moonslav59

3.14 FIP first 2 starts of Sept. 5.92 last 3 starts.

We are facing a righty, tonight, so I expect a whole new line-up. Maybe.... 1. L Duran LF 2. R Bregman 3B 3. L Yoshida DH 4. R Story SS 5. L Lowe 1B 6. L Abreu RF 7. R Rafaela CF 8. R Naravez C 9. # Sogard 2B (maybe lefty DHam)

Narvaez over Vaz at .659 Duran, Rafaela, Abreu and even Ref over Dugo at .777. Marwin had the 9th most PAs in 2021 and hit .567. Franchy Cordero, Danny Santana, Chavis and Arauz has over 400 PAs between tham and all sucked at bat.

I get that, but about 3-4 players who would normally have started were no longer available. We had 3-4 subs in the line-up.

While true, we no longer have Anthony, Casas, Mayer (and Devers,) and though all are lefties, Three would have started, if still here or not on the IL. (not Mayer?)

Fantastic post, cp. I don't think I've ever agreed with a post as much as this one.

Agreed. It'a long shot. The better chance is that the unsung arms carry us, as many have all year long. It's all hands on deck, plus we'll have tomorrow off, if we win and the winter off if we lose.

Bello would need to turn things around, or someone like Early and Harrison just go nutty. The longshot would be the bats errupting.

Down to the biggest game of the season. I'm not so much worried about Early and the pen as our offense. Just get it done, guys!

I'd put Casas #1 on the DH only list. Yoshida #2. Ref #3. Duran #4. Romy is barely acceptable at 1B and maybe 2B, but yes, he's still a downer. I'd say Story would be a plus at 2B.

Too many players where DH is their best position, and some aren't good enough hitters to be a FT DH.

Crappy way to lose a game. Grounding into 3 DPs set the tone. We were out hit 10-6, but the game was still winnable.

Agreed. I mentioned from the start, I'd have had Yoshida in the line-up over Eaton (Ref in RF.) I still really like Cora as our manager and Brez as our GM or whatever he's called.

Did anybody else notice how Judge kind of slow walked to the ball Sogard legged into a 2B? Go back and look. What a bum! (LOL)

He has paid us back. Can we call it even, yet?

That was our biggest advantage going into this series. In many categories and metrics our pen was the best, and NY's was mediocre, at best, despite adding Bedinar. Gotta thank Boone for taking Fried out, but I do wonder how many more jams Fried could get himself out of. I think he was on his 9th life.

Well said. Nobody is perfect. I think being a "player's manager" has some drawbacks, but the players often will put it all on the line for a guy like that. Cora's reluctance to have "the talk" with Devers might have been able to smooth the whole thing over, but we'll never know, now. It's in the past, already. Let's hope JH allows Brez to spend the money saved in that trade, and he makes the right choices with the next contracts he hands out. A nice playoff showing would go a long way in helping us get over losing our best bat since Mookie.

5.2 IP 1 Hit but 5 BB 1 ER and only 3 Ks Earlier in the season, he pitched back-to-back starts vs the Sox: 5IP, 3H, 5ER, 3BB, 4K 5IP, 7H, 3ER, 2BB, 4K (+1 unearned run allowed) All 3 games: 5.74 ERA (2 HRs, 11 hits, 10BB & 3 HBP in 15.2 IP)

I've said it many times, I hope they never fire Boone or Cashman. Those two are the Sox best friends.

Exactly! And just because some moves did not work, it doesn't mean they were bad ones. I tend to shy away from in game manager bashing, because they know more of the facts and information that we do, and I'm not talking sabermetrics and splits. I have had disagreements on general aspects of Cora's choices, but they are minor compared to how well I think he does. IMO, he did a masterful job, this year. He made some mistakes and has even admitted some, but we are all human. At least, I think we are.

You know for sure, if Chapman gave it up in the 9th, we'd still be hearing about what an idiot Cora was for brining him in outside his comfort zone role. It's only a good move, because it worked, right? We should think about that. Most of what Cora does works. It's not all sabermetrics and computer generated decisions. He follows his gut, a lot. When the season started, most of us thought the pen was a rag-tag group. After losing over a hundred starts from our best starters, more pressure was put on the pen, and they nearly always came through- all year long. Again tonight. Cora has also had to tweak the line-up so many time, it's not even funny. By mid June, he'd already lost his .820 OPS 1Bman, his biggest bat in the Devers trade and the wonder prospect Campbell playing into a demotion. Later, he lost Bregman, Anthony, Mayer, Abreu and others. Only 3 batters qualified with enough PAs, this year and none of them hit over .780. Who expected these batters would get these amounts of PAs? 446 Narvaez (5th in team PAs) 341 Romy (7th most PAs on the team!) 284 Toro (10th) 263 Campbell (11th) 194 DHam (14th) 136 Mayer (16th) 119 Lowe 104 Sogard and 90 Eaton. That's about 2,000 PAs (about 1/3 of the total)

Getting 7 and 2/3 from Crochet was HUGE!!!!

All games are decided by the run differential.

He still found a way to get Yoshida into the game at just the right time. Bregman is such a force. These guys like Sogard, Narvaez and Eaton have done just enough, all year long. Kudos to Cora and Brez and of course the players from the top to the bottom of the 40 man roster, which was more like a 60 man roster.

How about stealing bases and scoring a big insurance run? Old?