Maxbialystock

Sorry, but I disagree. The sac fly made one out. If Nunez stays on second the next two batters are Young and Bogaerts who are both hitless in the game and against a very good closer. Were you not aware that no Sox player got a hit off Chapman? An almost perfect throw barely beat Nunez who, by the way, is a very experienced baserunner. Had he been safe, all Moreland had to do was get another fly ball--which he in fact did--to tie the game. I think his attempt was reasonable and absolutely not the result of weak fundamentals. Weak fundamentals is when JBJ with one out goes all the way to 3b on a fly to left that is deep, but easily caught. .

Moreland's better defensively, the Sox were leading 3-0 when he went in (the 7th inning), and the bullpen has been lights out over the last six games and most of the season. If Nunez is safe at 3b, Moreland theoretically drives in the tying runs with a sac fly.

Still no one out. There is a tendency among all of our pitchers to over-rely on the fast ball. And, as I have said several times, only Sale actually has a good slider and a pretty good changeup, and those make his fast ball that much more effective. So too Kimbrel needs that knuckle curve. I have just watched two straight Yankee batters pull fast balls for hits on 99 and 100 mph fastballs by Kelly. Hah, Kelly just threw a slider slightly above the middle of the zone, leading to a sac fly. Back to the obese rule. This ump can't bend over enough to be able to accurately see a low strike, That slider by Kelly was well inside the strike zone. One thing Giradi does consistently that Farrell doesn't do that much is to have options warming up in the bullpen. Kelly didn't start warming up until Reed had given up a home run and a single and a HBP. So Kelly comes in, probably not warm, with men on first and second, no one out, and the score 3-2. So, while the primary fault lies with Reed especially and Kelly, Farrell might have managed the 8th a little better.

I have the distinct impression that Yankee pitchers have gotten more strikes outside the strike zone than has ERod. Also, MLB needs to have an obese umpire policy. Not overweight, obese.

No, I don't like Farrell that much and have said so when they are losing regularly, but tend to suspend judgment when the team is stomping thru the AL as they currently are. In this very game I jumped on Erod after the first inning, but came back an inning or two later and gave him credit for settling down. Now he's gone 6 scoreless innings and deserves a ton of credit. But maybe Farrell and the pitching coach get a tiny bit of credit for letting him go thru that first inning throwing almost exclusively fast balls because maybe that's what he needs to do these days. But you are right that I have been annoying. A year ago I did that a lot more.

I agree on that and have said so. My complaint is about the timing. I tend to gripe loudest when the team is losing, but quite down when they are playing well, which I perhaps inaccurately think is whenever they are winning lots of games. Indeed, I believe the ultimate measure of a manager is the won-lost record combined with the FO judgment on whether the team under or over performed.

There he goes again. Farrell got lucky when ERod got out of the 5th scoreless.

Three weeks until September. How many others remember the disaster of September of 2011 after which Francona's contract was not renewed? Maybe we should start a thread right now--based on the simple fact, not surmise--that Farrell is a terrible manager and that no way, no how can this team continue to win. If you have lousy fundamentals and a manager who doesn't know diddly about lineups or handling his pitchers, a collapse is inevitable. Of course there's always that comment attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte that he would rather have a lucky general than a brilliant one. Me, I'm starting to think Nappy maybe had a point. Farrell may be incompetent, but he sure is lucky.

Exactly. Heck the field commentator just pointed out to Farrell that ERod is throwing 75% fastballs--a travesty. Farrell is clueless. Who cares that ERod has now pitched 4 shutout innings? Form is way more important than results. Like you, I don't care how long this winning streak goes. After the next loss, Farrell needs to go because winning is not nearly as important as looking like a winner (when you are losing). I am being facetious of course, but continue to be astounded at these attacks on Farrell when his team has the second best record in the AL, has won 8 in a row, including just now 2 at Tampa, and are currently leading the Yankess 3-0 at Yankee stadium. You and moonslav could well be right. Heck, I've complained about fundamentals. But your timing is just the tiniest bit off.

