Dick Allen

To me, the Astros take advantage of almost every walk you give them. Don't walk guys and don't fall behind. Rodon can get away with that when he is 100%, but he is going to get killed if he isn't, and everyone else so far this series has burned when they walk guys.

I was on the first Red Line home after the last pitch and got home around 12:15, buzzed and happy. Woke up at 5 am to work from home for a while before today's game.

AJP was admiring Grandal's work. Probably wishes he thought of that one.

Criminals usually go back to a life of crime when they get released from prison. Most cheaters continue to cheat. I have no idea if the Astros are still doing what they did but in a less obvious way, but you have to think its more than possible.

Sox should have Mike Fiers throw out the first pitch today.

I say you ride Hard Carl until he isn't effective. That may be 1 inning, it may be 5 or 6 or 7. You just have to be sure you win, and you have to think if they fall behind 5-1 again, there is a really good chance a comeback will not be in order. There is an off day tomorrow, which makes me really hate that Hendriks pitched in a 6 run game yesterday. You probably could have squeezed 3 innings if needed out of him today, and with an off day tomorrow, he would have been OK for game 5.

It still shocks me Gruden was on the sidelines for that game with what came out. Of course the league has known about this for quite awhile and kept it a secret.

The Astros offense is due for some regression.

No. Just Kimbrel and Obama. Fox should love that.

Booing Kimbrel during the pregame intros totally classless.

Spending all the money needed to sign Semein would be more proof those saying replacing Madrigal is easy are full of shit.

Especially since these games take almost 4 hours to play.

I think JR should sell but if Gio wasn't trying to be so precise yesterday and Bummer and Kimbrel pitched like they are supposed to, the posts today would be about aligning the rotation for the ALCS. That isn't on JR.

Wait, you want to use closers in the 5th and 7th, but not the 8th?

At the time of his acquisition he was the best closer in baseball. Regression to the mean was very possible, probably probable, but his numbers were as dominant as anyone's. The Sox could have sent the same package and got Adam Frazier and many would have been very happy. Regression happened to him as well. .662 OPS with SD. Beats Hernandez production but also shows Madrigal wasn't easy to replace.

They were trolling. Supposedly when Lope, departed game 1, they played Na na na na hey hey hey goodbye.

Yes in 2018 when he wasn’t their primary closer. It is funny you have this attitude but hated the White Sox acquired a HOF closer who had an ERA under a half a run a game for the stretch run and playoffs. Why would you hate having Kimbrel pitching 5th and 7th innings at that point in time?

He pitched twice in the 7th inning. One was a save situation. It was a DH. A 7 inning game. The other was a non crucial down by 10 last game of the season needs some work appearance. Not what you are advertising.

You have no examples of managers using closers in non save crucial situations. The one that does is LaRussa with Kimbrel, and he is ripped for it.

All I asked was that you show me who uses closers in the 5th and 7th innings as you said it is what is done in the modern game. You said Hader does it. He doesn't. Now I am a TLR loyalist? Read the thread. No one has commented more about Crochet back to back than me. Of courseI also don't think Kimbrels problems are solved by giving him the 9th. He was not exactly better there since coming over. Granted small sample.

Just win the next game and move on. I would imagine the Sox pitchers know the plan, but this secrecy about the rotation, if they don’t , can’t inspire confidence. I think cease starts game 3 hopefully he has his control and the Sox win. Game 4 should be all hands on deck, and let Hendriks go multiple innings if needed, because if they win, they get another off day, and I say let Gio go game 5 in Houston. He had really good stuff yesterday. I think he was trying to be too perfect, and it cost him. He goes out with that same stuff, maybe the Sox get a break or two and beat McCullers. it seems depressing, but nothing really has changed. They were always going to have to win a game in Houston or if they had HFA, win all of their home games.

Here’s his game logs. Never pitched the 5th. Pitched the 7th twice. One was a 7 inning game, and one was a blowout loss to get him some work. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=haderjo01&t=p&year=2021

I do get a kick out of people who think modern closers should pitch the 5th or 7th innings, which I have not seen once, but also think that a closer like Kimbrel needs to pitch the 9th only. Do you have any examples of established closers pitching the 5th inning?

I agree. I don't think he will make it to Sunday against the Bears.

I don’t think he had any confidence in being able to throw it for a strike and probably worried he would send it to the backstop.