I wish Al Michaels would do baseball again. He was very good with ABC back in the day and I don't like him doing football as much. I'd take Sean McDonough also.
That's my concern with starting him in game 2. If they win game 1 it's not as much of an issue, but down 1-0, that start is immense and the scenario you describe is in play.So if he sucks the Fenway crowd can boo him off the field and then he's toast for the rest of the series. If he sucks in Houston he might actually be useful in the bullpen later in the series.
I feel similar about Price, although I wouldn't start him game 1 for the simple reason that if Sale pitches games 1 and 5, he could come back and give you something out of the pen in a game 7.Just chiming in here in support of Price. He needs to start Game Two, and for all the reasons based in facts... not armchair psychology.
Basing this on facts might even suggest he should be our Game One starter.
I'd also lean towards Rodriguez being Game Four starter... considering the weakness of our pen, I think you have to balance which of Eovaldi vs Rodriguez will be the better starter against Eovaldi vs Rodriguez as the better bullpen option. I'm not sure I can make an argument for or against either as a better starter (staying away from recent game bias) but I can definitely make an argument that Eovaldi is a better relief pitcher. And having him available most every game for an inning as a relief ace gives me much more confidence than Rodriguez as a "relief ace".
I woke up this morning with much more confidence in the Red Sox winning this series than I did yesterday... but yeah. Houston is a much tougher and smarter opponent than the Yankees but I think this year Cora will figure out how to beat them. I'm actually confident that we have a manager that will make all the right decisions on everything. And not to game thread here... but F the MF'ing Astros!
Maybe we're underestimating it because it's bull shit?I think many here are underestimating Price's psychology and melting under pressure. 10 play-off starts, 0-9, 6.03 ERA. As Eck would say..yuck!!
Why would anyone want to give this guy 2 starts in this series? Consistent play off failure as a starter far outweighs regular season success against Houston...IMO. Who pitches game 6 if Price blows in game 2?
You have a point. The MLB rules requiring the manager to announce his Game 6 starter before Game 1 and mandating that the guy who pitches Game 2 MUST pitch Game 6 really hamstrings the manager. OTOH--Cora has shown himself so incapable of adjusting on the fly that it might be better this way.Who pitches game 6 if Price blows in game 2?
10 starts in the play-offs with a 6.03 era is pathetic...but hey, if you want to add in 1 pressure game that he performed well in..great.Maybe we're underestimating it because it's bull shit?
2013. Game 163 to determine the second wildcard spot. Do or die game on the road. David Price pitched a complete game, seven hit, two walk, two run gem to get the Rays into the wildcard game. Is that not pressure? Is that not essentially a playoff game (though it will never appear in post-season stats)? If David Price is a delicate flower that can't handle the pressure, shouldn't he have melted that day too? And he's been fine as a reliever in the post-season. Why doesn't the pressure get to him then?
A random selection of 10 starts spread out over 10 years doesn't really speak all that much about the quality of pitcher he is or his psychological makeup. I'm fine giving him two starts in the ALCS because he is undoubtedly the second best starting pitcher on the Red Sox roster.
I'm gonna add that these are his playoff starts that any of us at this point would probably consider to be very solid:Maybe we're underestimating it because it's bull shit?
2013. Game 163 to determine the second wildcard spot. Do or die game on the road. David Price pitched a complete game, seven hit, two walk, two run gem to get the Rays into the wildcard game. Is that not pressure? Is that not essentially a playoff game (though it will never appear in post-season stats)? If David Price is a delicate flower that can't handle the pressure, shouldn't he have melted that day too? And he's been fine as a reliever in the post-season. Why doesn't the pressure get to him then?
A random selection of 10 starts spread out over 10 years doesn't really speak all that much about the quality of pitcher he is or his psychological makeup. I'm fine giving him two starts in the ALCS because he is undoubtedly the second best starting pitcher on the Red Sox roster.
smug response, but not an answer. Who do YOU think would start? Eovaldi on 3 days rest? Erod? Probably not...most likely it would be Price again.You have a point. The MLB rules requiring the manager to announce his Game 6 starter before Game 1 and mandating that the guy who pitches Game 2 MUST pitch Game 6 really hamstrings the manager. OTOH--Cora has shown himself so incapable of adjusting on the fly that it might be better this way.
