illinoisredsox

That being said, one really has to wonder if the vertigo still has some lingering affects.

So who would you put at 2nd? And if you say Nunez, then who do you DH? Hanley hasn't exactly looked that good lately either.

I know but the applicable comments (the attempted second mound visit) are here.

For the record, the rules are (paraphrasing): 1) A team is allowed 2 mound visits per inning per pitcher. On the second one, the pitcher must be removed from the game. Exception due to apparent injury (and the ump will go out to assure only the injury is discussed). 2) A relief pitcher must face at least one hitter (the batting slot must complete an AB) or otherwise finish an inning (e.g., a runner caught stealing to end an inning finishes his obligation).

So the bottom line is: 1) Farrell, who tried to make a pitching change when he couldn't, needs to recharge his two working brain cells. 2) His biggest critics here, a) didn't know what happened and don't seem to know the rules. Am I to conclude that they are operating with 1 brain cell?

Do you mean after the Hicks homer? If so, then how in the world would Kimbrel have had time to warm up? After Gardner wa hit, Hicks homered on his 6th pitch, two of which were swinging strikes. Do you mean after Judge walked? That was only 8 pitches later (and when he brough Kelly in). I'm not convinced that Kelly was fully warm.

ESPN just flashed Porcello has thrown 18 straight strikes.

Leon doesn't hit much for average but he sure does get a lot of hits with RISP.

Coupled with some excellent base running by Holt in getting to second so that basic situation stayed the same, which eventually read to another run by Holt.

Benintendi does not have good baserunning instincts. Guys like Lowell, Napoli and Ortiz were slow but knew when to try and advance and when not too. They were very good base runners in that context. Betts adds speed to good instincts. Nava was bad. Benintendi is not good. Bradley isn't that good either.

Moreland robbed for the second time, and Benny makes up for his running mistake by scoring on it.

As I said to station, the ball hitting the ump cost them a run. Betts did advance Nunez after that bad break. Benintendi stole second to advance. Hanley got a horrific strike 2 call that put him in a big hole. Moreland's ball was roped and the ball caught the pitcher. Yeah, the results could have been better. But they had 3 bad breaks go against them that inning.

Not sure what you were looking at. Benintendi smoked his hit and it hit the umpire, costing the Sox a run. Moreland smoked his ball and it caught the pitcher.

Yeah, I agree with this. One of my biggest gripes (maybe the biggest one) with Saltalamacchia was that he NEVER went to the mound other than to change the signals. He never attempted to refocus a pitcher or calm him down or just break a bad rhythm. Ross did it all the time, so it wasn't an organizational thing. Varitek, of course, was the best at it.

It would be great if Porcello can repeat his individual performance from the last game against the Rays: 8 IP, 6 H, 1 run, 0 walks, 7 K's. Unfortunately, it ended up a 1-0 loss.

I'd go along with that to an extent; career wise, however, the Guardians are the team that has given Sale the most trouble. In 28 games (17 starts) against the Tribe, he's 5-7 (the only team he's under .500 against) with a 4.44 ERA (worst against any team he's faced more than twice) and a 1.297 WHIP. Every pitcher seems to have a team he's Superman against and a team that's kryptonite to him. Cleveland appears to be that latter team for Sale.

And still there was a game last week when Betts forgot.

I've seen some guys do it. Maybe they all do, there's not always a close-up of a guy when he reaches. But just as when you coached, every once in a while, the brain turns off and they forget.

That knee is probably still bothering him. He just sat out a week and probably wasn't taking a whole lot of BP. But his job tonight was to catch Sale, and that he did to near perfection.

I nominate a700 for 1st and 3rd base coach (he should be able to handle both). Then after the first boneheaded base running mistake, we can get all over him about not doing his job.

Now, to reality. It depends on what you mean by "rise". If you mean does the ball cross the plate at a higher point than it is released, them yes, a submariner does make the ball rise. Wasn't is Darin O'Day who basically threw the ball from almost ground level? If you mean actually rise, then no. To actually rise, a pitcher would to develop lift on the ball greater than the weight of the ball. That would entail generating a bottom to top spin, a very high spin rate and a very high velocity. The attached outlines the physics of it. The bottom line is no, at least today's athletes cannot make a ball actually rise. http://www.hardballtimes.com/the-physics-of-a-rising-fastball/ They use Aroldis Chapman as a subject, and it concludes that if he kept his current spin rate (2350 rpm), he could (theoretically), get the ball to rise if he could thrown the ball at about 113 mph. Or, if he kept his current velocity, he would need to increase his spin rate to 3100 rpm to make it rise. However, that only accounts for the ball out of his hand. The ball loses speed over the course of it's journey to the plate, so the initial velocity would have to be 9-10 mph higher than it is right now (i.e., he would have to release the ball at around 122-123 mph). A submariner might not have to throw the ball quite that hard, but to impart the same spin, it would have to be done as a breaking pitch which means less initial velocity.

Sidd Finch was able to make his fastball rise.

You left off 2004, when they became the only MLB team ever to blow a 3.889 to 0 game lead in a playoff series.

Just saw that Don Baylor died today: http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/red_sox/clubhouse_insider/2017/08/don_baylor_who_hit_31_home_runs_for_1986_red_sox_dies_at_68 His 2 run homer in the 9th inning of Game 5 in the 1986 ALCS was overshadowed by Dave Henderson's a few minutes later, but got the Sox started that inning.

I've seen games at Fenway, New York (Shea and the original Yankee Stadium), Toronto (Exhibition Stadium), Cleveland (Municipal Stadium), Chicago (Wrigley and both Comiskeys), Milwaukee (County Stadium), Kansas City, St. Louis (the old Busch Stadium), and Houston (Astrodome). Obviously, most of the ones I've been to are no longer in use, which is explained by the fact that I haven't seen a major league game in person in probably 25 years.