McHugh vs. Velazquez, both righties
3:05 pm today at Fenway where, who knows, the attendance might actually get over 35,722 for the AL East champs vs. the AL West champs, albeit in a meaningless game at this point.
espn carried an irritating headline/story saying the Sox owe the Yankees for keeping them on their toes down to the wire. In retrospect, espn might be right because all six home games this time were biggies in which our rotation seemed to crumble before our eyes. Heck, Porcello has one of our two wins--this one against the Jays, when he gave up 5 in 5.2 innings and the Sox won 10-7. Sale got hit, so did ERod. Fister not bad going 5.1 and giving up 3, one due to a lousy throw by Betts that was not an error but still--and despite a passed ball by Leon and another error by Devers.
Only Pom stood up when it counted, going 6, giving up 1, which was mostly Smith's fault.
Nevertheless, you gotta like Sale in game 1 on October 5 followed by Pom in game 2 on October 6, to say nothing of three pretty good arms--Kimbrel, Price, and Reed--and Kelly in the bullpen. I think ERod still gets game 3 on October 8 and, against my sincere advice to Farrell to start Fister, Porcello in game 4 October 9.
The lineup could be tricky if Nunez is back because Bogie is hitting and so are Pedey and Devers. Besides, he reinjured himself this time just swinging the bat.