How about those RED SOX! Part Deux

[pantherphan96]

Agreed. Having Kelly/Reed/Kimbrel is a nice set up for innings 7-8-9.

Looking to the future (assuming Smith and Thornburg are healthy come next year), the bullpen should be a major strength.

Not happy about the Yanks getting Sonny Gray.

[Goondal]

Yeah, I am not too excited about them getting Gray, but at least they gave up four of their top twelve prospects to do it.

[Goondal]

Apparently the front office "ordered" Dombrowski not to trade a top prospect.

I am not usually one for owner meddling but I am glad that they did this.  It also worries me about the future for if Dombroski convinces them to trade more.

[pantherphan96]

Nice 5 game win streak to regain a nice little lead in the division. Go for the sweep tomorrow and gear up for Sale against Tampa on Tuesday. Kelly ready to come back into the bullpen and Carson Smith had his first rehab start for Portland, got a little roughed up, but good to see him actually getting some game action.

[Goondal]

It has certainly been a good week for the Sox all the way around.  The Yanks slide has been very helpful.  The only bad news was Price feeling more elbow discomfort.

If we can ever get the whole staff healthy I like our chances in the postseason, even against Houston.

Amazing to think that a week ago Barnes was the eighth inning guy and we may be a few weeks away from him being the fifth option out of the pen assuming Smith gets back.  We could also have Eduardo or Pomeranz out there come October.

Devers and Nunez have certainly provided an important jolt to the offense.

[cookinwithgas]

Well that was a great ending worth staying up for last night, hearing that crowd go from a roar to silence when Devers launched that HR was sweet.

[pantherphan96]

that comeback made up for the baserunning blunder in the 9th on Friday. 2 out of 3 in the Bronx, I'll take that all day.

[Goondal]

This past week was huge.  Tampa is basically done as far as the division is concerned and the Sox has opened up five games in the loss column on the Yankees with a chance to extend the lead (maybe put them away with a sweep) at home this weekend.

StL coming to town this week.  They have been playing well recently so have to make sure not to slip up there.

[Goondal]

On 7/11/2017 at 11:37 AM, Goondal said:

Seventeen of our twenty-three games coming out of the break are at home (with only one off day) so our home/road breakdown will be even in a few weeks.  That is followed by five each road and home.  In those thirty-three games we play the Yankees nine times (six home, three road).

The other twenty-four games include sixteen games against teams with losing records, Toronto and the White Sox for four, Anaheim and Seattle for three and St. Louis for two.  The Anaheim/Seattle swing is a west coast swing which sometimes is tough but it is a favorable stretch.

The other eight games include three each at home against Kansas City and Cleveland and two on the road in Tampa.

One oddity is that we have twenty-three games in twenty-four days followed by ten games in fourteen days (two five game weeks).  Figured they would break off days up better than that.

These thirty three games are our time.  The goal should be to push the lead to six or seven games by the end of it.

Well it did not start out the way we had hoped but the boys came on strong and managed a 21-13 record coming out of the break.  The Sox and Yanks are now both even on games played and the Rays are a distant memory with six weeks to go.  

We currently sit at sixty-two home games played compared to sixty-one on the road.  New York actually has the advantage there now (fifty-seven home compared to sixty-six not he road).  The next three weeks are definitely tougher than the final three.

We have eight games on the road against Cleveland and New York.  The four game set in Cleveland starts tonight and is part of eleven road games in fourteen days with only a three games with the O's at Fenway this weekend to break it up.  Next week starts with three north of the border (one of three remaining series with Toronto) to be followed with four in New York to close out the season series.

The Sox then return home for three each with Toronto and Tampa with the Thursday in between being the rare off day with no travel.

• twenty-one days
• eleven games on the road (including eight with NYY and Cle)
• only nine at home (three each against the rest of the ALE)
• only one off day located at the end of the run

After that the final three weeks appear much nicer.  New York does have Cleveland also during that stretch but it is only for three games and they get them at home.  We cannot afford to lose ground though because fourteen of their final seventeen are at home and their schedule is relatively easy.

[Goondal]

Should we be worried?  The one team that seems to have Sale's number (Cleveland) is our most likely playoff opponent.

[pantherphan96]

I think it's just one of the idiosyncrasies of baseball that Sale doesn't fare well against Cleveland while Fister has shut them down twice. This makes getting HFA over Cleveland imperative though. 1-2 with Sale-Porcello at Fenway vs at Cleveland would be a huge difference.

[Goondal]

You have to wonder, does Fister sneak into the rotation against Cleveland in Game 4 due to his success.  I doubt it but it would be interesting.

[Goondal]

On 8/21/2017 at 8:34 PM, Goondal said:

Well it did not start out the way we had hoped but the boys came on strong and managed a 21-13 record coming out of the break.  The Sox and Yanks are now both even on games played and the Rays are a distant memory with six weeks to go.  

We currently sit at sixty-two home games played compared to sixty-one on the road.  New York actually has the advantage there now (fifty-seven home compared to sixty-six not he road).  The next three weeks are definitely tougher than the final three.

We have eight games on the road against Cleveland and New York.  The four game set in Cleveland starts tonight and is part of eleven road games in fourteen days with only a three games with the O's at Fenway this weekend to break it up.  Next week starts with three north of the border (one of three remaining series with Toronto) to be followed with four in New York to close out the season series.

The Sox then return home for three each with Toronto and Tampa with the Thursday in between being the rare off day with no travel.

• twenty-one days
• eleven games on the road (including eight with NYY and Cle)
• only nine at home (three each against the rest of the ALE)
• only one off day located at the end of the run

After that the final three weeks appear much nicer.  New York does have Cleveland also during that stretch but it is only for three games and they get them at home.  We cannot afford to lose ground though because fourteen of their final seventeen are at home and their schedule is relatively easy.

Well, an up and down three weeks ended with a 10-10 record.  Yanks were 11-8 during the same stretch so lead in the loss column is three with three weeks remaining.  The good news is our schedule is very favorable, the bad news is so is their's.

After a day off today we host Oakland for three before departing on the final road trip of the season.  Three three games series in Tampa, Baltimore, and Cincinnati with an off day between the second and third.  We return home for the final seven days to host Toronto for three and Houston for four.

Final twenty days breakdown:

• Ten at Fenway, nine away, one off day
• Nine games against last place teams (Toronto, Oakland, and Cincinnati)
• Six games against teams around .500 (Tampa who we have been successful against of late, Baltimore who just swept us at Fenway)
• Lone winning team is the last four with Houston.  Previously hoping they would have clinched already and setting up for postseason, but Cleveland's winning streak means they will still be playing for something

Yanks final twenty-one days:

• Fourteen at home, six on the road.  Three of those "road" games are starting right now with Tampa but playing @Citi thanks yo Irma
• Fourteen of last seventeen are at home
• Six against last place Toronto (three home, three away)
• Eleven against .500 teams: Tampa (6), Baltimore (4), KC (1)
• The KC game is in NY so travel disadvantage for the Royals
• Three games in NY with the Twins is toughest series

Our schedule is definitely set up to close this thing our, should we stumble (as we did with Baltimore a week back) then the Yanks schedule is such they can easily take advantage.

Almost home, go Sox!!!

[Goondal]

Just saw that David Price will move to the bullpen and be used as a multi-inning RP for the remainder of '17

This is a wise decision in my opinion and can solidify the bullpen.  I do not feel he has enough time to get his arm to the point where we can trust him in the postseason.

Sale-Pomeranz-Fister-TBD (I lean Eduardo with Porcello to the pen but they will likely go the other way)

Price-Smith-Reed-Kelly-Workman to get the ball to Kimbrel