moonslav59

Our OF is fine. Verdugo in LF Kike in CF Renfroe in RF

No, I meant the Brewers. If they re-seeded the playoffs by best records after the WC game, it would have been... #1 SFG v #4 ATL #2 LAD v #3 MIL

Yup. I'm from Houston, and they're all saying elbow down here, including the pitching coach...

It's actually his elbow.

The Giants almost beat them. No team is unbeatable, especially a baseball team.

Assuming the Dodgers get by the Brewers.

Managers can manipulate some of the luck factor by putting pitchers into situations where they have a better chance of doing well- full well taking into account the next 3 batters and possible PH'er options. When to pull a pitcher, especially the starter really can affect the pen and the pitchers being pulled and being brought in. There were a few time, this season, when everyone in the pen was doing poorly, and it looked like every choice was a losing one. Somehow, we got over that and righted the ship. Maybe some luck helped- maybe some bad luck was what got into those bas times.

It was no advantage playing the Dodgers after a WC game, instead of a rested MIL or ATL team. Come on!

I am 100% behind Schwarber over JD going forward, even if JD goes nutty the next two series. I just don't think we afford to skimp on pitching to have 2 DHs or squeeze Dalbec or our current OF out of playing time, next year. I love KS. I also like his influence on other players and his attitude. Maybe we trade JD or Dalbec or a corner OF'er.

Exactly, right. My comment was not meant as a criticism, just a curiosity thing. There is no way to prove what I am about to say, but I'm not sure there is NOT a manager alive, who could have cobbled together a working pen like Cora did, this year. Yes, we did have a stretch where nothing worked, and the season was on the brink of being lost for good, but Cora led us out of the dust storm. Think about our pen. We started out with Barnes putting up numbers not seen since Koji, and by season's end he was relegated to mop-up duty at best. Ottavino was our clear number 2 and ended up a scrub. Andries led the pen in IP in April and May, too and was off the roster not long afterwards. Taylor came and went, and went and came. Sawamura looked okay, then bad, then okay... DHern missed time and never really got in stride. Valdez looked great for a while, then had 2-3 huge blow-up games. Brice was in the mix, then gone. Whitlock was about the only steady pen arm we had, all year. We tried Brewer and Bazardo, brought back Workman and added Rios, tried Weber and Brennan. Hell Workman and Rios led the pen in PAs against in July! We brought in Davis, then Robles, who both struggles out of the gate to the point of about everyone wanting them both DFA'd. Soon Robles was our go-to guy. He almost led the pen in PAs against in August! We converted Richards and Perez to the pen, and Richards actually carried us for a long stretch. Richards led the pen in IP in August and Sept. We tried Gonsalves, Peacock and Espinal. We tried Schreiber, Crawford, Seabold and Ort. We saw Brasier come out of the woodwork to carry the pen on his back for a while, just as Robles did, at times, too. We saw Houck give a few masterful pen games. Then, the playoffs started and almost everything flipped and morphed in different directions. All of a sudden, Houck and Pivetta are the rocks. Almost 16 innings given to us by those two combined with just 5 ERs allowed. Barnes, Ottavino, Davis, Richards and Taylor are back and giving us scoreless outings, why Brasier and Robles struggle. The pen has been upside down, down side up and sideways, all year, but Cora has kept it together. Kudos to Alex!

With the lefty going, we see Kike back to lead off, and Verdugo after JD (and Renfroe). 1. Kike CF 2. Schwarber 1B 3. Bogey SS 4. Devers 3B 5. JD DH 6. Renfroe RF 7. Verdugo LF 8. Arroyo 2B 9. Vaz C (Maybe Cora decided to start Sale, so he could get Vaz into the line-up! LOL!) This line-up has 11 HRs in this post season. The Astros line up has 4. GO SOX!!!!

The weird thing is, they didn't even stretch him into a long man very much at all.

I agree. I can see honoring the divisional winners, but once the 4 teams are know, they should re-seed by record. It's not a hard change to make.

Yes, and as much as I knew it was an overpay, I still felt it had to be done, AND if it had to be done, Price was the type of guy you get.

Yes, 2 of the top 3 and 3 of the top 5 are out, also 5 out of the top 8 are out, but that is common. It's BIT unusual for a #9 team to advance to the LCS, but not unheard of.

Yes, key word "maybe." I always felt it unfair when a ground rule double goes into the stands as the (first base) runner is nearing or rounding 3rd base. He clearly would have scored, unless he fell down, but they always put him at 3B. I'd hate to leave the choice up to clown umps, so I would not change the rule. Keep these important choices out of the CHUMPS hands!

The rule was followed to the letter. It was not a bad call. It is a bad rule.

So, we got lucky?

So, it was a 100% certainty that Pivetta was going to give a brilliant long relief effort? Again, I would not call Cora lucky, but I can understand how someone can look at the names in our pen and wonder how they did so well without some luck being involved. There were Sox fans screaming at Cora for even pitching Robles after his bas start with us. Same with using Richards in high leverage situations for quite a while. Some questioned why we even promoted Brasier, and soon he was our go-to guy. I'm not sure the word "absolutely" is the best, but I do think Cora is masterful at getting the best out of just about everyone. Every move does not work out, and in hindsight we always heard about them. I guess one could argue those times were "bad luck." LOL. Again, I'm agreeing with you. I don't think our pen or our team is "lucky." We make our own luck, and Cora is the best I have seen at getting players to be put in spots where they are most likely to succeed. Then, maybe some luck takes over. Over the long haul, the luck should even out and the choices a manger makes is what mattered.

I actually liked Price. I knew we paid too much, but at the time I said something like, "He is the kind of pitcher you wait years for." I liked his competitive nature. He always seemed to pitch well versus us. I don't think he had any attitude issues or work ethic issues, so it didn't really bother me all that much, when he went out hurt or underperformed my own expectations, which I admit were high. But as I said, I thought we overpaid to begin with and was for the signings, so I was okay with it. I liked him but still think he did not earn that amount of money. We basically paid him $38M x 4 years. Papi made a third of that most of his ring years, here.

Nuff said!

Well said, and if anyone has the psyche to pull it all together, I'd say it would be Sale. (I'd still like E-O tonight.)

I'm sure someone said something similar about Vaz before his big hit.

I was talking about his last 3-4 games, about when he started looking crappy. 2021 First 6 starts: 2.40 ERA 31K/30 IP Last 3 starts: 4.97 ERA 21K/12.2 IP Playoff Start: 45.00 ERA 2K/1IP My point was about it being strange that at the time he started sucking, he also started K'ing batters at twice the rate of his first 6 starts. You don't find that strange? Another weird factoid about Sale was in 2018. He missed some time before his start in AUG and then K'd 12 in 5 IP that game. Then, he missed more time. That was his highest K/IP game of the season.

Thanks for pointing that out. I could have sworn I heard "starter" somewhere. I think there was a Globe article.