oldtimer

The pennant now seems highly probable for us, but not yet a certainty. Too many big games ahead before we clinch. It does seem more cogent to talk about the playoff roster in detail with just a few weeks left. Moon has done his usual detailed and fact backed attempt at a list and I mostly agree with him. I do think our experienced guys who DD brought in this year have helped us a great deal to get where we are. They tend to be former excellent defensive and offensive players who haven't lost that much even though they are in their 30's, some late 30's. Their experience shows in good at bats, base running and awareness in the game. The FO should make decisions dispassionately, based on who gives us the best chance of winning going forward. It may be hard for them to avoid the favorite son syndrome or worrying about pissing off a guy you definitely want back next year. They need to do their job and I think they will. I now there are arguments for 11 or 12 pitchers and that impacts what field players we can keep on the roster. I subscribe to the idea of 11 pitchers. My approach is to look at the roster from the depth point of view as i list below: Outfield: No mystery there but no Holt) Betts (Right), JDM, Swihart JBJ ©, Beni (Fenway), Betts (away) Beni (Left), JDM (Fenway), Swihart Infield: Some questions Moreland (1st) right handed pitching, Pearse left handed pitching, Swihart, Holt Kinsler (2nd), Phillips (if available), Holt (Pedroia is just not prepared enough to make it in my opinion) Bogaerts (SS), Phillips (if available), Holt Phillips (3rd) if available, Nunez (close second), Devers (maybe for left handed bat) Catcher: Hard discussion here in my view Leon, excellent defense, familiarity with pitchers, ability to handle knuckle ball, but very weak hitter Vaz, solid catcher, weak hitter but better than Leon Swihart, decent catcher, lacks familiarity with staff, better hitter than the other two. DH: JDM, best in league, Pearse, Swihart, Holt You might have noticed I have listed 15 field players but only 14 can make it. Who falls out? A catcher, a third baseman, or do we sustain an injury in the last few weeks? Pitchers: (Starters) Sale Price E-Rod Porcello Pitchers: (Relief role) Kimbrel Brasier Barnes Kelly Wright (Long Relief) Eovaldi (Long Relief) Who is #11? Need a lefty (Pom, Johnson or Poyner), Include Hembee and forget about a lefty. Tough choice. There are others righties, such as Workman who might be chosen in front of Hembree. Personally, neither Pom or Johnson seem reliable so is it Poyner? I certaintly don't have all the answers but looking at the choices with depth in mind clarifies what is at stake.

I watched Atlanta TV including the after the game show. The manager, announcers and players all were saying it was their worst loss of the year but that have to regroup and move on. They are now in a tight pennant race with the Phillies and have to bounce back.

Many times they have been completely out of the money> Is there something nefarious going on or is there so much chaos involved that past performance (stats) aren't all that reliable.

It makes sense to raise the subject. Phillips has multiple gold gloves I believe. Having Kinsler and Phillips would improve the defense. Phillips is a professional hitter as is Nunez. Clearly Phillips is better defensively than Devers and is a smart player who runs the bases well. I think the FO will need to watch the performance of these three, especially if there is a possibility of including Phillips on the PO roster.

My god! Brandon Philips is a real pro. He did many things to help us today. Plays multiplle positions, can hit, still has good speed. If there is any way, he should also be in consideration for a playoff roster spot. I like the fact that the Sox have so many good experienced players that can come in and make a difference. Kinsler, Nunez, Moreland, Pearse and now Philips. What finds these guys have been.

If there is any way, he should be considered for the playoff roster. He did many things well today.

I'm not sure why Cora stayed with Pom when it was obvious that he didn't have command. He doesn't have the stuff to get people out if he loses command of his fastball. Now the team is behind the 8 ball.

This is how Cora operates. Maybe his method is to fire the team up for the Astros series and getting at look at Dever for the post season. Who knows what will happen. Does anyone know what the term UHP mean for the Atlanta pitcher? Does it mean under hand pitcher?

