illinoisredsox

Okay I'll ask you the same question. What would manager d-money have done to change things the last 2-3 nights?

Scott looking okay for a guy who hasn't thrown a meaningful pitch in 2 weeks.

So what would manager Station 13 have done to change things the last 2-3 games?

Somewhat understandable though, it was very similar to the grounder that got him hurt.

It was a pitch right down the middle;the kind of pitch he SHOULD be swinging at 2-0. And it should have scored a run had Benintendi moved up on Pedroia's grounder.

Well, we certainly could use the Ellsbury of 2011 (although Betts is doing a pretty darn good imitation offensively so far).

I've mentioned this a few times. Unlike 2013, this is not a roster replete with guys who have through this before. Ortiz and Pedroia among the position players, Price and Porcello among the starting pitchers, Uehara and Tazawa in the pen (and neither is near what they were that year). That's it among players who had roles in postseason drives. Bogaerts was a bit player in 13. Bradley had been sent down and was not brought back up for the pennant run. Betts has played only for last place teams.

Now to be fair, Williams was hurt in the 46 Series. Hard to believe now, but there was a full week between the end of the regular season and the first game of the World Series. The Sox played a some exhibition games against a group of all-stars to stay sharp, but Williams was hit on the elbow in one of them and had it swell up on him to the point where he couldn't swing a bat for several days. He "healed" in time to play, but all indications are he was not anywhere near 100% and unfortunately, it was his only shot. Ortiz has had the advantage of multiple postseason series and years to cement his legacy. We remember the fantastic fantastic series and tend to overlook the not so good ones: 2-21 against the A's in the ALDS in 03. 4-17 against the Angels in the 08 ALDS followed by a 4-26 against the Rays in the ALCS. 1-12 against the Angels in 09. 2-22 against the Tigers in 13 (1 of the 2 was a pretty big hit as I recall). Make no mistake about it, Ortiz has been the man many times in the postseason. But he also has had 75 more postseason games to build that legacy.

If you look at Gausman overall this year, he has pitched better than his 8-10 record. 3.43 ERA. He's been tagged for 5 losses when where he has given up 3 or fewer runs (4 where he has given up 2 or less). He's the guy the O's aren't scoring for this season. He was the #4 overall pick in 2012; there's a lot of talent there, and he appears to have started to harness it.

Gausman has reverse splits; righties hit him better, and that has been the case his whole time in the big leagues. The two seamer/split finger that goes down and away from lefities is downright nasty. If he adds a breaking pitch he can throw to righties, he could become a perennial Cy Yong candidate type pitcher.

If you look at Gausman overall this year, he has pitched better than his 8-10 record. 3.43 ERA. He's been tagged for 5 losses when where he has given up 3 or fewer runs (4 where he has given up 2 or less). He's the guy the O's aren't scoring for this season. He was the #4 overall pick in 2012; there's a lot of talent there, and he appears to have started to harness it. If he adds a breaking pitch that he can throw to righthanders, you are talking about potentially one of the best in the game.

Is Castillo really a clueless airhead or simply just not that good?

The strike outs don't bother me; that's physical. Mental errors like forgetting the number of outs or sitting in the clubhouse on snapchat during a game do bother me. You would think he'd be lapping it all up on his first trip to a major league dugout, not lounging in the clubhouse during a pennant race. If he's that disconnected, there is a problem.

If true (and I've seen nothing other than mvp saying it), it does put him in the running for airhead status. I would hope that Señor Ortiz has had a chat or 2 with him. If he won't listen to Big Papi, then he is definitely an airhead. I would also consider sending him home if incidents like this continue. This is, of course, assuming the report is true.

Ground ball hit in a good spot. It happens. I'd be much more worried if it had been a hard line drive.

Maybe 7 days off was too long. Maybe his innings are catching up with him. Or it was just one of "those" games. Who can tell with pitchers?

Sox next day off is September 26. Leon isn't going to start (or even play) every game until then. Now why Hanigan tonight I have no idea, although with catchers taking the beating they do, there could be some nagging little thing that a day off would help get Leon back closer to 100% (I don't think any player is 100% at this point of the schedule). Pure speculation on that, though.

You must have missed the part where I said "I'm not comparing Moncada with Mays". Of course the situations are not analogous. My point was if an all-time great can struggle in his first couple weeks in the big leagues, we really do owe it to Moncada to give him a little time. Most people saw that; somehow you didn't.

Several years ago, te Giants brought up a kid who proceeded to start his career 0-12 and 1-26. 660 or so homers later, Willie Mays was elected to the Hall of Fame. I'm not comparing Moncada to Mays, but patience people.

So in other words you are looking to see them lose the last 20 games of the season. Because other than Farrell himself deciding to quit or him getting caught molesting collies, that's the only way he will not be the manager next year.

The last time the Sox had a 20 game winner was 2007, when Josh Beckett accomplished it. The time before that was Curt Schilling in 2004. As I recall, those were a pair of rather successful seasons for the team. Let's hope history repeats itself.

Saw something last week saying they might send him on a rehab to Lowell or Salem to get a few ABs before activating him. Lowell was eliminated from their playoffs yesterday, but Salem is still in the Carolina League playoffs. Might be feasible if they make the finals there.

That's the wild-card game. I'm talking about a tiebreaker game for the second wild card spot. If you want a more recent example, in 2013, the Rays and Rangers tied for the second wild-card spot. The Rays finished 92-71, beating the Rangers in game 163 and qualifying for the wild-card game.

The one game playoff is considered a part of the regular season (e.g., the 1978 Red Sox' final record was 99-64 and the Yankees' was 100-63); the roster rules that exist today would be in effect for it. The wild card "series" would have playoff roster rules.

Saw something that said they may send him on a rehab to Lowell and/or Salem for a few ABs before reactivating him; I guess those clubs are in their league's playoffs.