Every time Bailey comes into a game I get even more nervous than usual. I feel bad for Doubront, he deserved a win!

Don't understand baseball. Doubront had less then 100 pitches, the Rays couldn't touch him and they yank in the 9th. Just because "you have to bring in the closer". Please.

I'd love to see the Red Sox get to the World Series. In fact, I'd love to see a repeat of 1975! :a040:

The standings eight now are a bit deceiving. The Red Sox are in first place, but they have one more loss and have played five less games than the Rays. The Sox really can;t afford to lose any games.

All true, however the Rays have a killer schedule the rest of the way and the Sox kind of have what I would call a cupcake schedule in about 10 days from now for the rest of the season.

If the Sox finish the month in first place they SHOULD easily win the division.

Tampa has played 4 LESS games. That will hurt their pitching staff. After the long west coast trip the Sox play mainly at home the rest of the way. Rays pitching will take a beating.

As a true Yankee fan Would trade Cano for Pedroia at any time. Pedroia comes to play, hustles and is not afraid to get his uniform dirty. Cano dogs it and although all the talent in the wold he'll never get the respect he expects.
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Thank you for correcting the games in hand.

go sox!

Hi All - Our son is a huge Red Sox fan and we were hoping to get some Spring Training 2014 tickets to give him for Christmas - Does anyone know the best way to go about it ? When does the Spring Training schedule get posted ?

Thanks for any help you can give me...

Anne

Whatever happened to the magic number? Around this time of year when a team had a good lead we'd always hear about the magic number. If I'm not mistaken, the magic number for the Red Sox right now is 6. any combination of Red Sox wins or Ray's losses and the Sox win the division. Am I correct?

Last I heard, the magic number for the division is 8. For just making the playoffs, it is 6. But the team with the best record overall gets to play the wildcard winner in the first round, not a division winner.

Magic number 8
 

You're close. It's 8.

Posted every day on mlb.com

Update Today:

From mlb.com: The victory lowered Boston's magic number to clinch the American League East to seven

No collapse this year.

The number is actually 7. You can do the math yourself or easily check CBS Sports where it is posted. Section 95 Row BB Sunday is where I will watch from

Well, they went from worst to first in their division, but they won't be able to go from worst to first in the league or in MLB as they were close, but not the worst in either. But they will go from third worst in the American league to first when they win the pennant and sixth worst in baseball to first when the win the World Series.

That was NUTZ yesterday! First Brady and the Pats then Ortiz and the SOX. I'm still in sports nirvana! It has been crazy around these parts since '01. It will be a sad day when this regional success goes by the way side.

Well, I think that Tom Brady and David Ortiz both have about four years left. Who knows what will happen after that?

I woud agree Brady has 4 about years left, but "Big Papi" probably only about 2 years.

I don't know. I think he's 37, but a DH can play forever.

Is anyone getting together at a sports bar tonight to watch the game?

Shane Victorino with the grande salami, who would have thunk it?
Kudos to John Farrell for bringing a miracle to Boston.

Bring on the Cardinals.

My wife said "I think he is going to hit a grand slam"! Silly wife-e-poo. I then commenced to giving her all the reasons why he would not, but I was hoping for a long fly ball or a slap hit to right.

One more reason to accept the fact my wife is always right! :highfive:

What is everyone thinking about Jake Peavey? Is he any better than the last number four starter they had? (Dubront?) He was terrible in game four of the ALCS.

How about Farrell moving Lackey up to Game 2 and moving Buckholtz back to number 3? What's up with that? One thing Farrell does know about is pitchers so I assume that there is a reason for it and it will work out.

Funny, and taking nothing away from Terry Francona and the amazing success that he had in his tenure in Boston, but for some reason, I have more faith in Farrell to make the right decisions. I think that most of the fans feel that way as well. I haven't heard anyone saying that they won in spite of Farrell.

Buchholtz Game 7?
 

I think Peavey will be fine. Saltalamachia said after the game that Peavey was over throwing the ball and a bit amped up in his last start. Usually pitchers learn from that and don't duplicate it in their next start.

I think the Buchholtz move is to make sure you have one of your very best pitchers for a game 7 if needed.

My wife commented that she likes Farrell better because Francona with all his (Leo Mazzoni) rocking back and forth always looked nervous. This is what you may have been picking up on with him and how calm Farrell has been. Calmness breeds confidence.

GO SOX!

-KB

So you think that he wants Buckholtz pitching Game #7 if there is one? That's a bit scary looking at his performance in the post season so far.

The Red Sox bats had better wake up in this series, because their starting pitching is simply not very good. They were lucky against Detroit that the Tigers made a lot of mistakes and the Sox won two games with late inning heroics. Yes, I know that Detroit's bullpen is not all that great and Boston's is outstanding, but two grand slams to tie and win games in the eighth inning within a few days is not something that you should rely on. Other then those two spurts, the Sox bats were shut down. Look at the batting averages in the ALCS.

I don't know much about the Cardinals except that they have two outstanding starters. I hope the Red Sox can get to them early.

I think Farrell like any manager wants it over by games 7, but if he has to go with someone for game 7, who else could/would YOU choose? Dubront/Dempster?

Buchholtz still has good/great stuff at times, plus he changes speeds a lot. Even if he can't go past 6, it will be all hands on deck in game 7, including Jon Lester for a 3rd time in the series I would think.

So far only Lester and Lackey have been announced for 1 & 2.

GO SOX!

I might have set it up so that Lester goes in game 7, but I guess barring that, it has to be Buckholtz. He's just been terrible in the pst season so far. But if the Red Sox have a weakness it's their starting pitching.

Are any Boston fans meeting anywhere to watch any of the World Series or are we all just staying home and watching it?

Well, that was disappointing. Craig Breslow who has been rock solid this year giving up two runs on a Keystone Cops play. This gives the Cardinals the edge in this series now. It's a five game series with three games in St Louis. so far, both teams look like they don't belong in the World Series.

David Ross
 

I feel like if Ross was in there at catcher that play would have never happened. I hope we see Ross the rest of the way.

Can anyone explain why Jake Peavy is starting this game tonight? I have all the respect in the world for John Farrell, but this is inexplicable. Peavey was terrible in his last game and the Cardinals have trouble with lefties. Felix Dubront seemed like a no-brainer.

And why is Stephen Drew still playing? I know that he's supposed to be a great defensive short stop, but can the Red Sox really afford to keep a guy that's batting .92 in the post season.

How about Bogaerts at short and Middlebrooks at third?

The Red Sox are in deep trouble here and it's time to do something drastic.

When they lost game two, it changed the entire dynamics of the series. Now it's a five game series with three games in St Louis and with a DH. I have lost all hope of them winning this World Series.

Let's Go Mets
 

Cards and Sox evenly matched. Should go 7 games. Mets in 2016! Bet on it.

I hate it that the Umps decided to take a great game into their hands and decide the outcome rather than let it play out on the field. :rant-rave:

dont blame the umps....have the catcher make a better throw...or better yet have the 3rd baseman catch the ball.....bottom line the runner was obstructed he would have easily scored if not tripped up

Yup, that's it in a nut shell. The truth hurts sometimes.

:agree:

I will however slam the ump for that god awful strike zone. He was all over the place!

Go Cards

As a die-hard Sox fan I had to agree with the obstruction call. I think it was obvious.

But I'm glad they woke up last night and played a good game. Tonight is the series in my opinion. Go Lester!