illinoisredsox

The other things is he's pretty much always been a pitcher as opposed to a thrower. That also should help the transition. Eck mentioned all of what has been discussed in the past few posts when he was filling in several weeks ago.

They've had a .400 hitter in 3 of the last 4 years? Leon has cooled off considerably since the break (not unexpectedly). Plus Fulmer had already gotten 2 DPs in that exact situation. No issue with the bunt there.

Where was the pitch to Cabrera? I'm stuck looking at Gamecast.

Got a bad feeling with Cabrera up.

No save to be had, I'm calling for Ziegler right now (before the 9th starts). Edit after first pitch - hey, he listened.

I don't know that he's their best player, that might be Betts or Bogaerts at this point, but he certainly is their leader and that is definitely a concern for next season.

Okay, 18.

I think it may be a case of a team with many players who need to learn how to win. If you think about it, other than Ortiz and Pedroia, who has been through pennant chases before? Ramirez with the Dodgers to some extent. Bogaerts was there in 2013, but only as a bit player down the stretch. Bradley wasn't even that in 2013. Betts has played for 2 last place teams. Shaw is essentially a first year player. Holt is what he is, a utility guy. Hanigan has, but he's the back-up catcher. On the pitching staff, Porcello with the Tigers (and he has pitched pretty well). Price. Pretty much nobody else. It may be a club that's a year away.

Leon with a start.

Cabrera - VMArt pick your poison.

The top 6 guys in the line-up are not the problem and the bottom 3 are also fine. They are, for the most part, scoring plenty of runs. The issue is on the mound. Rearranging the furniture (line-up) isn't going to change that.

There are 4 main culprits. Funny thing is, 2 of them have had good years to date, 1 has been brutal and 1 has been okay. Wright has allowed 16 (passed balls are probably the main reason), yet the Sox are 12-8 in games he has started (he's personally 12-5) Porcello has allowed 6; the Sox are 15-6 in his starts (he's 13-2 personally). Hembree has allowed 6 unearned runs. While he's 4-0, he has either been lights out or bad. Then there's everyone's favorite whipping boy, Mr. Buchholz, who has also given up 6 unearned runs. No real surprise given his mental fragility and inabaility to handle a little adversity. The rest of the staff is in the 1s and 2s, so no concern there.

He did.

That's true, and KRod would not have come in when it was Shaw's turn to bat. Hill for Shaw would have been the move.

Unlike last night, this would be an ugly loss.

I've posted about that a couple of times. If they had sent Hill up, the Tigers would counter witha righthander, probably KRod. Holt has struggled against southpaws (nt too many PAs against them). this season (although he over .300 against them last year). Holt was also something like 8-11 getting guys in from 3rd this year. Hill is 2-11 against KRod lifetime. So your choice probably that or having Holt face a lefty who was nearing 40 pitches and had already allowed 4 hits and a run in the inning. Unappetizing choice either way. Frankly, I may gone after the struggling pitcher as they did. But the one thing Holt couldn't do he did (to borrow a phrase used by the late, great Tiger broadcaster Ernie Harwell), "stood there like the house at the side of the road and watched it go by".

ESPN sort of addressed that last night. The Red Sox have a bunch of guys who virtually play every day. The bench players never really get much of a chance. One or 2 ABs a week is not going to keep anyone sharp.

Sinkerballer, got to think opposite field and maybe move forward in the box ever so slightly.

Hot sticky night, knuckler isn't knuckling. Not good. They might wish they had not used both Buchholz and Kelly last night (although I had no issue with them doing so) since as recent starters both should be able to give mutiple innings out of the pen.

I think it's because he's made a deal with the devil. As a former Yankee farmhand and manager, he knows the address. "Former" only get's you so far, though, hence his postseason record.

Actually, Ross is still playing; he's with the Cubs. If I remember correctly, didn't Ross go on the concussion DL 2 separate times in 2013? There was a short stint fairly early (May maybe) and then one that went a couple months later that summer. Salty's defense was never that good. His game management blew. Perhaps my biggest criticism of him is that he almost never went to the mound. If a pitcher was struggling, he just dutifully crouched back down and put down another sign; no going out to give the pi6tcher an earful or break up the negative mojo or anything like that. It wasn't an organizational thing; Ross went out there when needed. Varitek certainly did. And since his defense has always been below average and he brought no particular intangibles to handling the pitching staff, once he stopped hitting in the 2013 postseason (as in not even making contact), there was absolutely no reason keep him in the line-up.

I wouldn't put this one in the horrific category; with Verlander on the hill for the Tigers, Monday night always figured to be a tough match-up and he was on last night. If JBJ's ball doesn't hit 2nd base, the Sox don't score off him at all.

Agreed. OTOH, Johnson never should have pinch hit for Willoughby in game 7.

Upon rereading through this exchange, I think it's not a matter of either of us moving the goalposts. I think we are looking at different sized goalposts. To me "I didn't want Salty starting that postseason." means all 3 series (the wider high school goalposts); from what you are saying in the past few posts, you meant World Series, or perhaps at the end of the ALCS (the narrower NFL goalposts). Time to move on.

My opinions: No. Pomeranz was pushing 100 pitches and his command was much worse in the 6th than it had been earlier. Kelly - got to find out if he can be a bridge guy at some point. He made the one bad pitch that Upton hammered, but McCann actually hit ball 4 off his fists into a perfect spot. It was a pitcher's pitch and the batter got lucky. Buchholz - Can't really complain here. He gave up a bloop hit to Iglesias, the passed ball was the difference maker in the inning; VMart hit the ball hard but it was on the ground and through a drawn in infield. Given the overall implosion of the bullpen against over the weekend, I don't have an issue with the choices. More a case of which bad match-up to take. If Farrell sends up Hill in that spot, the Tigers counter with a righty, probably KRod. Or, you have Holt vs. a struggling Tiger lefty who had allowed a run, 4 hits and thrown a lot of pitches in that inning. While Holt hit over .300 against southpaws last year, he has struggled in very limited action against them this year. Hill lifetime against KRod is 2-11. Neither option was particularly appetizing.