Could not agree more and have already said Devers had no business trying to get to 2b on a blocked pitch, nor did Betts getting from 1st to 3d on a hard hit single to CF. DD needs to talk to Farrell right after this game. Who the hell cares if the Sox win? The important thing is not to make any mistakes.

The Sox have been lucky tonight because that Yankee lefty has way better stuff and command than ERod. His tough luck that he threw an inside fast ball belt high that HanRam looked like he was waiting for. Or just maybe the Yankees hitting isn't what it was earlier in the year.

I swear our infielders look clueless on popups. First JBJ, now Betts have had to come practically onto the infield dirt to catch flies the infield should have had. N

Looked like a good pitch to hit, but not for Bogie.

Some would say that was good, aggressive baserunning, but I say it was sheer foolishness. You don't go from 1st to 3d on a grounder to CF, and you also don't try to advance when the ball is coming into the infield. Farrell has the guys way, way too pumped up. One base at a time, that's the ticket.

On the other hand, that was a pretty nice 2d inning. I think ERod might have done this in his last start--bad first inning, then got his control.

Against a predominantly righty lineup, he finally threw his first changeup on pitch 27. Before that I think he threw mostly 4 seam and some 2 seam fastballs. Never a curve or a slider. Yankees are hitless, but that first inning took, what, 30 pitches?

I thought you didn't want Beni batting against lefties.

Boy, I'm glad you said that because I strongly disagree. While I agree that statistically you want to put certain batters in certain slots, I think the difference that makes is pretty small. I think we agree that the loss of Ortiz has hurt, but should not have caused all the lower OPS's we have seen. As for Bogaerts in the third slot, Kimmi, who does think slots matter, says that statistics show the 3d spot is less important than 1, 2, 4, or 5, so there. Me, I like slotting hitters when that works and changing lineups when a set lineup doesn't. Plus platooning. But at the end of the day it really boils down to whether the guys are hitting or not. Thus I can never buy the adjective "idiotic" when referring to slotting a particular player in the lineup. More. You like Farrell changing lineups now, and so do I. But the real reason why that's working is that Nunez and Devers gave this lineup a shot in the arm when it was really needed. Changing lineups might have helped a little and certainly did not harm, but a couple of good new bats is what really makes a difference.

You've been saying that for awhile, and I've come around to your view, but sometimes it's still fun--self indulgent-- to whine.

Good stuff--better than what I wrote.

Heck, I get pretty negative myself, mostly because I've been a fan since 1949. I agree completely that hitting is an issue this year. But I also think that just maybe we can get by with just enough hitting vs. the best hitting in MLB as was the case last year. I have ranted about how our guys can't seem to hit a slider and how most of our pitchers can't throw a good one (Sale is the big exception). I get mad when most of our hitters routinely take the first pitch which is often a fast ball right down the middle. When they finally getting around to swinging at a pitch, it's a slider on the corner or a fast ball above the strike zone or whatever. Nunez and Devers, on the other hand, seem to have made a difference. Nunez has played in 11 games, 9 of which the Sox have won, often with his help. Smarter heads than mine argue that Nunez can't keep it up, but the hope is he will do so long enough to enable the other bats to come alive. For sure he made us not miss Pedroia's bat, which was pretty good before the knee acted up. Interestingly, Farrell has taken to changing the lineup for just about every game. Nothing is set. So far, I don't think that has hurt and it might even have helped. But the big fix was by the front office in bringing up Devers and acquiring Nunez.

Judging by the comments on this page, one would think the Sox had just lost 8 in a row because of lousy hitting. But they actually scored 44 runs, an average of 5.5 runs per game. That's a small sample size, of course, but it has had enormous consequences, specifically, bringing the Sox back from the almost dead to a 4 game lead in the AL East and second best winning percentage in the AL.

Pretty neat stop by Bogie, who got down so the grounder (the hop) was at eye level.

7 run rule normally applies early in the game and you are behind. It never applies in the 7th when you are ahead--for any manager in MLB. So I'm guessing you're being facetious.

That second dinger was on an inside pitch not in the strike zone. Looks to me as though the Sox book on Miller is wrong.