moonslav59

I think the Rays would rather play anyone than the Yanks, and they have some rest days before their first playoff game, so I think they will come to play, today. The lack of pressure on the Nats is one thing that worries me. Being looser at a time like this might be an advantage. That being said, I like our chances better than anyone else, before game 162.

Yes, you did, and more and more people are seeing that as the best possible option. We need a closer, next year. We have a limited budget, and good FA closers are very expensive. We want to avoid trading young players for anyone, maybe more so for an established closer. We have a young, inexpensive pitcher who might lack the pitching repertoire to be a great starter. Makes sense.

I never said you were the only one for firing Cora. You might be one of the very few that double down on that position, as some others are just lashing out in a moment of frustration. I'm fine with pitchers going on short rest, and I agree that starters are being babied, too much, but I don't think choosing a time like yesterday to suddenly change the philosophy was appropriate, and if it was to be done, it would be better with someone like Eovaldi or ERod and not a guy that hardly pitched since mid 2018, and has been given extra rest in 6 of his 8 starts, so far, this year. Yes, that's just an opion and not a statement or fact or proclamation of a crystal ball reading, but I think my position has merit. What makes you think choosing Sale and yesterday was the exact time Cora needed to deviate from a system that has been in place for years? By starting Sale on Saturday, it would also pretty much force going with Eovaldi, today on short rest, too.

Trusting Eovaldi might be one reason he could be used, today in relief.

I think Whitlock was available, yesterday, and Cora chose to not play him. Was he saving him or thinking another day off might help? Maybe he's not sure he can trust any pitcher coming off a long rest in an important high leverage situation. soxprospects.com does not have Valdez on the 28 man roster. They have these pitchers listed: Brasier Robles Richards Ottavino DHern Davis Barnes Sawamura Perez Bazardo Starters available? Pivetta Eovaldi ERod Houck (highly doubtful) They have Whitlock, Taylor and Valdez on the IL, but I'm sure Whitlock is not.

Agreed, and winning a bunch of big blowouts doesn't make a team any that much greater than one that wins by a just 1-3 runs. It does seem like luck does play a role in close game wins, but it's not all luck. The time we stopped winning more close games than losing coincided with Barnes' implosion. Run differential is, however, a pretty good indicator of how good a team is and which teams make the playoffs, but there is almost 1-2 exceptions every year. This year, the top 4 run differential teams have 4 of the top 5 records. Only the Brewers, who have the 8th best RD, placed in the top 5 (at #4). Toronto seems like the unluckiest of all, as they have the 5th best RD but are tied for the 9th best record with 2 other teams. SEA has a -47 RD and is tied with the Jays. I think cases like this are kind of rare. Of the 4 teams going for the WC slot, here are the RD: +175 TOR +78 BOS +41 NYY -47 SEA One thing that usually stands out is that teams that win more than their RD indicates are the teams with lower runs allowed. This makes sense, because games are lower scoring and hence closer, in general.

Why? Because you think he's our playoff 4th starter over Pivetta? (Sometimes a 4th starter hardly starts in the playoffs, too.)

He lines up for it, but it might depend, if we use him, today.

Exactly. One game. One win!

It is very gut-wrenching and sad. I'm sorry to hear about your wife's mom. 35 years old is about the oldest you can be to develop this horrific affliction. My sister-in-law is a very smart and nice person. The things she has to go through are terrible. The medications change who she is. We are her last surviving family members, so we are her "guardians," so to speak. We pay for her care, and she comes to live with us for one month, twice a year. It is heart-breaking to see her, but she seems to be a little better off, now than she was 5-10 years ago.

Thanks. We would get first pick in this scenario... If there's a four-way tie for two wild cards -- that would require the Blue Jays and Mariners to win, and the Yankees and Red Sox to lose -- teams are given A, B, C and D designations. Club A hosts Club B and Club C hosts Club D, with the two winners advancing to the wild-card game. FiveThirtyEight gives this an 8% chance of happening. The order of selection goes Boston, Toronto, New York and Seattle, so Boston and Toronto would play home games, leaving the Yankees to choose between playing at Boston or at Toronto.

The best part of that scenario is that the M's would win, today, and NY would lose. NY would then pitch Cole vs the M's and we'd play a tired M's at home.

I've never even hinted at knowing what will happen. I give my opinions on what I think will happen. Maybe Sale goes 6 shut out innings instead of 5, yesterday, despite being on short rest for the first time in years. Why is it so hard to admit Cora got this one right. We have Sale going on normal rest, today, and Houck did everything we could have asked for an more, yesterday. Is your hatred for Cora so deep, you can't even admit he got one thing right? BTW, I didn't "get it right." I thought we might start Eovaldi, today (on short rest), if needed. I'm not sure we can say it is a 100% needed, since today is not an elimination game, but life sure would be easier by winning, today. I'm glad we are starting Sale, today. I think we might win the WC game, but I doubt we'll be favorites, even if it's at Boston (presumably Cole v Eovaldi). I don't think we'll advance past the Rays. It would be close to a miracle. No crystal ball- just my opinions, which I readily and often admit are wrong.

