S5Dewey

IMO Devers was ...fortunate. It looked to me like he had no idea if those pitches were strikes or not. All he knew was that he couldn't hit them so he took them... and they were balls.

Not that I'm vindictive (hah!) and you may have heard this before, but the thing I really wanted to see at the end of the Pedro game was for John Henry to step over that short wall in front of his seat, head into the dugout, find Grady Little, point his finger in Grady's face and say, "YOU'RE FIRED!" on National TV. Does that make me a bad person?

I've heard that before too. I didn't buy it then and I don't buy it now - in certain situations. Going back to my JBJ example, if a team can induce JBJ - a .

Well....bunting is a strategy that can be used if a player has the fundamentals to do it. But we're not talking about sacrifice bunts here - or at least I'm not. I'm talking about bunting to get a hit against a shift.

I understand that philosophy as it pertains to David Ortiz and JDM. As it's said, these guys are getting paid to hit HR's not to bunt, and bunting takes away the chance of the HR. IMO everyone should be able to bunt - situationally. If, for example, the Sox are down by 3 runs in the 9th JDM should be bunting to get on base. If they're down by 1, not so much. Sometimes not making outs, "keeping the line moving" is more important than the chance that a hitter will hit a HR that still leaves the team in a two-run hole.

I see that as a blessing. I know I'm one of the few here who feels that he's disrespecting the game by the way he wears his cap and that stupid arrow thing and that's ok with me that I'm one of the few. I still see his signing with Oakland as a blessing.

It's an interesting conundrum for MLB. Both football and basketball have done things to increase scoring and thereby increase fan interest. Football now protects both quarterbacks and receivers in an effort to get more passing into the game. In basketball a team now is "awarded" half the length of the court late in the game if they can get the ball in-bounds and call time. (How stupid is that? But it promotes scoring late in close games. It's no wonder I don't like the NBA!) Overall scoring in MLB has remained fairly static for the past 20 years (of course 2018 total runs isn't available yet) so the shift hasn't made a big difference in total runs scored. What the shifts have done is create a change in strategy. I don't like the shifts for multiple reasons but this issue would take care of itself if players were instructed in bunting. JBJ is the best (local) example of what could be done. JBJ has this low BAPIP because he's hitting into a shift while the left side of the infield is sitting there almost naked. If he squares around and drops a few bunts down that 3rd baseline he'll get on base more and two things will happen, both of them good. 1) He'll be on base more when Mookie comes up, and 2) it'll force the defense to stop shifting against him giving him more grass to hit to on the right side. Is there a downside to that?

I don't think I've seen a Red Sox team play this well day-in, day-out since that run in 2004. My concern is that it's hard to maintain that level of play for an extended period of time. I believe that when they're playing well this team has the capability to win the WSC but they have to be playing well during the playoffs to pull it off. I can see a couple of peaks and valleys over the next month and a half, I'm just now hoping they're peaking again during October. IMO that'll be the biggest challenge Cora faces now - getting this team ready to play at the right time. I'm confident they have the talent. It's just a matter of pulling it all together at the right time.

YES! I can't believe this game thread isn't going nutso over this. What's up with you guys? We're still nursing an 8 game lead and you can't be ecstatic about seeing one of ours do one of the rarest things in baseball??

After his previous AB in the 7th i didn't think he'd get another shot at it!

What a nice throw. Not only was it there in time it was right where it had to be.

Meh. If we can get out of this inning with no more damage the game is still in hand. We've got 4 innings to make up the three runs and we're into their pen.

It'll happen. This guy is looking at #95 and it's only the 5th inning. And as I'm typing that JDM gets one outta there!

You got it. Stroman's blister was the turning point. Once he was out of the game that same team that played against the Yankees showed up and things went rapidly downhill for the Jays after that. Everyone contributed offensively and the pen staggered to the win.

NYY1, CWS 1. Mid 8th

Here's a question... Did Pillar put too many eggs in his basket when he dove for Mookie's ball? He must have known that if he didn't catch it Mookie would end up on third but if he pulled up on it he could hold him to a double.

You just know the Yankees just looked at the scoreboard and said, "Oh, f***! Again??" LOL

Come into the forums and say that! I DARE you to!!

I'm thinking Bogaerts may have 10 days off in his future when Kinsler gets back.

I still say...it's got to feel good to hit a ball that far.

I don't like the smell of this. Moreland needs to get the ball into the air at least. Uhh., never mind.

JBJ would have caught Mookie's ball. :-)

Mookie was due

Mookie is due

And it took two E's to do it. That's how teams lose games.