SoxBlanco

Hoping I was right with this! Good start.

Good point. Time to bump my post in the Anderson IL thread in hopes that it comes true!

The bullpen wasn't going to go scoreless forever. If you're going to give up a bunch of runs, might as well make it happen in a game where we're up 7-0. (Disclaimer: "bunch" is less than or equal to 6)

He’s not wrong. Give it a couple years, and Vaughn will be one of the best hitters on our team.

Glass half full outlook: Robert is great in the leadoff spot, which gets the whole offense going, and then Anderson moves down to 6 or 7 when he returns, where he is better suited.

I’ve been wondering the same. Maybe still waiting to see if Timmy can go?

Ronald Bolanos

If he does, he’ll be bunting the guy to 3rd.

Great job, Cordero. What the hell was that last pitch? An attempt at a change up that just came out of the hand as a fastball that sailed high in the perfect spot? It was 94 mph.

Big half inning here. Let’s get that run back.

One of Abreu/Grandal is getting a hit this time through. So let’s get at least one of Timmy/Yoan on base here.

Johan Santana is the first name that popped into my head...to answer Jason’s question.

With the way he pitches, I don’t think falling behind hitters is as bad as it might be for some other guys. Have they hit anything hard off of him today? I’d say he’s been very UNLUCKY so far.

How many people saw the lineup today and thought, “Nice, finally a good looking lineup...well other than Engel.”? (*slowly raises hand*)

Also, you’re using hindsight of the double play to say he should have elevated the ball. If it was a hard single in the hole, there’s no chance you would have said “elevate that ball.”

Were you saying that to Robert yesterday on his clutch two out hit in the 9th a couple days ago?

That awful call on the 2-1 pitch to José changed the entire inning. Also, Jose did it hard...can’t be upset with him.

Are we really facing a pitcher tonight who hasn’t pitched above A ball?

Yes, but those conversions don’t mean much because we could easily win three games in a row that would get us those “8 games” back. It’s all relative. I’m not a big fan of the whole “every game actually counts for 2.7 games” thought process.

Eloy was out there taking BP and looked healthy/strong. I think that's a good sign that he could play in game 2.

You’re exactly right. Bummer hadn’t taken off yet, and people (myself included) were worried about losing Bush.

Anybody else listening on the radio? They never received the lineup change and said that Eloy was removed from the game because of injury when they saw Delmonico come up in the 2 hole. Then when Eloy trotted out to left in the top of the second, they said the Sox are utilizing the new re-entry rule. They finally just realized that there was a lineup change and that Nicky has been in RF the whole game.

Decent attempt at covering up the fact that RR thought Maeda was a lefty.

You think a 72 win team would have a chance at an 8 seed? No way. The 81-81 Phillies would have missed the playoffs last year. The 78 win Rangers would have been the 8 seed in the AL.

Sorry to get all mathematical on you, but you have inspired me to dig even deeper into this! Let’s say the top seed has a 70% chance to win each individual game in their series. They would have an 83.7% chance to win a 5 game series and a 78.4% chance to win a 3 game series. As you can see, shrinking it to 3 games doesn’t really affect the outcome much. And if you think 70% is too generous, I calculated it again assuming the top seed has a 60% chance to win each game. In that case, the top seed would win a 5 game series 68.2% of the time and a 3 game series 64.8% of the time. Once again, there’s not much difference when you shrink it to a 3 gamer.