Red Sox vs. Astros 2018 ALCS Gameday Thread

I’d say some day if people keep saying this they will be right but they won’t

I was fine with everything up to starting with Kimbrell in the eighth. Given that Barnes looked good, that Kimbrell has not looked good at all, AND that Kimbrell is known to struggle outside of standard save situations, I thought it was a terrible decision at the time. And the way Kimbrel pitched, it was a terrible decision. Like there's just no two ways about it, Kimbrel was very bad and asking him to get six outs was a very bad thing to do. They were very lucky to get the outs that they did, and much more credit goes to the stellar outfield defense than to the wild, ineffective pitcher on the mound.

The worst part is that because of the weird closer-mystique thing, Kimbrel comes out of this looking better somehow. Like every time he almost blows the game but doesn't (ie every time he has pitched in this postseason), it just reenforces the idea that he's got this magic ability to close out games. He's been so bad in the postseason so far, but it seems like because he's somehow gotten the saves, Cora now feels safe to ask even more from him. It reminds me of an old listener email question on the Effectively Wild podcast, which was essentially, if you had a closer who put the tying run on third every time he pitched in a save situation, but never actually blew the lead, how long would he keep his job? The answer that Ben and Sam arrived at, which I agree with, is never. And I guess if you really did have a magic reliever who could do that every time, you'd be right to keep using him as a closer. But magic isn't real, and Kimbrel has just been bad and lucky.

Eduardo Nunez and David Price can no longer hurt me.

What amazes me is how similar the two halves of the ninth were. Leadoff hitter and mvp candidate up, two outs, bases loaded, line drive caught with a diving shouestring catch. What's the odds on tha?

i'd rather see Joe Kelly in the ninth than Kimbrel right now. never, ever thought i would say that. i don't think there's more than a 1 in 3 chance they re-sign Kimbrel.

I don't know, the Sox shouldn't have stuck with Porcello so long.

I would have preferred anyone else. He was a 50/50 call from giving up 6 runs in 4 innings. Dreadful. Hembree or anyone else could have done that, probably better.

Rick Porcello almost cost you this series. You could have been tied 2-2 in the series if the homerun goes the other way, and maybe into extra innings, screwing this bullpen even more.

You have a short rested David Price who warmed up for 2 innings last night against Verlander tonight in game 5. You have a sick Chris Sale who wasn't eating solid foods as of last night in game 6. He almost cost you. Kimbrel has almost cost you all the time. Thank God for JBJ, that's all.

1) Yes, he traded for him so yeah it is his fault.
2) Barnes was before Dombrowski
3) Brazier was catching lightning in a bottle. You wanna rely on catching lightning to build a good bullpen?

Last nights game was everything that’s right with baseball and wrong with it wrapped up as one. Game started too late, was too long and way too choppy but man was it exciting.

Working at either 4 or 5 a.m. daily means I can rarely catch a game in its entirety - I fell asleep after the top of the first last night, and am pretty sad I missed such a crazy game. With tonight’s game possibly being the decider, I’m forcing myself to stay up and watch the entire thing, despite the likelihood of rendering myself groggy and useless all day tomorrow 😃 I’ll only go to bed early if it’s a blowout in either direction, but then I’d probably end up missing the Sox score 8 runs in the ninth to win.

I get your point that Porcello pitched poorly when they needed him to pitch well, but costing them the series? That's a bit over the top.

Frankly, I felt a huge sense of confidence when he came into Game 2 and fired off a dominant 8th inning. He was at his best and they needed him to be. That is hardly costing them.

He stunk yesterday, I'm sure because of his yo-yoing back and forth between the pen and the rotation. It was bound to take its toll. Derek Lowe had the same thing happen to him.

He pitched in relief in Game 1 ALDS 2003, took the loss in extra innings, started Game 3 and did a good job and then saved the Sox bacon in Game 5 in relief (K of Terrence Long to end it), but then he pitched as well in the ALCS. He was kind of gassed.

Porcello looked gassed yesterday.

As far as today goes, obviously I hope the Sox wrap things up.

But if the mismatch presents itself as one might anticipate, I just hope that if the Sox don't wrap things up in Houston, at least I hope they lose in a way where they can stay away from Barnes, Brasier, and even Kimbrel (I think we need the day off from him more than he needs the day off!).

So in anticipation of a probable loss tonight, because it is 2018, David Price will probably pitch 8 no-hit innings and then Kimbrel will pitch a perfect 9th to nail the game down! Hah!

Kimbrel has been (or was) pretty good overall in his stint as a Red Sox.

I don't know how the Sox are getting by tonight. 3-4 innings from Price. 3 innings from Eduardo. Multiple innings from Hembree or Workman. Maybe Brasier or Barnes is available, but I doubt it. Kimbrel is probably unavailable.

I don't know the Sox win tonight. No clue. Kelly or Barnes is probably your closer and set up man tonight. Think about that.