Maxbialystock

nada

11 straight wins that started September 15, for crying out loud! That's the middle of September and these 11 games basically transformed this regular season for the AL East. The Sox for example, were 31-28 before the streak and are now 42-28, easily the best record in the AL East. They were 81-64 overall and are now 92-64 and likely tied with the Rangers for the best record in the AL. Good thing the FO didn't trade Pedroia as one of us kept insisting for half the season. He is the one playing with a ton of heart and desire and setting the example for the youngsters.

He's played a 152 games to Bogaerts 150, Bradley's 148, and Pedroia's 148.

True, but the criticism of using Wright to pinch run with the resulting injury should not be considered in isolation. Wright himself has some culpability for taking that "big" lead and then hurting himself trying to get back. And it is simply a fact that the Sox have not been hurt all that bad by the absence of Wright. He was not irreplaceable. Far from it. Right now it would make all kinds of sense, no matter how healthy he might be, not to be use him in the playoffs. He definitely has control issues. Almost as bad, our catchers have a problem catching the knuckler.

JBJ could definitely use a 2 day break. The Sox have 2 hot bats right now--Ortiz and Ramirez.

In all honesty I have to admit the criticism is deserved, but it is also in my opinion way, way out of proportion to the actual effect on the team. The critics act as thought Wright was the team's best starter, the indispensable part of the rotation who could always be counted on to shut down the other team's best hitters. And that just ain't so. Yes, in his last start, Aug 5, he went 9 and gave up 0 runs in LA, a great outing. But his ERA for July was 6.23, which by my reckoning is pretty bad. Oh, yes, in June his ERA was 1.26, but that was thanks to not counting those unearned runs cause by the difficulty in catching that knuckler. He actually gave up 16 runs in June vs. the 6 earned ones. Then there's the whole thing in injuring himself trying to get back to 2B. Had he raced around 3B and hurt himself sliding home, I would be a little more willing to slam Farrell. As it is, I think Wright is some kind of hot house flower who already, at age 32, has said he is simply unable to pitch in a NL park for risk that he might end up on base and hurt himself again. I like Wright the same as I liked Wakefield. He's low cost and could be around for a while and could contribute. But I also like the fact that this team has steadily improved without him. They sure as heck don't miss his 6.26 ERA in July or those 10 unearned runs in June. And I sure as heck would not bring him back for the playoffs--way too risky.

A very good point. Kimmi is dead wrong for once. The pitching has been an absolute disaster without Wright and proven that Buchholz should have been DFA'd, that Price is a bust, etc, etc. Without Wright the Sox have barely hung onto a 5 game lead in the AL East and the second best record in the AL. If Farrell had not made that fatal mistake of pinch running with Wright, the Sox would already have 110, maybe 120 wins. I usually defend Farrell, but not on this boneheaded move. Thanks to that one stupid decision, this season stinks all over and I have no idea why Farrell is still managing.

Just an amazing, amazing streak. 10 in a row in September in the middle of a tight pennant race. My goodness gracious. A new hero tonight in Pedroia who heretofore was just getting mostly singles but a lot of them. Suddenly in one hellacious at bat he kept fouling off those changeups before finally golfing another one into the left center field seats. Not brilliant defense, but also no errors. Once again a short game thread because talksox seems to thrive on losses and chances to gripe. Not buying the Saturday night excuse because this, by God, is the 10th win in a row. A couple of obvious points about the 10 in a row. First and foremost, the bullpen has been terrific and it has been used a lot but not too much because the September callup gives Farrell at least 10 arms, most of them pretty good. Tonight was a perfect example--he used 4 in the 7th inning. The hitting during the streak has been unusually consistent--never more than 7 runs, but only 2 runs just once, last night, when Pomeranz astounded one and all by going 5 and giving up just 1 run. FArrell used 5 relievers to get thru the final 4 innings. The rotation has been good, but not great during the streak--so too the defense. While I give the players, as always, the lion's share of the credit, I have to say Farrell seems to have them in a good frame of mind. I wouldn't say his use of the bullpen has been brilliant, but it's for sure he has not hesitated to use it a lot for the simple reason it has been deep and pretty darn reliable during the streak. Would it surprise anyone to learn that Ortiz has 13 rbi's in the 10 game streak? That Ramirez had 12? When you throw in Pedroia's grand slam tonight it's clear the over 30 crowd ain't exactly over the hill. Experience is good to have in September.

That had to have been one of the all time great at bats by Pedroia. I think we need Mr. Trade Pedroia to come out here for an encore and to tell us he could not be happier to have been so, so wrong.

Nice response. Moreover, I agree. I'm tired of Holoday and Hanigan.

Just at this moment I am rooting for the Yankees and Sabathia at Toronto--0-0 after 6 1/2.

I just looked at the numbers for this year and am pretty sure I'm right.

Kimmi, I hear you and certainly respect your research and opinion. But I remain a doubter for the simple reason that in 2014 with Vazquez the pitching stunk and this year without him it has gotten steadily better. In other words I think framing pitches is overrated. I would also point out that we were assured he had a great throw to 2B, but the fact is that Sandy nails a higher percentage of baserunners.

