illinoisredsox

Not to mention concern on how he would handle the media fishbowl of Boston.

Cmon, if for some reason the Angels suddenly offered Trout for one of the 3 B's, would you take it? I would send Betts or Bradley in a heartbeat. Bogaerts might require more consideration due to his position. It's not going to happen short of temporary insanity on the part of the Angel's GM, so all hypothetical, but still, you never say never.

Wright would have been lucky a pitch didn't blow into the 3rd base seats.

Well he has tried everybody and everybody has sucked. Maybe he was supposed to try them in a different order? OF defense has not helped matters. That's cost them how many runs?

What is your point? This makes no sense.

Wanted to get that last one on prior to the first pitch Tazawa threw. I would use Ziegler here. Groundball specialist, get 2 and give up the 1 run.

Don't like the Tazawa move here. Junichi has been less tha spectacular when coming in with men on. Note - I am posting this as the move is being made, not after I see the results.

Exactly. OTOH, "Or with a better managed schedule, it may never have happened." MVP's words, so I think a reasonable request.

Well perhaps mvp could post what Koji's schedule/workload should be upon his return.

They had a veteran team that made plays when they had to.

Got to wonder if somthing is wrong with Brentz.

That's what I'm wondering. Brentz in left; Holt has done a decent job in right in previous years.

Then enlighten us on what you would have done differently (and of course, you can guarantee perfect results, right).

Are you actually watching the game? He gave up one legit hit, a hard hit fly ball to right that should have been caught for the 3rd out and a bloop to left that could have been caught for the 3rd out. The Sox make either play and he gave up no runs. He's been awful overall this year but this was hardly a bad outing. Layne gave up a ground ball single and an infield hit. Let's not pretend either was giving up rockets all over the yard. Tell us what you would have done instead (with the results guaranteed).

How many perfectly placed balls can the Twins have this inning? That's at least 3.

He should have been in the dugout with no runs scored. Defense this inning is horrible.

No, his psyche is such that he can't handle adversity. Innings snowball on him because of it.

On a ball that should have been caught and a bloop that could have been. The expectations by some of you are stupid. Andf I have no issue releasing/trading Buchholz.

Looked safe on my intial look (no replay)

Plus is it was the second straight decent outing by ERod. I'll take my chances in any game when the starter gives up 2 runs in 6 innings.

Ah, who hit into the DP? Ortiz hits the same ball Ramirez did and it might have tied hit up.

If we are lucky, we will see the Twins closer in the 9th. They might have a better shot at him.

Folks I posted it weeks ago and I'll post it again: Any pitcher at the major league level has the ability to shut down any team at any time. The difference between the bad ones and the great ones are how often they can do it.

You do realize this is 4 game set, right? The worst teams in modern MLB history (I'm talking 62 Mets bad) win 1 out of 4.

Agree. I'm not going to use numbers, I'm going with the eye test. As an old first sacker, I've noticed 2 fairly big weaknesses in Hanley Hanley stretches way too early. He appears to stretch and then find the ball when you really need to do the opposite. That means when throws are not exactly on the money, he is forced to make the play look more difficult than it would look if a more experienced first baseman were there. He's athletic enough to pull it off, but he shouldn't have to. Hanley's other major weakness is throws, especially to 2nd. I don't get to see every game, but I don't recall the Sox turning any 3-6-3 or 3-6-1 DPs this year, and the reason is ususally HanRam's weak throws to 2nd. He fears hitting the runner and thus aims the ball instead of gunning it (in stark contrast that to the throw he made home against the Giants the other night on the 3-2 tag DP). Now it's understandable because as an infielder on the left side, he never had to make a throw around or past a runner going to the base he was throwing to. As an old catcher, Napoli made that throw often to first on dropped 3rd strikes so not a big change for him.