Hang in there, moonslav. We need you.

Fister could be the man. He certainly has improved over his earlier starts. Against lefty Miley, who has been good in August, Farrell is going with 7 righties plus Beni and Devers: Nunez 2b Beni LF Betts RF HanRam 1b Young DH Bogaerts SS Rajai Davis CF Devers 3b Leon C Devers dropped from 5th to 8th--good idea in view of his struggles batting 5th. Love those first three--all can hit and run. Despite the humoungous runs against in the last three games--13, 13, and 7 runs--I think the bullpen is not overtaxed, especially Kimbrel and Reed. Applause to Station 13 for stepping up to help our guys turn things around. I live in N.Virginia and thus get the Orioles feed--muted, of course. I have neither heard nor read a single word from Salty--a blessing. Clear skies here, mid 70's. Go Sox! Thanks too to moonslav and Kimmi for refusing to join the nattering nabobs of negativism (this means me).

I'm smiling again--really.

I'm honestly smiling because I get it. HanRam and Moreland drive me nuts too. But my new, no doubt countervailing theory is that hitters do best in a slot where, for whatever reason, they are comfortable. Take Betts. His best OPS and most rbi's are batting 1st. Next most at bats--112, almost 1/3 of his leadoff at bats of 346--have been batting 3d, where his OPS dips 83 points, he gets 1/4 the rbi's that he gets leading off and 1/6th the runs scored. There might be one person (me) on talksox right now who thinks Betts should lead off. Even I'm not so sure because the 112 at bats are a much smaller sample size than the 346 in the leadoff slot. Nevertheless, it's enough for me to say leading off hasn't been the disaster everyone thinks it has been.

Earlier in the year I would have agreed about Sale because he lost at least 2 when he pitched great. But he did not pitch well at all in his last 2 losses. It also worries me that he continues to lead MLB in innings pitched and batters faced. To his credit he is 4th in total pitches thrown.

Earlier in the year I would have agreed about Sale because he lost at least 2 when he pitched great. But he did not pitch well at all in his last 2 losses.

To date the Sox are 7-8 vs. the Yankees. We are 2-1 vs. Cleveland at home and 2-2 at Cleveland. I'm not seeing "so well vs. our nearest contenders."

One of the game write-ups, I think espn's, said Showalter probably didn't say anything because the Orioles were up 16-3. Heck, the umps missed it too.

Cleveland up 4 in the 7th on two dingers. If they win, they're just .5 back from the home field advantage. Not to worry. We did win 16 out of the previous 20 games. Everything will be fine.

Completely agree. Small sample sizes, including his entire season. But I would then say that's all the evidence we have and we ignore it at our peril (well, Farrell's). He's 20 (21 in Oct), first time in the Majors, in a pressure-filled pennant race, and started out like a house afire. I would argue that prudence would let him bat later if only to give him more time to size up the starter and to put less pressure on him. Look at JBJ. He's a veteran whose OWAR (which does not include his defense) this year is the 2d best on the team and 80% of his 389 at bats have been in the 6th thru 9th slots. His lowest OPS? The 61 at bats while in the 5th slot--.480. Is that a decent sample size? Heck, I've already said I'm not sure I'm right. It's entirely possible opposing pitchers have figured him out or the pressure of a pennant race is getting to him or this is just part of a normal up and down cycle for any player. But at least I'm offering some evidence that maybe he would be helped by moving down in the order. And, by the way, the later you are in the season, the more important mini-trends can be in determining any moves you might to make as a manager. Devers has had 2 hits and no rbi's in the last 7 games. In the 8 games before that he had 13 hits and 9 rbi's. Did I forget to mention that throughout August, which has gone well overall, Farrell has not hesitated to shift almost everyone around in the batting order?