Chick Mercedes

As I indicated, this is news to me. Are you saying he is Adam Eaton or something? The didn’t get the feeling that would be possible with Madrigal

If the rest of the series is a scoring struggle, this lineup will be tweaked next year for sure.

I simply disagree about earning things being a concern to consider in a win or go home series. This is not the same as earning opening day of the season.

What did I miss?

Very real chance his knee is not 100%, so the Sox could have had a good reason not to go with him in game 1 if so. It wouldn’t have bothered him in the slightest because he is a realistic person.

I mean, this team is not the same biorhythms. The scrappy lineup team with subs were all heart and soul and it worked. Madrigal kept everybody loose too, him getting hurt is an underrated thing. But most of all , Lynn was the wrong choice. Tip of the cap to Astros pitching though, what can you do…

Lynn hasn’t been the same pitcher as he was earlier in season. Not sure about choosing him for opener. Not a time for a seasonal achievement award. Hindsight is 2020, but I think this was in the back of a lot of people’s mind fears

The dark thing that sort of envelopes the team since the all star break is still out there, I can feel it. That bum slayer rep still persists too.

Robert getting the ball back to the infield too slowly in the first inning that cost a run sort of was a microcosm of this season. The Sox don’t do a lot of little things that are important. Anyway, wish Madrigal was here battling.

*Fears realized*

Well I think it’s all about Nov. Hahn again sold out youth for old going all in on the World Series. So far, perhaps another disaster. Hahn is the scorpion riding the frogs back. Not sure why we thought he learned his lesson. Because he made fun of himself?

Good thing the Sox didn't make any bad asset trades this year so they will have plenty of ammo. Hahn did it again.

They are really gonna sleepwalk into the playoffs. This is happening….

holy crap, maybe we have 2 pitchers. Maybe.

Worried about the rotation a little bit and the team mojo. They had an arrogance (in a good way) and felt unbeatable, who knows if they can recreate. We’ll just have to see. As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know

Thats good because they were breathing down our necks. anyway, the relaxed manner the Sox have played with lately, maybe we should be rooting for Cleveland these days.

Healthy Grandal is an interesting cat

pee in the ole Cheerios. Ah well.

Perhaps not, but perhaps anything else can happen as well given the circumstances. Tend to think he’d come up at 3rd, but it would be a good lively discussion for Hahn and co. Trades are always a possibility.

Anderson wasn’t the same kind of beast at the plate as Tatis though to put the defensive concerns completely aside for a talented youngster like that. If Anderson was the monster at the dish as Tatis to be able to overlook the defense then yeah, it doesn’t go down as an Anderson move.

Hard to say anything about it confidently. TA was committing errors at SS at a disturbing level. Could have gone in the direction of TA changing positions as much as anything else. This current version of him after he worked on his D is probably staying put though.

Unfortunately the only thing they can do is take turns closing games. No easy way put of this. The thirst for Kimbrel always seemed weird.

You would have to compare his number to other rookies historically to get a grip on the significance. Anecdotally to me most rookies struggle with it. I don’t understand why he needs to be a complete hitter in his first few hundred ABs of his career

He isn’t, but since the Sox are kind of a plodding team, what he is capable of doing with his speed on the basepaths but does not is a little frustrating. As an outfielder, he would at least put the speed to some use. At second base, his lack of power is better hidden. He occupies a position that requires power. It isn’t there to optimize the lineup. So of course he is doing well, but there will always be pressure on him at third because he is not a complete player (there).

Better base running, basestealing, and speed around the power should do it. Once Cespedes gets here will be one way. Some sacred cows may need to be slain to finish the job