I have no insights into Moncada's personality and was just pointing out why his mind might drift a little. He is the quintessence of inexperience, yet he's already been paid a king's ransom and moved directly to MLB despite the 18 month gap and no AAA and indeed very little experience at 3B --a position Farrell seemed prepared to hand over to him. Who knows? Maybe benching him woke him up. But me, I'm skeptical. Plus I'm pretty sure that, as fast as he is, he won't try to steal a base, which is one reason to keep him as the pinch runner. For at least the first five years he was on the active roster, Buchholz was the fastest runner on the team. They even used him now and then as a pinch runner, but soon gave it up because he was completely clueless out there. Moncada isn't that bad, but his inexperience will affect his ability to optimize his undeniable speed.

Damn right. Horrible timing for the OP.

Sorry, but I am truly indifferent to those awards, at least as regards the Sox. To me the most important thing by far is team performance and winning games. Do I think Mookie would be a good MVP choice? Sure, I do. But, being perfectly frank, I really believe the MVP on this team, beyond question, is David Ortiz, and I would never want to see a DH awarded AL MVP.

Exactly. Moncada has exactly zero sample size at AAA and before that he had exactly zero sample size of any kind of organized ball for something like 18 months. Heck, even his sample size at AA wasn't all that great. We can all see he has tremendous potential, but you have to grant us our right to question whether he is ready yet.

Moncada has great speed on the basepaths, which we have seen. If he plays 3B, he also has a great arm. But that long period of inaction--18 months of no baseball at all, I think--has clearly affected his ability to focus. He didn't just forget the number of outs, he got picked off 1B by a mile. And, unlike others cited--Trout, Betts, whoever--he has not had literally hundreds of opportunities to lose focus this season. He has lost focus repeatedly over just a short period. My guess is he daydreams about the expensive fast cars he bought with the $30M or whatever bonus he received last year. Putting him on the playoff roster will reinforce his impression that MLB is easy and the big money guaranteed for his level of talent. Effort and focus are not needed. If Farrell is playing favorites, it was Moncada who initially benefited when Farrell reportedly said Shaw needs to learn how to play the outfield, implying Moncada was a lock for 3B this year. If I'm right, that was a bonehead play by Farrell.

We will have to agree to disagree, then. I expect managers to make rational decisions and don't normally judge by the outcomes--what you call walking the tightrope and averting disasters. If anything, I agree with Kimmi that his chief contribution is in the clubhouse, which is invisible to us. I strongly believe that "head-shaking decisions" are mostly in the eye of the beholder and that making "sure nothing does go wrong" is impossible. If any manager could actually achieve that consistently, it wouldn't be baseball. Errors are made. Pitchers make mistakes. Batters miss pitches, signs, you name it. Baserunners make mistakes.

It is instructive to contrast this September with September 2011, which basically cost Francona his job because the Sox literally collapsed that September and the beer and chicken stories convinced the FO that Francona had lost the clubhouse. While I suspect Farrell has done well with the clubhouse environment/motivation, I think the real story is the September call-ups and the return of Uehara, Kelly, and Ziegler to the bullpen. Suddenly Farrell had some pretty good options out there in the bullpen, so many in fact that he could jerk a weak starter early in the game which he did repeatedly --as he had not done earlier in the season. I am not suggesting that Farrell is a genius. Far from it. I give the lion's share of the credit, as always, to the players, which is as it should be. During this transforming 8 game winning streak I give Farrell little or no credit for the fact that the Sox never scored fewer than 5 runs in any game. I do give him credit for using his bullpen well, especially in the first 4 games against the Yankees, but I also think those moves were just common sense. He was just using the tools the call-up and the return of Uehara, et al, had given him.

Meh. The real issue, as always, with the next game is the pitching matchup--Pomeranz, who has been lousy, vs. Archer, who is pretty good and was just that the last time he pitched against the Sox. The streak has to end some time, and this matchup could do it. Of course, I said almost exactly the same thing about game 2 in Baltimore when it was ERod against Gausman, and ERod was great and the Sox pummeled Gausman for 5 runs. The rotation wasn't that great in the first four games of the streak against the Yankees, but the deep bullpen and timely hitting still produced a sweep. Tiredness could be an issue, but, again, this team has played an awful lot of games in August and September and seemingly thrived. August 12-25 the Sox played 3 straight at Fenway against Arizona, then, without a travel day, played 1 in Cleveland, 2 in Baltimore, 4 in Detroit, and 4 in Tampa. They went 10-4 with the 4 losses coming in splitting the 4 in Detroit and the 4 in Tampa. Right now the Sox have the best road record in MLB, even better than the Cubs, who have the best overall record.

Worley meanwhile has pitched well, albeit briefly.

Price is throwing strikes, but clearly hitters right now are comfortable against him. These same Orioles were stymied two nights ago by ERod, another lefty and much younger and less skilled version of Price.

Actually, it worked. I think batters sometimes step out just to upset the rhythm of the pitcher. Tillman had just walked Betts to load the bases for the one and only, the bete noir, David Ortiz. Talking to the ump gave Tillman plenty of time to suck in some more pressure, and he threw four straight no question balls.

Not good when Price gets tentative against the bottom of the order.