oldtimer

We got to watch the auditions for the post season more tonight. The pitchers who really hurt themselves were Ross and Thornburg. Cora pulled Cuevas early but it may have been because he wanted to save him for future work. Pom got brought into a hopeless situation which speaks to how he is currently valued. Johnson was sort of in between. I had hopes for Thornburg but tonight he lacked command. So Kelly, Thornburg and Ross move to the back of the line. So we have Kimbrel, Brasier and Barnes at the front of the line and who else, Poyner, Workman, Wright and Hembree? Hope Moon doesn't site the mess represented by the weak pitching tonight against Swihart and his catcher ERA. It looked to me was that it was all on the pitchers.

So far we have been fortunate but the people near the coast are dealing with serious wind and flooding situations. It appears some of the storm wind force is dissipating before it moves very far west. We still have flooding concerns and the associated issues of mud slides and the like but I am feeling a lot better that us inlanders will be safe and relatively unaffected. Those with loved ones in coastal communities have to be on pins and needles as flooding is occuring and power is out in many places.

Kelly really has a fast ball, a knuckle curve and a changeup. He has severe command issues at this time and is more questionable after last nights outing. Workman may not throw as hard but we need guys who can throw strikes. In my opinion, he has surpassed Kelly on the PO roster list.

We won the hard way tonight. E-Rod was okay but was hit quite a bit. Vaz had a hit tonight Nunez looked good at bat while Devers ran for him (was Nunez hurt?) and ran into one for a HR. Good for him as he doesn't make a lot of contact but when he does the ball goes. Poyner was hit for a HR when he left a ball out over the plate but at least he threw strikes. Kelly came in and was totally without command. Cora was perhaps too patient. Bogaerts helped us with a double, a steal and came in on a ball in pllay by Swihart for the win. So Devers and Nunez at 3rd were a plus. Vaz got a hit, Swihart did what he had to do. On the pitching side, E-Rod still looks like a 4th starter, Poyner made one mistake but otherwise looked pretty good while Kelly was awful. No command at all. We got a win and Cora got valuable information.

Cora was more patient than I would have been

Definitely an awful showing.

Good sox inning. JBJ double, Beni moved him, Kinsler sacraficed him home and then 3 hits. NO crooked number but at least a good showing.

Why was the game delayed. I saw injury report. Who was injured?

Last night the guy handled us pretty well so you never know.

I'm sitting in NC waiting for Florence to arrive, possibly knocking out power. Probably get to see the game tonight. Looking out the window, I see broken clouds, although reall tall ones and a light breeze. Supposed to see more late tonight or early in the am hours. Hoopefully, E-Rod can keep it going.

Beni is a little smaller guy than Bogey, but we have seen some power from him but it has gone away the second half.

By playing in a pinch, I think he means an emergency. Actually, Swihart is probably decent at 3rd, since he played infield in his past. Not to say its a good idea to try that unless we find ourselves in an emergency.

Funny how Leon does seem to come up in important situations. He was hitting .067 for the week before not hitting last night. On top of that he is slow and a high DP risk as well. Batting him 8th means he might get up late in the 2nd or early in the third inning. Usually, we wouldn't want to pinch hit for him then. Next opportunity the 5th or 6th, at which time Cora should consider it. That does mean changing catchers on our starter in some cases.

Beni has had a good year and has contributed a lot to the teams success. His power did fall off in the second half as he tended to hit a majority of his balls to left and to center. Maybe next year he will pull more frequently, which would help his HR total.

Quite a few guys got rest last night with our mainly lefty lineup. Betts, Bogaerts and JDM did play though.

During the PO's, we will be playing teams who are nearly as good as us, better in some areas and worse in others. Because of that an extra hit here or a good play there may well make a significant difference duriing the series. We have only two questionable area in the field that Cora needs to focus on and they are catcher and 3rd base. Tough decisions loom for him there as has been discussed on this thread. At catcher we have two very weak offensive players who are good to very good defensively. The starters seem to like them. Then we have a more versatile player who is a better hitter and can catch but has little to no experience with the majority of the staff. As we discussed, there is an option of taking all three and pinch hitting for the weaker offensive players in key situations. An alternative is to take the best defensive catcher and the best hitter. We can always replace a guy at the end of a series should we sustain an injury. Both are non-optimum decisions but Cora is being paid to make the tough ones. At third base we have a pro and seasoned hitter who is a so-so fielder and a young player who is neither hitting or a reliable fielder but offers the possibility of running into one as a left handed bat. Phillips is not in the discussion now so Cora needs to choose. It would be nice to have better at third but those are the choices. We can possibly take both if we go with 2 catchers. Next year, both those positions need to be given real thought with the possibility of some moves to improve, possibly from the FA market. As far as pitching, I still think it comes down to deciding between Kelly, Thornburg, Workman and Hembree for the last spot. I don't recommend 12 pitchers, but if we do I see it as two of those 4.

We mayhave a unique situation with catchers who are terrible offensively. How many other teams will carry 3 catchers on a 25 man roster?

If you noticed from Devers down and including Mookie we struck out 4 times and hit into a double play. We seem to have problems early in the game with being able to hit starters no matter the ERA. Yes Leon is just not hitting the ball. Cora is watching all these guys, particularly catchers and third basemen. Tough decisions to come.

Two opportunities but nothing to show as yet. Devers certainly didn't have a good at bat, but then neither did Holt. Give them another time around the batting order and see what happens.

A couple of nights ago one of the broadcasters said that if they went beyond the three current caqtchers, Pearce would be the next option. I thik it was the night we had pinch hit for Leon and Vaz. Don't know what inside info the broadcaster had, but I assume he got that information from talking with the Sox manager.

Pearce can also catch in a pinch.

Pretty brave projections leaving out Vaz and Devers and inserting Lin for running and back up infield. Since both Vaz and Leon are so bad offensively I can see where your going. Devers is also on the cusp but Lin probably won't beat him out. With E-Rod out of the BP we probably still do need a left handed relief specialist and Poyner has done the best in limited appearances. Barnes will probably be there, whether 7th or 8th inning. Sometimes it is wise to bring your non-closer shutdown guy in early, when the other team has a big threat going. I can see Brasier in that role. Wright is surely in the conversation for long relief. The final spot is probably up for grabs between Kelly, Thornburg, Workman and Hembree. I can see each getting a hard look in the next 17 games. I like to see our relievers get ahead of batters and if they choose to nibble, at least be close to the plate. Too often we see these guys getting ahead and then running to a full count with meaningless (way offf the plate) pitches and with men on base, letting them run with 3 and 2 counts. Cora has some tough decisions going forward. It's not clear to me at this time that Sale is fully mended. I certainly hope so as a healthy Sale improves our chances.

I'm not surprised that some folks feel superior when they think they are pointing out the shortcomings of others. Maybe if it makes them feel good its worth it, but to me it just indicates their own issues.

That should make for a full game toward the pennant. Ninety nine wins for us. Good day for the sox.

Why do our pitches seem to take the count to 3 and 2 with a baserunner and 2 outs. Seems like giving the runner a head start is not the smart thing to do. He got the strikeout, but I think the approach makes no sense.