10 starts with a 6.03 ERA can happen to a good pitcher who has a couple bad outings mixed in. Remove his worst outing (2013 against the Red Sox) and his ERA drops to 5.63. It's a SMALL SAMPLE SIZE. To treat it like it's indicative of what he kind of pitcher he is or predictive in any way is asinine.10 starts in the play-offs with a 6.03 era is pathetic...but hey, if you want to add in 1 pressure game that he performed well in..great.
Just doesn't make sense to start a guy with such a dismal track record 2 times in this series when you have 2 other guys that have pitch well recently. Cora is sticking with his guy, hopefully it doesn't cost them the series.
I also feel like something that's left out of this discussion is how many of these postseason performances came after he led or very nearly led the league in IP.I'm gonna add that these are his playoff starts that any of us at this point would probably consider to be very solid:
2010 vs Tex: 6.0 ip, 8 h, 3 r, 3 er, 0 bb, 6 k (lost 5-1)
2011 vs Tex: 6.2 ip, 7 h, 3 r, 3 er, 1 bb, 3 k (lost 4-3)
2014 vs Bal: 8.0 ip, 5 h, 2 r, 2 er, 2 bb, 6 k (lost 2-1)
2015 vs KC: 6.2 ip, 5 h, 3 r, 3 er, 1 bb, 8 k (lost 4-3)
In these four games, he went: 27.1 ip, 25 h, 11 r, 11 er, 4 bb, 23 k, 3.62 era, 1.06 whip, 7.6 k/9.
And he also had a game in 2015 (game 1 vs KC) where he pitched six shutout innings, and was brought out in the 7th (which was fine) with a 3-0 lead but then allowed two straight hits to start the inning. At that point, he should have been removed. But they left him in for FOUR more batters, and it ended up being a five-run inning. The runs all count because they did score, but he pitched a much better game there than the stats would indicate.
So it's not like he's incapable of having a good postseason start. In those four games above, his team scored a total of 8 runs. If he put up ANY of those lines in game 2, we'd all be thrilled with that performance.
Why wouldn't it be ERod under your scenario? Or do you think you know Cora so well that you're certain that if Price gets rocked in Game 2 that he would use him again in Game 6? Why do you assume that? More "psychology"? Or is just the usual assumption that the manager will do something you think is stupid.smug response, but not an answer. Who do YOU think would start? Eovaldi on 3 days rest? Erod? Probably not...most likely it would be Price again.
MLB is in a no-win situation on Sundays since they are going up against the NFL all day. Since the schedules are set so far in advance, it's possible that they were hoping that the Yankees would go through and give them a chance to steal eyeballs from Sunday Night Football.A couple of TV thoughts.
MLB is so scared of the NFL that they can't play at least one Sunday as a day game (in October, New England) and let kids watch? I get prime time during the week, but at least some championship baseball is meant to be played in sunshine.
Well...TBS - be thankful it's not ESPN. At least we'll be able to watch a baseball game while it's being played.
It is pathetic. It's also meaningless. Baseball is littered with good players who started out poorly in post season play but ended up where you'd expect.10 starts in the play-offs with a 6.03 era is pathetic...but hey, if you want to add .
One thing I've noticed is that he has this thing where he begins a sentence and then struggles to complete it - as if he just starts talking for the sake of saying something and doesn't really know where it's going. Or maybe he gets distracted or just freezes. Either way, not a good feature in his line of work - and though I actually like Darling overall, he's not the type of color guy who's going to jump in and carry a broadcast. I want Eck!Darling is good. Anderson stinks though. He is from the bygone era where he has little to say but keeps talking. He does not seem well prepared.
You know his father (is that his father?)Guccione is a name I recognize, and I don't think it's a good thing.
I dont think ump is related to that Guccione.You know his father (is that his father?)
