Maxbialystock

Welcome to the discussion. The reason you don't replace Holiday in those circumstances are because he is a good defensive catcher who was doing a very good job in a close game when catcher mistakes could be costly, because the Sox were ahead, and because, even if Holiday strikes out, Farrell could be sure that two very good bats--Benintendi and Pedroia--would have a shot at bringing those guys on 2d and 3d home. Oh, and leaving Holiday in proved to be the winning move. You can't really think that any old player can catch, can you? Are you unaware that catcher is the only position (not including pitchers) where MLB and MILB team always has a fully qualified spare?

Goodness me, why didn't I see that? All words should be seen as equal as in love=hate, good=bad, imbecilic=reasonable. It that is what you are saying, I wholeheartedly disagree. Words, including their meanings, not only cover a very wide range, but darn near define us as human beings. Word choice is everything.

That's only part of it. The other parts are that the Sox were ahead, you don't normally replace the catcher when ahead and he is calling a good game and threw out an attempted steal of 3b, and you have two sure at bats--after Holiday--by good hitters Benintendi and Pedroia. But the biggest part is that our critic wants us to believe that not pinch-hitting for Holiday was imbecilic. I could accept what others have said, "I would have pinch-hit with Leon," but the claim that Farrell's choice was dead wrong is indefensible. There were demonstrably several good reasons for Farrell's choice, only one of which was that it proved to be right.

Back to the thread topic. Sox now go to Baltimore for two big ones, both of which are winnable.

I'm not sure it's a truism as just common sense. Leave your starting catcher in when you are ahead. Leon is hitting up a storm, I agree, but not as a pinch hitter. Plus he could use a full day off.

I might have been tempted to pinch hit for Holiday as well, but the smart move is not to spend your other catcher when you have a lead and don't have to. Plus Sandy is not only the full-time catcher but likely to catch 4 of 5 games--all the more reason to give him a full day off.

You don't pinch hit for your catcher unless you are behind. Plus Holiday was doing a good job in a close game. Plus the runners were on 2d and 3D, which means two good hitters, Benintendi and Pedroia, would have a chance to drive them in. These are obvious points.

Great win against a hot Guardians team (4 in a row coming in) that is especially good at home. On top of which the Sox played yesterday in Boston and go on the road again today. DEspite the nattering nabobs of negativism, Farrell made some good calls. True, Pomeranz gave up that run in 8th, but he also had two outs when that happened--so why not go for another? Bringing in Abad was clearly the right move which will only give Abad some confidence down the road, plus it enabled Kimbrel to go against the heart of the Guardians order. Not pinch-hitting for Holoday also made sense because he was calling a good game and in this one clearly pitching was key. As it was, Benintendi and Pedroia still had chances to increase the lead but could not. Plus Leon could use the day off given this tough schedule. While the 9th was a little tense, it now makes sense. The leadoff double was just a good hit, and walking Napoli was just being careful against the Guardians cleanup guy. Then Kimbrel got two quick K's before finally getting Almonte on a popup and after he had 3-1 count on him. If you were an Guardians fan you had to wonder why Francona brings in a reliever with 2 outs and no one on in the 8th. Ortiz quickly singled. New pitcher in who walked Betts, which gave Bradley a shot with 2 men on, but he K'd. Both starters went 7.2 innings and threw 104 pitches, but the Guardians pitcher gave up two dingers and 8 hits to Pomeranz's 5 hits.

Oh, ********. Benintendi and Pedroia both had shots at an rbi and couldn't get one and you think Holt was going to do the job when they couldn't?

I like Eck. He's fun. I wouldn't have called for Abad either, but he got his man on a weak popup.

Au contraire. The lesson learned from the infamous Wright episode is that AL pitchers are not really professional athletes and cannot risk life and limb running the bases. It makes no difference that Wright absolutely did it to himself by bellyflopping to get back to 2B, which is kind of like that year--was it 2013?--when Buchholz injured himself at home, I think holding his child.

So here we are thru 7 innings. Pomeranz has thrown 92 pitches and 20 in the 7th. Send him out for the 8th or bring in the bullpen? My vote is for whatever Farrell decides because he is hands down in the best position to make that call.

gidp, the pitcher's friend!

Agree we don't need to know as long as someone responsible does know, which is certainly the case.

Really? Ill covers a pretty wide spectrum, and this is August in a hot pennant race.

If Shaw can't hit righties, who can he hit?

Great play to end the inning! Always love it when the Sox score to get the lead and the pitcher shuts down the opposition. Pomeranz has now gone 6 on 72 pitches with no walks. Mostly the knuckle curve and fast ball.

One would think that bereavement means a death in the family.

Tomlin looks pretty tough to me despite a few hard shots (and some hits) by the Sox. He keeps the ball down and throws strikes.

Unreal how this game has gone. Pomeranz is pitching his best game, and the Sox are hitting the ball hard and still can't score. The Sox catcher does not impress me, but he still looks better than Shaw.

Irrelevant of course that Shaw could have been arrested for loitering.

It is of course irrelevant that the bullpen, rested except for Abad, did yeoman's service backing up Buch's 4.1 innings on Sunday. The important point is that Farrell is an idiot no matter what he does.

Gotta love the optimism of many posters. As moonslav says, we see our weaknesses, but tend to ignore the weaknesses of other teams. On top of that, this is definitely a team worth rooting for. The hitting seems to be coming back, and the rotation is probably the best it's been all year. The question is the bullpen, and even there I seem a glimmer of hope. Kimbrel does in fact have that deadly combo of blazing fastball and nasty curve. Ziegler with the unusual delivery has a good track record. Barnes can be very good in spots. Buchholz has been steady-eddy in the bullpen. Abad is now a known quantity--use only when nothing is on the line. Lefty Ross is also good in spots. Who's left?

Maybe. But then maybe Whitey Herzog was right: the difference between a winning manager and a losing manager is a good bullpen. I think managerial decisions in-game are generally overrated in their importance because they all have access to all kinds of data, to say nothing of real-time input from both bench coaches and pitching coaches. Plus they have time, that precious commodity in decision-making, to consult both the data and the coaches. Back to Whitey. I believe we all agree that it's the close games we need to win and would therefore argue that bullpens play an out-sized role in the outcomes of close games.

You are probably right. I'm just pissed off about a couple of his recent outings that hurt us.