S5Dewey

The question of whether you've been watching was rhetorical. I knew the answer. :-) I expected this series to go 6-7 games without the expectation that the Sox would advance. The Astros are a good team as are the Red Sox so to say that I "expected" the Sox to win would be unrealistic. I hoped they'd win but I didn't "expect" them to. I would have expected them to win if they'd been playing, say, Baltimore. The thing I didn't expect was the meltdown of Craig Kimbrel, which leaves the outcome of every game he pitches in doubt. I expect my closer to throw strikes and get people out without giving up multiple baserunners. Hence my paranoia. And hence my statement that we have reason to be paranoid.

8:09 game time tonight. This one may be over before 1:00!

Have you been WATCHING these games? We've got reason to be paranoid!

If Kimbrel needs more work to be effective he should be lights-out tonight. {sarcasm definitely ON}

I cut Pedro a lot (and I mean A LOT) of slack for the same reason TBS has him there. Because he's Pedro. But he doesn't seem to have much new to say.

That's MR. DEWDROP to you! Haha It's not a matter of being thin-skinned. It's that I don't waste my time with obvious trolls. There are only so many minutes in the day and every minute I spend replying to your trolling posts is a wasted minute of my life that I can't get back. Hell, MVP understands that. I would think you would too.

IMO Cora put the ALCS on the line last night by putting Kimbrel in for a 6-out save. Kim had never gone that route in the past and had struggled with 4-out saves. Now it's 3-1 but if things had worked out differently this series would be tied 2-2 and we'd have burned all of our pitchers. As it is we've burned all of our pitchers for game 5 but we've got a commanding lead in the series. Cora should have gone out last night and bought lottery tickets. He made a HUGE gamble...and won.

That's not the worst idea I've ever heard but there are some drawbacks to it from a competitive standpoint. It would completely impugn the integrity of the game and piss off thousands of fans who paid big bucks to see a playoff game. It would also probably result in a HUGE fine for Alex Cora and the Red Sox organization. It would kinda put the Sox into the same category as Machado, being willing to destroy the integrity of the game in exchange for a win. But as a Sox fan - I like the idea!

Do you actually believe all those number they throw up there? IMHO they're all calculated approximations with a margin of error. They're close, very close, and they make good fodder for the announcers and fans but they're not as precise as they'd like you to believe they are. But I'm a cynic anyway.

There are a lot of assumptions in your post and assumptions are what replays are supposed to remove. Remember, we're talking about inches here - whether or not Mookie's glove or the fan's hand broke the imaginary plane extending upward from the field-side of the wall. Your biggest assumption is that the fans were as close to the wall as they could get. In any park I've been in there's maybe 6" between where my feet are and the wall. The fan is standing so when he stood up did he have his toes against the wall or are they a distance back from the wall? Are his knees touching the wall? We don't know and I'd bet the fan doesn't either. I know that sounds picky but that may be the difference between whether the fan was able to reach onto the field or not. From the best angle I've seen Mookie's glove was over the line but that angle is maybe 45 degrees so it will distort the view. So I can't say that I KNOW. This whole thing reminds me of the bang-bang plays at 1B where even the video can't completely determine safe or out and there's no provision in the rules for a tie. Maybe Mookie was over the imaginary line. Maybe the fan was. We don't know so we defer to West's original call. Like I said, I wouldn't argue it either way.

That could very well be, but it may not be too. Kimbrel right now is falling into the same category as Price. He can get you to the playoffs but can't get you out the other side. Price got a big contract so maybe Kimbrel will too. IMO Kimberly (I stole that from another poster because I like it ) and Price are now playing for the best team they'll ever play for. Kim may get another big contract from a second-tier team who thinks he will push them into the first tier but no real contender will touch him for the kind of money he wants.

This is a good, reasoned post. Sight and video are two-dimensional. we can clearly see how high Mookie went and where he was side-to-side but we can't see depth (front-to-back) so we don't have knowledge of whether his hand/glove went over the wall. West had to make a call on the spot and he called it interference based on what he could see. Then New York, who had the same views, upheld the original call. Based on what I could see from the multiple angles I don't know if there was interference or not and I wouldn't be upset had the call gone the other way. The thing that has to be addressed now is the placement of cameras. There was a camera looking lengthwise on the wall but a security person stepped in the way obscuring what would have been the best perspective on the play. If they're going to use replay to settle calls - and they are - MLB needs to have cameras placed where people can't obstruct the view. Maybe 10' above the wall?

This is the best defensive outfield in baseball

You know if the Sox get out of this Max will be saying tomorrow what a great job Cora did, don't you?

Kemp.. the guy who kept us in the game with his bad baserunning.

What was I saying earlier about relievers walking people? UGHHHHHHH

That's the Craig Kimbrel I remember. f***

1:00 am. I'm going to be awake until 3:00 now.

Does JBJ lead the league in HBP?

I eat when I'm nervous. I'm going to weigh 300 lbs by the time this thing is over. :-(

This should be questioned even if it doesn't fail.

Kinbrel gives up a hit, Mookie bailes him out, and Kim hits the next guy. OMG

That was stupid by Kemp though.

Me neither. Not even a little bit.

Mvp!!!