Maxbialystock

OK. Betts gets a lead off single. A hit from HanRAm would be nice, but I just hope for no GIDP. All right! HanRam single!

The complaints about the pitching and/or defense in this game are laughable. This is two straight with 0 runs scored--and heading into the 7th.

You are by yourself thinking Kimbrel shouldn't have pitched the 9th yesterday.

Not feeble at all. Those bunts are not easy to do--no one on this Sox team could do anything remotely like it.

But Jankowski didn't score a run despite the two bunt singles, both of which were excellent.

Holaday ain't the problem and you know it. Besides, he's caught Pomeranz before and Vazquez hasn't. Nor Hanigan. Nor Swihart. HanRam was the guy who struck out on 3 pitches with men on 1st and 2d.

What ready? It was a great bunt. The only way to stop it is to bring the infield in.

Bunt didn't hurt, but the single and dinger did, to say nothing of HanRam striking out on 3 pitches with men on 1st and 2d.

Sox have 1 hit in 3 innings, and San Diego has 3. Sox now going thru lineup for 2d look at SD pitcher.

That was a perfect drag bunt by San Diego--a guaranteed single.

Bottom 1/3 of the order just struck out.

Gotta admit Farrell blew that one and should have had JBJ bunting to prevent the GIDP. Smart managers use the bunt a lot.

Whoops. Farrell blew it again. Whiffed looking at a 3d strike. No fault on Betts of course.

Apparently, the successful bunt was enabled by Pomeranz falling the other way on his delivery. I guess Farrell needs to get him to fall the other way, which of course would enable bunts to the other side. Or we can just say, "good bunt." Pomeranz, without any guidance from anyone, picked the same guy off 1B.

Gotta consider that of course. He sure looked bad in the top of the first--0 for 3 with a K.

Plus Ramirez at 1B against a righty. Plus Holaday catching. Plus a move last night from Oakland to San diego. Plenty to worry about today.

He's perfect for this bullpen--inconsistent. Strangely enough, I am willing to overlook yesterday, not because he was compelled to pitch when a save was not at stake, but because I thought the Sox were never going to score. Kimbrel limited the torture to 9 innings and thereby saved the rest of the bullpen from a fruitless attempt to win.

Meh. I put him average. I think most managers are held accountable for the success or failure of the bullpen because that's where most of the hairy decisions are made. Maddon right now looks like a genius because he has great pitching and good hitting. Farrell has great hitting and so-so pitching. Strangely, I agree that managers should be evaluated by what they get out of their clubs, and by that I specifically mean wins and losses. They should keep or lose their jobs based on the front office's determination of whether or not the team performed to its potential. Based on the hitting overall, Farrell is underperforming. Based on the pitching, especially the bullpen, he is doing OK. I hope you remember I would have have been fine with firing him a couple of times this year. I vehemently disagree he is "clueless," but I do expect this team, no matter how bad the bullpen, to make it to the playoffs. To me this team has very good hitting, an above average rotation, decent fielding and baserunning, and an inconsistent bullpen that can be better. You think the X factor is Farrell, but I think it's the youth of the lineup. This is crunch time, and only Pedroia and Ortiz have really been here before. Interestingly, Francona lost his job precisely because the 2011 team was historically terrible in crunch time.

Atrocious base-stealing? The Sox steal % is 79%, 4th best in MLB. Best is 81%. Bad fundamentals? Fielding percentage is 8th best in MLB with a pretty young ball club and a first baseman playing there for the first time and a first baseman by trade playing 3B. Also a somewhat inexperienced catching crew who have real problems catching Wright's knuckler, but, then, Varitek never even bothered to try to catch Wakefield's knuckler. However, this crew is pretty good at throwing out baserunners. Especially Leon. I will however grant you the other baserunning errors which don't show up in the stats, especially going for the extra base which isn't there. Too many guys have been nailed at home with no hope--probably Butterfield's fault, but he works for Farrell. Ditto getting picked off between bases when the throw doesn't go home or even sometimes when it does--not good. My guess is that Farrell likes aggressive baserunning. To be honest, I like it when Betts, Bogaerts, Pedroia, and even Ramirez are aggressive. Holt and Bradley tend not to be aggressive,which is fine. Shaw and Leon should not be aggressive but sometimes are. Young is smart on the basepaths. Ortiz has slowed down a lot, but still finds enough, sometimes, when it means getting home.

