And he plays outfield as well as 2b, ss, 3b. Much better than Guyer.

Well that ending sucked. They got a lucky Blatimore chop infield single. And Gomes allowed a strikeout to be a passed ball and guy reached. Tough break to get a blown save there for Allen. He got 4 outs. That's the way it goes sometimes.

*&^%$#@!!!
What a crazy game! But we needed to WIN!
What happened to the pitchers? On both sides!

We used Shaw, Smith, Miller, and Allen tonight and still lost late. Bauer better give us a good one tomorrow. They might want to call up a guy who can give us some innings just in case, in place of Olsen. Merritt pitched today so won't be him.

At least the Royals lost, too.

No one commented on The Catch? That was an amazing leap and tumble by Jackson. Saw video of the great Kenny Lofton catch to compare: this one was even greater.

But otherwise I consider last night an absolutely terrible game and pretty much a clincher in my mind that although they're likely to make the playoffs it's highly unlikely this team will proceed far.

A big lead vs. the probably Cy Young winner disappears in two innings when our No. 2 starter collapses.
Disasterous relief pitching by all 3 of the stars of the back of the bullpen: Shaw, Miller and Allen were all atrocious. And they have not been very reliable for months now.

Disagree Civ and we only have to think about last year. Without Carrasco and Salazar they had little chance to advance and that certainly didn't go that way. Just get in - stuff happens.

Good pickup of Joe Smith, because with the starters struggling this year - AND the fact that this team pitched into late October last year - this bullpen is overworked.

We could get lucky. I guess in 97 we had a pretty average record and then "stuff happened" for the good and they almost went all the way. This year's team doesn't look promising for a happy ending.

Just my worthless two pennies, but I wouldn't read too much into last night. We all know that kOoKy games like last night happen in Fenway. Just one of those weird nights.

I actually came away from the game feeling good about a couple things. First of all, we beat the hell out of Sale. Lindor and Santana continue to hit, they both look to be out of their funks. Santana has always been a second half guy. Hopefully the offense will continue to get better. Especially after getting Kip and Chiz back.

Cody Allen is now 19 of 21 in save oppurtunities. That's pretty damn good. Chapman has 3 blown saves already. Kimbrel has 4. Actually, there are a ton of guys with 4, 5, 6 blown saves. Miller hasn't been as dominate this year. Probably from all the use last year. That has me saced a bit. But overall I'm not worried about our pitching. We keep hitting anything close to like last night and we'll be winning a ton of games.

civ ollilavad wrote:We could get lucky. I guess in 97 we had a pretty average record and then "stuff happened" for the good and they almost went all the way. This year's team doesn't look promising for a happy ending.

But neither did last year's team.

By the way HB I think your evaluation of the Smith trade is right on. As I pointed out earlier, obviously the Toronto front office agrees with you and we all know who is in that front office.

In our own front office's defense (or defence, since it was with Toronto), teams overpaid for relief pitchers all over the market this year. And Joe Smith is having an oddly effective year this year.

As always of course - only time will tell. But surely, at this moment, it's an overpay.

Link to article just about the Austin Jackson catch with interview and video

http://m.indians.mlb.com/news/article/2 ... ing-catch/

Too bad Urshela can't hit. Gotta wonder where this team would be without Ramirez. He only leads this team in 95% of all the offensive categories. Overall, splitting time between second and third, Jose is holding his own defensively. The best scenario would be Diaz at third and Ramirez to the outfield, but It is what it is. Diaz blew a golden opportunity. Let's hope his next bus ride to Cleveland will be more permanent and that he becomes more than a singles hitter.

Too bad Urshela can't hit

My opinion for years! He's a great fielder, that was evident way back when he was with the Scrappers.

If he played every day and just hit enough to get any kind of recognition there is no doubt he'd be in Gold Glove talk every season. I can't remember who the last 3rd baseman we had who was as good a fielder. Fryman and Williams were both gold glove winners but I think Urshela is every bit as good if not better.