SoxBlanco

Shane McClanahan is the surprise guy Tampa added.

Lineup prediction (hoping Eloy can play LF): Anderson SS Grandal DH Abreu 1B Eloy LF Moncada 3B McCann C Robert CF Engel RF Madrigal 2B

We cant realistically expect to win a game where we are running a pitcher out there who has World Series experience and a 1.99 ERA this season because we are facing Chris Bassit?

Did anybody actually expect EE to start tomorrow? Seems obvious that McCann will catch Lucas and Grandal will be the DH. Not sure how anybody could think EE starts over Grandal. Ricky continued to play EE in the regular season in hopes that EE would catch fire. Well he didn’t. I’m not saying he’ll be on the bench all postseason, but I certainly never expected him to play tomorrow.

So he'll be just like Mazara, except he'll be able to hit singles ?

Do we have any idea of game times yet?

DH. I would try to get that really good hitter...what's his name again? Andrew something?

True. Sox could win the first two and then patiently wait to see who their next opponent is.

Hopefully Keuchel pitches deep in game 2 and we have our full bullpen available for game 3 (if necessary). Then you don't even have to worry about Cease or Rodon coming in. Even if Dunning only went 2 innings, then Heuer comes in for the 3rd and 4th, Crochet pitches the 5th, Foster the 6th, Marshall the 7th, Bummer the 8th, Colome the 9th. Now, I don't expect Dunning to only go 2 innings, but the options are there if necessary. Hell, we could go a full bullpen game and I would feel good about every inning.

I think you missed the sarcasm. Either that, or I misread it.

I apologize for this loss. I put the game on my shoulders by starting my first ever game thread. I thought I could get things turned around, and I f***ed it up. Completely on me. Now somebody pick me up tomorrow, please.

Fantastic post and fantastic thread. You get it. I get it. But for the people who don't get it, you probably aren't going to convince them otherwise. You are just wasting your time replying to a lot of the responses in this thread. Cleveland just lost 7 in a row, and now they feel on top of the world. If we win 2 or 3 of the games against the Cubs, we'll forget about this mess and head into the playoffs feeling much better. And very intelligent thing you said about how we lost these last two games. In the playoffs, we won't be using Ruiz or GG in those spots because we will have better options available.

Yeah, I don’t know why people are complaining about the pitch count. He gets an extra day of rest. It won’t be a factor.

I think he hit on Grandal and Keuchel, who were the top two players he signed when we were actually trying to be good.

If you replace EE with Grandal, I honestly believe this will be the lineup (order might be different with Grandal) for game 1 of the playoffs. I know people think RR will keep playing Mazara, but I think Engel gets the start in game 1.

I've never started a game thread before. Ever. I'm starting this one early to make sure it's mine. This is as close to a playoff game as we can get. Giolito vs Bieber...it could actually be a game 1 playoff matchup. After the struggles of late and the brutal loss in extras, this would be a huge game to win. Let's. F***ing. Go.

Colome had back spasms, so that's why he didn't come back out....and Foster did look like toast on his last two batters. Robert missing that ball, calling a fastball on that last pitch, and the location of the fastball were the top three reasons why we lost.

Do you mean 1 week from now?

Added to the roster for next year's team.

Post of the year.

Agreed. Think about how long this pandemic has been going on...it feels like an eternity, but it's been just over 6 months.

Your last sentence is wrong. We just saw McCann catch and Grandal DH in a game last week, and that felt like a playoff lineup. I think we might see the same thing in game 1 of the playoffs, even if we don’t have another catcher on the roster.

I don't think there's anything wrong with doing that in the playoffs. The odds of an injury are very low, and even if it happens, you can get around it with pinch hitting. If the injury happens early in the game, then it would be a problem, but if it happens mid-game or late in the game, you might only need to pinch hit one time. It's a risk I'd be willing to take to keep Abreu out there at 1B where he's comfortable and has been playing well this year.

I definitely see your side of it, and I don't think there's a clear-cut answer. I would just rather have Keuchel in a possible game 2 where the pressure would be large. And I'd rather have the guy who has a better chance to be completely dominant going in game 1.