Of course managers count in the dugout. Someone has to be in charge, make the decisions, listen to the coaches, encourage players, etc. But it's only 25 players, and in most games only about half of them get to play, and in fact the lineup and the rotation work best when they are steady--the same 9 and the same 5--especially in the American League. For most of this year, however, Farrell has tended to platoon in LF and, lately, at 3B, but even those decisions are pretty straightforward. He used Ortiz less at 1B in NL parks than usual, but that made sense. He has varied the rotation only when injuries occurred to ERod and Wright, plus he used Pomeranz when he arrived. Now it's pretty steady except for #5, which goes back and forth between Buchholz and Wright. Indeed, as the season has gone on, the rotation has only improved with or without Wright. The tricky part, as always, is with the bullpen--when and who to bring in. This is a lot easier with a good hitting ball club that gets good leads and less so in close games when the bullpen is unreliable. That's where you and I enter the fray. I think most reliever decisions by any manager are rational and defensible because they are a matter of stats, trends, experience, advice from two coaches, and time to make them in. But, when the relievers are consistently unreliable, every rational, defensible decision (my words) becomes, in your words, a clear indication of "clueless." You believe the bullpen fails because they were used too soon or too late or the wrong guy was used. I think they fail mostly because they are what they are.

Yes, I do see the difference, but I think you have to agree that "clueless" is a fairly definitive statement about this manager. It's also indefensible.

If you reread the above, you can see you already believe Farrell is clueless: "like Farrell sucks when it comes to making a pitching change." If anyone is putting words in your mouth, it's you. As for yesterday, you're right. You said nothing about Farrell, which is the biggest clue he did everything right. I notice however you were sparing in your criticism of the lineup, Kimbrel, and Holt. I'm pretty sure Farrell said publicly that Wright must learn how to pitch in hot and/or wet weather. Whitey not using that line when negotiating his contract doesn't make it irrelevant. Joe Torre was a loser before managing the Yankees and Mariano Rivera. As I said previously, Joe Maddon is highly regarded and has the best W-L record and best ERA in MLB with the Cubs this year, but Epstein still wanted to shore up the bullpen with the Yankees ace closer. Bullpens do make a difference. And ours is unreliable. That said, I too hope that now and then Farrell can pull a rabbit from a hat and bring in someone, anyone, who is actually effective when it counts. You are right to defend Kimbrel, but Kimmi is also right that this ain't the Kimbrel of yesteryear. Nor is Uehara. As for Ziegler, the report is he ain't great against lefty bats. And so on. I had hoped to find an article saying we have the worst or among the worst five bullpens in MLB, but could not. So our bullpen is merely "unreliable." This gives me room to complain about the pitchers and you room to complain about the manager's decisions. In 2013 with the same manager but a very different team, neither of us had much to complain about.

Smoltz didn't have a splitter. I think the difference between a so-so Tazawa and a good Tazawa is that forkball of his. When it is on, it makes his fastball a ton more effective. Same as Kimbrel and that knuckle curve. Or Andrew Miller combining that very good fastball with a devastating slider that is almost as fast. But I'm not building my hopes up. I just want Farrell to try Uehara a couple of times and it doesn't even need to be in pressure situations.

I think Pedroia got a great deal for several reasons. First and foremost, the MVP award was anomalous--earned, but it occurred at just the right moment when the competition was less that normal. Second, he is a small guy, which to me means diminishing strength, speed, reflexes over time. Right now, 2016, he is 33 and having almost a career year--a huge bargain for the Sox--but he gets paid through 2021, when he will be 38, and those years, 2017 thru 2021, are the higher paid years of his contract. Most of all, I think Pedroia and his wife like it in Boston and figured out, as few ballplayers seem to do these days, that making an average of $14M/year over 8 years is a king's ransom and more than enough to live very comfortably for the rest of their lives. Plus Pedroia loves to play the game, which is something players usually don't figure out until they are near the end of their careers. Too many players don't realize that they are actually playing for their agents, who are the real beneficiaries of these inflated salaries. As for Jon Lester, I think he just got the going rate, one, it turns out, the Sox could afford, especially when Price is getting $5M/season more and for one extra year. I think he would have stayed if the Sox first offer had been better. I also think he was lost forever when the Sox let him go during the 2014 season.

Rely might be the wrong word for Uehara, but maybe try fits. He's 41, but has never relied on strength. He throws two pitches, an 86-89 mpg "fastball" and, when it is on, a devastating splitter because it starts out looking like that fastball. He also has excellent control and a ton of guts to even throw that fastball. The point is, Farrell needs to try him out and see what's working. If the control and the splitter are working, he could maybe be the set up man. As I understand this bullpen, right now Kimbrel is the closer and the 7th and 8th are up for grabs with Ziegler the best choice for the 8th and Ross or Barnes for the 7th. But I've read Farrell doesn't like Ziegler against lefty bats and maybe Ross against righties and Barnes against lefties. Or put it this way. If Uehara is on, this bullpen could sure use some help.