Great point. I guess I was thinking, if we can erupt for for a bunch of crooked numbers, then what our staff does might not matter as much. As for the pen and the 5 straight days of heavy lifting and breakdowns, here is a breakdown of who has been used and how many pitches they threw in each appearance: Pitches thrown in the last 5 games (first number is yesterday and the rest are in reverse order.) 27-10-4-22-0 Brasier 18-22-10-5-0 Robles 17-13-17-0-0 Ottavino 0- 0- 0- 0- 0 Whitlock (last game Sept 19) 14-0-17-0- 0 Richards 0- 17-17-9-0 Barnes 13-0-0- 0- 0 Davis 0-15-0- 0- 0 DHern OPS Against in last 6 games: .411 Robles .440 Brasier .536 Eovaldi (as a starter) .636 Barnes .657 ERod (as a starter) .744 Pivetta (as a starter) .899 Richards 1.850 Ottavino 2.000 DHern 2.500 Davis n/a Sawamura n/a Bazardo n/a Perez n/a Valdez

It should be noted that recognizing "tells" by pitchers is not illegal, unless a team is relaying messages to players via video. It's not illegal for a runner at 2B or a 3B coach to see something and send a signal to the batter. Correct me, if I'm wrong.

I admitted I was wrong after the O's series. I even said he was right. I expected him to do the same. If that's mean, then I guess I am.

Thanks for answering one of the questions. I can understand your position on banning him. Now, would you really rather we play NY in NY over Boston? I know either place will not be easy.That wasn't my point, but pointing out I'd rather play them in Boston does not mean I think we'll certainly win there.

I was actually talking about Vaz on the post you responded to.

It could be as simple as making Houck the closer and Whitlock the number 1 set up man that can gives us 2 innings, often. That forces us to add a solid starter or two, one of which might be ERod, but certainly that is an option. Another option would be to make Houck the closer and Whitlock a starter. Then, we need to add a couple solid set up men and NOT a closer.

In all fairness, some of the run differential was Boone's fault, but I agree, the Yanks had a lot of big and even huge question marks before the year started. The whole injury excuse that would normally hold water, just doesn't for the Yanks. They are a team built for the IL, and that is on Cashman. If nothing changes for 2022, I fully expect plenty of IL time, again. It would actually be lucky to have a season with very few injuries.

No doubt, the Rays have the advantage, and it's too bad the winner of the WC game has to play them, next. They earned that right. I'd like our chances much more vs the Astros or White Sox. I'd be hypocritical to take the "playoffs are a crap shoot" position, right now. I honestly think we have a very, very slight chance of winning it all. Too many other teams have a big advantage over us. We'd need to fire on all cylinders all at once plus hope the team we are playing stumbles a little to give us a chance to keep advancing. Those odds are so slight, I'd be shocked if we even made it to the World Series. That doesn't mean I'm going to be moping around thinking all is lost. I'm gonna root like hell a miracle happens.

Maybe that game wore the Dodgers out. Eovaldi's heroic relief stint, even though we lost, created a drive in our other pitchers that saw them lining up at Cora's door asking what can I do extra to help us win. 18 innings- WOW! Eovaldi went 6 innings after pitching in relief in game 1 and game 2 and the 5th game of the ALCS! (He had started game 3 of the ALCS.)

There are 8 combinations of wins and losses by the 4 teams with the Sox being one of the winners. Assuming the Sox win, we are in with no need to play anyone to get to the WC game. The only real factor in who we'd play comes down to whether the Yanks win (we play them) or lose (we play the Yanks of a team that wins today then beats NY ina playin game.) If the Yanks lose and TOR & SEA win, it's a 3-way tie and they play it out to see who plays @ BOS. That's maybe the best scenario for us. I hate to think negatively, but I'm going to go over each of those other 8 scenarios with us losing. We Lose and the Yanks win: Yanks are in. TOR & SEA lose: we are in and play @ NY. TOR or SEA win and the other loses: we play the winner and the winner plays @ NY. TOR & SEA win to force a 3-way tie. We lose and the Yanks lose: TOR & SEA lose: NY plays @ BOS TOR or SEA win: 3 way tie and we get the choice of slot. TOR & SEA win: 4 way tie: somebody help me on this one! What an end to the season. I hate to give MLB credit for anything, but I like how they made all the game start times at the same time. That makes it fair.

How is asking you if you'd rater us play the Yanks in NY overanalyzing? How did starting Houck over Sale work out for you? Still wanna fire Cora? Man up, and answer some questions and take ownership when wrong.

I agree with jacko on Boone sucking, but jacko is trying real hard not to come to the conclusion that some of the players he thought so highly of, just aren't as good as he thinks they are.