At this point in time I would have Swihart over Devers, however, Devers has time to show some hitting prowess. I like Workman, not for his velocity but he does throw a sinking pitch that can draw ground balls. Thornburg has been iffy of late and no appearance in the last couple. What does that say?

Leon did have a batting line of 0-5, 2 so and 7 LOB. Pretty bad but his defense was good. Our pitching looked good last night as well with Vaz in the lineup. Its not all about the catcher's defense and pitch calling.

Bradley looked bad again taking a 2nd strike fastball on the plate and then striking out on a changeup. What was he looking for on the 2nd pitch? Leon just doesn't hit well.

Good move for Cora putting a left hand bat in for Porcello, who was through anyway. Cora could have used Devers, Holt, Benintendi or Moreland. Pearse is having a good night. Three hits and 3 RBI.

Porcello can't stand prosperity.

That was a tough AB. Need to at least put the ball in play and see what happens.

At least he hit the ball. JBJ took a called third and Nunez popped out. Bad display by the Sox and may haunt them in the game. How much better could the opportunity have been?

Nunez is superior to Devers both offensively and defensively and should get the nod at 3B. Whether Devers makes the PO roster in my view depends on whether the Sox want to have another left hand bad available, instead of keeping Vaz on the team. I hope the ship has sailed on Pedroia for this year. In the pitching arena the question remains as to how much we need to keep multiple left handed relief pitchers in the lineup. I would take Workman over johnson in a heartbeat. Wright also deserves consideration. His ability to do long relief might push him up over a guy like Hembree, who has been erratic.

Watching the end of the Oakland/ Yankee game. Oakland leads 6 to 3 going into the bottom of the 8th. Must be something about relief pitchers. Familia got the first 2 in the top of the 8th and then walked the next two (stupid thing to do with a 3 run lead) Fortunately he outbattled Sanchez for the final out although he threw 2 balls to start Sanchez off. Familia has great stuff, but you still need a guy to find the plate.

Maybe there is something to the Sox playing up to the competition. After a lifeless day yestderday, the Sox looked like a copletely different team. Loots of big hits and strong pitching with excellent defense. The Braves are a very legitimate team and we put them away in their ome stadium.

I have a significant interest in horse racing, baseball and other sports. In the case of horse racing, stats reign and you can see past performances back 10 races, workout performances and many other stats. The final odds usually reflect these stats as players have gotten sophisticated enough to read and interpret these. Interestingly, this season at Saratoga the betting odds favorites have lost a disproportionate amount of races. Do past performances predict current form well enough to be reliable? The answer appears to be no and the contrarian thinks twice before setting too much store in stats reflecting past glories. It is just a precautionary story to suggest an over reliance on stats can lead to incorrect conclusions. Many here subscribe to a balanced approach to team construction including a pinch of eye test and a dollop of stats. The argument seems to continued with new terms to me anyway, such as right tailed outcomes.

I would have preferred the Sox showing some offense, even if they lost due to our weak pitching. Total indifference is not great to see.

Not competitive today. We put up our weaker pitchers and had to hope the offense would show up against Shields. Pretty big holle to climb out of.

We have been getting poor starting pitching with the exception of E-Rod. Puts a lot of pressure on the offense. The good news is the Yankees are struggling today as well.

We don't maintain long running strings like this on all our players and probably it would be best to let this one expire.

When Devers was called up, his bat was impressive but his fielding was not really ready. League pitchers tend to find hitting flaws quickly as they have done with Devers. His fielding hasn't improved all that much in his time with the Sox and his physical condition (weight) is suspect. They say he worked hard to improve, but the results just weren't reflecting his efforts, so down he went and the management is going to be slow to reinstate him. I hope that additional time in the minors will result in his developing into a contributing player next season but for now, we are better off with Nunez. As Moon has said, Devers may find himself migraating to 1st base in future.

Even when he gets into trouble, he has enough stuff and cunning to get out with little or no damage.