moonslav59

Sounds like you nailed it.

Maybe "genius" has different meanings to each of us.

And, Kike might get up with a man on base!

Agreed, but what made the start of his season so remarkable? Did they not have sticky stuff in previous years? My point was more about how he did what he did before and not about why the wheels came off.

What was interesting about the start of Barnes' season was how he was pitching more innings but throwing less pitches than previous seasons. Then, the wheels came off.

The playoffs are fun to watch. That doesn't mean you need 16 teams to make them, but 8 seems just right. (10, if you count the WC game is okay, but not really needed.) The teams should be seeded by record- not division winners. That is all.

If one does not, I'll be shocked. The cheapest route would be to not offer ERod the QO and move both Houck and Whitlock into the rotation. Eoavldi Sale Houck Whitlock Pivetta Seabold Then, go and try to find some top pen arms without paying too much.

Why do I have to mention every single play? I mentioned some of the reasons we lost. I don't have to be an equal opportunity blame assigner. Sure, there were many reasons why the Astros didn't win by more than they did.

When Sale finishes 4th in the Cy Young, next year, we won't hear anything.

He doesn't walk on water. Plenty of posters bash him everyday. Nobody says he's perfect. Nobody says he makes no mistakes. Nobody. Sure, more like him than don't but winning has a way of doing that to people's opinions.

I don't "have to," and stop overanalyzing everything I say! (LOL)

I'm not for half the teams making the playoffs, especially with a 162 game season. I just think re-seeding the teams after the WC game makes sense. I'm not really against the WC game, but I'm not really for it, either.

Usually, I'd say the 160-200 IP guy is way more valuable than the 50-70 IP guy, even if most of those 60 innings are high leverage, but I'm not so sure in Whitlock and Houck's cases. One maybe, but not both, IMO.

It makes more sense using 7 pitchers game 1- after a long rest and then some long guys, today. We have tomorrow off, and the pen will be all reset for Monday. Nobody is saying Cora is faultless. Even geniuses make mistakes. I do not blame last night's loss on Cora, but I'm fine with people thinking he had a hand in it. We lost 5-4 on a tough play at 2B followed by an Altuve HR and a Correa blast. We lost because our bats went to sleep for a few innings, and the persistent lack of big hits. We got to Valdez with 6 hits and 3 BBs in 2.2 innings, but scored just 3 runs, including a solo blast. I know our society always needs to blame someone for anything bad that happens, so cast blame where you want. To me, the Sox lost a tough game, where we played hard all game. We could have won, but we didn't. The team lost. Not Cora. Not Arroyo. Not Sale. Not Houck. The team lost, and the team has one hell of a manager. (IMO,of course.)

Can I say you don't like Cora as much as many of us without getting nailed to the cross? Cora certainly has made moves that did not work, but not knowing how an alternative move would have worked makes it hard to judge individual moves by any manager. Hindsight judgments on single choices is about as far away from an exact science as can be. That doesn't mean it's not worth talking about moves and discussing options. I've given my opinion that opposed Cora's many times, but I guess I see this differently than some. When I disagree, I don't think Cora is wrong for disagreeing with me. Even if Cora's choice did not work out, I don't think, "See, I was right and he was wrong." I just don't see it that way. I fully think a manager can make the exact right move, and it does not work out. The opposite is true, too, of course. To answer your question about last night. Starting Sale: I disagreed with the choice, but having Eovaldi going against a slightly weaker starter, today may have increased our odds for a split in HOU. Sale pitched poorly, but he kept us in the game, so personally, I would not call it a bad. We were in the game when Sale left, but that is hindsight judging, which I do not think is the best way to judge a manager, unless it's over a long run. One fine example is Cora's next move: in hindsight, brining in Ottavino worked very well, but at the time, I was thinking why not Pivetta or Houck- a long man. Was it a good move, just because it worked? I won't say yes, but it's hard to say after the fact it was a bad move, right? The next two moves: Brasier and Taylor looked good to me and worked out. Again, can I say in hindsight, the moves were good or bad? I know others have an easy time saying their answer. I don't, but I'd say they were both good moves. Bringing in Houck was the next move. I liked it at the time and thought he'd leave him in for 2-3 innings- starting with the bottom 3 guys, then going through the top of the order the following inning. Had Arroyo made that tough play at 2B, Altuve does not his the 2 run job. It's hard for me to call that a bad choice by Cora, if I agreed with it and Houck has been awesome for us. Bringing in Robles surprised me, for the reasons I mentioned about what I felt Houck was brought in for. He let up the solo jack to Correa, so I'm sure all the hindsight judges probably screamed "Bad move by Cora," but even though I disagreed with the move, Robles has been a big key to our success down the stretch. I refuse to say it was a bad move, even with all those factors mentioned. I'm not a big Sawamura fan, if there is any move I would really get worked up over, it would be this one (and maybe Perez, afterwards.) I did not think that was the time and place to ease them back into a trust building situation. I won't argue with anyone who called those two choices "bad calls," but again, I don't know what Cora knew. In general, I think Cora knows a hell of a lot more than any of us, and not just in terms of data and match-ups information, but also philosophically. He's done a great job with a ragtag pen. He's used over 40 pitchers in relief in the past 220 games (60 in 2020 and 162 in 2021.) Our starting pitching was held together by threads, with Perez pitching like our ace for the first third of the season, then imploding, Richards being bad pretty much all the time as a starter, ERod sucking for the first half, and Houck getting hurt. Yes, I think Cora is the best. It's my opinion. Do I agree with everything he does? No, far from it, but I do really think he is a genius.

Remember when posters were criticizing Bloom for signing a "utility guy" named Kike to play FT at 2B and CF? We are nowhere without Kike, and I'm not just talking about the playoffs. Speaking of the playoffs, this year, Kike is hitting .500! 28 ABs 6 singles 4 doubles 4 homers + great defensive plays Career playoffs: 12 HRs in 150 ABs .908 OPS Besides Sawamura, Kike is the only guy Bloom signed for more than one year.

A starter who goes 2 innings, lets up 2 runs in the 3rd, then goes 2 more and lets up 1 run in the 6th, gets a quality start and a pat on the back. A RP'er who lets up a single run 2 or 3 out of every 5 or 6 outings is thought of as inconsistent.

Like a broken troll clock.

I didn't expect much, but as bad as our starters were, I just hoped for an improvement, which we got, until now. He started out doing well. Yes, he faced easy opponents out of the gate, but we were losing to easy teams back then, so it was hard not to get overly excited about what we were seeing. I still think he may have a good game or two in him before these playoffs are over, but I'm not counting on it.

It looked to me like Arroyo did not break quickly enough. Yes, it was a hard hit ball, but the bad first step hurt his chances. I thought brining in Houck to face the meat of the line-up was a good call. I thought it made sense to go with multiple RP'ers in game one, after so many rest days. Now, we have Pivetta and Whitlock as long men for game 2. If we don't use Pivetta, maybe he can start or relieve ERod in game 3. Speaking of "pitching," the Astros pitching is no better than ours, right now. We just faced their best available starter, and they faced our worst. Stay positive. We got this!

Or PR for "Vaz" before Kike comes to the on deck circle.

I like your way of thinking. The problem would be, he'd double and then be on base when the real Kike is due up to bat.

Am I the only one that thought Correa's antics after the HR were a little over the top? I also think Arroyo should have gotten the grounder before Altuve's HR. Inning would have been over. Maybe you guys talked about this, but I just joined this thread- post game.

As much as the loss sucked, I feel the same way. A win, tomorrow.

Great game. Tough ending. We need to get Kike up with men on base. The guy is in a zone like I've never seen.