It was Guccione.For some reason I thought the Sox had some history with Guccione but a quick google search is not bringing up anything at first glance. Probably just paranoia by me.
Wells was ejected by Guccione after calling home plate umpire Larry Poncino a choice word following a pitch to Shea Hillenbrand that Poncino called a ball. Once ejected, Wells stormed toward second base umpire Guccione and argued furiously. It wasn't evident on replays that Wells bumped either umpire, which MLB's release stated to be the case.
This...maybe not a bad thing. Pearce has looked great at first and can actually hit.
"Cora said if make a roster change it would be to add a pitcher. Moreland status still uncertain."
Yeah I like the idea of Pearce as the full-time 1B as his numbers even against righties have been better than Moreland for the last few months (and rumors are, he can stretch for a ball on a close play). And I guess this makes Holt the primary back-up at 1b. But I don't like removing a potential pinch-hitter for the catchers.This...maybe not a bad thing. Pearce has looked great at first and can actually hit.
Might be a bit more aggressive using Swihart if they trade Moreland's spot for a pitcher. Though, so far, Cora hasn't been aggressive pinch hitting anyway. You're still going to have two of Kinsler/Holt/Devers/Nunez on the bench in any given game which is probably enough if you include Swihart as a super utility fielder.Yeah I like the idea of Pearce as the full-time 1B as his numbers even against righties have been better than Moreland for the last few months (and rumors are, he can stretch for a ball on a close play). And I guess this makes Holt the primary back-up at 1b. But I don't like removing a potential pinch-hitter for the catchers.
Angel Hernandez asked to be left off after the replay abuse the other night.How the hell did joe west get a postseason assignment?
Probably meaningless but Verlander has pretty bad (for him) numbers pitching with Hoye behind the plate.Hoye in game 1: Ks at 106% average, walks at 107%
Kelly will definitely be on the roster.Does Kelly make the ALCS roster? Probably yes, since he was good against the Yankees, but it's worth noting that he faced the Astros three times, twice getting completely shelled and once limiting the damage to one run. All three appearances came either right before or after good outings, so it's not like he was generally lost. It's more like he can't get outs against Houston. I don't think any other team got to him three times, including division rivals whom he faced 6 or 7 times. He's likely to get a spot but Cora will have to tread carefully there.
Pearce has always been an OK 1B -- his advanced numbers there have ranged from fringe-average to excellent, depending on the metric and the year. I think there was a tendency to downplay his 1B defense because Moreland-glove-guy, Pearce-bat-guy was an easy narrative. But they're both two-way players--Moreland is a Gold Glove defender with a decent bat, and Pearce is a very good hitter with a decent glove.This...maybe not a bad thing. Pearce has looked great at first and can actually hit.
He'll be on the roster AND Cora will tread carefully. If the starters hold up their end, Barnes, Brasier and Kimbrel will get ridden hard. Extra hi-lev pitches might come from a starter who can "afford" to throw 15 pitches.Does Kelly make the ALCS roster? Probably yes, since he was good against the Yankees, but it's worth noting that he faced the Astros three times, twice getting completely shelled and once limiting the damage to one run. All three appearances came either right before or after good outings, so it's not like he was generally lost. It's more like he can't get outs against Houston. I don't think any other team got to him three times, including division rivals whom he faced 6 or 7 times. He's likely to get a spot but Cora will have to tread carefully there.
If Cora is going to manage the ALCS the same way his did the ALDS, andWouldn't be shocked to see Swihart left off the roster - assuming Moreland is going to be ok. (Are there no reports about his leg?)
I'm basing this on needing an extra pitcher now that they're into 7-game series.
Yeah, I agree he'll be there, but there is something conspicuous about three bad outings in three tries. Maybe they caught him tipping his pitches?He'll be on the roster AND Cora will tread carefully. If the starters hold up their end, Barnes, Brasier and Kimbrel will get ridden hard. Extra hi-lev pitches might come from a starter who can "afford" to throw 15 pitches.
Unless there's something particular about Houston's matchup, Cora is not going to make a decision based on 3 appearances. Nor should he.