cabiness42

Life Threatening? Absolutely not Costly? Probably not Embarrassing? Sign me up!

As I've stated before, the starters are not going deep into games because these are all very close games and the expanded rosters allows greater use of the bullpen for situational matchups. Also, the pinch hitting seems to be working, as Dan Johnson has gotten on base in two consecutive PH appearances. If anything, Robin's moves are keeping the team afloat despite an offense that can no longer hit. In the last week, the Sox have lost five games while allowing four or fewer runs. That isn't on the pitchers, that isn't on the manager, it's on the nine guys with the bats. I've noticed many times this past week when Sox hitters have complained about strike calls when the pitch was in the zone, or at least borderline. These guys heads just aren't right.

So Santiago is giving Peavy an extra day's rest, but Quintana is getting skipped so Floyd and Sale are going on normal rest.

AL Best Record: Texas NY Yankees -2 Baltimore -3½ AL Central: SOX Detroit AL East: NY Yankees Baltimore -1½ AL Wild Card: Baltimore +½ Oakland LA Angels -2 Tampa Bay -3 9/26 Games: NYY @ MIN 1:10 TOR @ BAL 7:05 KC @ DET 7:05 TB @ BOS 7:10 OAK @ TEX 8:00 CLE @ SOX 8:10 SEA @ LAA 10:05

For the record, it is now September 26 and I am no longer optimistic. Two days in a row the offense was blanked in the first four innings at home by pitchers who are mediocre at best. These hitters are wasting a tremendous bullpen.

Every time Mitt Romney opens his mouth, he makes me want to not vote for him--then Harry Reid opens his mouth and makes me want to vote for Romney out of spite.

Tuesday = Liriano Wednesday = Santiago Thursday = Peavy Friday = Quintana Saturday = Floyd Sunday = Sale Monday = Liriano Tuesday = Peavy Wednesday = Quintana For Game 163 that leaves Floyd, or Sale on short rest. Not sure I like that. I understand that a lefty is a better matchup with Cleveland tomorrow, but wow that makes it tough at the end.

It also depends a bit on where you are in the end zone. If you're near the middle, there can be a risk to batting it down and having somebody catch it, but when you're that close to the corner, batting it out of play makes it impossible to be caught in bounds.

Yeah, I don't see the green checkmark next to the name.

I was calling for a pinch hitter, but I was thinking Wise instead of Johnson, so I was half right.

Can't even afford an extra day of rest right now, because he needs to stay on schedule to pitch in Game 163 in Detroit.

AL Best Record: Texas NY Yankees -2 Baltimore -3½ AL Central: SOX Detroit -1 AL East: NY Yankees Baltmore -1½ AL Wild Card: Baltimore +1½ Oakland LA Angels -2 Tampa Bay -3 9/25 Games: CLE @ SOX 2:10 TOR @ BAL 7:05 KC @ DET 7:05 TB @ BOS 7:10 OAK @ TEX 8:05 NYY @ MIN 8:10 SEA @ LAA 10:05

If you put a defensive player on the field who is too f***ing stupid to bat the ball out of play and tries to catch it, you deserve to lose.

I was thinking the same thing. How do you let Dunn face a righty with 2 outs and the tying run at 3rd?

A big part of the quirk in baseball is that there is such a change in personnel usage from regular season to postseason. In the regular season, the #5 starter and backup catcher each play in about 20% of the games. In the postseason, they play very little if at all.

2011 Arizona (94 wins) Lost DS 3-2 vs Milwaukee 2010 Texas (90) Lost in WS 4-1 vs San Francisco 2009 Minnesota (87) Lost DS 3-0 vs NY Yankees 2008 LA Dodgers (84) Lost CS 4-1 vs Philadelphia 2007 Cubs (85) Lost in DS 3-0 vs Arizona 2006 St. Louis (83) Won WS 4-1 vs Detroit 2005 San Diego (82) Lost DS 3-0 vs St. Louis 2004 Minnesota (91) Lost DS 3-1 vs NY Yankees 2003 Cubs (88) Lost CS 4-3 vs Florida 2002 Minnesota (94) Lost CS 4-1 vs Anaheim

I'm optimistic. Not just of the Sox' chances to win the division, but to succeed in the playoffs. The Sox have a one game lead, with three more home games remaining compared to Detroit, and Kansas City is likely to put up far much more of a fight than Cleveland. Also, consider the pitchers the Sox are likely to rely on in the postseason. The top four starters (Sale, Peavy, Quintana, Floyd) have a 3.08 ERA over 72 innings pitched when you combine the last three starts for each. Half of those 12 starts were 6+ innings with 2 or fewer earned runs. The top six relievers (Reed, Thornton, Myers, Crain, Veal, Jones) have a combined 0.69 ERA and 0.69 WHIP over the last two weeks. The hitting is bottom of the barrel rotten right now, but all it takes is a couple hitters to get hot to go with that pitching.

That, of course, means that Cleveland has been worse than KC and Minnesota this month, which bodes well for the Sox.

Even if the Tigers had won last night and the teams were tied right now, I think the Sox still would have been over 50% due to having 7 games left at home while Detroit only has 4.

And if KC finishes 10-0, they would tie Detroit for second place.

AL Best Record: Texas NY Yankees -2 Baltimore -3 AL Central: SOX Detroit -1 AL East: NY Yankees Baltimore -1 Wild Card Standings: Baltimore +1 Oakland LA Angels -2½ Tampa Bay -3½ 9/24 Games: TOR @ BAL 4:05, 7:05 KC @ DET 7:05 OAK @ TEX 8:05 CLE @ SOX 8:10 NYY @ MIN 8:10

No, there isn't. I was up in that area two weeks ago for a wedding and got a hotel room about two miles from Medinah for $40/night. Add a zero on the end to get that room this week. It probably would be 10-12 hour days if you find a way to get there though.

Well, Kelly and the kid never talked directly, but that was the gist of the message sent through a third party.

Notre Dame has a Top 5 defense and Manti Te'o is the best player in college football. However, despite two interceptions by his own quarterback and four by the opposing quarterback, Brian Kelly still thinks that running ability is the most important trait in a quarterback. Every play that Golson plays over Rees is a terrible mistake, and Kelly needs to discover something called a play action pass. If he can learn those two things, ND is a very likely BCS bowl team and has a reasonable shot at playing Alabama in the title game.

Yes and Yes